If a recipe calls for 10 ounces of grain, approximately how many cups would that be?

1 and ¼ cups at 8 ounces per cup.

Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/10_oz_equals_how_many_cups#ixzz19pieUQn7

Ounces by weight? Or, ounces, like how many ounces in a cup? @Math321 is right 8 ounces in a cup, so 10 ounces it 1¼ cups. But if it is a weight measure the answer is different. You would need a scale to weigh the farro. Is it an American recipe? Then you can safely assume it means a 1¼ cups. If it is a recipe from another country possibly it is a weight measurement.

don’t measuring cups have an oz. measuring side?

@the_state_of_wisconsin Not always. Especially dry measure many times don’t. The ones that are exactly a cup and you can level off the ingredient with a knife.

According to this recipe 10 ounces for farro is about 1–½ cups.

@occ You need to go back and PM the person who gave you that recipe and find out whether they mean ounces as a weight, or as a dry measure of volume. If volume, then it is 1¼ cups just as @Math321 said. If weight, then just put a container on your kitchen scale, note the weight of the container in ounces, and then add enough tarro to the container to take it up 10 ounces in weight.

@JLeslie and @the_state_of_wisconsin when they say that there are 8 ounces in a cup they mean that in a measure of water. A cup of water weighs 8 ounces. If you put something else in the cup, like oil or flour, it’s not going to weigh the same as water because of density. A cup of lead will weight differently to a cup of feathers, but an ounce of lead weights the same as an ounce of feathers. I don’t use cup measures in my cooking or soapmaking. Always weights. Always in grams.

I don’t know what farro is, but I suggest getting a kitchen scale. They’re brilliant. and going metric… metric is easier.

@cazzie I know. Isn’t that what I said? See my first answer.

@JLeslie I didn’t see any reference to water in your post. Just ‘8 ounces is in 1 cup so 10 ounces is 1¼ cup’ and ‘Then you can safely assume it means a 1¼ cups.’

I’m simply trying to clarify that when a recipe states a weight, it means weight and not ‘cups’. The measures aren’t so important with cooking, but if she’s baking, it could mean a great deal.

@cazzie I did not mention the water, but I did say, “Ounces by weight? Or, ounces, like how many ounces in a cup? @Math321 is right 8 ounces in a cup, so 10 ounces it 1¼ cups. But if it is a weight measure the answer is different. You would need a scale to weigh the farro.” Of course different ingredients weigh different amounts. Just another reason why metric is better, what can I say.

If the recipe calling for 10oz was written by someone British, it will certainly be referring to actual weight in ounces, not volume. We do not measure dry ingredients by volume.

@JLeslie i’m confused. What is ounces when it’s not being a measure of weight? Saying there are 8 ounces in a cup in not accurate. You should say ‘a cup of water or milk will be 8 ounces’. That’s all I’m saying. I like metric because 1 litre of water or milk weighs 1kg and volumes of things are easier to work out. I deal in weights and measures, volumes, packages, all day, so I’m just trying to explain things in ways that are accurate and understandable.

We deal in liquid measures as well, and call them millilitres because they are not a measure of weight, only volume.

@cazzie If something in a recipe uses liters, you know it is liquid. If something in a recipe says grams you know it is weight. In our measure the word ounce is used in both types of measures (by the way I think we are ageeing, and maybe my original wording is either written poorly or simply we would organize the sentence differently). There are 16 ounces in a pound, and there are 8 ounces in a cup. In America typically liquid and dry measure in a recipe is given in cups, not weight. However, if something comes in a can, bottle, or small box, sometimes the net weight of the box is used in a recipe. For instance a recipe might call for a one pound box of confectioners sugar, or a 10¾ ounce can of cream of mushroom soup, and so on. But, with grain I would doubt the box or bag is being referenced. What is odd is in America it is very very rare to see a recipe call for ounces for liquid or dry measure because it is customary to use cups, fraction of a cup, or tablespoons and teaspoons. It is very common for grain measure to be by cups. One cup rice to two cups water. One cup oatmeal to 3 cups water, etc.

