Grams, ounces, and the precision baking demands.

Weighing is the single biggest improvement most home cooks can make to their baking. Volume measurements are convenient, but they hide the variations that destroy sensitive recipes: the difference between a packed and a sifted cup of flour, the difference between damp and dry brown sugar, the difference between a heaped and a level tablespoon of cocoa.

The conversions this tool uses

• 1 gram (g) = 0.0353 ounces
• 1 kilogram (kg) = 1000 g = 2.20 lb
• 1 ounce (oz) = 28.3495 g
• 1 pound (lb) = 16 oz = 453.592 g

All conversions are based on the avoirdupois pound (the everyday pound used in the US and UK). Troy ounces and pounds, used for precious metals, are not included — they don't belong in a kitchen.

Why weight is more reliable than volume

Most volume measurements assume an idealised density that real ingredients don't share. Flour is the canonical example: an unsifted, scooped-and-levelled cup of all-purpose flour weighs about 150 g, while a sifted, spooned-and-levelled cup weighs about 113 g. That's a 32% difference for the same volume label, and it's enough to make cookies cakey and cakes dry.

Weight bypasses the problem entirely. A gram is a gram regardless of how the ingredient was loaded into the bowl. For the price of an inexpensive digital scale, you trade most of your baking failures for consistency.

Common weights worth memorising

• 1 stick of butter = 4 oz = 113 g = ½ cup
• 1 large egg (in shell) = ≈ 60 g; without shell ≈ 50 g
• 1 large egg yolk ≈ 18 g
• 1 large egg white ≈ 32 g
• 1 cup all-purpose flour = 120 g (King Arthur reference)
• 1 cup granulated sugar = 200 g
• 1 cup packed brown sugar = 213 g

Quick imperial ↔ metric mental math

For everyday kitchen estimation, two ratios cover most of what you'll need: 1 oz ≈ 28 g (round 30 if it's easier) and 1 lb ≈ 450 g. A 16-oz can of tomatoes is roughly 450 g; a 4-oz portion of meat is roughly 113 g. If you're estimating in your head, these two numbers will get you within 5% of any cooking weight you're likely to encounter.

Pairing weight with the scaler

The recipe scalerworks equally well with weights and volumes. If your source recipe is in grams, the scaler simply multiplies the gram values; if it's in cups, it does proper culinary-fraction rounding and unit promotion. To switch a volume recipe into a weight recipe, run each line through the ingredient converterfirst — that's the converter that knows the density of flour vs. honey vs. butter.