New to Baking Bread, Can you help me out with a recipe
Hello, so happy to have come across this site! I have a question, which the answer seems obvious but I seem to recall differently.
The
I used to bake bread for a deli. They had their own whole wheat bread, original and with flax seed. I used to mix with a Hobart mixer. The recipe nets 6 loaves. I don't have a Hobart mixer and so I need to make 1/2 the recipe in order to mix in my 6 qt mixer. The Hobart was a 20 qt...I used 8 cups water, 2 cups oil, 3 cups honey, salt, yeast and 9 large scoops of flour. I recall the recipe for less than the 6 loaves was not just a matter of halfing the recipe...it still required almost the same amount of water...just less some of the other ingredients. Maybe I'm mistaken, but can someone tell me...should I be able to half the recipe and get the same results netting 3 loaves?
I sure miss that Hobart mixer!
Bread recipes are increased and decreased based on percentages so normally, what you'd use to make 10 loaves you simply divide amounts by 10 to make one loaf or multiply by five to make 50. Proofing and baking times are generally going to stay the same.
This is why bakers use "bakers' Percentages" it's a simple way of yielding any amount of a particular dough no matter if they want 5 or 500 loaves.
It would not be logical, based on your description, for the water to stay nearly the same for 6 loaves as for 3, one or the other would be incredibly wet or dry. If you used 4 cups in the 6 loaf recipe, you'd use 2 cups in the 3 loaf recipe (half).
Ok...it seemed to be that simple, Great...I will try it!
Thank you...happy baking!
I hope your recipe is measured in weights, not volumes, so that your ingredient totals do remain steady, percentage wise. If it was a commercial bakery, then this likely true.