February 5, 2016 - 7:40pm
Confused about two seemingly conflicting theories
Dear bread masters,
I'm very confused about the following two theories that I've read somewhere while studying bread baking. They seem to contradict each other to me:
theory 1): high hydration leads to a better volume and bigger more open crumbs, and oven spring
theory 2): too much water will weigh down on the gluten network, and the gravity force will inhibit rising and oven spring, thus volume and crumbs.
Can you please shed some light on this issue? And how to decide on the optimal hydration level, what are the factors I need to consider? What's the thinking process?
thanks!
Liming
Share
If I add more water than a Theory one recipe can absorb, I suddenly have Theory (?) two.
The thinking process starts with the flour, there are lower and higher limits as to how much water each flour can absorb and give off in the baking process and still remain bread. The more gluten in the flour, the more water it can absorb, the more bran and outer protein bits of the grain, the more water it can absorb, so protein content along with the fibre content will give you some idea as to the lower limits of hydration, which in turn gives you a range above that to play with.
Added ingredients will play with this hydration and compete for water so important to consider them too and how much they absorb.
thanks Minioven, I wonder if this delicate balancing between little and too much is also needed for acid, like ascorbic acid and vinegar. Too much acid weakens gluten and a bit can strengthen it.
cheers!
Limig
Modaration is everything in baking - Too much water and you won't be able to develop a proper dough, having a dense bread, too little and it will be tight, dry and again, dense. Too much or to little fermentation is bad; oven too hot or too cold; sourdough is too sour or not enough so :)
Well, I don't think it is the acid that is strengthening your dough when it comes to something like ascorbic acid...Ascorbic acid causes your dough to oxidize faster in the mixing process which is what causes your dough to gain more strength. Hence it is classified as a reducing agent...As far as I know vinegar will not make your dough any stronger, it may however prolong the shelf life and be a mild mold inhibitor.
Both theories are perfectly wrong. Crumb structure depends almost entirely on the skill of the baker.
While neither of the theories are perfectly right, your theory actually is completely wrong. Skill of the baker is not a quantifiable thing and a very skilled baker might want to produce a tight crumbed product. A skilled baker knows how to obtain either results and can modify procedures to obtain his end goals. Hydration, mixing style, shaping technique, oven settings etc. are all things that he/she may change. I've seen machines produce nice open crumbed bread, is that because they are skilled bakers? no. It is because each part of the process, from formulation, to mixing, to molding to baking was set to obtain those results. Was there a skilled baker behind setting up the procedures, sure. But obtaining the results doesn't rely on that, it relies on physical processes. Obtaining an open crumb structure is based on physical changes in the procedures of making the loaf not some silly abstract concept like "skill of the baker". Please.
To me it seems like you are calling me wrong and then go and name all the reasons why I am right.
It seems I have failed to make this clear enough. Opening the crumb structure of bread has to do with PHYSICAL CHANGES to the dough process that ANYONE can make with a little bit of knowledge or guidance. Saying that opening the crumb structure relies on the SKILL OF THE BAKER is a nebulous statement because SKILL OF THE BAKER means nothing in and of itself. It is an abstract concept that is not easily quantifiable. It is not helpful to tell someone that opening the crumb structure relies on the skill of the baker because that is not a scientific statement, it means nothing. The skill of the baker is not something you can adjust to change the outcome of the loaf...You can adjust the mixing style and change the outcome. You can adjust the hydration and adjust the outcome. Am I making sense?
If someone came to me with a flat dense loaf and said, "what did I do wrong?" and I replied, "Well, you're just not a skilled enough baker" not only would I be an a-hole, it wouldn't help them make a better loaf next time. If I said "adjust your mixing like so, fold an extra time, then and adjust etc etc." they might actually come back with a better loaf next time and it wouldn't be because they became a skilled baker instantly it would be because they adjusted their process.
The physical processes are what change the outcome. Someone that knows how to play with the processes is deemed a "skilled baker". That does not mean that the outcome is attained by being a skilled baker. A completely unskilled baker that used the right process could create a beautiful loaf of bread with an open crumb structure. Hence why skilled bakers write books and then unskilled bakers make a beautiful loaf of bread on their first try. They did not instantly become a skilled baker they just followed the procedure properly. Do you understand the distinction?
the recipe, method and flour used then the spring and openness of the crumb suffers . When I get it too wet then the dough wants to spread before it can spring and the crumb suffers then too. It is just a matter of getting the water right and the gluten developed enough for the No Knead, machine or hand kneading technique being used.
Happy Baking
I think the over arching message here is actually both theories are not wrong, both theories are right - they are opposite sides of the same coin. Walk the middle path.