I was curious to see the level of hydration in the bread I baked today. So I weighed my flour (470 grams) and water/milk (315 grams) after I did my usual scooping/volume measures (about 3-1/2 cups of flour and about 1-1/3 cups of liquid). I didn't bother with the weight of a tablespoon of olive oil, the instant yeast, sugar or salt, because I didn't need to know the BP of those ingredients.
Then I divided 315 by 470, which gives a percentage of 67.7%. Is this the right way to figure the BP of liquid in my recipe? Thanks in advance for your help with this! Seth
I get 315/470 = .670, or 67%, but aside from that small difference, yes, that's right. Or it would be right if the liquid was water. Milk runs around 87% water, so the dough might behave as if it were less hydrated. If all the liquid were milk, that would take the water fraction down to 58%. OTOH, part of the milk is fat, and that would make the dough feel a little more hydrated than the amount of water would indicate.
TomP
Thanks Tom, for confirming my calculation. And you are right, it's really just 67%, I misread the readout on my calculator.
And on your milk/water notes, the ration was 1/4 cup milk to almost 1-1/4 cups of water for a total of almost 1-1/2 cups of liquid, so I guess that works out to 1/6th or about 16% milk to 84% water if my math is right. I assumed milk and water weigh the same, which is why I just added them together, but that probably isn't so, given your remarks. In any event, it's close enough for starters and I'm just happy I got the math right! Seth
You have headed in the right direction. Oil, eggs and other "liquids" are typically excluded from the "wet" part of hydration, although you can find several other approaches to this as well. The truly rigorous will include the water portion of the milk, which ranges from approximately 87% of whole milk weight/92% of nonfat milk weight. I usually just consider milk to be water and combine it with the water weight, just as you did, and not sweat the fine details.
Just to clarify a detail about Bakers Percentage though: It refers to the % of total flour weight that each other ingredient, by itself, represents. So what I was really describing above would be called "Hydration Percentage', not Bakers Percentage. That's what you asked about though, so I started there. :). So your Bakers Percentage of water is not the same as the hydration of your dough. To get the individual BP's of water and milk divide each of them by flour weight. The result of each calculation will be the BP of water and the BP of milk respectively.
Hope I have managed to make it confusing enough to be understandable. :)
OldWoodenSpoon
OK, now I'm wondering about the difference between BP and hydration -- which I assumed were the same thing. If they aren't, how would you calculate hydration? Seth
Hydration is what you calculated originally. You could refine your calculation if you wish by computing the true "water" portion of the milk as tom and I pointed out, or do what both you and I do: just consider milk the same as water and add them together. So...
Hydration = (water+milk)/flour
OR
Hydration = (water +[water portion of milk])/flour. Where all units are weights.
Both approaches have their advocates and their detractors. I will admit that at higher portions of milk in a formula I pay much closer attention to how the dough turns out because, again as tom said, it can turn out a little dryer and need a bit of extra water to make it "right".
OldWoodenSpoon
Thanks to all for the helpful information! My next question is -- how does my 76% hydration (more or less) stack up against the average or median hydration number, if there is such a thing? I was frankly surprised to see that 76% number, since at least in my experience, my doughs seem to be on the dryer/firmer side, with a fairly dense crumb and very small holes -- but still quite delicious.
Also, I remember reading somewhere that "the wetter the dough, the better the bread." Like all sayings, there's probably a grain or truth in it, as well as plenty of situations where it doesn't apply! Seth
In your original post, confirmed in Tom's initial response, your formula comes to 67%, not 76%, but I'll assume that you just transposed the digits. As to your specific question, there just isn't such a thing... Not all breads are the same, for obvious reasons. Even within major genres there is immense variation, and it just doesn't lend itself to productive statistical analysis, so terms like mean, average and such just aren't very applicable. In that way it is not possible to say where 67% "stacks up".
