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more flour in bread dough in summer?

16 years ago

Okay so is it just me, or does anyone else find that their bread dough is really sticky this summer? I start with my usual proportions of flour to oil/eggs/water/honey, and then I find I have to add a LOT more flour.

What up?

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Comments (3)

lindac
16 years ago
Could be all sorts of things...but I don't think it has to do with summer.
Your flour may have absorbed some moisture but not "lot".
The flour itself is most likely different.
Linda c
readinglady
16 years ago
Flour does absorb more water in humid conditions. (Depending partly on how it's stored.)

And if it's fresh flour (i.e. you just bought it) then it will have more moisture for that reason as well.

Additionally, honey is hygroscopic, even more so than sugar, and again in higher humidity there will be a noticeable difference.

You might try adding less water to the original recipe and/or you could change out the honey for sugar (though I wouldn't - it's just an option).

So many small things make differences in bread. Barometric pressure, for instance, affects the rise. Bread is as susceptible to gravity as anything else.

Carol
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kframe19
16 years ago
Years ago the ex and I lived in DC in an apartment without AC. DC is VERY humid in the summers.

She decided to try to make bread. Unfortunately, she wasn't a very confident cook and tended to follow recipes exactly.

She didn't know tricks that most of us know, the rules of thumb, etc.

Anyway, all of a sudden she lets out a yell for help.

I go into the kitchen and the bread dough is oozing all over the counter and she's desperately trying to keep it from running over the sides of the counter.

She added exactly the amount of flour the recipe called for, but it was so humid that the dough was literally still liquid.

So, I start working on it, adding more and more flour, until I come close to doubling what the recipe called for.

The whole time she's "but I followed the recipe exactly!" while I'm trying to explain to her why baking is different.

Never did really get the concept through to her.

But, believe it or not, the bread actually turned out fairly decent.

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