40 replies to this topic

[Omnivore Books on Food]

Flo just gave a talk on baking at my bookstore on Saturday, and I have to say she is the nicest person I have ever met. I asked her about how she does recipe testing for her books (she's working on a new one!), and she said she tests them all herself extensively. Peter Reinhart, on the other hand, invites anyone to test his bread recipes for his new book, and give their comments by e-mail.
Celia
www.omnivorebooks.com

Flo Braker's excellent new book, Baking for all Occasions, has metric measures as well.
Just made three recipes from the book, all came out wonderfully. The chocolate angel food cake is gorgeous!
Thank you Flo! 

[MetricCook]

Thanks for starting this post, but how many of you emailed/called the authors, publishers, and food website, and asked them to properly convert to the Metric System?

Yes, this American does use the Metric System, but I have notice that all the food sites in America does not convert the Metric System correctly, Sadly they do exact conversion, if they do offer it. But who is going to measure out odd ball units like 237 mL or 453 g? So I had to make an instructable of the proper way to do it...
http://www.instructa...pes-Simplified/

In essence this is what should happen...
All cups and spoons are now Metric cups, 250 mL, and Metric spoons, 15 mL
Replace one pound with 500 g
Replace one ounce (dry and fluid) with 31.25 g or mL
--- I got that number by dividing 500 g by 16 (lbs/16) and dividing one liter by 32 (qt/32), both equal 31.25
Use volume to weight calculators on the web, be remember the cups are now Metric cups, 250 mL - not 237 mL
Of course convert in. to cm and °F to °C

Edited by MetricCook, 16 November 2010 - 02:54 PM.

[prasantrin]

If you're using metric weights, you're using a scale, so odd numbers like 437g aren't that big a deal.

If you round up to 500g for 1/2 lb, you're going to screw up a lot of bakers.

I don't really understand the point of what you're trying to do.

[MetricCook]

At a publisher I worked for, we did exactly this, at my urging, since we sold to two major distributors: one British, and one American. We'd buy the cookbooks from French and Australian publishers and repackage them for both the British and American markets.

So, if you're really unhappy with the format of a cookbook, write the publishers and tell them.

The fringe benefits of working somewhere where everyone took home the recipes, tried them, and gleefully brought in the results, were pretty good. After the cupcake book, though, I had to quit.

Can you please state what publisher you worked for, so we can look for it and maybe email them a 'Thank You'.
I made an instructable to help Americans Metricate their recipes...
http://www.instructables.com/id/Metrication-of-Recipes-Simplified/

[MetricCook]

If you're using metric weights, you're using a scale, so odd numbers like 437g aren't that big a deal.

If you round up to 500g for 1/2 lb, you're going to screw up a lot of bakers.

I don't really understand the point of what you're trying to do.

That is not a Metric Recipe, that is an antiquated American unit converted to a Metric equivalant. If you look at every ingredient in the Metricated Recipe you will see none are exact conversions, the recipe as a whole is about 10% larger than the American version. You did not go through the whole instructable, or else you would see how and why of what I am doing to get the final Metric Recipe. So, yes 500 g does relate to ONE POUND, as does one American cup at 237 mL is relate to a Metric cup at 250 mL.

500 g does not have anything to do with 1/2 lbs. I do not know where you got that number from.
1/2 lbs (equivalant 226.8 g) is related to 250 g in a Metric Recipe.

Why do you what all of us, that use Metric, to use your odd ball numbers in your recipe?

[prasantrin]

If you're using metric weights, you're using a scale, so odd numbers like 437g aren't that big a deal.

If you round up to 500g for 1/2 lb, you're going to screw up a lot of bakers.

I don't really understand the point of what you're trying to do.

That is not a Metric Recipe, that is an antiquated American unit converted to a Metric equivalant. If you look at every ingredient in the Metricated Recipe you will see none are exact conversions, the recipe as a whole is about 10% larger than the American version. You did not go through the whole instructable, or else you would see how and why of what I am doing to get the final Metric Recipe. So, yes 500 g does relate to ONE POUND, as does one American cup at 237 mL is relate to a Metric cup at 250 mL.

