After messing around for the summer I’ve settled on a favorite dough. It works just as well in the electric oven as in the wood oven and has a great flavour thanks to the use of beer. I was worried that the alcohol and carbonation might interfere with the yeast but it doesn’t seem to slow things down at all. At 70% hydration it’s super sticky and a hassle to kneed but it only takes a couple minutes to get all the flour incorporated, then I let it proof for a little longer. After proofing and dividing I give it a serious stretch and fold before shaping and that makes up for my half-ass kneed.
TL;DR
- 2/3 ap flour, 1/3 whole wheat
- 70% hydration with 2/3 of that being room temp lager
- 2% salt
- 1.5% yeast
Excellent, look like they would make a good sandwich bun that doesn’t fall apart if it gets a little soggy.
That was the idea. They are just a little bit chewy, enough to hold up under sandwich-duty stress.
How do you measure hydration?
In baking it’s the percentage of the weight of the flour. So if you used 100g of flour, 70% hydration is 70g of water. The same goes for the 2g of salt and 1.5g of yeast.
Using percentages makes it way easier to be consistent, and get repeatable results.
Thanks! That makes sense
