This is how YOU Master Sourdough Hydration - The perfect Water Quantity
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ค. 2024
- With this simple hack you will always master choosing the perfect hydration and water amount for your sourdough bread. Every flour is unique and every flour requires a different level of hydration. This means you have to figure out how much water to use every time you use a new flour.
With this simple hack you will know exactly how much water to use for your flour. No more sticky dough, no more too flat breads.
Prepare several doughs with just alternating water amount. I recommend you to prepare 5 different doughs, 60% water, meaning 60 grams of water per 100 grams flour. Then 4 more, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%. In this video I am preparing one which has 85%, because the flour itself has quite a lot of protein. I recommend you do use a little less flour than 100 grams, then you have less waste. I took 40 grams of flour as a basis. Stir everything together and then wait for 30 minutes. This is called autolysis. With wetted hands test each of the doughs to see if the dough holds together. If it does, that's a safe level of hydration. If it tears, nope, a too high water amount for your dough.
Now when you figured out your formula I recommend to go a little lower in terms of water content if you are a beginner. The higher the hydration the better technique you need to have.
Flour I am using:
Blog article on different flours in Germany: thbrco.io/blog-flour
Drax Mühle Manitoba flour 14% protein: thbrco.io/drax-flour
For ze Germans - T550 at Rewe 11-12% protein: thbrco.io/rewe-aurora
Mulino Padano 15% protein: thbrco.io/mulino-flour
Strong whole wheat flour: thbrco.io/whole-wheat-flour
Follow me here too:
Github: thbrco.io/github
Instagram: thbrco.io/instagram
My blog: thbrco.io/blog
My website: thbrco.io/homepage
Reddit: thbrco.io/reddit
Subscribe to my newsletter: thbrco.io/newsletter
Telegram: thbrco.io/telegram
Tiktok: thbrco.io/tiktok
Support me/Merchandise:
Get my starter Bread Pitt: thbrco.io/my-starter
The bread themed T-Shirts/Hoodies I designed and wear: thbrco.io/bread-shirts-hoodies
Tools:
Banneton proofing basket (25cm length, 15cm width, 8.5cm height): thbrco.io/banneton
Cooling rack: thbrco.io/cooling-rack
Digital kitchen scale: thbrco.io/kitchen-scale
Dough scraper: thbrco.io/dough-scraper
Dutch oven for batards (Challenger Bread Pan): thbrco.io/dutch-oven-batards
Dutch oven round (Lodge): thbrco.io/dutch-oven-round
Dutch oven with glas lid (Brovn) - BREADCODE = 5% off: thbrco.io/dutch-oven-glas-lid
Infrared thermometer: thbrco.io/infared-meter
Loaf pan (30cm length x 12cm width x 9cm height): thbrco.io/loaf-pan-regular
Loaf pan with lid (34cm length, 13cm width, 12cm height): thbrco.io/loaf-pan-lid
No stick spray (vegetable based): thbrco.io/non-stick-spray
Oven gloves: thbrco.io/oven-gloves
pH meter to check acidity: thbrco.io/ph-meter
Weck starter jars: thbrco.io/weck-jars
Useful videos:
Debaked ep. 1 - Pizza journey to Napoli: thbrco.io/debaked-napoli
Debaked ep. 2 - Journey to a flour mill: thbrco.io/debaked-flour-mill
Discard starter bread: thbrco.io/discard-starter-bread
Fermentation time table: thbrco.io/fermentation-time-t...
Make a sourdough starter: thbrco.io/make-sourdough-starter
Make your starter more active: thbrco.io/more-active-starter
Recommend sourdough bread recipe: thbrco.io/sourdough-recipe
Chapters:
0:00 Intro and general considerations
1:14 Preparing the flour
3:25 Adding water
4:03 Mixing
4:55 Testing the doughs
6:54 Suggestions
7:22 Testing a dough using the trick
7:45 Other parameters to consider - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Such a great tip! I tried it today and was surprised by the results. I had thought the low absorption of my flour was causing the sticky dough. But this test told me it could actually absorb higher hydration. I just needed to do a better job of mixing at the autolyse step. Thank you for this game-changing hack!
Moin Daisy. Thanks again for your encouraging comment. That really means a lot. Happy baking!
A little trick about digital scales from an embedded engineer: Although the load cell has a sampling frequency in the kHz range the software takes an average for a 1 Hz update frequency on the display to make it easy to read. Furthermore, many scales assume you are measuring something of fixed weight and will have some algorithm to lock in on a single value. That's what you see going on here. If you just tap the scale with your finger -- to add a few grams to get outside of the locking delta parameter -- you'll "trick" algorithm and the scale will then settle in and display the proper weight.