Don't the British also use pounds for weight? And if it's still being used somewhere in the world, by millions of people no less, then I would think it could hardly be called "antiquated".

454grams is one pound. Not 500 grams. It doesn't make sense to me to scale a recipe up (and did you scale up the baking pan, as well?) by 10% just to accommodate a number you've randomly chosen as being related to 1 pound. And if you're using 500g to represent 1 pound and 250mL to represent 1 cup, you're still screwing up a lot of bakers since 500 grams is 10% more than 1 pound, and 250mL is only 5% more than 1 US cup.

Like I said, if people are using scales, numbers like 437g or 454g or whatever really don't make that much of a difference. I've used recipes originally written with metric weights, and they used oddball numbers, too. Like 104g of eggs, etc.

500 g does not have anything to do with 1/2 lbs. I do not know where you got that number from.
1/2 lbs (equivalant 226.8 g) is related to 250 g in a Metric Recipe.

It was a mis-type. Surely you can empathize with mis-types.

Why do you what all of us, that use Metric, to use your odd ball numbers in your recipe?

If you are asking this question of me, perhaps you can clarify, becuase I have no idea what you're trying to say.

And perhaps you can answer my earlier question, which was, what is the point of your program?

[Mel Z]

I'm a huge fan of Wayne Gisslen's Professional Baking...I've yet to find a bad recipe in there. Here's my attempt at a Society-friendly link to the book. The yields are larger than typical to start with (i.e., a cake recipe makes 4 9" layers), and the book has a great high-volume section at the end. I haven't had any trouble on the occasions where I've scaled down, either.

I prefer weight on account of its accuracy, and also because I can convert the recipes on my own "for the road" (when I don't have my scale) based on how I measure. I like consistency.

[flourgirl]

I much prefer books with weight measurements too. If a baking book does not have weight measurements, I always convert into weights before making the recipe.

This is a list of my baking books which use weight as well as volume:


The Fundamental TechniquesOf Classic Pastry Arts
The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry by chef Bo Frieberg
Chocolate And the Art of Low Fat Desserts by Alice Medrich (some ingredients are by weight)
William Sonoma Cake
Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum
The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum
The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum
The Pie And Pastry Bible by Roe Levy Beranbaum
Rose's Christmas Cookies by Rose Levy Beranbaum
King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion
King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking
Crust And Crumb by Peter Reinhart
Bourbon Street Bakery by Paul Allam & David McGuinness
Baking For all Occasions by Flo Braker
The Simple Art of Perfect Baking by Flo Braker
Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich (some ingredients are by weight)
Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich
Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts by alice Medrich
The Cake Book by Tish Boyle
Flour by Joanne Chang
Tartine by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson
The Grand Central Baking Book by Piper Davis and Ellen Jackson
Ready For Dessert by David Lebovitz
Inside The Jewish Bakery by Stanley Ginsberg and norman Berg
The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread by Amy Scherber and Toy Kim Dupree
Warm Bread and honey Cake by Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra
The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
Desserts by michel Roux
Pastry Savory & Sweet by Michel Roux
Rustic Fruit Desserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson

[Mjx]

If you're using metric weights, you're using a scale . . . .

Well, no. Liquids and semi-liquids are frequently measured by volume (litres, millillitres, etc.)

And let's add Modernist Cuisine to this list.

[curls]

If you're using metric weights, you're using a scale . . . .

Well, no. Liquids and semi-liquids are frequently measured by volume (litres, millillitres, etc.)

And let's add Modernist Cuisine to this list.

But Modernist Cuisine is not a baking or pastry book and this topic is about Baking & Pastry books in Metric.

[flourgirl]

The liquids in the books I prefer are listed in grams. I scale everything.