Kitchen measures

Nobody weighs the vanilla syrup for every latte: they give it two pumps. A kitchen measure records what one of those is for a particular ingredient, such as "1 pump = 10 ml" of vanilla syrup, "1 tbsp = 8 g" of plain flour or "1 shot = 9 g" of espresso beans. Once it's set, you can write recipe amounts in it, and recipes show "2 pumps" where that reads better than "20 ml".

Costing doesn't change

Brikly still stores and costs every recipe line in g, ml or items. A measure only changes how an amount is typed in and how it's shown. "2 pumps" of vanilla syrup is saved, and costed, as 20 ml.

Why there's no standard tablespoon

A tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of sugar weigh different amounts, and a pump is whatever your pump dispenses. A generic "1 tbsp = 15 ml" would quietly put the wrong cost on a recipe, so Brikly never assumes one. You measure one out, weigh it, and enter what yours holds. That's also why the recipe unit list has no tbsp, cup or pump of its own: each ingredient gets the measures you give it.

Adding a measure

1. Open the ingredient from CostingBrik > Ingredients. The Kitchen measures card sits below its details, on the Ingredient details tab the page opens on.
2. Click Add a measure.
3. Name - type the name your team uses, or tap a suggestion: tsp, tbsp, cup, pump, shot, scoop, can, ladle or pinch. A name such as "double shot" is fine too. Names are up to 30 characters, and each one can be used once per ingredient (capitals don't make it a different name).
4. Plural - filled in as you type the name: pump becomes pumps, pinch becomes pinches, and tsp and tbsp stay as they are. Change it if it's wrong. It's used for 2 or more, as in "2 pumps".
5. One [name] is - the amount and its unit. Brikly never suggests an amount: "Measure one out and weigh it: what your pump holds, not a standard one." An amount in kg or l is saved in g or ml.
6. Use as the default for [ingredient] - see The default measure. The first measure on an ingredient is always the default.
7. Click Add measure.

An ingredient can have up to 8 measures. The card lists each one as "1 pump = 10 ml", with its plural and how many recipes have lines entered in it ("Used in 3 recipes").

Examples:

Ingredient	Measure
Vanilla syrup	1 pump = 10 ml
Plain flour	1 tbsp = 8 g
Espresso beans	1 shot = 9 g

Which units a measure can use

The units on offer depend on how the ingredient is priced:

• Priced by weight (g, kg, ml, l): a measure in ml or l needs the ingredient's density, because Brikly has to turn the millilitres into grams to cost them. If it isn't set, choosing ml opens Set density first, and the measure takes ml once you've saved it.
• Priced by volume (ml, l, g, kg): a measure in g or kg needs the density in the same way.
• Priced per item, such as a jar or a bottle (each, plus g or ml): a g measure needs the weight of one item, and an ml measure the volume of one item. Until the ingredient has them, g and ml aren't in the list. For a 1 litre bottle of vanilla syrup priced per bottle, add its volume of 1,000 ml first (see Changing how an ingredient is measured), then "1 pump = 10 ml".

The default measure

The default measure is the one recipes show automatically. Any recipe line of the ingredient shows in it when the amount comes out even:

• a whole number of the measure, or a whole number and a quarter, half or three quarters (¼, ½, ¾). An amount within 2% of that counts as even;
• no more than 12 of them.

With "1 pump = 10 ml" as the default for vanilla syrup, a latte with 20 ml shows "2 pumps · 20 ml" and one with 25 ml shows "2½ pumps · 25 ml". 23 ml doesn't come out even, so it shows "23 ml" as before. A bread dough with 500 g of plain flour still shows 500 g, not "62½ tbsp", because that's more than 12.

To use another measure as the default, open the measure's menu (the three dots) and choose Make default. To have no default, choose Stop using as default on the current one: recipe lines then show their amount as entered, unless a line was entered in a measure.

Entering recipe amounts in a measure

On the recipe create or edit screen:

1. Pick the ingredient on the line.
2. Open its Unit list. After the usual units, the ingredient's measures are listed with what one is, for example pump (10 ml).
3. Choose the measure and type how many in the quantity box, for example 2. Under the box, the line shows what that comes to: "= 20 ml".

If the line already had an amount, Brikly converts it into the measure, and switching back to g or ml converts it the other way. The line's cost is worked out from the g or ml it stands for, so it's the same either way.

Add a measure... at the foot of the Unit list opens the same form for that ingredient without leaving the recipe. Once you save it, the line switches to the new measure. It isn't offered once the ingredient has 8 measures.

A line you entered in a measure always shows in that measure, with no limit of 12 ("16 tbsp · 128 g"), as long as the count still comes out even. Other lines of the ingredient show in its default measure by the rules above.

