Use a Balance for Measurements

1. Clean any debris or leftover material from the weighing surface and container. The balance rests on a knife blade and oscillates until the beam of the balance comes to rest.

2. Check the zero of the balance and make any adjustment required to zero the balance.

4. Load the desired amount of material onto the weighing table and release the balance. Record the weight when the balance comes to rest.

Use Cup Containers

1. Select the cup container that matches the estimated amount of liquid or dry ingredient you need to measure.

2. Fill the measuring cup to the top and empty it into your bowl. For dry ingredients, fill over the top of the measuring cup. Tap the edges of the cup lightly with the back of a knife to settle the ingredient. Pass the back of the knife across the lip of the measuring cup to level the measurement.

3. Convert the number of cups required to larger units of measure. Containers for larger units of measure are easier to obtain. Larger liquid measures are pints, quarts or gallons. For dry ingredients, larger units of measure are pecks and bushels. The conversion rules are: 2 cups equal 1 pt., 2 pt. equal 1 qt., 4 qt. equal 1 gallon, 8 qt. of dry items equals 1 peck and 4 pecks of dry items equals 1 bushel.