I never thought about that, but why not give it a try. On second thought, pasta water is pretty salty--Lydia B. on PBS says it should taste like the sea, so maybe that is not such a hot idea. Also, there is probably a big difference between potato water which probably has good stuff in other than just starch that comes from the potatoes. Pasta water probably just has salt and a little starch from the dried durum wheat.

--Pamela

I take you point about the salt, although we do not add any salt to the pasta water when we cook it.  Although I'm sure the pasta water contains less starch than potato water, I figured it would have lots more than plain water, so may contribute to the loaf.  I guess the converse of this is that the dough has plenty of wheat starch from the flour, so why would it need more.....

This is something I've been meaning to try myself. In fact the last few times I made pasta I reserved the cooking 'liquor' for precisely that purpose but just never got round to it. 

More than just an additional source of starch, the pasta water should contain gelatinized starch (from being boiled).

(Pre)gelatinized starch or scalded flour is sometimes used when making rye breads and also sometimes in beer mashes. I believe the theory is that it aids starch saccharification since the gelatinized starch is more easily broken down. In the case of bread, I guess there should be a sweeter end product (or perhaps faster fermentation time??). Some asian breads use a 'glue' made from flour and water heated to the point when starches start to gel. Adding this to the final dough is supposed to improve the keeping properties and texture of the bread.

If you decide to use pasta water in your bread, please let us know how it went. I'm curious to know the results!

FP

Hi

I'm relatively new to the bread making experience but this evening had my first great experience with potato water (from boiled skin-on potatoes).

I'm keen to experiment with starch waters of different extracts.  Has anyone tried rice water?  I know you can get food poisoning from Bacillus Cereus (see link from food standards agency supporting this - www.eatwell.gov.uk/asksam/keepingfoodsafe/asksamcooking/ ) so I'd use the water straight away and not leave it at room temperature for long periods.

Any tips or ideas appreciated!

Thanks

I would break the salted pasta water down with fresh water to your taste or find a good maths person on this site to figure a maths formula re volume of water to salt used and needed for bread use.

As for rice that article is correct in its advice to place any unused cooked rice in the fridge ASAP. Cooked Rice is one of the worst foods for bacteria infections when it is left too long without being cooled to fridge temperature. As long as you cool it down quickly(ASAP) in the fridge you wont have troubles. We had Fried Rice the other night from the local Chinise take away. The unused portion was refridgerated straight away and was used again 2 nights later. Both my wife and I are still healthy with no side affects. Just cool it as soon as possible. Don't reheat it a 3rd time. Dispose of any left over again after the first reheat.

We boil rice then wash it in a colander to cool. It is then then refridgerated immediatily in the colander overnight to dry for a home cooked fried rice the next day. We don't leave it out at room temperature. Thats a big NO NO

 I'm sure the same could apply to the rice water. But please research it more for your own benefit. I  am going on a food handlers course I did a few years back. It was a very basic course for volunteer people but the point on rice was stressed. COOL IT VERY QUICKLY.

Cheers....Pete

You mentioned that you wanted to try pasta water because you don't cook potatoes very often so you wouldn't have the water to use.  What I have done before is boil a small potato or even just a piece of a potato in the amount of water I want.  Then I mash the potato in the water and use this whole mix in my bread.

When I bake bread I usually bake a larger batch (5 loaves) so I often split the liquid needed.  For example today half the liquid was potato water and the other half was a can of beer.  Wow did that turn out good.