Water in bread dough - influence and significance

[Water and liquid in bread dough - their influence and significance]

Water and liquid in bread dough - their influence and significance

Liquid for kneading any dough, it must necessarily consist of at least half a glass of water - for breeding yeast. The rest of the liquid can consist of milk, sour cream, whey, buttermilk, kefir, mixed in any proportions with each other and taken in any quantities.

Water or some other liquid used to form dough from flour.
The amount of fluid you need varies depending on the recipe, but generally accepted for yeast bread is an approximate ratio of 1 volume part of liquid to 3 parts of flour. In recipes using steamed fermentation, the liquid content may exceed the flour content.
In addition to water, other liquids can be used, including dairy products, fruit juices, and beer. As part of each of these liquids, additional sweeteners, fats and sourdough components get into the bread, as well as with water.

For making dough bakeries for technological and economic needs usually use water from the city drinking water supply. In the absence of it (in agreement with the authorities of the State Sanitary Inspection), local sources of water supply (mainly artesian wells) are used. Water obtained from deep soil layers contains less bacteria and unwanted impurities than water from wells, rivers, lakes.
The quality of drinking water, regardless of the source of water supply, must comply with the requirements of GOST 2874 - 73.

“This standard applies to drinking water supplied by centralized drinking water supply systems, as well as centralized water supply systems supplying water simultaneously for household drinking and technical purposes, and establishes hygienic requirements and control over the quality of drinking water.
Drinking water must be epidemic-safe, chemically harmless and have favorable organoleptic properties.
The quality of water is determined by its composition and properties when entering the water supply network; at the points of water intake of the external and internal water supply network. "

The water must meet the requirements of the drinking water standard. Water hardness due to the content of calcium and magnesium salts, which not only do not worsen the quality of bread, but sometimes even improve it, strengthening weak gluten, and also provide the human body with salts. For regions with soft drinking water, for example, the Neva, it is proposed to carry out its mineralization, i.e. enrichment with calcium and magnesium salts. When kneading the dough, water heated to 30 ° C is used to ensure the optimal dough temperature.

To prepare the dough for 100 kg of flour, 35 to 75 liters of drinking water are consumed.

The amount of water in the dough depends on the type of flour and products.
The dough has the lowest moisture content, intended for mutton products, the highest - for rye bread made from wallpaper;

From flour moisture. The drier the flour, the more water it absorbs when kneading;

From the amount of sugar and fat added according to the recipe, which kind of liquefies the dough. When adding significant amounts of sugar and fat, the amount of water added during mixing is reduced.

[For baking, it is desirable to have hard water]

For baking, it is desirable to have hard water, since the salts in hard water affect the formation of gluten, strengthen it, the dough from weak flour becomes drier. Water hardness depends on the presence in it calcium and magnesium salts... Distinguish between temporary, or removable hardness, if the salts that form it fall out during boiling, and permanent hardness that remains after boiling.

When water is boiled, calcium and magnesium bicarbonates dissolved in it turn into insoluble carbonates and precipitate. The rest of the soluble mineral salts precipitate only when a saturated solution is formed. This includes calcium sulphate, which mainly consists of boiler scale.

Water hardness is expressed in meq / l, 1 meq / l corresponds to 1 meq / l of Ca "-f-Mg" in 1 l of water. Previously, water hardness was measured in degrees. 1 ° hardness corresponded to 1 mg CaO in 100 ml of water.

When assessing hardness, water is usually characterized as follows:
Soft - 1.5-3 mEq / l or 4-8 *
Moderate hard - 3-6 mEq / l or 8-18 *
Hard - 6-9 mg-eq / l or 18-25 (30) *
Very hard - 9 (11) mEq / l or 25 (30) *

Raw water usually contains gaseous substances (air, carbon dioxide). When the water is heated, these gases are removed, and they are necessary for making the dough.
Therefore, when preparing the dough, you should not take boiled water.

B. G. Sarychev "Technology of bakery production" 1960

[mineral water]

If used for kneading dough mineral water, it is advisable to choose water with a high content of calcium and magnesium salts.

For an assessment of water hardness, see the above post.

Such an unusual question. What water is better for baking - from a filter jug, disinfected with silver ions (won't these ions suppress the activity of yeast?) Or water after a reverse osmosis filter (where it is demineralized, almost distilled). There is another option - running from the tap, but I think this is a bad option. Who can advise what kind of water to a city dweller, far from the natural sources of spring water.

I use clean, filtered water for bread, and tap water for sourdough. Strange, but she feels better in such water and grows better. The water, however, is tasty, not chlorinated, artesian, but there are hardness salts.

Why don't you use artesian bread for bread, if it's good. So I think, if there are any microbes in it, they will die during baking. And another question: do you have a filter with osmosis or not?

And if you use mineral, then do you think it's better with gas? How will the presence of carbon dioxide in the water affect the processes occurring in the dough?

Carbonated water, its effect on bread dough https://Mcooker-enn.tomathouse.com/index.php@option=com_smf&topic=148302.0