Basic ratios and household measures
Dough, sauce and dressing ratios, spoons and glasses in grams, baker's percentage.
What are the basic ratios?
Basic ratios give the amount of each ingredient relative to the others in doughs, thickeners and salad dressings. If you know the ratio, you can scale a recipe to any quantity. Dough, salt and thickener ratios are by weight. That is why you need a scale for them.
Doughs and pastry
| Item | Ratio | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Bread | 5 flour : 3 water | Salt is 2% of the flour |
| Fresh pasta | 3 flour : 2 egg | |
| Pie dough | 3 flour : 2 fat : 1 water | Keep the fat cold |
| Pound cake | 1 : 1 : 1 : 1 | Flour, sugar, fat, egg |
| Choux (éclair dough) | 2 : 1 : 1 : 2 | Water, butter, flour, egg |
| Crêpe | 2 liquid : 2 egg : 1 flour |
Sauces and thickeners
| Item | Ratio | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Mayonnaise | About 20 oil : 1 egg yolk | By weight. Do not serve raw egg to anyone who is pregnant, elderly, a young child or immunocompromised |
| Custard | 2 liquid : 1 egg | By weight. This is not a starch-thickened pudding |
| Roux (meyane) | 1 flour : 1 fat | For a medium sauce, use about 50 g flour and 50 g fat per liter of liquid |
| Sugar syrup (şerbet) | 1:1 light, 2:1 heavy | Sugar : water |
| Stock | 3 water : 2 bones | Keep at a gentle simmer, do not boil |
| Cornstarch | 3–5% | For sauce thickness. Heat until it boils |
| Gelatin | 1–1.5% soft, 2–3% sliceable | 1 sheet is about 2 g |
Salad dressing (oil : acid, by spoon)
Dressing ratios are given by spoon, which means by volume. Pomegranate molasses is a thick, sour syrup of reduced pomegranate juice, sold at Middle Eastern groceries and online. If you cannot find it, use balsamic glaze with a little lemon juice. Pomegranate molasses is denser than oil. That is why the 3 : 2 by spoon in Gavurdağı, a chopped tomato and walnut salad, comes to about 1 : 1 by weight (40 g oil, 40 g pomegranate molasses).
| Salad | Ratio | Acid |
|---|---|---|
| Shepherd's salad (çoban salata), vinaigrette (a dressing of oil and acid) | 3 : 1 | Lemon |
| Gavurdağı | 3 : 2 | Pomegranate molasses |
| Shirazi | 1 : 3 | Lemon, oil optional |
| Pico de gallo | 0 : 1 | Lime, no oil |
| Horiatiki | 4 : 1 | Red wine vinegar |
| Fattoush | 1 : 1 | 3 spoons oil to 2 spoons lemon and 1 spoon pomegranate molasses |
Dishes built on this rule: Shepherd's Salad · Fattoush · Gavurdağı Salad · Horiatiki · Pico de Gallo · Salad-e Shirazi
Pilav: Baldo rice (medium-grain; Calrose works) takes about 1.5 glasses of water for each glass of rice, measured with the same glass. Depending on the type of rice, the water can go up to 1.8 glasses. This ratio is by glass, which means by volume. That is why you measure the rice and the water with the same glass.
Dishes built on this rule: Rice Pilaf
How many grams are in household measures?
A 200 ml glass holds about 200 g water, 100–110 g flour, 170 g granulated sugar or 170 g rice. Grams are the main measure because table spoons and glasses are not standard. A 200 ml glass is also not a US cup, which is 240 ml. That is why this site uses two spoon measures: 1 tsp (5 ml) and 1 Tbsp (15 ml). If you have no measuring spoons, 5 ml is about 1 level dessert spoon.
| Ingredient | 1 tsp (5 ml) | 1 Tbsp (15 ml) |
|---|---|---|
| Fine table salt | 6 g | 18 g |
| Ground black pepper | 2.3 g | 6.9 g |
| Ground cinnamon | 2.6 g | 7.8 g |
| Olive oil | 14 g |
| 200 ml glass | Approximate weight |
|---|---|
| Water | 200 g |
| Flour | 100–110 g |
| Granulated sugar | 170 g |
| Rice | 170 g |
The weight of coarse salt and rock salt in a spoon changes with the brand and the grain size. That is why you weigh these salts.