Baking Measurements

When baking, it is constantly stressed that ingredient measures are precise. Baking is a science, a complicated chemistry, that involves much experimentation for perfect results and proper ratios for success. Professional bakeries, and even many serious home bakers, often opt to weigh their ingredients in lieu of measuring them, for the utmost accuracy and precision. All ingredient measurements are important, and eyeballing should only be done with recipes that are not exact and by long-time, confident bakers. For example, I always eyeball ingredients for my buttercream recipe, as it is quite lenient. I also often eyeball certain ingredients, such as butter, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips, but this is not the best way to go, and I only do this when baking at home, not for others. Ingredients that should be measured particularly carefully include baking powder, baking soda, liquids, and flour, for proper consistencies and success in rising. 
Cooking in this sense is more lenient, as ingredient amounts do not need to be one hundred percent accurate for the most part, and there is more leeway. Recipes stating ingredients such as; salt and pepper to taste, a splash of oil, enough butter to coat the pan, 1-2 onions, diced, a few sprigs of thyme, etc. And when recipes call for a pound of meat, how many times to we actually end up cooking exactly one pound? Cooking, because the main goal is to cook the meat so it isn't raw, does not really require any more complicated chemical reactions.

The proper way to measure dry ingredients, is to scoop them into the appropriate dry measuring cup, heaping them, and then level them off with the back of a butter knife to get the exact amount. How many of us actually do this? I'll admit, I don't always. I usually use the top of the lid on my flour bin to level off flour though, which is almost as exact. 
For liquid ingredients, they should be measured in a liquid measuring cup (with a pouring spout), and placed on a level surface and looked at at eye level until it is level with the appropriate line. I read somewhere that counter tops are not perfectly level, and that the inside of cupboards should be used instead. However, I believe my cupboard shelves are much more likely to be warped than my counters, so I always use the counter top or table as a level surface.

PHOTO CREDIT:"2010-02-18-MeasuringCups" http://www.thekitchn.com/kitchen-tools-need-both-dry-an-109007. The Kitchn n.d. Friday, April 18, 2013.