Hello
I've been reading up on the baker's percentage and I have to say it is thoroughly intrigued me. I have a background in chemistry (PhD), which has its own benefits and drawbacks when coming to cooking. The baker's percentage makes perfect sense to me in that regard, and it seems obvious to me why people use it, and not just for baking.
My question is then what kitchen scale do you use? For home cooking, my instinct would be that one with 0.1g or better precision (salt, spices, etc) would be wanted, with maybe a 3-ish kg max (meat, etc). Unfortunately, those don't seem to exist (as expected - range and precision are generally inversely correlated).
So the usual kitchen scale is somewhere around 4-5 kg/10-11lb max, with 1g precision. For smaller things (particularly seasonings, spices, etc). Do you:
- Don't worry about the precision - close is good enough
- Have a different scale? (This is the chemist's answer)
- Use volume (measuring spoons, pinches). Possibly calibrated with the density of whatever you're measuring?
- Go with experience (taste it and see what it needs)
Or am I being a bit OCD since I'm not used to 'cooking' chemistry? (For reference, typical chemistry lab balances weigh to 0.0001 grams, with microgram (0.000001g) balances also to be found in lots of labs)
P.S. I'm working on getting away from recipes. I really am! And baker's percentage type stuff will help, since weight/mass make more sense in terms of 'how much am I putting in there' than teaspoons/tablespoons/etc.