The Scary Questions

This morning a friend of mine emailed me to ask how much dry yeast to measure from a jar, which was all the store had -- no little packets.

I thought for a minute, started one reply, then editted it and said something else. So much pressure, trying to picture the little heap of dry yeast sitting atop a cup of warm water, beginning to dissolve. I said I thought it was about a tablespoon.

I added the caveat that I wouldn't be responsible for a batch of monkey bread that ate East Tennessee.

Awhile later, I got a post from her saying that she had found a cookbook that said it was the equivalent of a "scant" tablespoon. How do you know how much to take out of the tablespoon to make it "scant"?

This is the type of question that scares me, with gray areas. The answer can be a little bit right, a little bit wrong. How can you study for questions like that?

I just hope that when I turn on the news this evening, there isn't a flash that a batch of monkey bread has escaped and eaten Interstate 81.