The Fresh Loaf

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resizing recipe to fit bread pan

jwilbershide's picture
jwilbershide

resizing recipe to fit bread pan

Hi,

I enjoy making sandwich breads.  I currently have 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 pans which work well.  I was given a set of 10x5 pans.  How much do I need to increase the recipes (in general) to fill the large pans?

 

Thanks,

 

Jim

 

pmccool's picture
pmccool

However, here's an estimate, based on the assumption that each of the pans is 2.5 inches tall.  The 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 pans have an approximate volume of 95.6 cubic inches.  (Approximate, because loaf pans tend to have slightly sloping sides, rather than sides that are perpendicular to the bases.  The 10 x 5 x 2.5 pans have an approximate volume of 125 cubic inches.  125 / 95.6 = 1.3, close enough.  So, multiply the quantities of ingredients for a formula that fits the smaller pans by 1.3 and you should wind up with something that fits comfortably in the larger pan.

You might have to do a little tweaking, but that should get you pretty close to start with.

Paul

jwilbershide's picture
jwilbershide

Perfect. Thank you Paul.  And doesn't all bread require a little tweaking?;)

Jim

 

 

Bob S.'s picture
Bob S.

I use both size loaf pans (manufactured by Chicago Metallic with sloping sides), and often adjust bread formulas to match the batch size. An 8-1/2" x 4-1/2" x 2-3/4" standard loaf pan has a volume of about 88 cubic inches. A 10" x 5" x 3" oversize pan has a volume of about 128 cubic inches.

I find using a multiplier of 1.45 works well when scaling a formula for the larger pans. The formulas for the standard pan call for about 12-1/2 ounces of flour, while the oversize pan requires 18 ounces of flour to get the proper loaf volume.

Bob

aroma's picture
aroma

Then weigh both tins, fill with water and re-weigh.  Divide the larger weight by the smaller and use that as the scaling factor.

Cheers

jwilbershide's picture
jwilbershide

Update,

I filled the pans with water as suggested by aromoa, and came up with a multiplier of 1.54.  Being the slacker that I am I think I'll round that down to 1.5, and try out a basic white sandwich loaf tomorrow after work.  I'll update once I have some results.

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice.  I seem to learn a bit more every time I come to the site.

Cheers,

Jim

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

is to di what aroma said.  Fill the pan with water and weigh it.  Assuming that the dough will rise 100% when proofed / baked and double in volume from when it hits the pan, just divide the weight of water by 2 and that will get you close to the weight of dough that should fill the pan before proofing,  i can't remember where I learned this, probably from Mini Oven if i had to guess but it sure works for me on any pan size,

jwilbershide's picture
jwilbershide

Well,

I measured my 10x5 pan, and found it's a 10x5x3 pan.  Using  Pauls method, I should have scaled the recipe up to 1.56 of the original. BUT, my source recipe had weights for 8 /12 x 4 1/2 AND 9 x 5 pans, and the 9 x 5 'bump up' was 1.5.  So i decided to go up to 1.75 of the original.  It dough did fill the pan.  The final proof was able to over fill the pan.  And while I was able to bake the bread, lets just say that you can have too much of a good thing.

But it's a straight dough bread so I didn't loose a day or so, and it tastes like good white bread.  Nothing lost.

Next time I'll scale up to 1.6 of the original 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 recipe.

Jim

 

Arjon's picture
Arjon

I suspect you're best to stick with 1.5 to 1.6x. If we make the simplifying assumption (not necessarily true but likely not far enough off to matter) that the bulked up dough expands at the same rate during proofing and baking as the smaller dough, then 1.75x is likely to be too much. Since the "extra" .25 can't fit within the volume of the pan, it will expand in the only place it can, above, which means  a greater portion of the total expansion takes place above the rim of the pan = overflow. 

jwilbershide's picture
jwilbershide

I just got around to baking a loaf sized @ 1.6 of the original, 8 1/2 x 4 1x2 loaf size (don't you hate it when stuff like work gets in the way of your baking?).  Could not be happier.  Bread looks great, tastes great, and I don't feel a need to spend more $ on 9 x 5 pans.

Thank you to everyone who helped me on this. 

Jim

oregoncrepe's picture
oregoncrepe

If you take the time to convert your recipe to a bakers formula spreadsheet you can make as much or as little bread as you like.  

I find it worth the effort, and easy to make up and freeze, or to volunteer to make a bunch of loaves for an event, or branch out into dinner rolls, buns, etc.  Not to mention that costing becomes easier.


Richard

jwilbershide's picture
jwilbershide

Richard,

Good tip.  I've now got an excel sheet that does just that.  And I'm finding that for most of my 8 1/2 x  4 1/2 recipes scaling up by 1.6 does a great job of producing good loaves in the 10 x 5 pans I have. The nice part about baking bread is that you can always learn something new.

marils's picture
marils

I have a great recipe for a standard white loaf, and am looking to change it to fit a 9x5  bread pan instead of the smaller 81/2 x 41/2 the recipe states. (We prefer the larger loaf for sandwiches).  Now that I know the formula for increasing the amount of the ingredients, can you give me any direction for increasing the amount of baking time as well?

jwilbershide's picture
jwilbershide

The short answer is about 5-6 minutes longer.

The long answer is I started checking when the smaller loaf would have been done and then checked every couple of minutes or so until the internal temp of the bread reached 200 degrees (f) or so. I was using an instant read food thermometer. 

Once I knew what it looked like and sounded like (tapping the bottom of the loaf and listening for a hollow sound) at 200 degrees, I quit using the thermometer and used those as my guides.  I would rather over bake it a touch than under bake it.

Good luck.