June 21, 2013 - 11:55am
Water
In the preparation of preferments, final doughs or straight doughs, what differences, in the results, might arise from the use of
- warm water (say, at 45-60 degrees C),
- room temperature (say, at 20-30 degrees C) water (at least here in Rio, most of the time) or
- cold water (say, at 10-15 degrees C)?
Thanks. Bruneski.
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Bruneski, some home bakers, and many professional bakers measure the temperature of the dough before they set it for the first rise. and some even measure the different ingredients ahead of time, and adjust the water temp to get a desired dough temp. In general, the warmer the dough, the quicker the rise, and less flavor development. The water is just one part of the picture. If the room is warm, and the flour is warm, and the mixing - kneading is very extensive, they will all make for a warmer dough and a quicker rise. Some recipes call for kneading in a food processor suggest you use ice water to get a final dough temp that is around 75 F because if you use normal room temp, the action of the food processor will increase the dough quite a bit. So if you want more flavor development, you will want a slower rise - which can mean using cooler water, or less yeast, or storing the dough in a cooler during first fermentation.
... the information.
Now I unterstand why almost all for-bread-machine recipes include warm water, instead of room temperature water.
Take care.