April 12, 2016 - 4:39am
Best Digital scale for baking
I know this has been asked before, but the last time was few years ago. I am only a home baker, I bake (mostly bread) two or three times a week. I am certainly not a pro.
My scale isn't as accurate as I would like. It is over 20 years old, and I would like to replace it. What are the current favorites on this board?
Does anyone have experience with the somewhat new "My Weigh Maestro"? I would like to have better precision than just 1 gram, but that seems to be the standard these days.
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I use the oxo scale. For grams--it is to the 1 g scale. For ounces, it goes by 1/8 increments.
My biggest problem with this scale is that it has become "overly" responsive and I don't know why. It sometimes jumps around with weights which gives me measurements that I don't necessarily trust. I zero it after putting whatever bowl or weight on it, and with small amounts of flour (or whatever), it will sometimes jump around by 30 to 50 g increments. Almost like a phantom. I don't know if it's defective, but I don't feel like buying a new one.
I would not necessarily recommend oxo for that reason--I've had the scale for about 5 years and replaced batteries as needed
Thanks for your comments. I generally like Oxo products, but I have heard other comments about their scale.
http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scale-Ac-650-Digital/dp/B0026KXU7W
I've been using it for over a year now, and I use it multiple times a week. It seems to be accurate and scales in tenths of a gram. It is very inexpensive. The two drawbacks are the max. weight - 650 grams, and the small weighing surface. For size and price, it can't be beat. But will not be a help for placing a large bowl or weigh individual ingredients of more than 650 grams, unless you want to parse them out, which can be done easily. In which case, buy a second scale that does grams or 5 gram increments.
PS almost all of us are home bakers ;-) . Pros would likely not be satisfied with such a scale and probably need something way (weigh?) more durable.
While our kitchen scale is the oxo, which I like quite a bit, there are lots of happy owners of My Weigh scales (and I am one...owning a gram scale in the bike shop). They have quite a few models to choose from, and tend to be a pretty good value.
In a BBGA discussion, they were the most recommended by the bakers who posted when asked a similar question (but mostly for folks working in bakeries).
Is the scale I've been using for about the past 2-3 years now. Daily. It gets a lot of use/abuse. IT has a bakers percentage function, but I've never used it. The good thing (for me) is that it goes from 1g to 8Kg in 1g steps. I need that 8Kg when weighing stuff.
It also runs on AA batteries which means you can get them anywhere when it runs out at the wrong time.
Not cheap. This is where mine came from: http://bakerybits.co.uk/kd8000-bakery-scales.html
-Gordon
I'm a pro (albeit with smallish volumes) and I bought two of these. They're great, except the plate is about 7"x7" and my employees don't like weighing 1kg of wet, runny dough on such a small surface (I don't have any trouble with it, though). I got mine on Amazon for $40. I have also used the Escali m6630, which goes up to 30kg, has a big surface, and is going for $99 right now on Amazon.
This in my opinion is the perfect scale for scaling out dough because after doing it for a while you can tell just by motion of the scale how close to the desired weight you are. It is simple and the only thing that can really go wrong is that you misplace one of the counter weights. For me digital scales are hard to beat for weighing out multiple ingredients since little thinking is required, you just keep hitting the tare button.
Gerhard
Even Balance Bakers Scale
... dealing with ~10 lbs dough every weekend, I use this for the bigger loads:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013WCX65I?psc=1
... and something close to this for measuring instant yeast:
http://www.amazon.com/Proscale-Digital-Pocket-Jewelers-Johnny/dp/B002KEQQ8Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460472349&sr=8-1&keywords=pocket+scale+555
Try to go for scales that use easy-to-find batteries (AAA's and 9volts over various "pill" or "coin" cells).
Good luck!
Kyle,
I think most home scales will have the accuracy that you need for most bakes. I have gone through a few scales since I started baking, and I think that some features are important to have. Two, for example, are a large, lighted display and vertical readout. Most scales use LCD displays which are difficult to see if the light isn't shining directly on them. A backlight makes it much easier to read. If the scale has a flat display (parallel to the bench it sits on), a large bowl may block the display on a smaller scale so that it can't be read. If the display is vertically oriented, it can be read regardless of what is on it.
-Brad
I'm not sure if it's the best, but I researched this and it was deemed very good.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WJMTNA/ref=pe_309540_26725410_item
Your response has been terrific. I have decided to go with the My Weigh Maestro. It has two scales built into the package. Although I don't need the smaller scale, it may turn out to be handy.
What I liked about this model is: a somewhat larger platform, a detachable display (on a cable), it reads in baker's percentages, and will self calibrate. The Weigh meter feature seems interesting, too.
I see no one who has responded, mentioned this model, so I'll guess I'l be a pioneer.
I just placed an order for the My Weigh Maestro from Old Will Knott scales online. It seems to combine all the features I'm seeking--relatively large capacity main scale (up to 17 lbs/8000g), with the bonus of the more precise, small volume scale that pulls out on the side. AND it has the baker's math/percent function, which I'm looking forward to using. (Guess I'll have to pull out my spreadsheets and get serious about converting my tried and true volume formulas).
Here's a link, in case anyone else is interested in this scale: http://www.oldwillknottscales.com/my-weigh-maestro.html
One reason I bought the KD-8000's was because of the bakers percentage function... I've never used it in the 3 years I've had them.
-Gordon