December 2, 2015 - 1:30pm
Cold water makes for stiffer mix??
Hey there :) just wondering if anyone has noticed that when the weather gets warm and you need chilled water to get your DDT your mix is stiffer??
We had to use water @ 15C yesterday and the usual mixes seemed decidedly drier even though the water content was exactly the same and the recipe was followed to a T. Dough temp came out around 25C and the dough relaxed and softened over time, final loaf was good and not terribly different, though I did notice the crust was a tiny bit tougher.....
Any thoughts??
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Any water emulsion, which is what a dough is, generally get more viscous or resistant to flow and more dense as the temperature drops. This is due to the fact that water molecules slow in movement and become more compact as the temp approaches freezing. What is more important as far as dough is concerned is that you keep the same ratio of water to other ingredients which is what you did. As far as the crust, that is an interesting observation and repetition under as close to the same conditions needs to be performed to see if it is repeatable or just a thing that happened that time.
Hope this helps.
Stu
I know already that the crust differs a little with temperature of proof and length of time of delayed proof, we do about 15hrs total, about 12 of which is retard in the fridge. Ive done loaves complete at room temp from start to finish in one day and found crust quality quite different, also over all flavour is milder.
Its just interesting how much stiffer the dough is considering that, once mixed, the dough is around 25C, the same as when we mix with warmer water, you would think that at 25 the environment in the dough would be much the same but I think the starches take a while to recover and perhaps the gluten also
I misunderstood your question. I agree that it has to do with how the flour hydrates. The crust information is helpful something to keep in mind and hadn't noticed since I rarely bake the same bread consecutively.
Stu