TikTok's Viral Measuring Technique Even Has Baking Pros Impressed

Bakers, hold onto your aprons because we have two words that are about to change your entire routine: reverse tare.

Of course, a few of you already knew about the magic of reverse taring. According to a recent TikTok video that's causing quite the stir among professional and hobby bakers alike, this is a little secret some have been keeping to themselves. Now, thanks to the almighty power of social media, more bakers will get to focus more on the baking and less on the dirtying and washing extra dishes.

Ana Calderone is the associate editor of food at People, and she recently posted a video all about reverse taring on TikTok with the caption, "Bakers: Have you all been doing this and no one told me??" The Takeout reports that this TikTok instantly wowed even seasoned food pros, like food and drink writer Tammy Teclemariam, who shared a link to the video on Twitter with the simple comment, "Omfg."

Comments on Calderone's video include a few knowing confirmations that reverse taring is a pro move, like user Benjamin the baker: "Yes measuring by negative weight is the way to go!" Even more comments, though, express that mind-blowing moment when you learn of something that should have seemed obvious, but it so wasn't until now, and your life is about to get a lot easier. Cooking and baking influencer Jeremy Scheck wrote, "GENIUS wow." So, for those of us not lucky enough to have been in the know until now, what is reverse taring?

Professional bakers champion the digital kitchen scale, favoring its accuracy for more foolproof results. Take it from Duff Goldman, who told Mashed, "If you know that you need 96 grams of flour, then you put a bowl on the scale and you weigh out 96 grams of flour. If you need a cup of flour, it's like, well, what's a cup? How much do I press it down? Do I pack it all the way in there, do I leave it very loose? And when you're weighing ingredients, you get the same result every time."

In her TikTok video, Ana Calderone says that she, too, bakes by weight and not volume, but points out that this usually means measuring into different containers on your scale, which means more time and more dishes to wash. Calderone says she found the "reverse tare" trick on TikTok, herself, and when she asks commenters for help finding that video to credit it, someone suggests Rachel Stewart of rachel.stewart.fitness, who posted the hack in June (via TikTok). Basically, instead of weighing ingredients into separate containers, you just take your sack of flour or tub of sour cream, etc., and place it on the scale. Then hit the "tare" button to set the measurement to zero. Scoop the ingredient out right into your mixing bowl, until the scale reads negative the measurement you need — i.e., for 160 grams of flour in a recipe, you'd scoop until the scale says -160 (per The Takeout).

What do you think: is this old news? A game-changer? Will you be trying it?