You did not say what kind of bread you are baking, but given the milk in the formula I assume it is an enriched yeast bread rather than sourdough. As such your 67% hydration is pretty much where I would expect the formula to be. Anywhere from 65% to 69% is what I am used to seeing for such a dough, although higher or lower formations certainly exist. So in this respect I guess you are "in the ballpark" at least. :)
In a more generalized view dough hydration varies radically from the very low of something like bagels to the very high of, say, focaccia. Dough consisting of just patent (white) flours are generally formulated at lower hydrations than those incorporating high proportions of whole grain, which tend toward higher hydrations given the thirst of whole grain flours. As with all things there exceptions to such "norms", such as the focaccia already mentioned. Even in this context though the "wetter the better" expression is of only limited applicability. There are just too many variables that come into play when defining "wetter" for it to be that simple.
I don't know if this is even close to answering your questions, but it is an interesting discussion.
OldWoodenSpoon
You're correct, I just transposed the digits, 67% is the right number.
And to answer your question, I made a "Heinz 57 Varieties" bread today --- a little bit of everything. Roughly 2/3 unbleached Hecker's white flour, 1/3 KA whole wheat, a small amount of skim milk and a tablespoon of olive oil for better keeping and a more tender crumb, instant yeast, a little sugar and salt, some crushed rosemary, plus 8 oz. of chopped dried figs that I rolled into the shaped loaf. I dimpled the loaf before baking, so it somewhat resembles foccacia in looks if not in structure (smaller holes, etc.)
Every loaf is a learning experience, so I'm enjoying the journey. Seth
There are too many factors in play to make a definitive statement like that. But if you stick with mainly white wheat flours, a movement towards higher hydration tends to make the bread move towards a more open crumb and a more delicate structure, and also toward a dough that is more sticky, delicate, and harder to handle. There will be a happy middle somewhere, but that point will be different for each different baker, eater, flour types, etc.
It can be hard to compare hydration when the flour mix changes. High protein vs low, hard vs soft wheat, modern vs ancient grains (e.g., emmer, spelt), fresh milled vs store-bought, all can make a big difference in how the dough feels and how the bread turns out.
So - general trends, yes, within reason, but plenty of qualifications.
I would rather say that the hydration is "expressed" as a baker's percentage, as opposed to drawing a distinction between baker's percentage and hydration percentage. E.g., a salt content of 2% of the flour weight => baker's percent of 2%, not "salt percentage".
I wouldn't dispute that Tom, but I think there is a valid distinction when speaking of the baker's percentage of water and the bakers percentage of milk in a formula vs the hydration percentage of (water+milk)/flour. Even then your clarification is valid, but in this case so is the distinction.
OldWoodenSpoon
I'm like you, I just think of the milk as the same as water when I pour it in. I'm trying to read the dough more and be fiddly about details less.
I've been baking bread for quite a while, but I always thought BP was just for professionals and bakeries, I figured it was too complicated and not necessary for home bakers like me. And although I originally looked into it just as a matter of curiosity, now I see how useful and helpful BP can be.
Now I understand how BP lets you compare different recipes very quickly by using a common formula, even if the yield, ingredients or techniques are different. And it's also easy to scale a recipe up or down, or to make a certain weight/size loaf.
Of course, there still needs to be adjustments for temperature, humidity, time, etc., and let the dough tell you what it needs. But BP is a really good thing to have in my toolbox. So thanks to all for the additional BP info! Seth
When I make Debra Winks 100% whole wheat sandwich loaf, I weigh the whole egg and milk and then add just enough water to make up the hydration amount. The hydration of the dough is the combination of egg, milk and water. The oil is a separate entity.
Gavin
Incidentally, I am now a fan of the metric system! Even for a math-challenged person like me, dealing with grams and decimals is much easier than working with ounces/pounds/cups/pints/quarts. I had always considered the metric system to be an antiquated arrangement --- I didn't really care how many liters were in my half-gallon bottle of ginger ale. But now I see that it's actually our measurement system in the U.S. that's the real antique!
BTW, I read in Carol Fields' "The Italian Baker" that in Europe, the BP formula is based upon 100% of water rather than flour. Has anyone has experience using that arrangement? Seth