On Sat 26 Apr 2008 09:24:55p, Tim Smith told us...

>
> I've generally had to use more flour in dough recipes than the recipe
> calls for. I'm guessing that this is because I'm in an area with higher
> humidity than average.
>
> What humidity is assumed by typical recipes--is there a standard, or is
> it just whatever it was at the place where the recipe was developed?
> And is there some kind of formula I can use to calculate how to adjust
> for higher (or lower) humidity, or are there published tables for this?
> Or should I just start keeping a log of every dough I make, recording
> quantities of ingredients, humidity, temperature, and result? (Would
> air pressure also be a useful variable to record?).
>

If you bake bread using recipes that specify ingredients by weight rather
than volume, in most cases this should solve your problem. Flour and other
dry ingredients will hold humidity and contribute that to the product, thus
your need to add additional flour using the liquid specified. You've
actually added more "liquid" using humid dry ingredients. That's not to
say that adjustments of flour to liquid ration don't have to be made on
occasion, but that's best done by how the dough feels. Recording changes
and conditions when you make a recipe is not a bad idea, but it also may
not be that realiable.

--
Wayne Boatwright
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