Making bread: why so much flour?

[journeymom]

I'm making a batch of the Joy of Cooking's 'sandwich bread', this is the 2nd time.

It says to add 4 1/2 cups to 5 cups of flour, until the dough is moist but not sticky. Well, both times in order to get the dough past sticky I've added a whole cup more, equaling 6 cups of flour.

I understand humidity can affect this, but it's not particularly humid or arid right now.



Any clue what's going on?

[aikigypsy]

it might have to do with how fresh &/or fluffy your flour is. Weight should be a more accurate measure than volume, but even then, if you have moister flour, you're going to need more. I grind flour fresh for bread, and often need about 15-20% more than the recipe calls for.

When baking cakes, it's important to follow measurements pretty precisely. With bread, it's more important to learn how it should look, feel, and act at various stages in the process.

[journeymom]

It was a fresh bag of bread flour. I don't sift it, but I do fluff it up and pour it by scoops into the measuring cup (then level it).

It's in its second rise and seems to be fine. Beautiful, in fact.

But we shall see! I kneaded with the dough hook in the mixer and after it had been stirring for a few minutes it firmed up nicely (duh), so maybe I needed to be more patient before I dumped more flour in.

It'll still be delicious.

I'm most impressed that you grind your own flour!

[redvlagrl]

Kneading develops the gluten in your flour so knead a little first before you add more flour. I find if I use the mixer (it's new to us) to knead the bread it doesn't 'dry up' as much as if I did it by hand and I therefore add a bit more flour.

The amount of moisture that flour can absorb varies a lot apparently, so when you're talking 5cups of flour as a starting point, adding 1/2 a cup wouldn't surprise me hugely.

[homemademom]

How much liquid does it call for? The recipe I use calls for 2 1/2 cups of liquid and 5 1/2 to 6 cups of flour.

[425lisamarie]

One thing when you are kneeding dough. Pull it all together and kneed a minute, then leave it for about 15 or 20- minutes, come back and kneed. It really helps the dough relax and the flour swell, absorb the water and kneed more efficiently.

[journeymom]

It made two loaves and they were beautiful. All gone, now!

Originally Posted by homemademom

How much liquid does it call for? The recipe I use calls for 2 1/2 cups of liquid and 5 1/2 to 6 cups of flour.

Two and a half cups of liquid sounds right.

Originally Posted by 425lisamarie

One thing when you are kneading dough. Pull it all together and kneed a minute, then leave it for about 15 or 20- minutes, come back and kneed. It really helps the dough relax and the flour swell, absorb the water and kneed more efficiently.

That totally makes sense. I'll try that next time.