How is the formula below calculated in respect to the levain?
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RECIPE
Ingredients
100% whole rye flour
70% water
2% salt
15% sourdough starter (fed at least twice, best to feed it before use with rye, and make it a bit on the stiff side, about 60% hydration)
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Is the levain considered an ingredient equalling 150g?
Is the total dough weight (assuming 1 kilo of flour) 1870g?
How I wished that bakers would adopt the BBGA standards. It would eliminate a lot of confusion, at least on my part. It really makes the most sense and accurately describes the hydration. Percentage of pre-fermented flour guys...
In the formula above IF the Levain is an ingredient, the actual hydration is 72%.
Thanks in Advance
Danny
How are you calculating that?
I see that I did mis-calculate that, because the levain is 60% hydration. I am so used of 100% Levains that I went from memory. Based on 100% hydrated Levain the Total Dough Hydration would be ~72%.
So, 15% Levain calculated as an ingredient would be 150g, based on a kilo of flour.
150g of 60% hydration Levain is ~56g water and ~94g flour.
Total Flour. 1000 + 94 = 1094g flour
Total Water. 700 + 56 = 756g water
Total Salt. .02 x 1094 = ~22g salt
Total Dough Weight = 1872g
Precise Hydration = 756 / 1094 = ~69%
How are these calculations, Michael?
I am trying to figure out if the 15% Levain is deducted from the Formula’s Flour and Water or added to it. It is important to discern because all formulas that I bake with are setup in my spreadsheet.
As always I appreciate your help!
Danny
Hydration is now accurate. But you are confusing things with salt and total dough weight.
Start with what you know. Elaborating your example..
1000g Flour
700g water
150g starter
20g salt
Total dough weight = 1870g like you said initially.
This format doesn't revolve around total flour and total hydration.
So when I see a formula written this way, I should consider the Levain an ingredient. Because the flour in the Levain is not considered in the Total Flour the salt is 20g.
I hope every baker that writes their formula this way thinks the same way. I would imagine they do.
I now realize that not only is the hydration skewed, but also the salt. Never saw that before.
Michael, do you use this method of writing the Levain as an ingredient?
Thanks...
Danny
Danny, using Flo's 123 sourdough formula for reference in baker's maths, I would call the starter a (composite) component than an ingredient; actual hydration is 71.4% not a nominal 66.7%. But the question remains as to whether e.g. 2% salt is of total flour including the starter component or not; just to add to the confusion ... :-) Joe
Yes Danny, I use this method. I don't use the BBGA format since I don't see any benefit of doing so.
I have been unable to understand how super experienced and even prominent bakers calculate their Levains as an ingredient. But I just had an epiphany when I reversed the question and presented it to myself. “Are you willing to divorce the Percentage of Prefermented Flour and adopt the Percentage of Levain in lieu of”. My immediate answer resounded NO! I imagine those that use % of Levain are equally as adamant.
The answer to the question comes easy. The rationale behind that answer - not so easy.
In his book, Open Crumb Mastery, Trevor writes that he uses Percentage of Levain because it is simple and easy to calculate. Assuming 1 kilo of flour, 10% a 100g, 33% - 330g. Easy Peasy.
On the other hand, Percentage of Pre-fermented Flour deals only with the amount (weight) of flour in the Levain relative to the Total Flour in the formula. Using this method the hydration of the Levain is irrelevant which in my mind is very convenient. The Total Dough Hydration is always spot on; not so with Percentage of Levain. The baker is free to mix a stiff Levain or a very wet one. The choice has no affect on the final percentages of Total Formula.
Revelation - a spreadsheet facilitates auto calculation making Percentage of Pre-fermented Flour not only completely accurate but the complication of calculation is eliminated. For those not using a spreadsheet Percentage of Levain is greatly simplified.
There are many intriguing aspects to bread baking. Choices abound...
Danny
What importance does knowing the total hydration and percentage of pre-ferment flour hold?
If you use this method for two approaches, one with a very stiff levain and one with a very wet levain, but with the same totals, the dough handling will be very different despite having the same total hydration on paper...
There are an endless array of variables that will influence the final handling properties and that is difficult to describe with numbers.