This is extremely useful information that every baker should be aware of. I will start using this hack for things like salt where I'm adding small amounts.
Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing!
I love that you bake everywhere AND take Bread Pitt with you.
Thank you so much. After switching flour I had trouble making a strong dough. I had no idea what I was doing wrong, so I did the hydration test yesterday. This was a real eye opener. It's fun to play around with the results after autolease (kneading, shaping, windowpane...) and get a feel for the different hydration levels. Because I didn't want to throw all of this away, I just put all 5 test doughs together, kneaded this for some minutes, grabbed a random bunch of 1:5:5 starter (not even leaven!!) and some salt, and put it all together. I placed it on the bench overnight and this afternoon I discovered (to my surprise!) it had gotten quiet some rise. I was even able to shape it and decided to bake. You may not believe this, but it turned out to be one of my best loafs so far. Really incredible oven spring, super crispy crust and a tasty, lovely crumb. I guess, apart from hydration levels, I learned not to throw anything away and to try and make the best out of what you got. Thanks again for the great video's!
brou, literally just saved my breads. Been strugglin with the hydratation thinking I needed more technique but it was just to much water, lmao thanks
Moin Benjamin. Awesome. Glad I was able to help. It could also be related to over-fermentation. I can recommend this video on controlling the fermentation process: th-cam.com/video/nIOPCeLPqrM/w-d-xo.html
@@the_bread_code thankss ur vídeos are reaally helpful :)
Did you say “Gluten tag”? 😄 Nice sourdough video greeting :) Great videos btw. Learning a lot. Thank you!!
Moin and Gluten Tag olivepressdesign 🤓, yes, a very sourdough-baker like greeting. Glad you learned something new. Feel free to reach out with more questions. Happy baking and may the gluten be with you.
Gluten tag. Cute. :)
Hello from a Portuguese girl that lives in the US. Thank you, thank you! I've been a sourdough baker for the past 8 years! Every time Im in Portugal I shy away from baking bread because of that specific problem! Not Knowing the local flours and what percentage of water to use. You solved my problem my friend. Enjoy your time in Portugal. Don't forget to have some grilled sardines on a slice of your sourdough bread. Much Love! Muito obrigado, Lurdes.
Ola Maria. De nada. You are welcome. I gotta say I still have to practice baking with this oven 😂. It's so different than the one that I have at home. Happy baking.
Beautiful response Maria!
@@the_bread_code Hello again! Good luck with that! I can't fit a decent vessel in mine! I was so frustrated, lost my mind and some change and got a Rofco! Unfortunately have had a chance to go back and try it yet! Thank you for the dedication in making all your sourdough educational videos. It's a pleasure to listen to all your tips. There's always room for improvement! Much Love Lurdes.
You are an excellent teacher. I find that when I understand WHY I have to do something, and how it fits into the whole experience, it's much easier to retain and also much easier to troubleshoot when something goes wrong. You make all of that very clear. Dankeschön!
Moin Quick. You are most welcome and thanks for the nice words. That really means a lot. I completely feel you. The why is always much more important than just following a recipe.
Thanks!
Thank you! This makes so much sense!
Amazing trick, thank you so much! Tried it with different flours and the results were very different between the flours (some became very nice and stretchy, others were a puddle) I think due to your video I might have a successful autolyse for the first time! :)
Moin Troxouli OC, awesome. Glad I was able to shed some light on the topic. I have made this mistake so many times myself. So I know the struggle. Feel free to reach out with more questions.
Hi May i know jf I could reduce the amt of flour to say 20g each instead of 40g each? Thks
Very very sane advice! Thanks
I needed this for my new flour! Thank you Hendrik!
very nice trick; thank you!!
This video is GOLD! This is such a useful technique.
Wonderful. I'll fix my recipe now!
There aren't enough words to describe how much I needed this video!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!
You make really great videos! Thanks for sharing your experience! I'm brazilian, we also talk Portuguese here lol
Ola. Thank you. Greetings from Portugal.
I have been watching you over the last week and finally I can now understand my love of exact measurements, weighing everything, being precise……its my German heritage!! 🤣. I am first Gen Australian (Father German, Mother Austrian). Most of my friends are a ‘just eyeball it’ and I freaking out that. Hahaha. Oh and I love to analyse things too. Drives my Husband up the wall. 😆
This is exactly what I need to find out what my flour is doing. Thank you. You give soooo much amazing information. I am so much a ‘why’ person and you give the information that I need.
😂 😂 my pleasure Monika.
Thank you so much! Easy and short, bravo!👏
Moin Sandy. Thanks for the comment. Feel free to reach out with questions at any time.
