Comments on: Bread Baking, Math & Fear

By: sam

sam — Mon, 09 May 2011 01:53:39 +0000

Great getting to more-officially meet you this weekend. Ratio is my favorite cookbook!

By: groundhog.judy

groundhog.judy — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:48:48 +0000

While growing up my mother made bread (light bread)every week and I remember watching her kneed the bread 30 minutes by the clock. When I decided to stop smoking (cold turkey) I baked bread to keep my hands busy. My poor husband ran around the neighborhood handing out bread and telling everyone to stay away until at least 2 weeks were up as I was a grouch.

By: Leah Greenstein

Leah Greenstein — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:28:22 +0000

Wow, thanks Matt! That is pretty clear. I hope I can hold onto this moment long enough to put it to use!

Leah

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:21:05 +0000

Hi,

Thought I’d see if I can help explain ratios, or ‘bakers percentages’ in a nice simple way, as it took me ages to figure it out.

Simply put, if you had a recipe that said:

Flour: 1.0 (100%)
Water: 0.66 (66%)
Salt: 0.01 (1%)

The idea is to start with a set amount of flour – say 2lb.

Now, you simply multiply that amount of flour by the ratio to give you the amount of the other ingredients you need.

Flour = 2lb
Water = 2 * 0.66 = 1.32lb
Salt = 2 * 0.01 = 0.02lb (0.3oz, or about 2 tsp)

This means that if you wanted to make tons of bread – say with 50lbs of flour, your recipe remains the same.

Hope this makes sense!

By: Leah Greenstein

Leah Greenstein — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:53:53 +0000

Thanks, Phoo-D. Ii thought about joining the Pinch My Salt challenge, but didn’t want to be committed to baking all summer (plus I was really nervous about Reinhart’s book). Maybe I’ll give it a second shot. Bummed to have missed the bagels.

By: Phoo-D

Phoo-D — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:49:54 +0000

Leah – I share your same math anxiety and laughed at the spider description because, man that is so accurate! I picked up the Reinhart book then stumbled into a group of people that are baking their way through the entire thing. I have asked hundreds of similar questions (and we’re only on the third recipe!) yet with a twitter group and emails an answer is never far away. If you want to connect in, here’s the link: http://pinchmysalt.com/2009/05/04/the-bread-bakers-apprentice-challenge/. I’m still in shock that I’ve actually made a bread with wild yeast and bagels that tasted authentic. There is hope!

By: foodwoolf

foodwoolf — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:25:48 +0000

I DEFINITELY think you should get the Ruhlman book. Once I get my $$$ in order I’ll be buying it too. Because, as you can guess, I too and HORRIFIED by math. I cringe whenever guests ask me to split a check THREE!!! ways. Dividing by three always gets me.

Anyhoo, if we can get our minds wrapped around ratios we’ll never stop baking!

By: Suzy

Suzy — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:56:01 +0000

I thought she said the biga would last and grow for a while? …you’ll figure it out, and the results will be delicious!