Recipe Conversion

Update

The original article was written April 5, 2020 and was updated on May 5, 2020 to add a new tool called Weight to Volume Cooking Converter.  It helps simplify the weight to volume conversion process and is easier to use and quicker than asking Google a lot of questions.

Recipe Conversion

Are you wondering how to convert bakery recipes for home use?  Well we have done the research, converted a number of recipes and have some recommend tools and processes that will help scale the Mitchell Bakery recipes for baking at home.  With bakery recipes we are dealing with two problems.  The first is the quantity they produce and the second is the unit of measurements used in the industrial bakery recipes.  Bakery recipes list ingredients by weight and when baking at home we typically want to measure ingredients by volume.  So we need to scale down the recipes, usually by a factor of four and convert the recipes into cups and tablespoons instead of using pounds and ounces.

Here is a quick overview of what we will be covering in this article:

• How to scale and resize a recipe
• How to convert weight measurements into volume measurements
• How to use the Weight to Volume Cooking Converter tool
• Show an example using the Angel Food Cookies recipe
• Show example using new Weight to Volume Cooking Converter tool
• Show the converted Angel Food Cookies recipe for home use
• Share home recipe by posting comments 

How to scale and resize a recipe

This tool will help us quickly scale down the recipe.  It is called the Recipe Converter and can be fund at mykitchencalculator.com.  With this tool simply copy and paste the ingredients of the Mitchell Bakery recipes into the tools “Ingredient List” text area.  Then if necessary, edit the ingredients so that they are in the standard recipe format.  The tool’s standard recipe format for ingredients starts with the quantity, followed by the unit-of-measure, and ends with the ingredient.

The tool does not handle multiple quantities on the same line.  So if an ingredient required 3 lbs. 6 oz., enter it as 54 oz. (there are 16 ounces (oz.) in a pound (lb.), 1 lb. = 16 oz.). So this is 3 x 16 = 48 plus 6 equals 54. We recommend always converting down to the smallest unite-of-measure, this usually gives us better results in the next step. 

Note some of my dad’s recipes use the symbol #. The symbol # is most commonly known as the number sign, hash, or (in North American usage) pound sign.  So be sure to convert # to pounds.  

How to convert weight measurements into volume measurements

The solution for converting weight measurements into volume measures is to simply ask Google.  Most of the Google answers are straight forward and easy to use.  Sometimes Google’s answers can be a bit confusing.  When that happens the best thing to do is to try and rephrase the question to Google in a different way.  If that doesn’t give a workable answer, then we are left with trying some of the table lookups (see references below). Or now we can use the new Weight to Volume Cooking Converter tool.

With Google simply ask it “How many cups in a pound of x-ingredient,” or “How many tablespoons in an ounce of x-ingredient,” or “How many teaspoons in an ounce of x-ingredient,” (there are 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon), or “How many eggs in a pound of eggs”, (8 or 9 eggs).  Sometimes Google will only give a fractional quantity and we will have to do some math. See Step 6 in our example where Google says “one US cup of shortening converted to ounces equals to 7.23 oz.”  In these cases we need to do the math and round to the nearest measurement because getting close is good enough.  That’s because most recipes allow for imprecise measurements.

How to use the Weight to Volume Cooking Converter tool

This tool will help us quickly convert weight measurements to volume measurements.  Converting between weight and volume depends on the density of the substance, which changes with temperature and pressure.  Generally speaking the density data given in this tool are an approximate as temperature and pressure are not taken into account.  This tool provides  the density of a lot of the Mitchell Bakery recipe ingredients and also provides a field for entering in the density directly for ingredients not available in the tool.  This tool is called Weight to Volume Cooking Converter and can be found at OnlineConversion.com

Table Lookups

• Food Conversion from pounds to cups 
• Cooking Tips: Conversion for Dry and Liquid Measures
• Spice Conversion Measurements
• High-Altitude Baking

I included the high-altitude baking reference because I live in Colorado at over 7,000 feet above sea level.  The higher the altitude, the lower the air pressure.  Baking depends on the specific interactions of several kinds of ingredients.  This article provides a good starting point, to help with converting recipes at high-altitude.

Now let’s do an example. Note I did not apply any high-altitude adjustments in this example. 