Exactly what I needed to see.
You are most welcome 🙏🏻
i have always wondered about how to determine this when you always hear people say, "it depends on the absorption level of the flour". this video easily explains how to determine the right amount of water for the flours you use in your region. great video and exactly what i've been looking for for so many years! thank you!
This is the most straightforward method - thank you for the post
You are welcome. Cheers. Feel free to reach out with more questions 🙏🏻
Hi, Mr. Hendrick. This is a very invaluable know-how in determining dough hydration. I use your technique whenever I use any new type or brand of bread flour. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Very much appreciated !
This is such an amazing tip that I have always used since watching this years ago
Thank you the most sourdogh video that explaine right and deeply 🌹
Thank you Hendrik! I keep changing my combination of flours and this will be so helpful! I’ve made yeast breads for 50 years but it’s just a month since my sourdough starter is ready to use. I keep making something different, so nailing is tricky. I aLways love working with the dough!
Thank you. Interesting 🤔
Moin Angelia, thank you very much! Feel free to reach out with more questions.
Great lesson for us newer bakers! Thank you, so much.
Sank you very much. Happy baking 🙏🏻
Great idea! I've just bought in a batch of new (to me) flour, I'll try this hack out on it tomorrow.
Moin MrNursi. Sank you, you are welcome. Glad I was able to teach you something new. Happy baking! Feel free to reach out with more questions.
Cool, thanks for the gauging method.
Moin Louis. You are welcome. Hope this helps 😎
The Bread Code - Your videos always are so helpful, thank you! 😁🙏
Thanks again for another great tip! I’m trying to bake more free form rather than following a recipe exactly and this was always something I wondered about.
Moin Wanroo. Thanks for the comment. You are welcome. Yes, this really helps when working with new flours. Glad I was able to show you a cool trick.
Seeing the video comparison and the whole range of hydration levels was really a help for me. Thanks for actually showing the texture and stretch -- photos and text really just aren't enough for that, so this is what I needed to feel like I have a good starting place. It's interesting how small changes in hydration level can really affect the result -- the whole wheat flour I have was too dry at 85%, too wet at 90%, just right (with stretchiness and the windowpane effect!) at 87-88%.
Really systematic! Complete baking science and technology channel. Great job.
Have to try this out with the Indian "atta" - whole wheat flour that's supposed to be really unsuitable for baking bread. You've given me a good place to start.
Thank you for all this great info!!! ...and for being such a nerd, I love it :-) idea for nurdy stable conditions: my fruit-shaped-logo-brand-tv box produces just the right amount of low warmth to perfectly grow a sourdough -> thats my go to place to let the starter rest/grow/develop :-) keep up the great work! My results have improved big time thanks to your videos! Greetings from Tübingen
This helped me so much! What do you do when you’re using different types of flour in a single recipe??
Thanks so much for this great advice! I wish I found your videos before I tried my very first sourdough loaf yesterday, yep it was very wet! I had to plop it into a tin, otherwise I would have got a pizza. But my starter is pretty mature as it rose a lot. But I'll definitely be reducing the hydration in my next loaf.
Moin Liz. Thanks for the comments. I could not agree more. I have done the same mistake at the start so many times. I had to learn the hard way that hydration depends a lot on the flour that you are using.
Thanks again for this great video.
Please keep your caption information longer in time
Thank you from a portuguese!! ;))
De nada. You are most welcome!
Ooh thank you for this! I've tried out a recipe at 80% hydration and felt it was maybe too much for the AP flour when I made a full AP loaf. It came out beautifully when I made it with 50% King Arthur whole wheat. I'll test them both out before I try again!
Moin Justanother. Awesome, glad the tips were helpful. Cheers!
What a great idea! I should have done that before my first sourdough bread attempt yesterday--edible but just. Love the music! Used Sound Search on my phone to find it--Gripping Tension by Frenchies, in case anyone else is looking for it.
Moin and Gluten TagT-marie N, Thanks. That means a lot. Feel free to reach out with more questions! Happy baking.
Your hydration experiment is what I should have done before attempting my first sourdough loaf. Adding more flour to continue autoolyse in the hopes of saving this bread dough.
Moin Ken Lane, you are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
Very helpful video! You are a real mentor to me! Unfortunately this hack didn't work for my first tryout and I'm pretty sure I'm not using a proper type of flour (whole wheat hard flour with 16% protein). I'm gonna wait for the bread doctor to be available again to help me with this 😁. Keep up the good work 💪👌!
Moin Greg. Oh noes. What happened? Could you share some details? Please - feel free to tag me on instagram anytime, or via email. Happy to have a look. Cheers.
