English
Ingredients
A lot of American ingredients can be hard to find in Italy, which is why I’m compiling a list of my favorite places to shop, mostly in and around Milan. Please send on your suggestions for stores in other parts of Italy as well!
Esselunga: Supermarket where you can find maple syrup, sour cream, tortillas, and peanut butter.
Superpolo: Carries a large variety of foodstuffs from around the world with many american and English specialties. Here you can find just about anything, molasses, sour cream, maple syrup, peanut butter, pancake and cookie mixes, cranberry juice, etc, etc.
(3 locations in Milan)
VIALE S. MICHELE DEL CARSO 5, tel: 02 4986346
LARGO LA FOPPA 1, tel: 02 6571760
9, VIA PACIOLI FRA LUCA 9, tel: 02 89405749
Kathay International Foodstores: A large International foods market specializing in Asian goods, but which also carries some North American and English foods, this is my favorite place to shop in Milan, I could spend hours browsing the shelves.
Plaza Latina: Specializes in Latin American products, you can also order items directly from the website.
Conversions:
As most of us know by know, Americans usually measure ingredients by volume, while most of the rest of the world measures by weight. (We just LOVE to be different, don’t we?) While I grew up using cups and tablespoons, I’ve grown more comfortable measuring by weight. It’s a more precise calculation, especially when it comes to the exacting science of baking involving tricky ingredients like flour that seem change volume at will. I’ve gotten quite good at converting recipes back and forth between weight/ volume or metric/English, over the years, so I’d like to share with you some of my learnings.
General Measurements:
1 US cup = 16 US tablespoons = 236 mL
1 Tablespoon = 3 teaspoons = 15 mL
1 quart = 4 cups = 0.95 liters
1 ounce = 28 grams
1 pound = 16 ounces = 454 grams
Butter:
1 cup = 230 g
1 Tablespoon = 14.5 g
1 stick = 1/2 cup = 8 Tbsp = 115 g
Flour:
European and American flours are different, and can cause some confusion in the kitchen. The weight of flour varies greatly depending on the kind, and using flour with the wrong gluten content can have disastrous results. I put together this handy chart to save you all the stress I’ve suffered over collapsed cookies!
| French | Italian | American | Grams per cup |
| t 45 | farina 00 | Cake/Pastry flour | 115 g / cup |
| t 55 | farina 0 | all-purpose | 125 g / cup |
| t 65 | farina 1 | high gluten | 140 g / cup |
| t 150 | integrale | whole wheat | 120 g / cup |
| de grau | manitoba | bread flour | 130 g / cup |
| epeautre | farro | spelt | 100 g / cup |
| seigle | segale | rye | Light: 100 g / cup Dark: 125 g / cup |
| sarrasin | saraceno | buckweat | 120 g / cup |
Sugar:
White Sugar: 1 cup = 200 g
Brown Sugar: 1 cup = 220 g
Powdered Sugar: 1 cup= 120 g
Buttermilk/ Milk/ Yogurt:
1 cup = 245 g
1 liter = 1030 g
Water:
1 cup = 236 g
Baking soda and powder:
1 Tbsp baking soda = 14 g
1 tsp baking soda = 5 g
Substitutions:
Sour cream: Whip 1 cup fresh cream to form soft peaks, fold in 1 tsp of lemon juice and 1/2 tsp of salt.
Buttermilk: Stir together 1/2 cup skim milk with 1/2 cup yogurt and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Let sit for 5 minutes at room temperature before using.
Brown sugar: Beat together 1 cup white sugar with 1 Tbsp of molasses. If you can’t find molasses, you can use honey and a bit of water.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
May I just say “I love you”? I’ve been going crazy over all of the ingredients in the recipes for the past three years, making a mess of every single cookie and piece of brownie!! So…thank you!
Thank you Paola, that’s so sweet! I’m so glad I could help!!
Hi Laurel,
just found your blog, and I’ve already found lots of info I needed. I still have a quesiton though: what’s the italian name for baking soda? I could only find baking powder ( I assume it’s “lievito in polvere”, like Bartolini’s; it has a slight vanilla-ish scent to it, but I don’t mind at all). But I can’t find anyuthing that resembles bakig soda! Any pointers?
Hi! You’re right, baking powder is “lievito in polvere” or “lievito per dolci”, etc. Baking soda is called “bicarbonato di sodio”, but you’ll have to ask where they keep it because it’s nowhere near the baking aisle. Sometimes I’ve found it with the cleaning products, or with the vitamins, etc, as a “digestive aid”.
Good luck!
-L
Yep, that’s what I thought, but it just didn’t seem right :) I found it next to the other digestive aid (good stuff, btw). I used it once, but somehow my pancakes came out tasting funny, maybe I used too much…I’ll try again balancing it with the lievito and se what happens.
Thanks! If you are ever around Lago Maggiore let me know and we’ll have a bbq :)
Searching internet for lievito substitutes I found your blog. I am in the US trying to make an Amaretto cake and had no idea what to substitute la bustina di lievito with…Now I know! Grazie mille.
This is fantastic…may I ask, “dove posso comprare” extracts (lemon, vanilla, etc) here in Milan?
Hi Hannah! I have found them at Kathay International in via Rosmini!
this is so wonderful, thank you!
can you recommend which flour to use for your banana pancake recipe?
Ciao Katy! All-purpose flour if you’re in the states, or farina ’00′ if you are in Italy!