The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Was my dough too dry?

Tam1024's picture
Tam1024

Was my dough too dry?

I mixed up a batch of dough this morning for a Raisin Cinnamon Loaf.  The recipe went like this:

  • 150starter
  • 150g starter
  • 50g olive oil
  • 25g honey
  • 1 tsp. yeast
  • 200g raisins
  • 300g white flour
  • 75g rye flour
  • 25g whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
   I mixed it up with all but about 40g of flour, let it sit for 10 minutes or so then kneaded it.  At that point the dough seemed pretty dry.  I maintain my starter with 1/4c. starter, 1/2c. water and 1c. white flour. Do you think my starter was too dry?  What hydration would this starter be 50%?   If I am mixing the dough and it seems too dry can I add more water after all the flour has been incorporated and before the first rise?   The dough I mixed up this morning is now 2 hours into it's final proofing and seems to be rising at a slow but steady pace but I am now wondering what the final loaf will be like beings the dough seemed so dry.
BROTKUNST's picture
BROTKUNST

From what I read - and pardon me if I get this wrong - the only hydration on your dough comes from the starter(s), about 150 ml (g) at 50% hydration and all in all 75 g in Olive Oil and Honey. However you have about 450 g in white, rye and whole wheat flour in your formula. Sounds pretty dry to me ... gives you - what, like less then 50% hydration overall. Besides that your raisins will soak up some water from your dough, lowering the available hydration for the flour even further.

 

All this may be intended ... or a typo somewhere in the formula. What are you expecting to bake ? Have you seen a pciture or read a verbal description of the dough ? I'd say a Cinnamon-Raisin bread sounds like a breakfast loaf and I would be a bit surprised to see less than 65%+ hydration in some form in the dough.

 

What is the source of your formula ?

 

BROTKUNST

Jeffrey's picture
Jeffrey

Since a cup of water weighs about as much as a half a cup of water.  Depending on who scooped it out, and the milling.  The starter sounds to be about 100%, which is good, and easy to calculate.

 

You didn't say how much water you put in your loaf though.

 

jeffrey

BROTKUNST's picture
BROTKUNST

"Since a cup of water weighs about as much as a half a cup of water" :-)

But it's clear you meant that a cup of flour weighs about as much as half cup of water. A cup of water is precisely 8 oz and you set your cup of flour at about 4 oz.

BROTKUNST

Tam1024's picture
Tam1024

Sorry, I made a typing error. I added 150g. of water to the 150g of starter before I added the remaining ingredients.

Tam1024's picture
Tam1024

 BROTKUNST,The recipe I used was from Dan Lepard's The Handmade Loaf. Here's the link.      http://www.danlepard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127

Jeffrey's picture
Jeffrey

I sort of thought that,

 

Your loaf is about 55%, at least that's what i figure.  Some would call it dry, but it's not uncommon.

 

Hows it coming along?

 

jeffrey

 

BROTKUNST's picture
BROTKUNST

I read that this formula uses about 400g Total Flour Weight, plus about 83g from the barm. Furthermore the formula calls for 175ml (g) of water plus 67 ml (g) in the barm.

So at minimum we are looking at about 50 % hydration as Jeffrey alrady mentioned. However about 18% in Baker's Percentage is going into this formula as Olive Oil and Honey ... of course not water, but I think this formula would/should feel like a 60%+ dough.

Let us hear how it turns out. There is no correction listed for this formula on Dan Lepard's website, so the formula should turn out as shown on the photos.

Either way .... I would be more concerned it would feel like a raisin-ciabatta :-)

BROTKUNST

Jeffrey's picture
Jeffrey

My stuff never looks like the pictures

Tam1024's picture
Tam1024

Well, after about a 6 hour final proofing I baked it.  It had nicely doubled but it  looks like it shrank somewhat during the baking, otherwise it looks ok.   I will cut it in the morning and then update on the outcome.

browndog's picture
browndog

It's perfectly all right to add water after your dough is fully mixed, in fact it's part of what you gain with experience, the ability to make that kind of judgement call. Just be careful, a tablespoon or two of water can make a big difference at that point and you end up playing back-and-forth with flour and water add-ins, gets old in a hurry. Obviously if you add too much you're altering your proportions re salt and yeast or starter, but you'll find your dough 'sense' will develop with your baking skill. Generally I want my doughs to be wet enough to fold onto themselves with the resulting seam disappearing, if you see what I mean, without being so wet that they're ungodly sticky, unless it's that kind of recipe.

 

Tam1024's picture
Tam1024

This is the result.  Kind of dense, not the hole structure I was looking for.  Tastes good though.   This is the final result.  It's quite dense, not the hole structure I has looking for but it tastes good. The result: This is the final result.  It's quite dense, not the hole structure I has looking for but it tastes good. 

Jeffrey's picture
Jeffrey

Taste is what matters most