@@the_bread_code I'm gonna give it another try the last week of July (I'm on vacation nowadays) and then I'll text you! Of course I'm waiting with great expectation the video about handling whole wheat of yours, so perhaps it will help me understand the philosophy of dealing with this kind of flour. Thank you not only for the beautiful videos, but for the interest you show in everyone's questions and problems!! Have a nice day!
Welcome to my country. I wish you have a good time and stay safe!
Obrigado. It's very lovely here. Heading to Sera de Estrella today. Already very excited.
The Bread Code wow it’s an amazing place - a lot of great food too - remember the cheeseeee. Also if you need help or some pointers just let me know
Thanks a lot for this tip!! What do we do with the flour/water mixture we used here? Any ideas what to use them for? Hate wasting resources.. thanks in advance
Brilliant! First ever seen that on TH-cam! Makes it easier for me as a beginner to handle my dough, because it's difficult to get always the same quality of flour when shopping at different markets. So, you mean it's possible to shape a 100% whole wheat high hydration dough with this method? Thanks for sharing!
Moin Benjamin. Yes, definitely. I have been doing that here exclusively in Portugal. Although also with average success, mostly because I go on tours over the day, I wake up late, or early. Hard to find a proper schedule. Most of my breads have been overfermenting and turned our rather flat hehe. But back at home I'll upload a recipe with 100% whole wheat.
The Bread Code thank you, enjoy your vacation! Your answer brings me to an important point to learn when making sourdough bread: timing! Next to technique, this is my greatest challenge to plan a schedule over 24h or even longer and do the right steps at the right time without stopping my entire life around. The highest goal would be to achieve the optimal result at an optimal end point (e.g. Crispy sourdough rolls on a Sunday morning breakfast without getting up in the middle of the night). Proper use of a fridge seems a key for that goal. When following a recipe, I often get stuck because the next stretch and fold or any other step should be done at 2 a.m. 😬 perhaps, after your holiday, you can comment on this and elaborate a guide for beginners? Have sunny Times 🌞😊
Benjamin Jakob use your fridge you will have more control over your dough it allows you to double your time in bulk rise and after your final shaping. Don't pre shape if you won't cut your dough..
this channel is the epitome of the great German's precision
Hahaha. Thank you!
Whoa, you're red now! Definitely seems like you've been to Portugal :) when I just started baking I wasn't aware of the various differences between flours, I just thought that I could apply the same recipe for all of them. Boy, was I wrong. I can't stress enough the importance of water absorption test.
Moin SunoftheCakes. Sanks for the comment. Oh yes - I am very pink German color now haha. And yes - that really does the trick. Especially with new flours. But i had to learn the hard way how different every oven is as well. The oven here in Portugal just works completely different than the one at home 🤓
It’s fine. I’m too very white and nerdy and not very well-suited to the Mediterranean climate even though it’s been my home for 30 years of age. Yesterday I went outside only for ten minutes and now I’m already pink-ish in color :)
Yes, it takes time to know how to work with a new oven - I call it the oven learning curve
;)
The ph testing is going well. 4.20 seems to be the magic number for my starter. Now, after autolyze it begins to drop linearly. I'm holding the temperature and humidity constant.
Hi Hendrik. This video is very helpful. I will test my flour tomorrow. This method is for lean doughs. Can this technique be adapted for testing which hydration level should be used in enriched doughs? For example, I make a potato bread recipe with an egg, milk, butter, and sugar; I am not convinced that the hydration level is suitable for my flour. I am using Foodgeek's excellent bread calculator to know the actual hydration level. Or is there a rule of thumb for enriched doughs, like maybe "use 5% less hydration than you normally would for a lean dough made with your flour?"
Do you throw them it the flour water mixtures or is there something you can do with it
Many thanks for this great tip (and all your other videos)! What do you do if you plan to use a mix of flours, like all-purpose and whole wheat or bread and spelt, and whole wheat (depending on what one has at home)? Would you need to determine the ideal hydration for all flour types you plan to use?
You are most welcome. I would suggest to prepare the mix and do the same test 🙏🏻. Ideally I recommend to use 80% wheat. It will infuse the majority of the baking properties. Depending on the type of spelt it's very genetically close to wheat. It could have almost the same properties.
@@the_bread_code May I ask further? If I plan to use a mix of different flours (incl. whole wheat, wholegrain rye, rye bread, spelt) shall I weigh the same proportion of all the flours in smaller quantities for the hydratation test?
Many thanks for your kind advice and for all your very helpful and illustrative videos 👍
You should also mention that your ambient temperature and humidity (and even altitude!) affects how the flour absorbs water....but the video is a great example of how to find the "sweet spot" range of hydration for a new flour type!
