Inscale's Guide to Weighing Scales for Craft Bakers

Sometimes, the difference between a delicious dessert and a collapsed confection can be as simple as slightly mismeasuring your ingredients. To guarantee the accuracy of your measurements, nothing can be more exact than a weighing scale. In this blog, we’ll discuss craft baking, how weighing scales can help craft bakers, and what the perfect weighing scales for craft bakers are.  

What is Craft Baking?

Craft baking is done on a relatively small scale, whether it be for a small business or even at home. Nothing that comes out of a craft baker’s kitchen is mass produced, each project takes careful time and attention. The process is completed by hand, as opposed to an extensive line of industrial machines, which gives craft baking a personal touch.

Inscale is proud to be a member of the Craft Bakers’ Association, a wonderful organisation that focuses on providing fundamental business services to bakers so that they can run their businesses effectively. Their services include Apprenticeship Training, Bakery Insurance and access to Specialists, among others. A membership with the CBA comes with many benefits, and we are happy to support members by supplying easy access to scales and balances that are essential to their business!

How Are Weighing Scales Crucial to Craft Baking?

Baking is a surprisingly precise activity. Those who bake, whether casually or professionally, know that you can’t just throw any ingredients together like you may be able to get away with while cooking. Well, you can, but it might not turn out very tasty… or even edible. There’s definitely room for experimentation while baking, that’s how we have so many goodies to choose from in the first place, but for the most part, craft bakers are going to be following one thing: a recipe.

Recipes are tried and true records of the most successful way one has found to bake something. They’re also how you guarantee that each product is the same as the one before. Many recipes ask for one cup of flour, three-fourths of a cup of butter, and one teaspoon of salt, for example. However, those types of measurements are difficult to get exactly right and that’s where scales come in to perfect the process.

Even if you measure your three-fourths cup of butter with a liquid measuring cup, you’re not likely to hit that line perfectly every time. It’s the same with dry ingredients, even if you measure one cup of flour by scooping it up with a measuring cup and leveling off the top, chances are high that variations between batches will occur. Consistency is key! Instead of using measuring cups, use scales to weigh your ingredients and you’ll never look back.

Using a weighing scale guarantees precise measurements every time, without any guesswork or variation involved. Simply plop the ingredient right on the scale or use the Tare function to zero out the weight of a bowl before the ingredient is placed inside. Add or take away a small spoonful of the ingredient one at a time until the proper weight is reached as outlined in the recipe. Your favorite recipes may already have weight measurements as a choice! This method is more dependable than trusting measuring cups – and less overall cleanup!

Weights of Common Baking Ingredients

Just in case your favorite recipes don’t offer weight measurements, here is a list of approximate weights for a few of the most common baking ingredients to get you started:

Which Scales are Perfect for Craft Baking?

Inscale has a wide range of weighing scales for craft bakers, but here are some of the qualities you may want to look for in your investment:  

Useful Features:

• Compact – Depending on where you’re baking, space may be a hot commodity. Keep your workspace open with a compact, portable baking scale that you can move anywhere. Even better, a scale with a rechargeable battery will mean that you don’t have to take up valuable electrical socket space!
• Precise – Maybe you’re not super concerned with getting the most accurate results, but if you are, you want a scale that can meet your exact standards. Pay close attention to the readability of the scales that you consider, guaranteeing that the one you invest in is as precise as you like.
• IP67 or IP68 Rating – When you’re done baking, you need a scale that can be cleaned up easily like the rest of the dishes, especially because hygiene and cleanliness are so important in the food industry. An IP67-rated weighing scale is dust and watertight, while an IP68-rated weighing scale is fully dust and waterproof. Feel free to get it dirty and then simply wash it down to get right back to weighing.

Kern FOB-S Stainless Steel Bench Scale

Capacity: 500g – 5kg

Readability: 0.1g – 5g

Kern’s FOB-S Stainless Steel Bench Scale is one of the best weighing scales for craft bakers on a budget. It has a straightforward interface with only three buttons and the pan is only 150 mm by 120 mm, making it extremely compact. It’s not rated IP67 or 68, but with its stainless-steel housing and weighing pan, cleaning is easy anyways. The rechargeable battery runs for 20 hours before recharging, more than enough for two full workdays!

Inscale IWS Waterproof Bench Scale

Capacity: 3kg – 30kg

Readability: 0.5g – 5g

Our IWS Waterproof Bench Scale is IP68-rated and constructed from durable stainless steel. It can manage damp, wet, humid, and dusty environments with ease – all of which a kitchen can be. Especially helpful is the IWS’s checkweighing function, just input your desired parameters and when an item or ingredient’s weight is below the low limit, or above the high limit, a buzzer will sound. This is a fantastic mid-range choice!

Adam ABW-S Aqua Stainless Steel Waterproof Scale

Capacity: 4kg – 32kg

Readability: 0.1g – 2g

Adam Equipment’s ABW-S Aqua Stainless Steel Waterproof Scale is at the top of the line for baking scales. It boasts an IP68 rating with grade 304 stainless steel construction and overload protection for ultimate durability. Did it get dirty? No worries! Merely wash it down from head to toe and you’re safe to continue weighing! With outstanding readability for its hefty capacity, there’s no need to ever sacrifice accuracy!  Take it anywhere with its rechargeable battery that can go up to 55 hours before needing a charge. If you want high quality, Adam’s ABW-S is the one for you.

If you need help choosing the right weighing scale for your baking needs, Get In Touch with us or contact our team on 01908972660!