An example using the Angel Food Cookies recipe

The Angel Food Cookies, recipe is the most requested recipe from MitchellBakery.com. Here is a copy of the recipe as it appears on the website.

Angel Food Cookies

Process Steps

Step 1.  Copy recipe from MitchellBakery.com to Recipe Converter tool on mykitchencalculator.com.  Be sure to copy the title of the recipe to “Recipe Title” section and the full recipe ingredient list with instructions to the “Ingredient List” section of the tool.

Step 2.   We need to edit the ingredients so that they are in the standard recipe format (quantity, unit-of-measure, ingredient).  I’m going to change the quantities in the ingredient list so that everything is listed in a unit-of-measure of ounces.  For flour I’m going to convert 1 # (pound) to 16 oz. and add 8 oz. to get a total of 24 oz.  For powdered sugar and shortening 2 x 16 = 32 and add 4 gives a total of 36 oz.  All the other ingredients are fine, unless we want to make the Chocolate Angel Food version.  For that I’m going to add “3 oz. cocoa” under the substitute comment.  By putting that ingredient in the tool’s standard recipe format we will get the cocoa quantity converted.  My “Ingredient List” section now looks like this.

Step 3.   We are going to divide the recipe by four, because the bakery recipes are usually four times larger than a home recipe.  With this step I’m going to select both checkboxes.  The “Round conversion to nearest cooking fraction. (Nearest 1/8th),” and “Include original recipe in conversion.”  We enter “4” in the Multiplier field and hit the Divide button. The Recipe Converter quickly does all the math.

Now we need to tackle the second problem of converting weight measurements into volume measurements.  As I ask Google about converting each ingredient into a volume measure I will type the answer given into the “Converted Recipe” section in the tool, so that I can see both the weight and equivalent volume measure along side each ingredient.

Step 4.   We need to find out how many cups are in 6 oz. of flour.  So let’s ask Google “how many cups in 6 oz. of flour” and Google says, “1 cup.”

Step 5.   Ask Google,  “how many cups in 9 oz. of powdered sugar” and Google says, “2 1/8 Cups (Powdered).” 

Step 6.   Ask Google, “how many cups in 9 oz. of shortening” and Google says, “one US cup of shortening converted to ounces equals to 7.23 oz.”  So we divide 9 by 7.23 and get 1.24 or 1 1/4 cups. 

Step 7.   If we want to substitute butter or margarine for shortening, ask Google, “what is a baking substitute for shortening” and Google says, “So for every 1 cup of shortening called for in a recipe, use 1 cup butter or margarine plus 2 tablespoons.”

Step 8.   Ask Google, “how many teaspoons in 1/4 ounce of salt” and Google says, “One ounce of table salt converted to teaspoons equals to 4.98 tsp.”  So we would round this down to 1 teaspoon of salt.

Step 9.   Ask Google, “how many cups in 2 oz of walnuts”, and Google says “1 cup equals 4.4 oz.”  So we would round this to 1/2 cup.

Step 10.   How to handle ingredients that don’t mention an amount, like vanilla.  We are dealing with a small amount and we can use either a pinch or a dash for this amount.  Asking Google it says, “A ‘pinch’ simply meant the amount you could literally pinch between your forefinger and thumb, … and a dash is a liquid measurement that translates to 1/8 of a teaspoon.”

Step 11.   In case we want to make Chocolate Angel Food version, we simply ask Google, “how many tablespoons in 3/4 oz of cocoa.”  And Google says, “2 3/4 US tablespoons.”  So we would remove a little less than 3 tablespoons of flour and add cocoa powder.

Show example using new Weight to Volume Cooking Converter tool

Using the Weight to Volume Cooking Converter tool from OnlineConversion.com we start by looking up the substance or ingredient and find “Flour, U.S. all-purpose.”  It tells us the density is 0.528 g/cm3.  The gram per cubic centimeter is a unit of density in the CGS system, used to define mass in grams decided by volume in cubic centimeters. We then specify the quantity we want to convert, which is 6 units.  Then we select the “from this” unit-of-measure. We selected “ounces [weight].”  Then the “To this” unit-of-measure.  We selected “cup [US]” and push the Calculate button.  This tool gives us the results rounded to 3 decimal places of “6 ounce [weight] = 1.362 cup [US].” So that would be 1 1/3 cups.