Oh wow. I did not know this. How big is the impact between 20C and 25C for instance? Thanks.
@@the_bread_code Well, basic physical science states that the warmer the temp. the MORE evaporation will occur. For your experiment (where the dough is only left for a few minutes) it may not make much difference BUT IF you were in a very dry climate (low humidity) then water will evaporate very quickly. Even worse is my current situation : here the air is VERY dry and also I am at high altitude (1,750 m above sea level), so that is a "double strike" against me when it comes to baking!
what a useful video! what did you do with the dough?
Thanks :-). I made a nice whole wheat bread out of it.
@@the_bread_code may i have the recipe please? at which step should add these dough?
Thank you for your excellent video . It would be very interesting to get your opinion about to how to select the best combination of flours in order to get the better taste. After you combine the flours should we make the test in order to find the right hydration ? Thank you for your reply.
Moin Tasos. Yes, exactly like you said. You have to individually test each combination.
I have used Bassinage technique to achieve higher hydration with lower protein flour. Can you do some experiments about that?
Appreciate the lesson but for us OCD folks please mark the bowls with % in the future lol 😉
I thought about it too 😂. My OCD is strong as well.
@@the_bread_code I may or may not have been yelling at you while I was watching 😂😉🤘🏽
I would be interested what you would suggest when using a mix of flours with all different hydration levels 😊
Great video, especially for beginners. Really hard to follow a recipe when you know that all flours, hydration percentages are different.
Have not found an easy sourdough recipe yet, which works for beginners. Please share if you recommend any.
Moin Ruchi. I would recommend this tutorial th-cam.com/video/0kFYyj3WKpE/w-d-xo.html. It's quite in depth and easy to follow without any tools.
Thank you , will try it
Moin, Professor Brot. Where can I get the ph tester that you use during the fermentation process? I think you have done an excellent job explaining the science behind the bread baking process.
Thank you very much Frank. I linked it in the description. There's going to be a full video on that topic soon 👍
@@the_bread_codeToll. That is the next step.
Thank you for all the wonderful information you give us. It really helps beginners such as myself.
I have heard that the amount of water and flour in starter should be added in the hydration calculation. What do you think?
Please know that this question is not to challenge you, but simply to understand more thoroughly. Thank you again!
Moin Sylvie. Excellent question, thank you. You are right. However in a large scale bakery the recipes are always already made in a way that the 1-2% extra hydration from the starter will work with the recipe. The math would become too complicated when you have to include the starter hydration. So yes, in theory yes, but for practical reasons no. Hope this makes sense. Cheers from Hamburg.
woohoo bread code back with new flour! #TheBreadCode #Sourdough #LifeHacks #Bread
Haha thanks. Still have 1 more week in Portugal. Then fully back. Hope all is good in Malaysia. Cheers.
The Bread Code All is well here thanks! Hope you and your breads are having a wonderful time in Portugal! 🇵🇹👍🙏🍞🍞🍞🍞🎉
Thank you for this helpful video! Unfortunately, I don’t think I’d be able to do it since I do not have a kitchen scale. Is there a method to eyeball it without one? I always end up adding too little or too much water.
The best option is to go by look and feel then :-)
@@the_bread_code Thank you for responding. Another question, if my dough ends up too sticky after I autolyse and mix the ingredients, how can I fix this?
@@nk6698 You can either use a loaf pan or try adding just a little more flour. The gluten will develop as it bulk proofs.
Really good video. Thanks! I was wondering if we want to use different percentage of flours. Would you test it by mixing the flours and then adding different percentages of water or rather by testing each flour individually and then working out the math? 🤔
I would probably test individually each one. You mean different flower compositions, right? Different ratio of whole wheat to bread flour etc.
@@the_bread_code Yes that's what I mean. By doing your method I found out that the AP I had is stronger than the bread flour. So my lasts bakes have been with 35% whole wheat, 45% bread flour and 20% AP, with 75% hydration. That was all intuition after doing the test on all 3 flours. I was wondering if a test to the mix would work or a math calculation would be better to figure out what's the right ratio of all 3 flours
So... More protein higher level of hydration is possible right?
Mine is an organic T550 12% protein and organic rye T1150. I work on 65% including sourdough for hydration.
I used to go over and get a sticky dough.
I m in Asia and I can just get that 2 organic flower nothing else...
Do you confirm more protein more hydratation it could be ?
Thank you so much for this! The brazilian bakers I follow on TH-cam usually recommend testing out the flour's absorption capacity as well, but they always say to do it while making the bread, not making a separate experiment like you showed us!
