December 31, 2014 - 6:03pm
Calculating hydration % when using a soaker or porridge
I'm not clear on how to calculate what the hydration % is when a recipe includes soaker or porridge. For example, if I use 500 gm of flour and 350 gm of water, it's 70%. NP so far.
But what if I add 200 gm of soaker or porridge that is made up of 100 gm water plus 100 gm grain?
I still have the same 500 gm of flour, but now have 450 gm total of water. So is the hydration still 70% or is it now 90%? Or do I have to weigh how much of the soaker water hasn't been absorbed by the grain, then add just that weight to get the total water weight to use in hydration %? Or something else entirely?
Or am I just unclear about something that doesn't matter enough to worry about?
Share
Most go with not including the moisture/liquid from a soaker/scald in their final hydration. But some do. i believe J.H. does in "Bread" but always mentions that the high hydration % is offset by the grains soaking up the water. It's just perspective for the person reading the formula. I like to just have the soaker as a % of the dough myself and always take into consideration that it will bring more moisture to the final dough.
Josh
It seems odd that there's no standard, which is the main part of what prompted my question. Luckily, it seems it doesn't really matter. What does is understanding the ratios in a formula.
This question arises frequently here and people are usually directed to the BBGA (Bread Bakers Guild of America) standards which goes into great detail as to how to figure in all facets of a bread formula.
For me, I do what works best for my brain to understand what is happening in my dough in my kitchen. My formulas are similar to what BBGA suggests but not identical.
Good Luck and Happy Reading,
Janet
Thanks for pointing me toward the BBGA tech articles. They're informative in a general sense, but unless I missed it, they don't seem to state a standard or show an example for overall hydration % when a soaker is used.
I'm going to guess that my question doesn't particularly matter in that the ratios are what's truly important. That said, it seems curious there's apparently no widely accepted standard for how to account for water that goes into a formula other than to hydrate the flour.
the BBGA standard does address this issue. I think they do it in the "public" materials (but it may be a footnote) - but certainly in the complete standards.
The solution is a little controversial, but here it is: Soakers are written in formulas so that they are "hydration neutral" - that is to say that they neither increase nor decrease the hydration of the formula. A separate ingredient (usually "Soaker Water") is added to the ingredient list so that the hydration provided normally can easily be seen.
The trick, of course, is getting the right amount of water (or soaking liquid) to make the soaker hydration neutral. It takes a little trial and error to get that right - and for people who are not publishing formulas to BBGA standards is probably a little too much trouble. Certainly most home bakers will not want to put in the effort for the marginal benefit.
But there is a standard, and formulas published by the BBGA adhere to it.
Hope this helps.
I had seen where one of the BBGA document refers to "hydration neutral" and had immediately wondered how to achieve this. I suppose it's not really of much importance to me since my goal is just to make a decent variety of homemade loaves.
I still wonder about porridges though. Is it even possible to make a hydration neutral porridge? In my mind at least, porridge has by its very nature at least some liquid that is be "free" to hydrate the flour.
(and I say that because the standard does evolve) a porridge would be under the same rules as a soaker.
If it were really important, one could cook the porridge and then drain it (squeeze out water through a towel or cheesecloth, etc., etc.) so after cooking it became hydration neutral. You would measure the squeezed out water and add it to the formula - possibly as "Porridge Water", but must likely just as water.)
Again, not something most home bakers would care to do. I would venture that even some pro bakers would not want to do it.
But (again) as of today, your BBGA formula formatter would ask you to do it if your formula was destined for publication.
Happily, I have not yet had this "go 'round" with a formula provider. I would imagine that the editors would be weighing in when I did and we might get new instructions.
This is how the standard evolves...
Hope this helps.
I appreciate your taking the time to satisfy my curiosity.
There are many approaches to using grains and flakes, ranging from not soaking all the way to 400% porridge cook ups.
Any water that is added in a soaker or porridge has an affect on the final dough consistency, to me it would be totally illogical not to count it in the final hydration %.
If you are creating and fine tuning your own formulas, it would be a much easier process to calcuate the water in rather than trying to establish what an actual "hydration neutral"soaker would be. for that one would have to adjust for the coarseness of grind, soak temp., time, etc. What would be the point of it for the profi or hobbyist?
I suppose if it were simple, I might not have been confused. And I can't help but agree that for my purposes, just getting the recipe written down in a way that lets me duplicated is what's important, far more so than whether the loaf is x% or y% hydration.