June 22, 2011 - 4:36am
What makes the dough feel weightless?
It surely happened to all of you: sometimes the bread comes out of the over so well that even if it's bulky it feels weightless. The opennes of the crumb is generally a confirmation of the lightness of the loaf.
What happens in cases like that? More water evaporates? Or maybe some other magic is responsible?
I always measure the loaves when they are baked and totally cold and I never saw any significant difference in weight between the ones that came out lighter respect to the denser ones.
I'd really like to understand the physics of this weight perception:-)
Nico
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I imagine you're perceiving the lower density, not a lower weight. Two boxes, one big, one little and both weigh the same; your sense will be that the bigger box is lighter.
cheers,
gary
The same thing happens before baking. I can tell when my bread is ready to bake just by lifting the banneton - when it feels light it's ready. I think I sense a change in the center of gravity.
get so easily deceived?
The human mind uses all sorts of "computational shortcuts" which work very well in typical circumstances, but are quite vulnerable to being "fooled". If you're interested in why seeing isn't always the same as believing, follow searches for "illusion" ...or "perception" ...or "perceptual psyschology" or "behavioral neurology" or "psychophysics" (and keep your scale).
If you want to experience your senses deceiving you just visit The Crooked House and watch a marble roll uphill! You also find that you need far less alcohol before you start staggering around!
http://www.thecrooked-house.co.uk/page2.htm
I should explain that some of the website is written in a way that resembles how the Black Country (the area where the pub is located) dialect is spoken and sounds so, for example:
HumPage =Home Page; Aahh Dooooo = Hello; grey pays = grey peas (a local delicacy - to some!)