Finally nailed the hydration percentage for my sourdough starter after reading an old baking textbook

I was flipping through 'The Bread Baker's Apprentice' from the library and saw that a 100% hydration starter is equal parts flour and water by weight, not volume... I'd been doing it wrong for months. My last two loaves came out with way better oven spring and crust. Has anyone else had a basic fact like that completely change their results?

4 comments

4 Comments

waderamirez14d ago

What other baking basics did that book clear up for you?

rowanr885d ago

My buddy Jake tried the tangzhong method from a book his sister gave him. First time he made milk bread, it came out so soft you could barely slice it without squishing it. He's been telling everyone about it since.

the_riley15d ago

Oh man, that's a huge one lol. My buddy had the exact same problem with his pizza dough, he was using cups for everything and it was always a mess. He switched to a cheap kitchen scale and it was like night and day, his crust stopped being a cracker. It's wild how one little detail can throw the whole thing off.

dylanwells14d ago

Tell me about it. My first few loaves could've doubled as doorstops. That scale was a game changer for sure.