2 Cups Bread Flour in Grams
240 g — that is what 2 cups of bread flour weighs, spooned and levelled, per King Arthur Baking. It sounds like a small detail, but in baking and in any recipe written in grams, it is the detail that decides whether the result matches the recipe writer's kitchen. Cups are convenient and grams are accurate, and this page bridges the two for bread flour with a full table, practical examples, and the method notes that make the number trustworthy. Treat every figure here as approximate and check it against a scale when the stakes are high.
Why this number is worth knowing
Bread Flour shows up in recipes written both ways — cups in American cookbooks, grams in European ones — and translating between them is where most kitchen errors happen. Knowing that 2 cups of bread flour is about 240 g means you can follow either kind of recipe without converting on the fly, and you can scale a recipe up or down without the rounding errors that creep in when you convert cup by cup. It also means you can compare recipes: if two recipes for the same dish call for very different amounts of bread flour, the gram weights make the difference obvious in a way cups never do. Keep the table below bookmarked and the conversion becomes second nature.
Bread Flour cups to grams conversion table
| Cups | Grams | Tablespoons (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 cup | 30 g | 1.9 g |
| 1/3 cup | 40 g | 2.5 g |
| 1/2 cup | 60 g | 3.8 g |
| 2/3 cup | 80 g | 5 g |
| 3/4 cup | 90 g | 5.6 g |
| 1 cup | 120 g | 7.5 g |
| 1 1/2 cups | 180 g | 11.2 g |
| 2 cups | 240 g | 15 g |
| 3 cups | 360 g | 22.5 g |
| 4 cups | 480 g | 30 g |
The tablespoon column is a bonus for recipes that call for a spoonful or two: one tablespoon of bread flour weighs about 7.5 g. Remember that a cup is 16 tablespoons, so the numbers in the table are just the cup weight divided by 16, rounded sensibly. For small amounts a scale that reads to the gram is far more reliable than a spoon, because a heaped tablespoon can weigh half as much again as a level one.
How the weight was measured
Spooned and levelled means the ingredient was measured the way King Arthur Baking measures it: spooned into the measuring cup until heaped, then levelled with a straight edge. Never scoop the cup through the bag or jar, and never tap the cup down, because both pack the ingredient and add weight. The source for the 120 g per cup figure is King Arthur Baking, and the confidence in the value is high. King Arthur Baking publishes a standard ingredient weight chart that recipe developers use as a reference, and this page follows it exactly rather than averaging across sources, because an average of two different measuring methods is a number that matches nobody's cup.
There is a dispute worth knowing about. Same disputed range as all-purpose flour; King Arthur lists 120 g per cup spooned and levelled, while scooped cups can reach 130 g or more. The practical advice is simple: use the value in the table above, measure the way the table describes, and your results will match the recipes this site is built around. If a recipe you are following was written with a different value, follow that recipe's value instead of ours, because consistency within one recipe matters more than which authoritative number you pick.
Worked examples
Doubling a cookie batch for a bake sale
Doubling a cookie recipe that uses 1 cup of bread flour means you need 2 cups, which is 240 g. Doubling by volume doubles the measuring error too, so weighing is worth even more here than in a single batch. Spoon and level the flour if you must use cups, but weighing 240 g is faster and more reliable, and it keeps the spread of the cookies consistent from the first tray to the last.
A bread dough with a hydration target
Bread bakers think in hydration — the weight of water as a percentage of the weight of flour. With 2 cups of bread flour at 240 g, a 65% hydration dough needs about 156 g of water. That calculation is only possible because the flour is weighed; in cups, hydration is guesswork. If your dough feels too stiff or too slack, check the flour weight first before blaming the recipe.
Pancakes on a busy morning
A pancake recipe asking for 1 1/2 cups of bread flour needs 180 g. Pancakes are quick, and weighing the flour straight into the bowl is actually faster than spooning and levelling three half-cups. The batter stays lump-free because the flour has not been compressed, and the pancakes cook evenly because every batch starts from the same weight.
How accurate is this conversion?
The figure on this page — 240 g for 2 cups of bread flour — is approximate, and it is honest to say so. The source value is 120 g per cup, spooned and levelled, from King Arthur Baking, and the confidence in that value is high. Real kitchens vary: the same ingredient from a different brand, a different grind, or a different storage history can weigh a few grams more or less per cup. For everyday cooking that variation does not matter. For baking, where a few grams can change the outcome, it does — which is why the advice on this page is always the same: use the table for planning and converting, and verify with a kitchen scale when the recipe matters. The scale is the only measuring tool that measures what is actually in the bowl.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams is 2 cups of bread flour?
2 cups of bread flour weighs approximately 240 g, measured spooned and levelled. The figure comes from the King Arthur Baking value of 120 g per cup. All weights on this page are approximate — verify with a kitchen scale when precision matters.
How many cups is 240 g of bread flour?
240 g of bread flour is 2 cups — the conversion works in both directions, since 120 g equals one cup. If your recipe is written in grams and your tools are cups, divide the gram weight by 120 to get cups.
How do I measure bread flour without a scale?
Use the spoon-and-level method: spoon bread flour into a dry measuring cup until it is heaped above the rim, then level it with the back of a knife. Do not scoop the cup through the bag and do not tap it down. For 2 cups, repeat for a second cup. It is less accurate than weighing 240 g, but it is the best cup method available.
Does the brand of bread flour change the weight?
It can, by a few grams per cup. Different brands mill, grind or process bread flour slightly differently, and moisture content varies with storage. The King Arthur Baking value of 120 g per cup is a standard reference, not a measurement of your specific packet — another reason to verify with a scale for important recipes.
What is the easiest way to weigh 2 cups of bread flour?
Put your mixing bowl on a digital scale, press tare to zero it, and pour or spoon in bread flour until the display reads 240 g. Add other dry ingredients on top, taring between each one, and you can measure a whole recipe in one bowl with no extra washing up.