I'll try that out! ^^
Also, what made you decide to use 10% starter instead of 20% as usual?
Ola Bernardo, awesome 😎. I recently made picanha at home. It was sooooo good 😎. You can also test the flour during the bake, but that makes it hard to measure the value for the next bake. Plus I find it a little cumbersome. Just my opinion though. Feel free to reach out with more questions 🙏🏻
@@the_bread_code Oooh, awesome! Picanha is indeed an incredible cut... 🤤
But I actually meant to say that I prefer your method and am going to try it out! I don't really like to go in blind thinking "Oh, whatever happens happened" even if I come out with a disk instead of a loaf haha
But I do have a question regarding your choice of using 10% starter instead of 20%, like you pointed out in the video. Why did you choose to do so?
Also, I really appreciate how you're very willing to answer people and their questions in the comments!
Thank you for this video! I used you recommendation of 100g Whole Wheat Flour, 400g Bread Flour or All Purpose Flour, and 325g water and my dough is way too dry. I’m waiting and going to stretch it to see but I think it’s a no good. I think you said 65% hydration for that recipe.
I made another batch and added 80% hydration just until the dough looked similar to yours in the video😬 Hopefully this works out.
Btw your hairs looks great in this video. Just a helpful suggestion for video shooting presentation (I was a model in my younger years so I know these things) 😉
Hey Sanctified. Great. Hope it works out! Also thanks for the comment on the hair. I must have cut it a week before 🤣
Hey, Once again great video. I have a question. usually, we are creating flour mix while we are making bread ( whole / rye / regular flour). what I would do if one flour will be good with 65% hydration and the other flour will be good in 80% hydration ? what percentage I should use?
You will need to test the combination of the flour hehe.
Hi, Thanks for your amazing videos. One question/suggestion (please correct me if I am wrong). When calculating the hydration level for your sourdough bread you should use the flour weight and water in both your starter as your autolyzed dough. So if you for example have 500 grams of flour for dough (protein level 12%), and 200 grams of starter with (100 grams rye flour (protein level 15%), and 100 grams of water. You have a protein level of 500*12+100*15 = 12.5%, meaning you want to have a hydration level of 60%. To calculate the amount of water needed for autolyse is then 600*60%-100 = 260 grams of water.
Hey Bart, yep - you are right, 100%. However most bakers when making a recipe already include this slight addition of hydration in their calculation. So that the extra few % from the starter won't do a big difference. That makes the math a little easier. Thanks!
I got stuck in India when the lockdowns started and decided to stay. It's monsoon season at 6000 ft (I only give Imperial measurements one time) and the only bread flour I can find is T65. Are there any special techniques (such as longer autolyse) that I should be using?
What if you are using a combination of All Purpose, Whole Wheat and Rye flours? Do I test each one separately then average it?
Moin Mary. Do the test for your combination of the flour. So mix all together and then do the test :-D. Hope this helps. Cheers!
very nice technique, but without knowing the moisture content of the flour, how do we know that it will work on flour that's been in the kitchen or pantry for a week or so. we have massive swings in humidity from season to season, and even from month to month, making the flour somewhat (Completely) unpredictable.
So I use an organic artisan bakers craft flour with 11.5 % protein in a overnight country blonde recipe that calls for 78% hydration. I am finding that the dough is difficult to shape after bulk fermenting overnight. I am careful not to over ferment. Should I reduce the hydration?
Moin Paul. Yep. Sounds like you should reduce it a little bit. Also make sure to not overferment. Give it another shot. I'd try 70% hydration.
The Bread Code would you reduce in the levain and the final dough? The levain takes 400 g and the final dough takes 684 g - where would you reduce. Greatly appreciate your help
How much should we adjust water hydration depending on the amount of starter? For instance, if you use quite a bit of starter, shouldn't you lower your hydration?
One more Q: So when baker make a tutorial for bread with 85% hydration and my flour just give ok for 75% when testing, I have to change flour or change the amount of water to succeed? Is the only way to get open crumb to get really hard wheat?
Hey Anders. Nope. Don't worry too much about the flour. A flour with less gluten creates a more extensible dough. This means, that it can much easier inflate. You just have to be careful to not ferment it too long, there is less gluten that can be broken down.
This is so interesting! Thank you! :)
So wait... You go away for vacation and spend half a day baking? Now that's hard core :)
Finally I have some time to test and learn something new haha. I just love baking, my biggest hobby.
@@the_bread_code you clearly do. And lucky you, you're great at it too :) Thank you for your awesome videos! My baking will never be the same after watching them :)
Hi,how abt using 20g of flour instead of 40g in each bowl for testing? Reduce wastage? Thks
Moin June. Excellent idea. But - it will also make measuring a little harder. I don't waste any of the samples. I add them to my discard starter bread to make a nice bread out of it :-).
