Question about measuring flour

How much a cup of flour weighs depends on how you get the flour into the cup. If the person writing the recipe doesn't tell you how they did it, you can only guess.

The best technique for measuring by cup is to spoon the flour into the cup and then level it with a straight-edge. For me, this gives 130g/cup and that's what I always start with when using a recipe for the first time.

I suggest you pick a number and use it; if you don't like the way the dough turns out, change the number next time. You will learn by doing.

This, by the way, is not good technique:

I just scoop it out of the bag with a 1 cup measuring cup and shake it level.

It compresses the flour, which is why you're getting so much more than KA suggests.

A prior post by someone here I forgot to bookmark may be helpful.  On King Arthur website there is a many-page ingredient list by category that gives volume and weight (metric and U.S.) for their various flours and other baking additions.  Maybe someone can post the link.

I used to scoop my flour and my breads always ended up too dense/dry. Now I scoop with one hand and then shake it so it drops into the measuring cup in my other hand.  The cups end up being a lot less dense and my recipes are coming out a lot better.

Richie, a digital scale is really the best option. They are pretty inexpensive. Here is an example.  https://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-ZK14-S-Digital-Multifunction-Kitchen/dp/B004164SRA/ref=sr_1_6?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1520006118&sr=1-6&keywords=digital+scale+kitchen&dpID=51GsiHLfDrL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I took a look at the recipe link you included in your initial post. It may be a great recipe, but it is focused on the novice baker, IMO. It should at the very least give to weights, preferably in grams. And baker’s percentages would be even better.

The problem with cups for example. One person might measure a cup of flour @ 4 1/2 oz. Another might measure a cup @ 5 1/4 oz. The differences in total flour weight will be drastic. One bread might be too wet and the other too dry. If you are able to get a scale, by all means do. IMO, it would be better to buy a scale rather than a mixer.

If you take a look at this link, you’ll see just how little can make a large difference. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/55435/very-interesting-factoid

HTH

Dan

and found some interesting things:

If you start with the salt - 1.75 tsp is approximately equal to 10.5g of standard table salt.  Making the assumption that your loaf has 2% salt (which is a pretty standard percentage), that leaves you at 525g of flour.  Divide that number by 3, getting 175g, then convert back to ounces and you get 6.2oz per cup (which is about what you were getting using the "scoop and sweep" method.)

If you look at the yeast, 1/2 tsp is about 1.57g.  Assuming that we believe the value of 525g from above is correct, that would give you a yeast percentage of 0.3% (which is an acceptable number for a 12-18 hour room temperature bulk ferment, but it could very possibly overproof in that time.)

And looking at the water, 12oz of water converts to about 355g, which, again assuming that 525g of flour is right, gives you a hydration of around 67.5% (which is a perfect hydration level for a beginner loaf like this.)

In the first edition of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (a well-known no-knead cookbook), the authors made a point of using the scoop-and-sweep method of measuring flour because they were trying to make things as simple as possible for novice bakers, and the formulas work well.  The Simply So Good website where your recipe is from may have started with the same premise.

All this points to your 6-ounce cups actually being on the right track. So, I'd set your scale for metric, and weigh out the following:

• 525g Unbleached all-purpose flour
• 355g water
• 10.5g salt
• 1.6g instant yeast

then follow the rest of the directions as listed, and see what happens.

Hope this helps - good luck!

     --Mike