July 10, 2015 - 6:34am
How does rain and extra moister effect dough??
My dough has been very sticky lately, not sure why?
In Pittsburgh, PA it has been a very, very rainy spring and summer. How does the rain and extra moister in the air effect dough? And what should I be doing different?
Thanks.
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Adjust the hydration for variations such as humidity. If you are finding, even with the same recipe, that your dough is too sticky then reduce the hydration till it feels right. Best way is to hold a little water back and add a little at a time till you're happy with it.
Rarely have I had to do this but have done so occasionally in the past. Since a dough will work with a varied hydration (just the crumb will change a little) then I usually just stick with the recipe and treat it as a higher hydration dough. It's not as though the hydration needs to be exact otherwise it'll not work. Some breads are very high hydration and some are low. I think the difference in hydration when it comes to humidity would be relatively minor. But by all means adjust till you're happy with it.
but I've not noticed any difference in the dough at all. Biggest difference is how fast the crust softens after it come out of the oven because of the ambient humidity in the house even with the air conditioning running. Right out of the oven you can knock on the crust and feel the hardness and the nice echo. Fifteen minutes later and it's gone.
I was having that problem about a year ago, and I found out it still had too much moister in the crumb.
I baked it longer or hotter to solve that problem.
It all depends on how you store your flour. If you run your air conditioning continuously, then absorption should stay fairly constant. If (like myself), you store your flour in the original paper bag in a warm and fairly moist environment, then cutting back on the water is necessary to maintain proper dough consistency. Water absorption in the summer can be 6% to 10% (in baker's percent) lower in the summer than in the winter.
Bob