Note that this answer is 1/3 cup more then the answer that Google gave us.

Next we select “Sugar, powdered, unsifted” and get a density of 0.507 g/cm3.  Then specify a quantity of 9 units and calculate the conversion from ounces to cups and we get “9 ounces [weight] = 2.127 cup [US] or 2 1/8 cups.

This time we get an exact match with Google’s answer. 

Next we select “Shortening, vegetable, household” and get a density of 0.866 g/cm3.  Then specify a quantity of 9 units and calculate the conversion from ounces to cups and we get “9 ounce [weight] = 1.245 cup [US]” or 1 1/4 cups.

This answer matches Google’s answer as well.

Next we select “Salt, table” and get a density of 1.234 g/cm3.  Then specify a quantity of 0.25 units and calculate the conversion from ounces to teaspoons and we get “0.25 ounce [weight] = 1.165 teaspoon {US]” or 1 teaspoon.

This answer matches Google’s answer as well.

Next we look for walnuts but the tool does not have that substance.  So we ask Google what is the density of walnuts, and Google says 481 kg/M3.  Now we can use this density in the tool, note that the unit-of-measure is kg/M3 and not g/cm3 that we have been using, but we can change that with the selector under density field.  Then specify a quantity of 2 units and calculate the conversion from ounces to cups and we get “2 ounce [weight] = 0.498 cup [US]” or 1/2 cup.

This answer matches Google’s answer as well.

Next we select “Cocoa, dry powder” and get a density of 363.501 kg/m3 or 0.364 g/cm3.  Then specify a quantity of 0.75 units and calculate the conversion from ounces to tablespoons and we get “0.75 ounce [weight] = 3.95 Tablespoon [US]” or 4 Tablespoons.

Note that this answer is one more tablespoon than the answer that Google gave us.  That’s okay because most recipes allow for imprecise measurements and getting close is good enough.  Overall I would say using the Weight to Volume Cooking Converter tool from OnlineConversion.com is easier to use and quicker than asking Google a thousand questions.

The converted Angel Food Cookies recipe for home use

Congratulations we are done.  We now have our converted recipe in the Recipe Converter tool of MyKitchenCalculator.com.  Note I added the volume measurements to the recipe by typing an equal sign and it’s value into the “Converted Recipe” section of the tool.  By doing this you can easily print it or copy and paste it. 

Or when using the Weight to Volume Cooking Converter tool from OnlineConversion.com the answer is a little bit different.  So don’t be afraid to experiment with your recipes, because recipes allow for imprecise measurements.

Share home recipe by posting comments

When you convert recipes on MitchellBakery.com please consider sharing your successes with the community by posting a comment at the bottom of the recipe with your home version of the recipe.

It took me about 20 minutes to convert this recipe, so by sharing your successes with others, it will save everyone the time and effort to do the conversion.  And who knows someone may come up with an improvement.  Let’s see who can get the best version of these Mitchell Bakery recipes posted.

As home recipes get posted via comments, I’ll add those recipe to the “Home Recipes” menu on MitchellBakery.com.  That way everyone can easily find the Mitchell Bakery recipes that have home versions available.

I have posted this version to the Angel Food Cookies recipe and will do a few others.

Angel Food Cookies

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-Original Recipe:

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24 oz.  flour

36 oz.  powdered sugar.

36 oz.  shortening

1 oz.  salt

8 oz.  walnuts

vanilla

Mix all together.  Cut with cutter and bake white.

Substitute 3 oz. cocoa for 3 oz. flour — Chocolate Angel Food.

3 oz. cocoa

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*Original recipe divided by 4

*Recipe rounded to nearest cooking fraction

6 oz. flour                        = 1 Cup to 1 1/3 cups

9 oz. powdered sugar    = 2 1/8 Cups

9 oz. shortening              = 1 1/4 Cups

1/4 oz. salt                      = 1 teaspoon

2 oz. walnuts                   = 1/2 Cup

vanilla                              = 1/8 teaspoon

Mix all together. Cut with cutter and bake white. 

Substitute 3 oz. cocoa for 3 oz. flour — Chocolate Angel Food. 

3/4 oz. cocoa                  = 2 3/4 tablespoons to 4 tablespoons