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Hamelman's Baguettes with Poolish - ERROR?

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Hamelman's Baguettes with Poolish - ERROR?

I am preparing to start Hamelman’s Baguettes with Poolish (page 92 in his book “Bread” - 2nd Edition).

It seems there is an error pertaining to the amount of yeast as it relates to the home baker’s listing. He shows 1.1% yeast in the overall formula, 0.2% in the Poolish, and 0.13oz in the final dough. I can’t tell you how much I wished he would have used grams.

0.13oz = 3.69 grams

BUT in the Overall Formula he shows the yeast at 1. 1%. 

Total Flour is 2 pounds = 907 grams

1.1% of 907 = 9.97 grams Total Yeast

Have I missed something or is this wrong? I love Hamelman, but his formulas (for home bakers) have played with my mind in the past.

I would really appreciate it if someone could check this out and either confirm or correct my calculations. Figures have a way of messing with my mind.

I figure ~0.35g in the Poolish and 3.69g in the final dough.

Thanks un Advance.

Danny

alfanso's picture
alfanso

The baker's percentage is correct.  The overall formula shows baker's percentages for all commercial ingredients.  In that case, he is basing the percentage on the fresh yeast, which is something like 3 x IDY in weight.

OldLoaf's picture
OldLoaf

Dan, Your math seems correct.

His 1.1% works out for the 20 lb and 10 kg figures.  But he is using fresh yeast in those figures.  You have to convert the fresh yeast figures to instant yeast figures.  I don't remember the exact conversion factor but I typically use 1/3rd (ie: divide fresh yeast by 3) to get the instant yeast equivalent.  Then the numbers get closer to his 1.1%.

Hope this helps...

Jeff

EDIT: I see alfanso beat me to it, nice catch! :) 

OldLoaf's picture
OldLoaf

Page 450 has the conversions.

fresh yeast/4 = active dry yeast amount

fresh yeast/3 = instant dry yeast amount

Jeff....

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Thanks Alan and Jeff!

My book (Bread, second edition - page 92) specifies “.13oz, instant dry” under the Home column pertaining to yeast.

I often mis-read and mis-calculate things, but either I am missing something, we have different books, or there is an error.

I consider Hamelman’s book Bread my favorite, but I often have a difficult time converting his formulas over to my spread sheets. Since spreadsheets require absolute and precise percentages and weights, any discrepancy will throw it off.

I appreciate your time and help with this matter!

Dan

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Hamelman shows 1.1% yeast for the US, Metric, AND Home columns! Sometimes, like the song, “it don’t come easy, you know it don’t come easy...”

Thank God, I continue to learn. Now, if only I can commit this to memory :D

Dan

alfanso's picture
alfanso

Danny,

I find that Mr. Hamelman's formulas are a lot easier to convert than others out there as he seems to pretty consistently  base a formula on a cumulative 10kg of flour(s).  Which I enter as 1k/1000g, and it makes all of the other percentages and amounts fall right in line.  When it comes to IDY, I drop the baker's percentage to reflect 1/3 the fresh yeast percentage, as mentioned earlier in the thread, and both the IDY amount and the overall baker's percentage reflects this.

After getting the formula into my spreadsheet and saved, I simply change the desired dough amount to whatever I wish, usually 1250g, 1500g, 1750g, etc.  And, of course, the sheet calculates everything from that total weight entry.

Sure beats the old Sephardic Cookbook of my wife's grandparents' era, where recipes call for a handful of this or a few pinches of that...

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Alan, you are on to something! I have been using the Home column for input. But the constant 10k flour converted to 1000g is brilliant! If I can remember to convert from fresh yeast to IDY my issues may become a thing of the past.

Thanks for the help!

Danny

Portus's picture
Portus

Danny, I side with Bill Gates, to whom is attributed: “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” no offence intended, Alan!  :->) Joe

traceyphillips's picture
traceyphillips

This is so true! Although, I asked my son to clean his room once and he just shoved everything under his bed. I wasn't happy when I found the mess! Felt like Monica from Friends.

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Thanks Alan, your rationale of substituting 1 Kilo for 10 Kilo in the Metric Column) worked like a charm. The only other thing I need to remember is the commercial columns use fresh yeast and the home baker is shown in Instant Dry Yeast. the percentage for home bakers yeast is not reflected in the percentage column. That must be recalculated.

Easy, Peasy...

It is my hope that another problem that I consistently repeat, is also solved this very day. I often figure a new formula on paper because I don't want to take the time to boot up my computer and build the spreadsheet. Most times this shortcut causes me major headaches. So, today I took matters into hand.

Danny