July 15, 2020 - 1:37pm
Humity & Hydration
Hi, I live in the country near Bowling Green KY and it gets a bit humid out here. I was curious if the Humidity affects dough hydration? I mixed some dough this week at a 72% hydration and it acted more like an 85% hydration when pre-shaping and final shaping for an overnight cold proof.
I am just curious if I need to factor that in as I bake during the steamy months?
Thanks!
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Yes.
I do this by trial and error, based on experience. It's not possible to directly measure flour humidity (water content or hydration) directly in the home kitchen.
Based on knowing how my recipes behave in dry winter weather, allows me to reduce hydration during warm humid summer weather. Not a direct answer, but yes it matters.
Yes tremendously helpful.
Yesterday's dough was "wetter" than normal and I was thinking I might have been using too much water on my fingers during the stretch and folds. But yesterday humidity in our kitchen was really high, so it makes sense to play with the water content +/- here or there.