April 7, 2008 - 9:27pm
Water absorption
Just found a gem of a tip:
"The more protein a flour contains, the more water it absorbs. Flours can vary more than 20% in their ability to absorb moisture."
Meaning.... when substituting flours in a recipe, you will need more or less water (moisture) if you use a flour with a different protein content!
Mini O
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And whole grains are both thirstier than refined flours, they drink more slowly.
Or, they absorb a lot of water, but they do it slowly. When I am developing whole grain recipes, it's not unusual to adjust the hydration in the final mix by feel. Allowing the dough to rest and being patient are very important when dealing with whole grains.
Mike
and I guess I can go on to say that the higher the ash content of a flour, the more water it will absorb when given the time. Whole grains have a higher ash content, the more they are ground and sifted, the lower it becomes.
So, on with the experimentation!
...and my next batch of muffins are out of the oven....spelt, cranberry with kiwi yeast water!
Mini O
Indeed, Mini Oven, this is a gem.
Flour absorption is something that really has been hanging me up, and I rarely find mention of it in the baking books. I'm amazed at how much "thirstier" the Pendleton Mills Morbread Flour I recently bought is than KA AP Flour. They are both unbleached all purpose flours but they behave very differently. I need to add as much as an extra quarter cup of water to a batch made with Morbread to get the same characteristics as I'd expect from a typical AP flour.
As well as ash and protein, I've read that fresh milled flour typically has a moisture content of around 10%, but that if you live in a dry climate and your flour isn't fresh it may retain less moisture and so be more absorbent. So there is something else to factor in.
So... baker's percentages are great, but they still aren't a silver bullet. You may need to add or subtract a couple of percentage points to your baker's percentages to account for your climate and the flour you are using.
@FloydM : You mentioned dry climate but what about wet climate? I live in a quite humid area and following several recipes baker's % it seems to me that I get over hydrated dough... For example I've tried 73% hydration but I've found it really hard to work with and the dough doesn't hold its shape when baking. But for now I can't say if the climate is having an important role or if it's just me being too inexperienced handling the dough :)
plays a role, especially if the flour and dough are exposed for periods of time.
Inexperienced handling can also be a factor... this tends to change with practice.
Combine the two, too much hydration and lack of experience results in a big sticky pool of dough.
The last two days, the weather patterns here have changed from drippy wet to breezy balmy, just lovely! And now I have to add more water to my dough! :)