So, in conclusion, as an American, it is difficult to be sure, because it would be an unlikely measure in a recipe here.

I should have added to my last answer that in addition to the fact that it is rare for grain to be measured by weight in a recipe in America, most Americans do not have a kitchen scale.

@Cazzie Maybe this will help sort the confusion.

One more link to show a typical American recipe. A cup equals 8 ounces of “liquid” measure, including the dry ingredients.

Apparently farro is not like rice in that it needs to soak up all the liquid in order to be cooked. You simmer it until cooked, and drain off the excess. The ratio is 1 cup uncooked farro yields 2–½ cups cooked.

Cook 1–½ cups of farro in 4 cups of water, and drain. 10 oz (weight) of farro measures out to be about 1–½ cups, as I mentioned above.

The difference between cooking up 1–¼ cups farro vs. 1–½ cups farro is 5/8 of a cup of cooked grain. 3–1/8 cups vs 3–¾ cups. It would be easier to err on the side of more cooked farro than less cooked farro because you can always add a little more of the other indgredients to tweak the taste. If you don’t have enough, the dressing/seasoning may come off as too strong.

@BarnacleBill So it cooks up like pasta. I didn’t know that. Very useful info, I agree with your recommendation. Cook the larger amount, and then start with slightly less in the recipe, and add more if it seems to need the balance of the cooked farro. GA.

@JLeslie thanks for all of that. That really clears things up but how does anyone bake there? haha. I find that way of doing things very confusing. When a recipe calls for something defined as a weight, I expect it to be a weight. Like I said,... in metric, if they want it measured in a liquid measure they will actually say ml, instead of mg or g, but they don’t generally do that because it’s confusing. Some of my ingredients come in liter or ml measures, but I have to realise that that doesn’t always equal what it is in grams or kilograms, so I have to be consistent and use only weight in my recipes.

I remember my mother (who was American) cooking and it was such an art. Pinches and dashes and cups and packed cups….. eeek. Her baking was an art, and I’m just a bench-top chemist. I can’t bake bread to save my life! (thank goodness my husband can) but I can work out how many moles in a milligram based on molecular weight. Kind of useless if you are starving, eh? lol. Thanks again for baring with me. You explained things perfectly.

@cazzie Well in America everything in a recipe is assumed to be “liquid” measure, not weight. If they use weight it is clarified, as in the example I cited, one pound box of confectioners sugar. It would not say simple 16oz confectioners sugar. Same with the soup 10¾ ounce cream of mushroom soup. Weight is almost always used only to describe a whole can or whole box of something, so you don’t have to measure it at all in your kitchen. Half of the Amercians who use that soup in the recipe probably don’t even realize if it is weight or liquid measure, they just look for the can that says the right thing. The only other time we use weight is with meat. A recipe may call for 1 pound of ground beef, and everything else would be listed in liquid measure (cups, and teaspoons).

It doesn’t help that a cup is not a cup in every part of the world. We usually don’t think of the differences in cups, but most people are aware an imperial gallon is larger than an American gallon.

Cooking with weight measure I would think to be more accurate. When someone is baking a cake, a cup of flour, if the flour is packed down, might be too much flour. Weight measure takes care of that problem.

@JLeslie But what if one kind of flour is more/less dense that the average? You could have too much of a light flour or not enough of a heavy flour.

@Math321 But the recipe would account for that. The recipe would say the measurement you need. 300 grams wheat flour for instance. Whoever creates the recipe is giving you the measure for that recipe. If you substitute a different flour you might have to adjust the recipe, same sometimes with cups.

They use brand names too quite a bit…. like ‘one can of Campbells mushroom soup’.... and the rest of us are left with… um… how much is that? hahaha…

@cazzie Funny.