The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

acids

jamesinseattle's picture
jamesinseattle

acids

Ive been wondering if acids reduce gluten elasticity. It seems to me that they do. Can anyone speak to this?

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I'm not a chemist, but a few times I have added lemon juice and/or orange juice and when using too much it did effect the gluten structure to the point that I ended up with a gloppy mess.

jamesinseattle's picture
jamesinseattle

Sometimes my dough can't proof without shredding.Its usually when its a sourdough or when Ive added acid for flavor.I like to make bread simple : flour, water,  yeast ,salt. Its tempting to me to go down the rabbit hole of chemical reactions .

AlanG's picture
AlanG

Clearly folks have been making sourdough for a long time with no adverse effect on dough structure.  I done some fairly long retards to get acid content up and not noted act issues.  Most acid that are involved in baking are quite weak and shouldn't impact things.  Overproofing is a bigger concern

Laurentius's picture
Laurentius

Hi James,

What acid do you use and how does it change the taste profile?

jamesinseattle's picture
jamesinseattle

I responded earlier but I think I sent an email to the admin on accident.

  Lauerentius :

So yesterday I used citric acid. 1/8th oz to  7 1/2 lb dough. The bread wanted to shred a little but it was manageable. I have in the past used starters that I didn't maintain well which seemed acidic because of the sour dank  alcohol smell to them but were still living enough to produce some results. The dough in those cases would often shred too. I usually use the same flour which produces good stretchy dough the same water source and mostly I make variations of the same super basic recipe.

 Alan: I wonder about over proofing too. with a simple yeast recipe I know what I can get away with in the proofing but probably the different ingredients require proof times that I don't expect.Also sometimes I get a nice hole y crumb and sometimes I get a commercial fine bubble even crumb. ??

jamesinseattle's picture
jamesinseattle

I put a picture of me and my dog where i should have put a picture of bread. I didn't take a pic of shredded dough but this is some bread I made a while ago.