Converting Cups to Grams for Flour

Converting a cup recipe to grams is the quickest way to make it repeatable, but one gram figure does not fit every flour. Fine cake flour, coarse whole wheat, nut flours and dense semolina each pack into a cup differently, so a chart that lists a single number for "flour" can still lead you astray.

Below you will find typical spooned-and-leveled weights for the flours home bakers use most, guidance on fractions of a cup, and a simple process for converting a family recipe without losing what made it work.

Typical weights per cup

These figures assume the flour was stirred, spooned into a dry cup and leveled. Brands and humidity shift them by a few grams, which matters little in most recipes. If your recipe author lists their own conversion, use theirs instead, since that is the number their testing was based on.

Fractions scale directly: half a cup of all-purpose is about 60 g, a third of a cup about 40 g, and a quarter cup about 30 g. One tablespoon of all-purpose flour weighs roughly 8 g.

• All-purpose flour: about 120 g
• Bread flour: about 120 to 125 g
• Cake flour: about 110 to 115 g
• Pastry flour: about 105 to 115 g
• Whole wheat flour: about 113 to 120 g
• White whole wheat flour: about 113 g
• Medium rye flour: about 100 to 105 g
• Spelt flour: about 100 to 110 g
• Semolina: about 165 g; fine cornmeal: about 140 to 150 g
• Almond flour: about 96 to 100 g; oat flour: about 90 g; coconut flour: about 112 to 128 g

Why the numbers differ

Particle size and shape decide how tightly a flour packs. Cake flour is milled very fine and fluffs up, so a cup holds less. Whole wheat contains bran flakes that keep particles apart. Semolina is granular and dense, so it weighs far more per cup than soft wheat flour.

Gluten-free and nut flours are the least predictable. Almond flour from blanched almonds is lighter than almond meal with skins, and coconut flour soaks up liquid so aggressively that even a small weight error shows in the final texture.

Converting a family recipe

Ask how the original baker filled the cup, or think about how recipes were commonly made in that household. Many home cooks scooped directly from the canister. If so, scoop a cup of flour that way and weigh it; that weight is the true amount the recipe was built around.

Write the gram figure next to each ingredient and bake the recipe once as a test. If it matches your memory, the conversion is right. If it is drier or wetter, adjust the flour by 10 to 15 g at a time on the next bake rather than changing several ingredients together.

• Weigh every dry ingredient, not just flour, for the best result
• Round to the nearest 5 g for flour; precision below that rarely matters
• Keep small leaveners in teaspoons unless you have a 0.1 g scale

Flour in metric recipes from other countries

British, Australian and European recipes are usually written in grams already, but their flour types differ from American ones. UK plain flour is close to American all-purpose but often slightly lower in protein; UK strong flour corresponds to bread flour. Italian 00 is a fine grind and can be either soft or strong depending on its intended use.

Note that cup sizes also differ: an Australian cup is 250 ml, a little larger than the 240 ml American customary cup used in most US recipes. When an overseas recipe lists cups, the gram figures it provides are the safer guide.

Common questions

Can I use 125 g per cup instead of 120?

Yes, as long as you are consistent within one recipe. The 5 g difference is about 4 percent, which most cakes, muffins and breads tolerate. Delicate recipes such as macarons or chiffon cake benefit from following the author's exact gram weights.

How do I convert self-rising flour?

Self-rising flour weighs about the same per cup as all-purpose, roughly 115 to 120 g. Remember that it already contains baking powder and salt, so do not add the full amount of leavening a plain-flour recipe calls for.

Should I weigh flour for bread machine recipes?

Weighing helps a great deal, because bread machines cannot adjust for a dough that is too stiff or too wet. Use the gram weights if the recipe gives them, and check the dough in the first few minutes of kneading.