Am I the only one whose sourdough got worse after switching to a scale

I baked by feel with measuring cups for about 8 months and my loaves were ugly but tasty, then I switched to a digital scale in January and suddenly everything came out dense and flat for three straight bakes. I think it is because I used to pack my cups so heavy that I was hiding how wet my starter really was, but my buddy at the farmers market in Tulsa swears the scale is never the problem and I just need to watch my bulk rise instead. So which is it, does weighing your flour actually make you a better baker or does it just show you all the mistakes you were getting away with before?

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barbara_jenkins6614d ago

Feeling your pain on this one, three flat bakes in a row would have me ready to throw the scale out the window. Honestly your theory about packing the cups makes a lot of sense, if you were scooping heavy flour before then your dough was secretly drier than you thought and now the scale is giving you the real number. So the scale did not ruin your bread, it just showed you what was already happening and now you have to learn your dough all over again. Been there with the starter too, mine was way wetter than I thought once I finally weighed it. Hang in there and give it a few more bakes, it gets easier once your hands catch up to what the numbers are telling you.

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