August 12, 2009 - 12:43pm
Hydration error in dough, any remedies?
Hi, all:
I made an error in calculating the amount of water needed for my cranberry walnut bread. I did not realize it until after my dough had been kneaded. The dough felt a little drier than expected so I plumped the cranberries right away before adding them to the dough. However, I don't think this would make up for the additional 119g of water needed. I stretched and folded the dough a few times and it now sits in the fridge. Is there any thing I can do at this point to add the extra water in? Please advise. Thanks.
Yippee
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How far off are you from your desired hydration level? You can probably just have the bowl of water next to the dough and gradually add bits of it at a time and knead or fold it every time you add water. I had a similar issue with bagels I was making, and I just kept wetting my hands with the water and spreading it over the dough. If your hydration level is only off by 1 or 2%, it shouldn't make the biggest difference, but you can continue to add in as much water as you think is necessary.
Hope this helps.
Danny - Sour Flour
http://www.sourflour.org
I may not have made it clear previously, the nuts and cranberries have been mixed in the dough and the dough is bumpy. Would I tear the gluten if I knead it at this point? I can try folding it after adding water using your 'wet hand' technique. My % is way off so I probably will have a lot of folding to do. Thanks again.
Yippee
In your place, I'd drop the dough into my stand mixer with dough hook and gradually add about a Tablespoon of luke warm water while kneading on low speed and I'd knead just long enough to bet all the water incorporated into the dough. Then let the dough rest about 30 minutes before continuing to process it for the oven. Shouldn't take more than about 5 Tbsp. to make up the difference.
Thanks for your reply. I actually need to incorporate additional 256g of water in the dough, not 76g as I previously mentioned. Do you think it's feasible to re-knead with all the nuts and berries in the dough, or should I just forget about it this time?
Yippee
How much flour do you currently have, and how much water? How much water are you aiming for?
I would not worry about "tearing" the gluten. The only issue you are going to have is that it might be a bit difficult to get the water to the center of the dough, rather than have it by a gummy mess on the outside. With time and persistence, you should be able to get as much extra water into the dough as you need.
Let me know how it goes.
Danny - Sour Flour
http://www.sourflour.org
You should be able to incorporate the water, just be a bit gentle in your kneading or folding of the dough.
I have to say though, 256g is lot of water. Unless you're making a huge batch of dough, I'd be surprised if you would even have all your flour fully incorporated with that low a hydration. Try to double check your calculations again before trying to add all that water to your dough.
OK, you had me going a bit crazy there for a minute. I read the 76g figure and responded to that. Your edit (256g) is quite different. That's going to be something over a cup of water. I suspect you'll break up some of the nuts and berries, even with gentle kneading at a reduced speed, but that's better than filling the garbage can with all of the ingredients you've already used. Personally, I'd go for it (maybe 3 Tbsp at a time though) and watch if closely to monitor for the best time to load it into the oven.
Sorry, can't retain the original formatting from excel, which would make it easier to read.
Thanks for reminding me to recal, I need (for sure this time) to add extra 119g of water to the dough.
I'm confused by your chart.
What does H20 in SD, or Flour in SD stand for? I assume you are talking about flour and water as counted from your starter? If this is the case, then you possibly made another mistake. If you have 75g water from SD, and 150g flour from SD, then your SD is at 50% hydration, which is extremely firm. Often starters are around 100%
hydration, which would be 112.5g of each if you used 225g SD.
Can you explain a bit further?
Thanks,
Danny - Sour Flour
http://www.sourflour.org
Danny:
I'm using a 50% firm starter for better control of starter activity under this hot weather. So, do you think it's ok to gradually incorporate the additional 119g water? Thanks.
Yippee
Hi Yippee,
I see no problem with adding the water, and I think you should do it. Please let us know how it turns out.
Take care,
Danny
http://www.sourflour.org
I say "add the water" too. The extra liquid will invigorate the yeast and it will still rise. Go for it!
Jay