In savory cooking, fluid measurement functions largely as an estimate. When braising short ribs, whether you dump 59 mL or 65 mL of red wine into the pot produces no measurable change in the finished dish.
Baking volume accuracy obeys different laws. Pastry production relies on strict chemical balances between starch, fat, leavening agents, and water. A classic pie dough requires precise hydration: too little water leaves gluten strands undeveloped and crumbly, while an excess yields tough, rubbery pastry.
Professional pastry chefs avoid fluid ounces and volume markings entirely, leaning instead on dry and liquid mass measured on digital bench scales.
Water possesses a density of exactly 1.00 gram per milliliter at room temperature. Measuring 59.15 mL of water on a digital scale returns 59.15 grams. If a novice baker relies on an FDA-rounded chart and weighs out 60 grams of liquid for a 2 fl oz specification, the dough absorbs slightly more liquid than the recipe developer intended. When multiplying that formulation across a 50-loaf commercial sourdough batch, that fractional rounding adds nearly half a liter of unexpected water, weakening dough structure and flattening oven spring.
