May 1, 2024 - 10:58am
PH meter
Anyone out there use a PH meter for their rye breads? Are they created equally, or is there one you would recommend?
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Anyone out there use a PH meter for their rye breads? Are they created equally, or is there one you would recommend?
Hanna has one designed for measuring dough. It's probably the one you want.
https://www.hannainst.com/bread-and-dough-ph-tester.html
pH meters can be fussy to maintain; I used them in a chemical production lab and the probes often needed replacement because of poor handling and maintenance.
Because of that experience, I use narrow range pH paper for rye bread:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LY1KIWY/
The pH paper has been sufficient to confirm that the pH has attained the desired level. TTA may be more important for rye SD, but the titration is more time consuming than a quick check with pH paper.
I can't use litmus paper because my red-green color vision isn't good enough to match the colors reliably. Out of curiosity, with the paper do you have to dissolve the dough in water or can you just press it into the dough?
Good question actually, also would like to know. for fun I got some pH paper (just general acidic range, not very precise) and it's fun how it works, but I have only used it with a liquid starter (CLAS). Also curious to try with thicker dough - I assume one should dissolve it in distiller water?
I have found with the Hydrion pH paper that I can just smear a small amount of dough on it, fold it over, wait a few seconds, then scrape off the residue. I do find that discerning color can be a little difficult; I had that problem in the lab, too. I haven't tried diluting the dough in DI water. If it's diluted too much, the pH can be affected.
I know the Hanna probe is designed for dough, but I had enough trouble with pH probes in the lab that I'm reluctant to spend the money. I do find TTA titrations to be a little difficult with rye sours because the pink endpoint of phenolphthalein is murky because of the color of the rye flour. A pH meter would be helpful in that example.