In a message dated 1/14/2007 7:35:16 P.M. Central Standard Time,
writes:

How much does relative humidity affect making sourdough?



Good question!
Jim

I know from the archives, and this list that amount of liquid in a
recipe will affect sourdough, but I've never heard anything about the
humidity in the air.

Does the humidity in the air affect sourdough bread baking?
Russ



On Jan 14, 7:17 pm, wrote:
> In a message dated 1/14/2007 7:35:16 P.M. Central Standard Time,
> writes:How much does relative humidity affect making sourdough?
>
> Good question!
> Jim

"PastorDIC" innocently asks:
> Does the humidity in the air affect sourdough bread baking?

It's good if you store your flour under a roof, and
come in out of the rain before you start making bread.

Next question?

"PastorDIC" wrote in message
oups.com...

>I know from the archives, and this list that amount of liquid in a
> recipe will affect sourdough, but I've never heard anything about
> the
> humidity in the air.
>
> Does the humidity in the air affect sourdough bread baking?

I think the real question is whether the humidity in the air affects
sourdough bread baking to an extent where one (a home baker) needs to
take it into consideration when baking.

I'd say that it does not based upon my experience, though I've never
baked in a very dry environment. About four years ago I moved from the
Boston to New Orleans. Neither place is dry, but New Orleans is much
more humid than Boston. I've had to make no change in the way I bake
which seems to be related to the humidity or hydration. The
temperature difference was something I had to get used to, but I
didn't make any adjustments due to humidity unless I did it
subconsciously.

Are you having a problem with your bread that you believe is related
to humidity?

-Mike

PastorDIC wrote:
> I know from the archives, and this list that amount of liquid in
> recipe will affect sourdough, but I've never heard anything about the
> humidity in the air.

> Does the humidity in the air affect sourdough bread baking?
>
Despite liking sourdough a lot, and despite the fact that more than 3/4
of my bread baking uses sourdough as its leaven, it seems at times that
there is too much awe of sourdough.

Sourdough is just a leaven. There are very few differences between
leavening with yeast and sourdough. The biggies a

1. You have to maintain your starter, though this is similar to how
pre-ferments are handled by many bakers.

2. Sourdough usually takes longer than yeasted bread to rise, though
producing yeasted breads using preferments can take days also.

3. Using sourdough produces a more complex flavor profile than using
straight yeast processes, though bread made with pre-ferments such as
poolish, biga or autolyse can also have similar characteristics, though
generally not to the same extent as is possible with sourdough.

4. Using sourdough generally makes the dough easier to handle, though
that is also true of other preferments, especially autolyse.

5. Sourdough produces at least 50 identified chemicals that act as
natural bread preservatives, greatly increasing the shelf life of
sourdough compared to straight yeast doughs. However, it's a bakers
mantra that the longer it takes to make bread, the longer it lasts.
This is also true to a lesser extent (you may be detecting a thread
here) when you use other preferments.

So.... what about humidity? The question is, is there something about
sourdough that is affected by humidity in some way that doesn't happen
with other bread making processes? The answer is, no.

I have baked in very humid environments, on the Gulf coast of Texas, and
in very dry environments in the mountains of Colorado. The big
difference is how much you have to protect the dough to prevent it from
drying out and forming a skin on it that will prevent a full rise. When
I lived on the gulf coast there wasn't a lot of reason to fret about
protecting the dough, 85% humidity was a dry day. In the mountains, I
have to oil the dough and cover it - 30% humidity is a wet day around here.

Mike

--
....The irony is that Bill Gates claims to be making a stable operating
system and Linus Torvalds claims to be trying to take over the world...

Mike Avery mavery at mail dot otherwhen dot com
part time baker ICQ 16241692
networking guru AIM, yahoo and skype mavery81230
wordsmith

Mike Avery wrote:
liking sourdough a lot, and despite the fact that more than 3/4
> of my bread baking uses sourdough as its leaven, it seems at times that
> there is too much awe of sourdough.
Hi Mike,

It's 'attachment', 'the over exaggeration by the mind of anything we
see as 'good'', not synonymous with 'love' which is perfectly
reasonable. The opposite is 'aversion'. You can spot yourself falling
victim of attachment anytime you get over excited about anything.
We are all prone to it. Moreover you are seen as a freak if you are
not. Unfortunately if you don't have the awareness of it it's hard to
stop it in it's tracks. The other downside is some throw the baby out
with the bath water and start to, no offense meant, use the phrase
'just' all the time. It comes from an attempt to categorize everything
into black and white boxes.
You can't cover the world in leather, better to simply wear shoes.

Jim

On Jan 18, 5:16 pm, "Mike Pearce" > wrote:

> > Does the humidity in the air affect sourdough bread baking?I think the real question is whether the humidity in the air affects
> sourdough bread baking to an extent where one (a home baker) needs to
> take it into consideration when baking.
>
> I'd say that it does not based upon my experience, though I've never
> baked in a very dry environment. <snip>

> Are you having a problem with your bread that you believe is related
> to humidity?
> -Mike

Thank you very much to Mike P and Mike A for answering my question(s).
I appreciate it very much. I will be saving your posts to refer back
to.

Mike P asked if I was having a problem with humidity and baking
sourdough. The answer is no. I was just trying to forestall a
problem. Because of the relative humidity and rain up here our
favorite jokes in the northwest are rain jokes.

For instance:

Last year 496 Oregonians fell off their bikes...and drowned.

What do you call two straight days of rain in Portland? A weekend.

It only rains twice a year in Portland: August through April and May
through July.

What does daylight-saving time mean in Seattle? An extra hour of rain.

What's the definition of a Seattle optimist? A guy with a sun visor on
his rain hat.

How to predict weather in Seattle: If you can see Mt Rainier, it's
going to rain. If not, it already is.

A newcomer to Portland arrives on a rainy day. He gets up the next day
and it's raining. It also rains the day after that, and the day after
that. He goes out to lunch and sees a young kid and asks out of
despair, "Hey kid, does it ever stop raining around here?" The kid
says, "How do I know? I'm only 12."

Russ

> So.... what about humidity? The question is, is there something about
> sourdough that is affected by humidity in some way that doesn't happen
> with other bread making processes? The answer is, no.

By the way, thanks for answering my question.

Russ (PastorDIC)
http://pastordic.blogspot.com
Battle Ground WA