I suppose these tricks work for commercial yeast bread also, don't they?
I'm wondering if you can't really go over the suggested hydration level at all? Or there are other factors at play also such as shape and type of the final dough? I remembered from other video where you demo this trick before, you said something a long the line of you wouldn't be able to bake a boule out of this hydration level, but a sandwich loaf might be possible. Does that mean I can go a little higher if I bake in a loaf pan because there is a pan to help the bread hold shape? or, say, crazily over the recommendation if I'll bake a focaccia where I don't really need it to hold shape? I'm kind of not very clear on this part.
Point is, I haven't tested my flour yet but wonder if it turns out to not be able to hold much water, but I want my bread to have a chewy texture of high-hydration dough, will my only option be to find another flour altogether?
Moin Wasin. Thanks for the excellent questions. Yes, works with yeast too. Yeast is much easier as you don't have the issue of piling up acid induced by the bacteria. Yep, I frequently bake a 90-100% hydration sandwich loaf in a loaf pan. Works very well and has exactly the consistency you described. For a boule/batard that would not work.
Whole wheat flour is supposed to absorb more water. Would this trick also work with that?
Moin Robin. Yes. That will definitely work!
@@the_bread_code Vielen dank. You are the only one I have ever seen explain this about water percentages. Your English is so much better than my high school German. I would never be able to make a video or carry on much of a conversation in it.
Thanks for maybe the best video about hydration on TH-cam. But I'm still a bit confused. The capacity of water absorption of each flour depends maybe on its existing humidity content (flours are not totally dry). So lets say flour "A" takes maximum of 70% hydration, and flour "B" 80%. But since flour A has already more humidity, the results of making a bread with flour A/70% and flour B/80% are the same. Bread Code, have you experimented this already? if not, would be very interesting.
Totally valid point there. But I think - this also works with this test. Dry flour has around 15% humidity. By using this test you will know the max for your flour :-)
@@the_bread_code In Spain I tried different flours, and the maximum confortable hydration was 65%. Now I am in Canada since 1 month, I am using 75%, and can go even higher. In both countries just with supermarket white bread/strong flour. I'm confused about the reason, but in Spain the ingredient was only "flour" and here additionally a bunch of other things. At least now I understand why youtubers in different countries use different hydration %. Do you know a reason for this? Thanks again for this great video!
Just another engineer’s look on baker’s math: in case you use 500g of flour and want to go for 60% hydration, you would add 300g of water for autolysis. But later you add 100g of of your starter which consists of around 50g water and 50g flour so you end up totaling 550g of flour and 350g of water, which is almost 64% hydration! This ratio shifts with your hydration rate that you started with in the beginning. Any thoughts?
The 78% recipe i got from flour water salt yeast book made a totally unworkable wet dough from my all purpose white flour. Im currently testing a 68% bulk ferment, Ill see what happens. I now know to control all other factors, like water temp, room temp, dough temp ect...
Frustrating right? They show you a perfect recipe and then it doesn't work. Yes, you have to adjust everything depending on your flour :-)
Nice content!
But may I suggest putting a towel underneath your metal bowls when you're working with your dough.
The grinding sound of the metal against the granite (when you're turning the bowl) is a little nerve grating and disruptive to your narration or conflicts with the soundtrack.
The audio level is great but the mic is so sensitive, the bowl noise is picked up and transmitted at the same level as the other sounds.
I know it's another thing to think of but I think it will help with the overall quality of your videos.
~Thanks for reading! Keep up the good work! Have a great week.😊
Moin Tx Pepper. You rock, thanks for all the great feedback. I am filming everything using my old iPhone :-D. Is there a microphone that you can recommend? Something that is easy. I don't want to invest in too much equipment. Cheers!
@@the_bread_code I don't have a clue about sound equipment but I really don't think you need to go to the extra expense or setup headache of adding auxiliary equipment. Your phone is fine.
Just a small cloth, even the size of a small napkin should do just fine. Just something to create some separation between the metal pot/bowl and the granite.
Thank you very much. Good idea, I will try that :-)
Very ambitilus trick. Sounds more like an experiment. :)
I assume the flour had 13% of protein but the subtitles said 30% which sounds unreal.
I made a test yesterday and after 30 min 75% was alright but not 80%. After two hours 80% was alright. What does that mean when baking?
80% you can go for. Just make sure that you knead your dough enough :-)
@@the_bread_code Thanks for help :) I will test 80%: About kneadning: Do you generally have to knead more at a high at high hydration?
