The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

increasing recipe formula

norco1's picture
norco1

increasing recipe formula

All recipes posted have an exact proportion of ingredients. Can a recipe be simply doubled to create additional types of breads without losing the original recipe essence?

dwcoleman's picture
dwcoleman

I believe the general rule of thumb is that you can multiply or divide by 3 without changing anything.  Above/below that you need to account for more/less yeast.

That being said, I have multiplied some recipes by 5-6 with no adverse affects.

 

 

pmccool's picture
pmccool

If in volumes, then things get a bit tricky.  Some ingredients, as dwcoleman points out, don't behave nicely when multiplied.  It isn't the fault of the ingredient, but of the recipe developer.  

With weights, everything is proportional when increased or decreased.  Want to cut a formula that makes an 850-pound batch of dough down to something that makes a couple of loaves for your family?  Divide all of the weights by, oh, 400 to get a two-loaf batch.  Want to make your favorite bread for the club bake sale but need to make 50 loaves instead of 4?  Multiply the weights by 12.5.  It's even easier if the weights are in metric, rather than English, units.  

 

You'll see a lot of commentary here at TFL about the importance of weighing your ingredients instead of going by volumetric measurements.  Scaling is one important reason.  Understanding hydration and other facets of bakers math is another.  Achieving consistency is yet another.

Paul