Generally speaking, yes – you want to add the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients. The other thing about adding wet to dry is that you’ll have to work harder to completely combine the ingredients, which can result in overmixing your dough/batter, which can mean overdevloping the gluten in the flour.

By now you’ve figured out there are three primary kitchen tools for measuring: measuring spoons, liquid measuring cups, and dry measuring cups. A kitchen scale is also helpful for measuring ingredients, as it can be used to measure pasta that doesn’t fit into measuring cups or for more precise amounts.

Carefully spoon pieces of shortening into the water until the water reaches the 1-cup mark. Pour off the water; there will be exactly 1/3 cup of shortening in the cup. The second method requires the solid shortening to be packed into a dry measuring cup with a rubber spatula.

Make a well in the dry ingredients, then gently pour wet ingredients into the center.

1. Stir the dry ingredients (flour, leavening, salt, spices) together.
2. When the wet ingredients are thoroughly combined, pour them into the well.
3. Stop mixing when the batter is just barely combined.

If you overmix, you will end up aerating the dough (adding air) which causes the cookies to rise and then fall, leaving you with flat cookies. So how do you know when to stop mixing?

Mixing the dry ingredients together first, and then doing the same with the wet ingredients, means that once you combine the two, you will have to do very little mixing. The less you mix the flour the less gluten has a chance to develop meaning you end up with a fluffier and light end product.

What are wet and dry ingredients? Eggs are wet ingredients.

BUT whether you are making cookies, muffins, cake, or pancakes, the general rule of baking is that dry ingredients should be combined together thoroughly in one bowl BEFORE you add the wet ingredients.

Sour cream, peanut butter, yogurt Thick ingredients, such as sour cream, need to be measured in a dry measuring cup, as liquid measuring cups aren’t as accurate. Spoon into a dry measuring cup, making sure there aren’t any air pockets in the cup.

In our Test Kitchen, we religiously use liquid and dry measures for their intended purpose, depending on what we’re measuring. Anything completely pourable (e.g., water, broth, milk) is measured in a liquid measure; anything we can scoop and level (e.g., flour, sugar, yogurt, peanut butter) is measured in the dry cups.

What is a dry measuring cup? Dry measuring cups are used for measuring solid (dry) ingredients like flour, sugar, oats, or baking powder. They’re made from plastic, metal or porcelain and are sold in sets.

When you don’t have either of these basic baking sets, here’s what you can use as a substitute:

1. measuring cup = standard coffee mug.
2. measuring tablespoon = dinner spoon.
3. measuring teaspoon = coffee spoon.

Pour more flour into the mug or use a spoon to scoop some out until you get it at the right level. If you need less than 1 cup (120 g) of flour, just fill the cup up less according to the amount you need. For example, if you need 1/2 cup (60 g) of flour, fill it up to about 7-8 mm below halfway.

You will require approximately 1.5 half cups to make 1 cup.

Measurement Equivalents and Abbreviations

1. 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon.
2. 4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup.
3. 5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon = 1/3 cup.
4. 8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup.
5. 1 cup = 1/2 pint.
6. 2 cups = 1 pint.
7. 4 cups (2 pints) = 1 quart.
8. 4 quarts = 1 gallon.

4 1/4 ounces