Digital Kitchen Scale - Chef's Tool or Weight Weenie's Toy

Chuck — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 23:23:00 -0400

For the last several years, I’ve been thinking about getting a digital kitchen scale, mainly for baking. I really like the idea of dumping ingredients by weight into one big bowl versus using multiple wet and dry measuring cups, which means faster measuring, less cleaning and more precise quantities.

Besides cooking or baking, you can also use the scale to measure food serving sizes. I have a portion control problem so it would be interesting to see how many servings I actually consume. Additionally, being a weight weenie, I can finally weigh my bike parts and verify the actual part weight versus the manufacturer’s claimed weight.

The editors of Cook’s Illustrated recommend the Soehnle 65055 (shown below).

“With the combination of an easily deciphered display, generous capacity (to 11 pounds), and roomy platform, the attractively modern Soehnle Futura has been our favorite digital kitchen scale since our 2003 testing. Recently, the Futura has been replaced by Soehnle’s new model 65055 -an even sleeker, lighter scale. Though the new model loses just over a pound in maximum capacity, it offers a more durable on-, off-, and zero-setting tare button alongside a gram/pound conversion button-conveniently relocated from the scale’s inaccessible underside-and, to a baker’s delight, extends the measurement reading one decimal place farther, into the hundredths, starting at 1 gram (or 0.05 ounces). It’s our new scale of choice.”

Cook’s Illustrated’s runner up model is the Salter Baker’s Dream Aquatronic Kitchen Scale. I opted for a less expensive model and purchased an Escali Primo Digital Kitchen Scale (shown above right). It’s a rare event that I don’t purchase the recommended/more expensive item but I decided to go with the value choice and went for the $25 scale. It has received positive feedback from Amazon reviewers.

Here are some buying tips to consider before purchasing a digital scale.

Display - for ease of reading, choose a scale with a large display with a good viewing angle. The display should also be good distance away from the weighing platform. Otherwise, a large bowl will obstruct the digital read out. The Soehnle 65055 is a good example of these features. My Escali’s display can be blocked by a very large bowl.
Large Weighing Platform - if you plan on weighing ingredients directly on the scale (no bowl), pick one with a large platform.
Capacity - choose a scale with a capacity of at least 11 lb or 5 Kg. If you’re using a heavy bowl, the amount of ingredients can be limited with lower capacity scales.
Decimals - make sure the scale can display at least one tenth of an once (0.1) weight increments.
Buttons - choose a scale with buttons that can be easily accessed with a large bowl on the platform, particularly the tare button.
Auto Shut-Off - is a great feature to extend battery life but it can be annoying if it’s too short and does not allow you to finish adding the current ingredient being measured. Pick a scale with at least a 4 or 5 minute auto shut-off time.

I haven’t baked using my new scale yet, but I learned that I ate more than twice the serving size of my favorite granola. Sure, I could have used a measuring cup to determine a serving size but it’s much easier to place a bowl on a scale, tare it out and weigh the serving size. I also discovered that the 55 gram Topeak pump that I bought recently is actually 62 grams. That’s seven whole grams that I didn’t account for on my bike!

So far, I’m very pleased with my Escali scale but the real test will come during my next baking session. I’m thinking… thick and chewy chocolate chunk cookies with BIG chunks of Scharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate.

Sprenzy Shopping Blog: Digital Kitchen Scale - Chef's Tool or Weight Weenie's Toy

Digital Kitchen Scale - Chef's Tool or Weight Weenie's Toy