Your guide to perfect measurements, whether you scoop or weigh.
When it comes to baking, there are two camps: the measuring cup house and the scales and weights house. I happen to live firmly in the latter (read more about that here: Make Baking Faster, Cleaner, and Easier—With One Tool), but if you’re a traditional measuring cup person, no problem! Just know that baking with fresh-milled flour (FMF) requires a little extra attention.
For Measuring Cup Bakers:
If you’re following a recipe written for FMF and it calls for 2 cups of flour, you’ll want to do two airy scoops. That means either:
- Sift 2 cups of FMF, or
- Use the spoon-and-level method: Stir or fluff up your container of flour first (to aerate it), then spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off with a flat edge.
This keeps the measurement light and accurate—compact scoops will give you too much flour.
Converting a Recipe from All-Purpose Flour to FMF:
All-purpose flour is more compact, so when switching to FMF, you’ll typically want to increase the amount slightly to make up for the texture and density differences. A good rule of thumb:
Add 1/4 cup of FMF for every 1 cup of all-purpose flour.
So if a recipe calls for 6 cups of AP flour, you’ll use 7 1/2 cups of FMF.
How Much Wheat Should You Mill?
Most recipes state the flour needed as a cup measure. Since this is a measure of volume, we can’t do a one-for-one swap of wheat berries to flour. Instead, you’ll want to mill about 2/3 cup of wheat berries for every 1 cup of flour. (Or if you’re weighing, 4 oz. of wheat berries will mill about 1 cup of flour.)
So if your recipe needs 3 cups of FMF, mill about 2 cups of wheat berries. I usually recommend milling a little extra to account for things like flouring your workspace, wet doughs, or a little extra for feeding your sourdough starter. Leftovers? Pop it in the fridge for up to a week or the freezer for a few months.
For the Scales and Weights Bakers:
Ahhh, welcome to my house.
If your recipe calls for 500 grams of flour, you’ll use 500 grams of fresh-milled flour. That’s it. No converting, no guessing, no adjusting for fluffiness. This is why I love baking by weight—especially with FMF.
The only hiccup? Many recipes aren’t written with weights. But converting is usually simple with a kitchen scale and a little practice. (More tips on that coming soon!)