Calories in flour - please help!

CC lists 1 cup of white all-purpose flour as 455 calories, but how many calories are in a tablespoon?

Thanks!

It's best to go with weight.  1 heaped tablespoon is about 25g or an ounce = 100 cals.

1 TBSP = 1/16 cup

455/16 = 28.4375 cal

  See....?  Measuring solids by volume always throws up these kinds of discrepancies.  A level tablespoon, a heaped tablespoon, sifted flour, compressed flour straight out of the bag... all give you a different answer.  But 1oz is usually 100cals.

Well a tbsp = 15 grams so u just do the equation thing :P

THanks guys.    weighing the flour probably would give the most accurate answer - but the recipe I use calls for 1 tablespoon flour (flat - not heaped), 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 cup of skim milk - so I thought I should try to find the cals for a tablespoon.

All of these different measurements are very confusing - especially switching between volume/liquid measurements and gram/ounce measurements.

To make things even more confusing a "cup" in the UK = 284 millilitres, whereas in the US = 236.5 millilitres...

But I'm still not sure wether to go with 28 cals or 100 cals for my tablespoon of flour!

There are 16 level tablespoons of flour in 1 cup of flour. If CC is listing 455 calories in a level cup of flour then use this:  455/16 = 28.4375 cal

If you sift the flour first before measuring then you will have less flour. If you pack the flour down and then measure, you'll have more flour.

It would be more accurate to have the weight, but since you have to use volume for your recipe, then I'd use the 28 cal per tablespoon. Make sure you calculate all of your ingredients by volume for your recipe and you will be fairly accurate.

Original Post by dadivan:

Well a tbsp = 15 grams so u just do the equation thing :P

 A tablespoon (15mL) of water weighs 15g, water's the only thing that works like that.  Flour is much less dense, I would weigh it.

Maybe dadivan is weighing the actual spoon. ;o)

I'd put the bowl on the scale, zero it, then add the 1 tbsp. flour and see what the scale says it weighs.  Best of both worlds!

I just looked this up in Calorie King and it says 1 level T. is .6oz and 60 calories.  I hope that helps!

Calorie King is incorrect.   One level Tablespoon of flour weighs approximately 9 grams, which is equal to 0.32 ounces, not 0.6 ounces.  (If you don't believe this, take a Tablespoon of flour into your nearest high school or college chemistry lab and weigh it.)  If 1 ounce of flour (28.35 grams) really is 100 calories, then flour is approximately 3.5 calories per gram, thus 1 Tablespoon is about 32 calories (100/28.3 = 3.5 x 9 = 31.8).  If Calorie King is correct that 1 cup of flour = 455 calories, then 1 Tablespoon of flour is about 28 calories.  (There are 16 Tablespoons in a cup; 455 calories /16 Tablespoons = 28.4 calories/Tablespoon.)  The calorie count of 50-60 per Tablespoon is repeated many times over the internet, but this is wrong.  Unfortunately, if you work out the math, a lot of calorie counts on the internet (and in print) are wrong.  You just have to do the best you can at estimating calories with the imperfect information we have.  But don't take someone's word for it.  Do the math.