Weigh or Pay!

I turned out that the folks at Cook's Illustrated HAD been in my brain. 
Over the six months or so, I bought copies of Cook's Illustrated  in bookstores. Each bi-monthly issue was more fascinating than the next. AND THEN I READ IT- the article on measuring flour! It warned against the dangers of spooning flour onto a measuring cup and then leveling it off. One could end up with 20% less flour! Their first recommendation was to weigh flour. The dip-and-sweep method was deemed the next reliable. AT&T rejoiced that day when I called my mom at "peak time" to share with her the wonderful news! 
For about the next ten years, I faithfully used a spring scale. I found it handy not only for baking but for measuring out ingredients I bought in bulk. I knew spring scales were less reliable than digital scales so I was delighted to find an inexpensive digital one at IKEA. That scale DROVE ME CRAZY because of quirky quarter-ounce increments. I owned it during my sleep-deprived days as a young mom. I did NOT need anything requiring extra brain power.
One of the very first tweets I received from Christopher Kimball (the editor of Cook's Illustrated/my superhero) was a positive review the OXO digital scale. The price almost matched a Bed, Bath, and Beyond gift card I had so I purchased it the next day. That baby is my friend. I lovingly refer to it as "the one kitchen gadget you didn't realize you needed until you have it." I use it almost every day. I started bread baking last winter and it's tare feature is so handy. I can put my bread machine pan/mixing bowl on the scale and tare it after each ingredient I add. This is what I did NOT do on Monday. Unlike King Arthur Flour and ATK Baking Cookbook, my Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Bread Machine Recipes doesn't list the ingredients weight. I was pressed for time - I had a little boy that wanted to play Raggedy School - so I didn't convert the recipe. Bad idea. My mind was on all sorts of back to school things and I lost count of how many half cups of bread flour I had put in. Then, I got so wrapped up in Raggedy School that I forgot to check on it while it was in the Zo.  Nearly four hours passed and I ended up with the picture you see below. What a waste of good ingredients yet an interesting blog post!