What do you do with your discard starter jar? :)
Moin Juan. I make a nice bread out of it. My favorite bread actually 😋 th-cam.com/video/7V3FyVzzVUI/w-d-xo.html
Please i only find flour with 10gm protien and i have tried sooooooo many times to make any sourdough for bread or pizza but always failed...Any help from you please???
Mmm might be a little bit hard, but try with 55/58% water. Should be a good hydration for that flour. For bread and pizza in general you need a flour with good amount of proteins (mostly for the chewiness). Bear in mind that usually traditional Neapolitan pizza is done at 58 to maybe 63% and if it's done in like 8h they don't use a strong flour at all 11 to 12g of proteins usually.
Moin Huda. Exactly like Manuel said. Caputo flour is not that strong, doesn't have that much protein too. Try lowering the water amount. Should do the trick 👍
Might be tricky to find if you have limited sources of flour but you can also add gluten to lower protein flour, if you can find 'vital wheat gluten'. It's the stuff used to make seitan also.
@@usafan96soren20 Thank you so much.
@@hudaghassan5912 you're welcome
I have a slight feeling some Vino Verde has been sampled before filming this :)
Oh. In this case it was many Super Bocks haha.
You are using 10% of starter or poolish, can you elaborate on that? Sie brauchen 10% starter, Ist es möglich daß etwas mehr zu explizieren. Ich habe mehrmals 33 Prozent gebraucht und daß funktioniert.
Moin Peter. Of course. Depending on the taste that I look for I either opt in for a poolish or a sourdough based dough. Poolish is an amazing way to bake delicious yeast based bread. The ratio for the sourdough depends a lot on the schedule I have. If I want it to ferment faster I'd go for 20% starter. If I I want things to slow down a little I'll go for 10% starter. 20% means my dough is ready after around 5-6 hours. 10% more 8-9 hours. I like the 10% for an overnight dough for instance. If you bake a rye based dough don't worry. This is only when you want to make a wheat based dough that has a lot of oven spring and a very fluffy open crumb. 33% could work but your sourdough has to be very fresh. Too acidic dough will collapse the structure of your sourdough.
The Bread Code Danke, wieder was gelerhnt .
50 g of flour makes the math simpler.
I'm a cheap German. We don't waste anything 🤣
I am Dutch, I will try 30 grams😜 and further you can use every decimal. If you know to multiply or divide, aren't you?
That's the spirit 🤣. Next time decimals.
@@the_bread_code I am Asian..even cheaper...I might just wanna do 10 gram LOL.
See, watching this I feel both smart and stupid. For a long time I tried to follow recipes that called for specific hydrations and got myself into all manner of trouble for ages. Stupid. I then ran basically this experiment to sort out what my flour can handle. Smug. I really wish I had just seen this earlier.
Same here, I have been doing the same. Unfortunately most recipes don't even mention this.
@@the_bread_code I hope one day you might do a video exploring how to improvise high protein flour with vital wheat gluten. I am trying that experiment right now because I can't buy any flour over 12 percent where I live, and I would love to see how it turns out in that sexy challenger pan of yours 🙂
......alles schön und gut......und dann kommt Roggen......und crasht das ganze Konzept.
Hahaha. Ja. Roggen ist der Attila Hildmann des offenporigen Brotbackens 🤣. Würde max 20% Roggen nehmen. Das macht geilen Geschmack, aber verändert die Eigenschaften des Teiges nicht so stark.
or you can just use 66% and not worry about it.
Sure. But then you wouldn't get an as open crumb. But yes, if you want to be safe definitely a good idea.
30% protein,??????? Surely you must mean 13%.....
Sorry, my German English haha. Yes. 13% is correct.
I would suggest you add those pieces of flour to your dough, but thinking about all the math you would have to do to calculate the water and flour to complete the recipe... 😵
Moin Sara - oh yes. That really sounds like a big math challenge haha. I used them for my discard starter bread: th-cam.com/video/7V3FyVzzVUI/w-d-xo.html. That works really well!
TURN THE FLIPPIN' MUSIC DOWN!!!
Any suggestions what I should do instead? Timelapse without music?
@@the_bread_code That's a possibility. The problem for me is the volume of the music compared to your talking. The music is much louder. It's not necessarily an issue with the music itself. Just the difference in volume. Thanks for the reply. Videos are great other than that.
What if I am mixing two types of flour? All purpose (400g) and whole wheat (100g) . Do I mix them first and then divide 40g into the various bowls? Or do I test them independently and then average them out? Thanks
Thanks!!!
You are welcome Pazs. Feel free to reach out with more questions 🙏🏻