Need Help with Baker's Math
I am interested in baking Portuguese Sweet Bread. A baker from Honolulu posted a thorough recipe in 2010 and it doesn't look like he is still active. The link to this recipe is
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/comment/117287#comment-117287
I'd like to save this information with Baker's Percentages, but I'm not sure that his calculations are completely correct. For instance the flour total comes to 99%.
This is what I've taken from his instructions.
115 grams Unsalted Butter (15.3%)
210 grams White Sugar (30%)
285 grams BOILING water (38%)
40 grams Instant Dry Milk (5%)
40 grams Instant Mash Potato Flakes (5%)
220 grams Whole Eggs, Ice Cold straight from Refrig (29%)
10 grams Vanilla Extract (1.3%)
2 1/2 grams or 1/4 teaspoon each of Lemon extract
2 1/2 grams or 1/4 teaspoon each of Orange extract
295 grams BREAD flour (39%)
17 grams Osmotolerant Yeast like SAF GOLD (2.2%) --this is around 5 teaspoons of yeast
455 grams BREAD flour (60%)
7 grams Nutmeg, finely ground (1%. optional. comes out to 1 teaspoon
7 grams salt non-ionized (1%) --about 1 teaspoon
I calculate the total grams 1711 ( I omitted the single egg for the optional egg wash)
If someone has the time and is willing to break this down, I'd really appreciate it. The author is shown as "del" and his enthusiasm has me very interested to giving this a serious try.
Additional Question:
I know the flour always equals 100%. But do you add ingredients such as oil, butter, lemon or other extracts to the hydration percentage. Also how does dry ingredients like sugar, nutmeg, and the like affect the hydration? Some recipes have so little water compared to the flour (I think because of other wet ingredients) that it looks extremely dry to me.
I'm very interested to learn more about this.
Thanks in Advance,
Dan Ayo
INGREDIENT
AMOUNT (g)
FLOUR TOTAL (g)
% STARCH
STARCH (g)
% WATER
WATER (g)
% ALCOHOL
ALCOHOL (g)
BAKER'S %
Unsalted Butter
115
17.9
20.59
15.33
Sugar
210
0
0.00
28.00
Water (boiling)
285
100
285.00
38.00
Instant Dry Milk
40
4
1.60
5.33
Instant Mashed Potato Flakes
40
70.6
28.24
6.6
2.64
5.33
Eggs (extra large = 55g ea)
220
75.8
166.76
29.33
Vanilla Extract
10
52.6
5.26
34.4
3.44
1.33
Lemon / Orange Extract
5
52.6
2.63
34.4
1.72
0.67
Bread Flour
295
295
0.00
39.33
Yeast
17
0.00
2.27
Bread Flour
455
455
0.00
60.67
Nutmeg
7
0.00
0.93
Salt
7
0.00
0.93
Total Dough Weight
1706
227.47
Total Flour
750
100.00
Total Water
484.48
64.60
Total Alcohol
5.16
0.69
Total Dry Add-in
466.37
62.18
Overall Hydration
489.64
65.28
(includes water and alcohol)
TOTAL FLOUR / STARCH
778.24
100.00
FL / ST HYDRATION
62.92
The water amount and starch amount found in the various ingredients are based on information taken from nutritiondata.self.com (http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2567/2). I use this site extensively, and the percentage is easy to determine when choosing the 100g amount option.
Although the standard approach does not include the “starch” component of dry add-ins, I like to make note of it for myself, just for a better feel of what the dough is going to feel like. Sugar is a bit of an odd one, since it will add more of a “liquid” feel to the dough than a standard dry add-in, but it’s temperature dependent and will vary based on soaking time, so I just keep it in mind…
Oh – and the original recipe writer just didn’t include the partial percentages on things, so the flour should be 39.33% + 60.67% for a total of 100%...
Hope this helps!
Thanks IceDemeter for the information. So, would the hydration come out to 65%?
Or would the actual hydration be something different, but the expected "feel" of the dough be 65%?
I work with straight doughs almost exclusively, so the hydration is straightforward. This type of dough presents a learning curve that I'd like to understand much better.
Dan Ayo
Need a link for information dealing with Enriched Dough Hydration. I've searched the web for specific information and have found very little on the subject. Lean or straight dough hydration is straightforward, but I'm lost when it comes to enriched dough hydration.
Any help appreciated.
Dan Ayo
There's an interesting link here that has some good information. It doesn't give you all the answers in a neat formula but gives something to think about. You can also find the water content of most common ingredients (like eggs, butter, milk, etc.) and factor that into your calculations. Note that minor differences in grams wont' really matter much to your bread and you need to go by feel and experience regardless! Also, some things (like fats) have different effects on the dough as well, so you need to consider that too.
You might also find it useful to search Baker's math or baker's percentage for cakes and cookies, as they usually have these enriching ingredients.