Turkish recipes give their measurements in glasses, and that usually works. But with some ingredients a glass measure produces a serious margin of error.

Volume equivalents

• 1 water glass - about 200 ml
• 1 tea glass - about 110 ml
• 1 tablespoon - about 15 ml
• 1 dessert spoon - about 7 ml
• 1 teaspoon - about 5 ml

Throughout this site a water glass is taken as 200 ml.

Fine for liquids, a problem for dry goods

With liquids such as water, milk and oil a glass is reliable: 200 ml is always 200 ml. But with dry ingredients such as flour, sugar and semolina, how you fill the glass changes the result.

A water glass of flour can weigh 140 grams packed down, or 120 grams spooned in loosely and levelled off. That fifteen per cent makes no difference in a soup, but in bread dough it changes the consistency completely.

Where scales are essential

Baking and desserts work like chemistry; once the ratios go wrong the result cannot be rescued:

• Bread and yeasted doughs - the water to flour ratio is critical
• Syrup soaked desserts such as baklava and revani - the syrup ratio
• Cakes and biscuits - the balance of fat to flour

For soups and pot dishes, on the other hand, glass measures are more than enough; you adjust the consistency by tasting anyway.

When measuring flour

Without scales, the method with the smallest margin of error is this: spoon the flour into the glass, do not tap the glass on the counter to settle it, and level the top off with the back of a knife. Dipping the glass into the flour bag is the method that produces the largest error.

An egg is a measurement too

When a recipe says "1 egg" it means roughly 50 grams without the shell (a medium egg). Use large eggs and in a cake calling for four you have added half an egg too much; in a delicate recipe that is noticeable.