Walked into a bakery in Portland last weekend and noticed nobody was using digital scales

I was visiting my cousin in Portland and she dragged me to this little bakery called Tabor Bread. Place was packed. But what got me was every single baker back there was just using measuring cups and spoons. No scales at all. Even the head baker was scooping flour straight from a bin. I asked one of the guys about it and he said they've never used a scale in 12 years. Said it's about feel and consistency with your hands. I've been baking professionally for 7 years and I always thought weighing ingredients was the only way to be accurate. Has anyone else run into a shop that swears by volume measurements over weight?

2 comments

2 Comments

kevin_wells4616d ago

My grandmother ran a diner in Ohio for 40 years and she never owned a scale in her life. She would grab fistfuls of flour for her pie crusts and they turned out perfect every single time. There's something to be said for muscle memory after doing it for a decade plus. I think some of these old school bakers develop a sixth sense for it that us scale guys can't even fathom. Makes me wonder if I've been overthinking my whole baking game honestly.

avery62916d ago

That's the thing about skills you practice for decades, they stop being conscious and just become part of you. It's like how my grandpa could fix any car engine just by listening to it run, no manuals needed. We treat things like baking or mechanics like they're all science and formulas now, forgetting that hands-on experience builds a different kind of knowing that no chart can replace. There's definitely a happy medium though, you know? Use the scale for the tricky stuff that needs exact ratios, but trust the feel for things like pie dough where touch matters more than grams.