Why a Kitchen Scale Is the Most Important Tool in Any Kitchen
You should have the right tools in your kitchen. Welcome to The Guide to Outfitting Your Kitchen series , where I help you outfit your space with all the small appliances you need (and ditch the ones you don’t).
You’ve probably heard people refer to cooking and baking as science. While I consider much of it art, I don’t deny that I do an inordinate amount of testing, weighing, measuring, temperature monitoring, and record keeping for an artist. Of all the tools and equipment I use, one of the most important is my digital scale.
For consistency, you will need a kitchen scale. It allows you to accurately measure ingredients, control portion size , distribute batter evenly into cake pans, and even help you troubleshoot recipe problems. There are features to help you measure each item accurately, even if you’re putting seven ingredients in one bowl. While this may seem like something only a professional baker would need, use it a few times and you’ll begin to understand how it fits into your baking style.
The best part is that while professional industrial kitchens require large, durable, and roomy scales, home kitchens can typically keep them more compact. Luckily for us, there are plenty of kitchen scales that look sleek, are easy to store, promise accuracy, and can handle some pretty heavy duty loads.
What are the main functions?
Taring button
Every digital kitchen scale, even budget models, will have at least two buttons: a container on/off button and a unit measurement button. While you’re certainly familiar with turning an appliance on and off, “tare” may not be a term you use often.
When you weigh ingredients like flour or eggs, you don’t just dump the flour onto the scale plate and hope it all stays together, you dump it into a bowl. The bowl has weight. Instead of counting in your head, ” The bowl weighs 7.43 ounces plus 5 ounces of flour …” You can “weigh” the weight of the bowl and simply weigh out the 5 ounces of flour. You will also hear this called “scale zeroing.” When you press this button, the scale takes into account the weight of the container in which you are measuring the ingredients and returns the displayed weight to zero. It’s good for one ingredient if you hate doing math, but it’s a godsend for multiple ingredients that can be thrown into one bowl. Measure the water, then tare the scale. Now you can measure the required amount of flour without even changing bowls.
Device button
The unit function is a little simpler and no less useful. The unit button allows you to seamlessly switch units between ounces, grams, pounds and ounces (for larger measurements) and possibly others. The scale will take care of the unit conversions without any problems. Measure your whole wheat flour in ounces, then easily switch to grams to begin weighing out the salt. Added some salt but forgot to change to grams? It’s OK; scales will convert what you have already added.
How to Find the Best Digital Kitchen Scales
Most home digital kitchen scales have the same appearance—a large central weighing platform, a small digital display with buttons on either side—but there are some convenient features that set some models apart from the vast majority. These are a few things I like to look for.
Kitchen scales worth paying attention to:
Available display
Home kitchen scales are very modest. The weighing platform is usually about six inches in diameter, and all scales are located fairly low to the countertop. This shape is ideal for storage, but wide bowls and trays can easily interfere with display. This makes it difficult to switch units of measurement, tare the scale, and, of course, see the weight.
Look for a scale with a removable display, one that tilts downward (so you can crouch down and look under the bowl if necessary), or one that extends significantly forward. The removable displays have a retractable cord so they can be moved away from the scale a couple of inches. Simply making the display accessible is enough. I also like that the screen has a backlight function. You’ll be surprised how dark it gets under the bowl or baking sheet.
Easy to clean platform
Everything that comes into my kitchen ends up covered in flour or greasy fingerprints. (No, it’s not the kids. It’s me.) My scales get treated the same way, if not worse, so it’s important that they’re easy to clean. Most of the scale body is easy to wipe clean, but do not immerse it in water. The platform is prone to the most spills and sticking, so look for a scale with a removable platform cover. These are typically lightweight, thin stainless steel covers that slide on and off the top of the scale.
Check the load capacity
Once you get used to weighing ingredients in one bowl, you’ll never want to mess up extra dishes again. That’s why “Err” is so annoying when it shows up on your scale. You are over the weight, so you will have to start weighing in another bowl. When looking to buy a food scale, be sure to check the maximum weight capacity. You might think a three or four pound maximum is fine, but doubling the cookie dough or stew in the slow cooker could push you over the limit. I’m not saying you need a food scale that can handle up to 400 pounds, but if you have the option, go for something around 10.
Kitchen scales are pre-calibrated, so you don’t have to worry about it at home. Once you insert the batteries, it is ready to go. You can finally unlock those metric recipes you’ve been dying to try.