Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
Sourdough (rec.food.sourdough) Discussing the hobby or craft of baking with sourdough. We are not just a recipe group, Our charter is to discuss the care, feeding, and breeding of yeasts and lactobacilli that make up sourdough cultures. |
Reply |
|
LinkBack | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
Posted to rec.food.sourdough
|
|||
|
|||
Hydration vs. Altitude: a challenging question
Greetings assembled gurus. I am here to seek knowledge.
I followed a SD recipe from the LA Times and I got virtually no oven spring. The boules were wider than they were tall (barely 3" tall at the center). I spoke with a lady in a restaurant supply store who does a lot of baking. She told me to do it again "with quite a bit less flour" since I'm in Edmonton Alberta and the elevation is almost 2200 feet (vs sea level for Los Angeles). When I followed her rather vague instructions and used a higher hydration, I got much better results. That leads me to a question: Has someone developed a spreadsheet or an equation that can "transpose" a recipe from one elevation to another? For example: let's say I get a recipe from The Arizona Republic (Phoenix - at 1117 feet), and I want to convert it to work at Edmonton, Alberta's elevation of 2200 feet, how much do I have to adjust the hydration level to get the same results I'd get in Phoenix using the stock recipe? Anyone?? |
Posted to rec.food.sourdough
|
|||
|
|||
Hydration vs. Altitude: a challenging question
On Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:47:14 -0600, Mike Brown
> wrote: >I followed a SD recipe from the LA Times and I got virtually no oven >spring. Howdy, You may not have been happy with the shape of the loaves, but why would you want to increase oven spring? All the best, -- Kenneth If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS." |
Posted to rec.food.sourdough
|
|||
|
|||
Hydration vs. Altitude: a challenging question
Mike Brown wrote:
> Greetings assembled gurus. I am here to seek knowledge. > > I followed a SD recipe from the LA Times and I got virtually no oven > spring. The boules were wider than they were tall (barely 3" tall at > the center). > > I spoke with a lady in a restaurant supply store who does a lot of > baking. She told me to do it again "with quite a bit less flour" > since I'm in Edmonton Alberta and the elevation is almost 2200 feet > (vs sea level for Los Angeles). When I followed her rather vague > instructions and used a higher hydration, I got much better results. More hydration = more steam = more oven spring, regardless of altitude. Theoretically, at higher altitude loaves rise better because there's less air pressure to counter the CO2 produced. I don't think altitude is your problem. I'm at 4000 feet and have lived up to 7000 feet and haven't had altitude issues with baking bread recipes from sea level. Other factors are dominant: temperature, hydration, dough development, etc. And as you'll hear from this group no doubt, oven spring is not a goal but a means. You may get well-formed loaves without it and you may get poorly-formed loaves with it. |
Posted to rec.food.sourdough
|
|||
|
|||
Hydration vs. Altitude: a challenging question
On Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:09:28 -0400, Kenneth
> wrote: >On Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:47:14 -0600, Mike Brown > wrote: > > >You may not have been happy with the shape of the loaves, >but why would you want to increase oven spring? I wasn't clear enough - sorry. When I said no oven spring, I was referring to a lack of rising and extremely dense crumb - no "fluffiness". Also since I posted this (which I still think is a valid question) I've begun to think that the folding method ("no knead") only works well with higher hydration doughs and that lower hydration requires a bit of good ol' kneading. |
Posted to rec.food.sourdough
|
|||
|
|||
Hydration vs. Altitude: a challenging question
On Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:20:24 -0600, Hans Fugal > wrote:
>Mike Brown wrote: > >More hydration = more steam = more oven spring, regardless of altitude. > >Theoretically, at higher altitude loaves rise better because there's >less air pressure to counter the CO2 produced. I guess that makes sense. I was wondering what her rationale was. I guess she gave the right advice (less flour) but for te wrong reason. >I don't think altitude is your problem. I'm at 4000 feet and have lived >up to 7000 feet and haven't had altitude issues with baking bread >recipes from sea level. Other factors are dominant: temperature, >hydration, dough development, etc. > >And as you'll hear from this group no doubt, oven spring is not a goal >but a means. You may get well-formed loaves without it and you may get >poorly-formed loaves with it. Thanks, Hans. As I replied to Kenneth, I've begun to think that the "folding" method doesn't produce enough gluten to capture the CO2, and so doesn't produce rising as well as a kneaded dough. I'm going to try it again, at the same hydration but kneading instead of folding to see what happens. All part of the learning process, I guess ;-) BTW, Hans, I was using your starter -- thanks again; it's a real performer Mike |
Posted to rec.food.sourdough
|
|||
|
|||
Hydration vs. Altitude: a challenging question
Mike Brown wrote:
> Thanks, Hans. As I replied to Kenneth, I've begun to think that the > "folding" method doesn't produce enough gluten to capture the CO2, and > so doesn't produce rising as well as a kneaded dough. I find folding develops the gluten much more rapidly than kneading, but I admit to an aversion to stiff doughs. I rarely go below 70%. |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
English Muffins hydration question | Baking | |||
high altitude baking | Baking | |||
Most Challenging Veggie/Fruit/Flower/Herb Dehydration Question. | Preserving | |||
H I G H ALTITUDE.... help !! | General Cooking | |||
Challenging dinner guests | General Cooking |