In baking, if ingredients are listed by weight as well as by volume, measure by weight for the greatest accuracy. This is especially true for flour. Measuring flour by the cup can be wildly inaccurate due to differences in the actual volume capacity of measuring cups (not all measuring cups are created equal) and the way in which different cooks get the flour into the cup (some scoop, some spoon).

If you don’t have a scale, and must measure by volume, use this method:

1. Stirthe flour to aerate it
2. Spoonit lightly into the cup
3. Sweepthe cup level with a straight edge

When measured by this method, a cup of flour weighs 4-1/2 ounces.

A pint isn’t necessarily a pound

When measuring by weight, also be sure you’re not mixing up ounces and fluid ounces. Fluid ounces are a measure of volume; ounces are a measure of weight. For example, 8 fluid ounces (1 cup) of honey weighs 12 ounces. The only time you can be sure that fluid ounces and ounces are equal is when you’re measuring water.