From f572a22427cdb793c8d6d6402bb50ba20becf828 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Hendrik Kleinwaechter Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2023 01:16:41 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Add more faq items (#57) This adds more frequently asked questions and possible troubleshooting. --- book/troubleshooting/misc.tex | 57 +++++++++++++++++++++++- book/wheat-sourdough/wheat-sourdough.tex | 1 + 2 files changed, 57 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/book/troubleshooting/misc.tex b/book/troubleshooting/misc.tex index 1ef5c2a..dc9d6ec 100644 --- a/book/troubleshooting/misc.tex +++ b/book/troubleshooting/misc.tex @@ -644,4 +644,59 @@ days to grow a starter. As you feed your starter more and more it will become even better at fermenting flour. The first bread might not go exactly as you planned, but you will get there eventually. Each -feeding makes your starter stronger and stronger. \ No newline at end of file +feeding makes your starter stronger and stronger. + +\section{My flour has low gluten content - what should I do?} + +You can always mix in a little bit of vital wheat gluten. Vital wheat gluten +is concentrated extracted gluten from wheat flour. + +I recommend that you add around 5 grams of wheat gluten for every 100 grams of +flour that you are using. + +\section{What's a good level of water (hydration) to make a dough?} + +Especially when starting to make bread use lower amounts of water. This will +greatly simplify the whole process. I recommend using a level of around 60 +percent hydration. So for every 100 grams of flour use around 60 grams of water. +This ballpark figure will work for most flours. With this hydration, you can +make bread, buns, pizzas, and even baguettes out of the same dough. + +With the lower hydration dough handling becomes easier and you have more yeast +fermentation, resulting in lower overfermentation risk. + +\section{What's the best stage to incorporate inclusions (seeds) into the dough?} + +You can include seeds directly at the start when mixing the dough. If you use +whole seeds such as wheat or rye kernels, soak them in water overnight and +then rinse them before adding them to the dough. This makes sure that they +are not crunchy and soft enough when eating the bread. If you forgot to soak +them you can cook the seeds for 10 minutes in hot water. Rinse them with cold +water before adding them to your dough. + +If you want to sweeten the dough your best option is to add sugar during the +shaping stage. Initial sugar is typically fermented and no residual sugar +remains. Adjust your shaping technique a little bit and spread your sugar +mixture over a flattened-out dough. You can then roll the dough together +incorporating layers of sugar. + +\section{My dough sample (aliquot) doesn't rise, what's wrong?} + +If you see that your dough rises in size but your aliquot doesn't chances +are that both are fermenting at a different speed. This can often +happen when the temperature in your kitchen changes. The aliquot +is more susceptible to temperature changes than the main dough. +Because the sample is smaller in size it will heat up or cool down +faster. + +For this reason, you must use room-temperature water when +making your dough. By having the same temperature in both the sample +and your dough you make sure that both ferment at the same rate. + +If the temperature in your room changes significantly during the day, your +best option is to use a see-through container. Mark the container to properly +measure your dough's size increase. + +Another option could be to use a more expensive pH meter to measure your +dough's acidity buildup. You can read more about different ways of managing +bulk fermentation in section ~\ref{section:bulk-fermentation}. diff --git a/book/wheat-sourdough/wheat-sourdough.tex b/book/wheat-sourdough/wheat-sourdough.tex index 209b746..a52b2ba 100644 --- a/book/wheat-sourdough/wheat-sourdough.tex +++ b/book/wheat-sourdough/wheat-sourdough.tex @@ -697,6 +697,7 @@ An over-pre-shaped dough can potentially not recover. \section{Bulk fermentation} +\label{section:bulk-fermentation} After mixing the starter into your dough the next stage of the process known as bulk fermentation begins. The term