Quote:
Originally Posted by Adillo303
Just a question - For my Rye bread, I use a Rye sour that I have been cultivating. Does that go in on the wet or dry side of the equasion?
AC
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael in FtW
ARRGH!!!! I don't know! But, perhaps subfuscpersona will see this thread and can offer some help.
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This isn't the easiest question to answer.
Most of this thread is simply a repetition of the (endlessly repeated) question of whether ingredients
for baking should be measured by volume or by weight. I unequivocally prefer measuring by weight when baking. As usual, opinions will differ wildly.
In discussing bread baking (specifically yeast rising breads) it appears that Addillo303 is asking a more specific question, which involves an approach to recipes for bread that not only assumes that
all ingredients in a bread recipe are shown
by weight but also converts the ingredients for any bread recipe into a formula known as the
bakers percentage. This is a standard way among professional bakers to present a bread recipe. It assumes that all ingredients are weighed. Beyond this, additional information about the bread recipe is given by taking each ingredient and showing it as a percentage of the total amount of flour used in the recipe. A good introduction to the
bakers percentage can be found at
Baker's Percentage Tutorial, Part 1 | Wild Yeast
For those who have a firm understanding of the bakers percentage, the answer is - you would
split your starter into its components (usually simply flour, water and yeast) and then add each part to the amounts of flour and water and yeast that are used
in addition to your starter in the final recipe. You would calculate the bakers percentage from these overall totals.
However, it is not easy to give a more specific answer to Adillo303 because we do not have sufficient information. Specifically...
> Adillo303 is using a
sourdough (wild yeast) starter but we don't know the
hydration level of that starter. A common practice for home bakers who maintain a sourdough starter is to use 100% hydration and "feed" the starter on a 1:2:2 ratio (for example: 2oz of the original starter, 4oz flour and 4oz water
by weight). Adillo303 needs to tell us the hydration s/he uses
> Adillo303 is using a
rye flour sourdough starter. This implies that the
feeding schedule for the starter uses only rye flour. However, when one uses a starter to make bread, additional flour and water are added to the starter and we don't know if s/he is still using rye flour or using wheat flour. Any useful interpretation of a bakers percentage clearly separates out gluten containing flours from those that lack gluten (such as rye).