May 9, 2021 - 12:31pm
Bakers Percentage
Hello TFL!
I’m a long time lurker of this site and this is my first post (please be nice lol)
my question:
do bakers percentages change as the recipe is scaled up (even minutely) or is mixing my issue?
i’m making basic Italian loaves
Bread Flour - 100%
water - 68%
yeast (instant) - 1.2%
salt - 2%
sourdough discard - 20% (not included in formula)
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My understanding is that you use baker's percentage to scale up and down. Also, you didn't say what your issue is. Lots of pros on here (not me) that can help if you give them all the details.
That’s how I understood bakers percentage as well. I’m just having consistency issues. Could very well be human error but I thought I’d see what the community here would say or recommend.
Any tips on scaling would be appreciated. I typically mix by hand and knead. I recently purchased a 20qt to help with larger batches.
That's a lot of yeast. There's seldom any need to go above 0.7% idy tops unless you are talking enriched doughs, or are desperately short of time.
And you will have some leavening from the sourdough too.
Lance
That’s a very good point, Lance. Thank you both!!
I agree with Lance. I know when reading Hamelman's formulas his yeast % of yeast is fresh yeast. I have to multiply by 0.33 to get the correct amount of IDY. Eg. in his baguettes with poolish formula, 1.2% yeast become 0.4% IDY. Just a thought.
Cheers, Gavin
That is how baker's percentages work. A large amount of dough might heat more during mixing and might proof faster than a small batch because ambient temperature has a greater effect on a small mass than on a larger one. All of my recipes are scaled up versions of home recipes. Bakeries that publish cookbooks typically scale down their large batch recipes to a home size batch.
The percentages do NOT change. That is why we use it. I use the same % if i am hand mixing or when I am using a continuous ribbon mixer.
Thank you all very much! I appreciate everyone taking the time to answer my question as well as offering such helpful insight.