simon_carr•3d agoProlific Poster

Found out my 10 year old kitchen scale was off by 15%

I was making a big batch of croissants last weekend and they came out flat and dense. Really frustrating after all that folding and chilling. I figured it was probably my technique so I went online and found a baking science blog that talked about how home scales drift over time. I dug up my old calibration manual from the scale's brand and sure enough the internal sensor can lose accuracy after 5 years. I tested mine with a known weight and it was reading 115 grams for what should have been 100 grams. That explains why my dough hydration has been all wrong lately. Has anyone else checked their scale recently or am I the only one who let it go this long?

3 comments

3 Comments

keith2743d ago

Wait, did your friend ever figure out how bad it was? My buddy Steve got really into sourdough during the pandemic and his bread kept turning out like hockey pucks. He finally checked his scale too and it was off by almost 20 percent.

emma_wells832d ago

His bread was off by 20 percent?! That's INSANE. I keep saying scales are the unsung heroes of baking and everyone looks at me like I'm crazy. My friend's scale was like 15 grams off for flour and she just kept blaming the humidity or something. I swear if I ever start baking sourdough I'll probably blame my dog for knocking over the flour instead of admitting my scale is junk. Actually my dog would probably eat the starter so that's a whole different problem.

emma_wells833d ago

yeah that's brutal lol. poor steve. my friend still hasn't figured it out honestly. she just posts pics of her sad deflated loaves and we all pretend they look great. i feel bad for her but also kind of impressed by her dedication.