December 11, 2010 - 2:34pm
bakers percentage and recipes
I just got a KD8000 digital scale with bakers percentage. so I worked out my current recipe as close as i could ,it shows I use 3 percent salt . I've been doing this recipe that I scaled up from trial and error 20 years ago,with a little help from recipe books. It always works but don't know if I should try reducing the salt. I'll list my recipe-any comment welcome. 2.3 kg fresh ground hard red spring wheat,1800 ml water 40 gm yeast 70gm salt 150 gm brown sugar ( more or less depending on mood ,usually less) 100 ml olive oil.
regards Ggage
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Ggage,
You say you have been baking this bread for 20 years - does it taste salty to you? Not trying to be a wise guy but if you are going by the 2% deal I am sure that if you like the taste of your bread then the number really does not matter now does it?
Ben
Ggage,
I put your recipe into my bakers % spreadsheet
Yeast 2%
Flour 100%
Water 78%
Oil 4%
Salt 3%
B/sugar 7%
Your Hydration 83% (with oil) seems high, at ciabatta levels
As Ben said if you like the taste at 3% salt thats OK
Lots of breads are 64% to 70% hydration
You may be able to look at your hydration ?
Bill
Only water matters. That water may come from plain old water that you pour in, or it may be part of other ingredients like milk, eggs, butter, fruit, etc.
Oils are pure fat. As such, they affect the dough's texture and handling characteristics but they don't contribute any water that gets counted in hydration percentages (even though they are a liquid).
Paul
I agree with the hydration being high ,but the fineness of the grind for my wheat puts it up there . If I leave the olive oil out the effect is just a slight texture/aroma change. I really only make the home ground wheat bread and store bought unbleached flour for ciabatta bread , it is 73 % hydration . for the whole wheat I bake in tall ale tins $ " dia by 8 " tall. Anyway it appears most recipes are in the 2 pecent salt range ,I'll try that and see , too much salt could affect the yeast I'm thinking . Anyone have recipes at 3 % ?? I took a bread making coarse in 1980 or 81 and have settled on those two brads for us , the white bread we eat like cake . Ggage