5 ms·

> I know, I’m using cups and teaspoons and not something more universal like grams. If my little model becomes a smash hit, I will try to add metric system supp

by kyrofa 6y ago

> I know, I’m using cups and teaspoons and not something more universal like grams. If my little model becomes a smash hit, I will try to add metric system support. It's not that cups/teaspoons aren't universal that makes them noteworthy, it's that they're volumetric. You should be measuring your dry ingredients by weight. The unit isn't that important, we can convert once you start measuring properly.

aidenn0 6y ago
Indeed. She should use mcwt (thousands of a hundredweight). That will be much improved :)
- kyrofa 6y ago
  shrug it will produce more consistent results than what she has now, anyway.
justlv 6y ago
Interesting, but would it matter if the model can learn the non-linearity?
- YokoZar 6y ago
  It's not about linearity, it's that a "cup" of flour can be two completely different amounts of flour depending on how densely it's packed. Going by weight prevents this sort of measurement error.
  - mdeck_ 6y ago
    Well, it CAN vary quite a lot theoretically, but that’s why there are guidelines on how to measure a cup of flour. https://www.mashed.com/182198/youve-been-measuring-flour-wrong-this-whole-time/ https://www.mashed.com/182198/youve-been-measuring-flour-wro... Yet, to your point: when I bake (at least when I bake sourdough, which is virtually all I make), I always measure using a scale, and I measure in grams. No reason to go for imprecision when you don’t have to. But these guidelines for how to measure flour by volume are also important simply for historical reasons: lots of the most respected cookbooks measure by volume, not by weight.
    - kranner 6y ago
      From the Bouchon Bakery cookbook: """ WEIGHING VERSUS MEASURING For years, chefs, professional bakers, and cookbook authors alike have urged home cooks to become comfortable with a scale, but habits are hard to change. Your mother and grandmother probably didn’t use scales, and you may even have their measuring cups in your kitchen drawer. But using a scale will change the way you cook and bake for the better in many ways. And the merits of weighing are not only about accuracy: weighing is also more convenient. Weighing is a much easier and cleaner way to measure peanut butter, molasses, or corn syrup, for example—you simply set the mixing bowl on the scale, tare the scale (set it to zero), and measure the ingredient into the bowl, rather than having to scrape it into and out of a measuring cup. And, of course, there is the additional bonus that more than one ingredient can be measured into that same bowl. Precision matters more in baking than in savory cooking, which is why Sebastien and Matthew provided exact weights, for optimum results. You’ll see that most of these recipes have what may seem crazily specific weights: 519 grams of flour, for instance, or 234 grams of sugar. This is because we converted these recipes from the larger-scale recipes used by the bakery. (This is another benefit of using weights—all recipes can easily be halved, doubled, or tripled, and so on, and they will work.) Do not be intimidated by these specific amounts—when you use a scale, it’s easy to measure 234 grams. However, when converting those weights to volume, we often had to round them off (despite Sebastien and Matthew’s preference that we not). In a short time it should become readily clear why weighing is the preferable route. We strongly recommend using digital scales, either a bigger one that weighs to the tenth of a gram, or a basic kitchen scale for larger quantities and a palm scale that weighs smaller quantities. """
      - birdsbirdsbirds 6y ago
        Doesn't this all break down once you use eggs? Absolute weights don't help much if you have to add one egg yolk since they don't have a fixed weight. For cakes, all other ingredients should be measured in multiples of the used egg parts.
        kranner 6y ago
        The same cookbook recommends weighing eggs as well; recipes specify egg whites/yolks/whole by weight (all ingredients are specified by both weight and volume, though weight is recommended). """ Likewise, eggs vary slightly in weight from one to another; measuring eggs by weight ensures great accuracy. “Large” eggs are 56 grams/2 ounces by definition, but they vary in weight by 10 or more grams, so calling for eggs by weight, as we do in these recipes, guarantees more consistent results. And weighing allows you to use any size egg you have access to, which is especially helpful if you use farm-raised eggs, which are often not graded by size. """

by kyrofa 6y ago

aidenn0 6y ago

Indeed. She should use mcwt (thousands of a hundredweight). That will be much improved :)

kyrofa 6y ago
shrug it will produce more consistent results than what she has now, anyway.

justlv 6y ago

Interesting, but would it matter if the model can learn the non-linearity?

YokoZar 6y ago
It's not about linearity, it's that a "cup" of flour can be two completely different amounts of flour depending on how densely it's packed. Going by weight prevents this sort of measurement error.
- mdeck_ 6y ago
  Well, it CAN vary quite a lot theoretically, but that’s why there are guidelines on how to measure a cup of flour. https://www.mashed.com/182198/youve-been-measuring-flour-wrong-this-whole-time/ https://www.mashed.com/182198/youve-been-measuring-flour-wro... Yet, to your point: when I bake (at least when I bake sourdough, which is virtually all I make), I always measure using a scale, and I measure in grams. No reason to go for imprecision when you don’t have to. But these guidelines for how to measure flour by volume are also important simply for historical reasons: lots of the most respected cookbooks measure by volume, not by weight.
  - kranner 6y ago
    From the Bouchon Bakery cookbook: """ WEIGHING VERSUS MEASURING For years, chefs, professional bakers, and cookbook authors alike have urged home cooks to become comfortable with a scale, but habits are hard to change. Your mother and grandmother probably didn’t use scales, and you may even have their measuring cups in your kitchen drawer. But using a scale will change the way you cook and bake for the better in many ways. And the merits of weighing are not only about accuracy: weighing is also more convenient. Weighing is a much easier and cleaner way to measure peanut butter, molasses, or corn syrup, for example—you simply set the mixing bowl on the scale, tare the scale (set it to zero), and measure the ingredient into the bowl, rather than having to scrape it into and out of a measuring cup. And, of course, there is the additional bonus that more than one ingredient can be measured into that same bowl. Precision matters more in baking than in savory cooking, which is why Sebastien and Matthew provided exact weights, for optimum results. You’ll see that most of these recipes have what may seem crazily specific weights: 519 grams of flour, for instance, or 234 grams of sugar. This is because we converted these recipes from the larger-scale recipes used by the bakery. (This is another benefit of using weights—all recipes can easily be halved, doubled, or tripled, and so on, and they will work.) Do not be intimidated by these specific amounts—when you use a scale, it’s easy to measure 234 grams. However, when converting those weights to volume, we often had to round them off (despite Sebastien and Matthew’s preference that we not). In a short time it should become readily clear why weighing is the preferable route. We strongly recommend using digital scales, either a bigger one that weighs to the tenth of a gram, or a basic kitchen scale for larger quantities and a palm scale that weighs smaller quantities. """
    - birdsbirdsbirds 6y ago
      Doesn't this all break down once you use eggs? Absolute weights don't help much if you have to add one egg yolk since they don't have a fixed weight. For cakes, all other ingredients should be measured in multiples of the used egg parts.
      - kranner 6y ago
        The same cookbook recommends weighing eggs as well; recipes specify egg whites/yolks/whole by weight (all ingredients are specified by both weight and volume, though weight is recommended). """ Likewise, eggs vary slightly in weight from one to another; measuring eggs by weight ensures great accuracy. “Large” eggs are 56 grams/2 ounces by definition, but they vary in weight by 10 or more grams, so calling for eggs by weight, as we do in these recipes, guarantees more consistent results. And weighing allows you to use any size egg you have access to, which is especially helpful if you use farm-raised eggs, which are often not graded by size. """