Comments on: Weigh Your Flour http://hans.fugal.net/blog/2007/04/01/weigh-your-flour/ Counterpoint by Hans Fugal Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:45:46 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Levi http://hans.fugal.net/blog/2007/04/01/weigh-your-flour/comment-page-1/#comment-1569 Levi Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000 urn:uuid:45eb2d3f-092f-4297-93c6-5cd816be2a15#comment-1569 <p>Differences in the type of flour, its age, and the manner in which it has been stored probably make some difference in the hydration too, at least as far as I understand things. Is that all reflected in the weight, or does it just vary less when you measure by weight?</p> Differences in the type of flour, its age, and the manner in which it has been stored probably make some difference in the hydration too, at least as far as I understand things. Is that all reflected in the weight, or does it just vary less when you measure by weight?

]]> By: Hans http://hans.fugal.net/blog/2007/04/01/weigh-your-flour/comment-page-1/#comment-1570 Hans Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000 urn:uuid:45eb2d3f-092f-4297-93c6-5cd816be2a15#comment-1570 <p>I suspect in this case the age and storage of the flour was the biggest factor. I was using flour we bought last week which had been dumped into another container—I think it might have been fairly uncompressed for that reason. My friend's flour was in a big bin and was probably fairly old, so it had probably compressed over time.</p> <p>Weighing gets rid of those factors. The only one that is a problem is the amount of water the flour has absorbed. It's fairly dry here, so when I weigh I probably get a fairly close approximation. But if it's very humid where your flour is stored, you may indeed be getting a higher hydration than you bargained for, even if you weigh. Luckily this factor is somewhat consistent based on where you live, so you can learn to account for it as you would high-altitude cooking.</p> I suspect in this case the age and storage of the flour was the biggest factor. I was using flour we bought last week which had been dumped into another container—I think it might have been fairly uncompressed for that reason. My friend’s flour was in a big bin and was probably fairly old, so it had probably compressed over time.

Weighing gets rid of those factors. The only one that is a problem is the amount of water the flour has absorbed. It’s fairly dry here, so when I weigh I probably get a fairly close approximation. But if it’s very humid where your flour is stored, you may indeed be getting a higher hydration than you bargained for, even if you weigh. Luckily this factor is somewhat consistent based on where you live, so you can learn to account for it as you would high-altitude cooking.

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