The Fresh Loaf

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Differences in Hydration on Different Types of Flour

warpatato's picture
warpatato

Differences in Hydration on Different Types of Flour

Hi. I was wondering about differences on how would you hydration different types of flour. Hard whole wheat flour absorbs more moisture than regular white wheat flour right? So is it just a matter of the amount of protein in the flour? If you would hydrate 1kg of white wheat bread flour say, 50%, how much would you hydrate 1kg of hard wheat flour to get the same consistency or amount of tackiness?

Since we're on the same topic, is there also any noticeable differences between hydrating regular white wheat bread flour, AP flour, pastry flour and cake flour just to achieve the same consistency on all of them?

In short, with a 1kg white wheat bread flour hydrated at 50% as the baseline, how much water would you need to achieve the same consistency on all types of hypothetical bread made with whole wheat, AP, pastry and cake flour respectively (all made with the same humidity)? Thank you very much!

 

 

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Increase water by 14 g for every 56.5 g/2 oz whole grain flour you substitute for white flour.

I don't know whether it makes any difference how much protein the white flour has.

Karin