A few things to know:

• Ingredient lines only. A base recipe line has no measures, and neither do the recipes you build for till modifiers.
• A measure that no longer works is greyed out. If the ingredient has lost what a measure needs since it was made, the Unit list shows it disabled with the reason, for example "Needs a density", "Needs a weight per item" or "Needs a volume per item". Lines already saved keep their amounts and show in g or ml.
• Versions follow the costed amount. Re-entering 16 g of flour as 2 tbsp keeps the line at 16 g, so on its own it doesn't record a new version.

Where the counts show

• The recipe page - the Batch ingredients list, for example "2 pumps · 20 ml". The per-portion list shows counts only when the recipe makes one portion.
• The Method tab - the ingredient list beside the steps, including the ingredients of a base recipe you expand there, worked out at the amount this recipe uses.
• The recipe card - printed as "2 pumps (20 ml)", on base recipe breakdowns too. See Method and recipe cards.
• Kitchen tablets - the Recipes screen on the kiosk, with the g or ml in grey under the count, worked out again for the batch multiplier: "2 pumps" at ×1 reads "4 pumps" at ×2.
• AI assistants connected through the Brikly Connector, which read the count alongside the amount, so they can say "2 pumps".

The g or ml amount is always shown beside the count, and Brikly works the count out from what is costed, so the two never disagree.

Changing or deleting a measure

Open the measure's menu (the three dots) on the ingredient's Kitchen measures card.

• Edit changes the name, plural, amount or default. If you change the amount, for example the pump turns out to give 15 ml, every recipe keeps its g and ml exactly as they were, and so its cost. Only the counts are worked out again: a line that no longer comes out even (20 ml doesn't come out even in 15 ml pumps) shows in g or ml. To have those recipes use 2 of the new pump, edit them. If any recipe would read differently, Brikly shows you which first (see Changing a measure's amount).
• Delete asks you to confirm, for example "Delete the pump measure?", and says how many recipes have lines entered in it: "Used in 3 recipes. Their lines will show in g or ml, or in the default measure." Amounts and costs don't change. Deleting the default leaves the ingredient with no default until you choose another.

Changing a measure's amount

When you change the amount or unit of a measure and click Save changes, Brikly first works out which recipes would read differently. If any would, it asks Change how recipes show this? before saving, for example:

This changes how 4 recipes display. Their amounts stay the same, so 2 pumps would show as 20 ml.

3 of them have a method, which will be flagged to check.

Under that it lists the recipes (the first 10, then "and 5 more"). Save changes saves the new amount, and Go back returns you to the form with what you typed.

If no recipe would read any differently, it saves without asking. For example, a line of 500 ml of vanilla syrup entered in ml shows "500 ml" whatever size the pump is, because that's more than 12 pumps.

Changes that flag a method

A recipe's method steps often name the measure: "add 2 pumps of vanilla". So when a measure change makes a recipe line read differently, the recipe's method is flagged to check, with a "Check this method" notice on its Method tab and a Method to check badge on the recipe list. Only recipes with method steps, chef notes or a batch note are flagged. See Checking a method when the ingredients change.

• A new amount flags the methods of the recipes Brikly listed when it asked. Their notice says, for example, "Vanilla syrup: 1 pump is now 15 ml (was 10 ml)".
• Renaming a measure saves without asking, but it flags every method with a line that shows the measure, because "2 pumps" becoming "2 squirts" can leave a step saying the wrong thing. Changing only capitals doesn't flag anything.
• Adding a measure, changing the default or deleting a measure also saves without asking, and flags only the methods whose lines then read differently. Adding "1 tbsp = 8 g" as plain flour's first measure flags a recipe with an 8 g line, which now reads "1 tbsp", but not a bread dough with 500 g.

Amounts and costs never change: only how the lines read, and so whether the steps still match.

Copies, versions and merges

• Duplicating a recipe copies the measure each line is entered in.
• Version history records each line's measure. A rollback brings it back if the measure still exists, and otherwise the line shows in g or ml.
• Changes proposed by an AI assistant through the Connector keep the measure on each line that still uses the same ingredient when you approve them in Recipe drafts.
• Merging ingredients moves the duplicates' measures to the ingredient you keep. Where it already has a measure with the same name, its own is kept and the recipe lines move onto it. Its own default stays the default, and if it has none, the incoming default takes over. A measure it can't convert (an ml measure moving onto an ingredient priced by weight with no density) is removed, and its lines show in g or ml.
• Replace and archive moves recipe lines onto the new ingredient without their measure. They keep their amounts and show in the new ingredient's default measure where they come out even.

Who can change measures

Owners, admins and members can add and edit measures and choose the default, on the ingredient page or from the recipe editor. Only owners and admins can delete one. Viewers see the measures with no controls.

Recipes imported with AI

When a recipe you import says "2 tbsp" and the ingredient has a tbsp measure, the line comes in as 2 tbsp with no question. See Importing recipes and ingredients.