June 24, 2009 - 12:08pm
Bread Weight
When we're talking the weight of bread, say a 3 pound loaf, are we referring to the starting weight (of the pre-baked dough, the weight of the initial ingredients) or the weight of the final product, the baked loaf once cooled?
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I think if your are talking about the weight of bread, you are talking about what it weighs after baking and cooling. If I bake something that is around 24 ounces, it probably loses about 4 ounces during baking. But each bread if different because of its amount of liquid and composition, and baking method (loaf pan or free standing, on a stone, etc.) and temperature.
--Pamela
Okay, it seems like when looking at a recipe, then it's the weight of the unbaked ingredients. Once baked and cooled, and put up for sale, it's the final (baked) weight.
It is really important if you are selling a commercial product to know exactly how much your loaf will lose during baking. You can't sell a 2 pound loaf, if it doesn't weigh two pounds.
--Pamela
therefore advertised weight boils down to post-baked weight. THANKS!
Bread is not bread until it is baked. Before that, it is dough. So weight of bread is post-bake, weight of dough is pre-bake.
- Keith
I always weigh my breads before and after baking. Instead of expressing the loaf size in pounds/grams I used small, medium and large. My small is roughly one pound, medium 1.5 pounds and large 2 pounds. If I used a basic recipe (just flour, water, sugar, salt, oil, and sourdough starter) the bread usually comes out 9 - 10% less than its pre-bake weight. So if my medium loaf is a bit less than 1.5 pound, it's still medium.
hi there,
the subject you discussing might have been posted very long time ago, however I am very interested to discuss it as I am a 4-years old in home bakery, and I have a couple of questions:
How much should a french loaf lose of its weight when finally baked? did you try to weigh it before and after?
Are you running your own bakery shop? or working in one?