Warning: My sourdough starter gave me a whole new appreciation for why people say baking is a science not an art

Overheard a guy at my local co-op in Austin telling his friend that he just wings it with ratios and I spent 3 days trying to fix a slack dough because I eyeballed the hydration once.

2 comments

2 Comments

the_ben17d agoMost Upvoted

Wow yeah no joke. The thing everyone forgets is that flour is alive. Different harvests, different protein levels, different humidity in the air all change how much water it actually needs. You can't just rely on a fixed number from some recipe blog. I learned that the hard way when a bag of organic bread flour soaked up way more water than my usual store brand. The real science part is learning to read the dough not the recipe. Once you get that it becomes way less stressful.

grant.jason17d ago

Huh, I dunno man, is it really that deep? I mean yeah flour is different but "alive" feels like you're giving a bag of powder more credit than it deserves. @the_ben I get that you had that one bad batch, but most of the time the recipe number is close enough. Probably 90% of home bakers would be fine just using the amount on the bag and not overthinking it. I've been using the same all-purpose flour for years and never had a dough that turned into a monster because the humidity changed by 5%. It's just bread, not a chemistry experiment.