January 27, 2010 - 10:49am
High Altitude Bread Baking
Hi
Im new to the site and have recently moved to a location at about 5200 feet (not Denver). Looking for advice on bread making at high altitude. I have discoverd that reducing yeast by about 33% seems to work. Thanks for any advice.
KBK
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I live at almost 8000 ft and have no problems with my bread baking. The only thing I can say is it seems that it rises a bit faster. I don't make any adjustments and mostly bake with my sourdough starter.
Thanks Maggiem - Since you don't adjust yeast - do you stretch and fold during the first rise?
KBK
Yes, I autolyse for 30-40 min then add salt, knead just a couple of minutes and do 1 or 2 stretch and folds during the first rise.
I live in SLC at about 5000 feet and have not made any adjustments for altitude with my bread baking. I do autolyse (usually only longest for 30 minutes) and then proceed as usual. I do not think my bread rises faster than normal and really that seems to be more a factor of temperature than altitude. I have a homemade proofing box that I use because my house was to cold and bread baking became a game of wait, wait, wait....... not anymore with proofing box. Good luck.
Thanks again. I'll try that approach.
kbk
I also have not made any adjustments for high altitude. I DO live in the Denver metro area. I did have a bread machine for a while and noticed that I did have to cut the yeast a little. But, for doing it the non-bread machine method, I just do it the same as low altitude folks. I do notice it rises slightly faster.
Nancy
I bake at 6000 feet, just south of Denver (suburb). When I use yeast, everything rises too fast. I think your 33% reduction sounds about right...I'd say 33-50%. 90% of my bakes are now w/ my own sourdough culture. Our cultures (or mine at least) here in Denver aren't very sour--they taste much better retarding overnight. When I use my own culture, I need to plan a 6-hour bulk ferment (nothing much happens for the first 4 hours). I like to overhydrate just a tad (since it's so dry) and I love stretch and folds. Also...I find my breads come out best at a 200-200.5 internal temp, instead of the 205 that most people shoot for. I use a digital probe to get the internal temp.
Sue