I've always started mixing my dough by adding the liquid to the flour. I found that doing it in that sequence helps me gauge when more or less liquid is needed, and making sure there's little or no loose dry ingredients left. However, I've noticed that many recipes call for adding flour to liquid instead.
So I'm wondering if it makes a difference one way or the other. I know that in some commercial bakeries, flour is added to water to minimize that "poof" of flour dust when a bag of flour is dumped into the mixer. But that seems to be a practical reason for doing it that way, as opposed to something involving the bread itself. Any thoughts on this? Seth
You can also hold back a portion of the intended water for adjustments.
Dunno if you're using a sourdough starter, sethb, but ever since someone here (louiscohen, maybe?) suggested dispersing the starter or levain into the water before adding the flour, I've found my loaves have improved. -- Rob
Is correct. You will have a very easy mix if you put the water first, disperse your levain or yeast and any other things like salt ( yes go ahead add salt too… there’s 0 data that shows it’s a problem. ) always hold back some water even 100 g. Add as needed. Every single flour has a different ability to take up water. You can add subtract water with no implications in your bread but adding / subtracting flour requires adjusting salt . c
I measure out the starter or levain first. Then I add a smallish amount of water, around the same weight as the starter. It's easier to get the starter dispersing without too many clumps when you work the water into it this way, much like using a little bit of water to make a cornstarch slurry - get it dissolved first, then add as much water as you need.
Then I add the rest of the liquid and stir a bit to further disperse the starter. No need to get it completely dissolved, just a few stirs. Then I add part of the flour and stir it around and around to get it hydrated and start developing its gluten when the mixture is still a stirrable batter. Then I add the rest of the flour and other dry ingredients. It sounds like a lot of steps but in practice it's quick and easy. This way also helps keep dried smears of flour on the inside of the mixing bowl to a low level.
TomP
My “ cake batter” beating works extremely well. A couple bowl s&f’s a good autolyse and 1-2 laminations and you’ve got an incredible gluten rich dough.
Thanks to all for the useful comments! I can see that going with water first could help reduce or eliminate dry flour patches at the bottom of the bowl. That's always been a minor problem with my "flour first" routine.
It also occurs to me that starting with water would let me add the yeast to the water first and get that going before adding the flour and other dry ingredients. I know you don't need to "proof" yeast anymore, and you can also add instant yeast directly to the flour or dough. But I do like to see that the yeast is actually working before I spend a lot of time mixing up something that won't rise. I have had a few packets of Fleischmann's and also Red Star ADY that were DOA even though the expiration date was far in the future. So now I'm switching to the 4 oz. bottles of yeast, which will hopefully avoid that problem and also save me some bucks, too. Seth
Once last year I added dry IDY directly to the dough — everyone says it’s fine, after all. Didn’t rise. Dissolved some yeast from the same bag in water, messily kneaded that into the dough, it rose (and several additional folds during BF fixed the gluten network). That bag of yeast had been stored in the fridge for four years or so and it was certainly weaker than fresh, so it’s entirely possible that isn’t the norm.
But if you do ever end up mixing dough with yeast that doesn’t “wake up,” that could be a way to salvage it, if you have acceptable yeast. Though be mindful of how long the dough has been in the “danger zone” temp-wise, depending on your personal level of concern there.
If I ever need to try and resuscitate a dough that doesn't rise, your idea is a good one. Of course, the few times I've had a "dead" dough, it could have been my fault, Mr. Fleischmann's fault or nobody's fault -- who knows? Seth
The jar of SAF instant yeast I had in my freezer for less than a year didn't show much activity at all when I let it sit in warm water. It did seem to provide more rising action than the visual appearance suggested but it wasn't vigorous.
When I began to bake more often, I discovered the one-pound packages of yeast at Sam's Club and thought they would be a great deal. Although they're very economical, it turned out to be lot more yeast than I could ever use within a certain period of time, even with the help of our fridge and freezer. So I went for the 4-ounce jars instead, which seem to be are a good compromise for me and are still a good value compared to the individual 3-strip packets I started with. Seth
Decades ago in the 70’s I bought the 3 envelopes…. I still have some with their favorite recipes! Next were jars. Then I switched to large bags kept in the freezer for years.
Then came sourdough and fruit YW and I hadn’t bought more than 1or 2 jars of yeast in over a decade. Now I use it for Poolish and still use it for my Challah . That’s it.
Fun how baking goes in cycles and trends. c
It doesn't matter. As long as it mixed as you like it's good. Enjoy!