March 27, 2007 - 10:25pm
Weather, has it ever affected your baking day?
Just like cakes, bread can also be affected by weather conditions and rapid changes in airpressure. I never quite figured out if bread rises consistantly during tornado weather and don't remember baking during a huricane. Maybe somebody has. Have you ever noticed if a bad baking day was related to bad weather? Or a good baking day also had plenty of sunshine?
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MiniOven, here in San Diego we occasionally suffer from Santa Ana winds, and while it is beautiful, with crystal-clear skies and high temperatures, the humidity can be extremely low. I noticed it was down to 7% during a recent Santa Ana. During those times I have to add more water to my dough, of course. And colder weather makes EVERYTHING take longer. No laughing from Montana, now, 40 degrees feels colder here 'cause we are used to being warm!
I will soon be leaving sea level for a bit and going to Prescott, AZ, at 5,700 feet. I have made many bricks in Prescott, but have learned a lot since I was last there. I'll let you know how it goes... btw, Are there any listmembers in Prescott?
Susan
Susan, I got thunder weather and rain. My sourdough is acting like it needs help. Now what to do... add that kick of comercial yeast? It's been 14 hours....
How was your mountain adventure? Bake anything? Mini Oven
MiniOven, thanks for asking, but our contractor put me off going for a while. They are laying the new flagstone floor in the foyer and hallway, and asked us not to come this week. Background: Our house in Prescott flooded (the upstairs toilet broke!) and ruined the entire house. It was cleared out on the inside to the studs and now is almost finished. I'll be sure and let you know when I'm up there baking again.
Susan
It was a rainy stormy day here in the south. My friend called and just had to have a fresh loaf of french bread because she had company coming over and wanted that "fresh baked bread touch to the meal". ( I think she secretly claims she baked it, but it's OK, I love baking and this is just another excuse to do it!) After shaping the 2 loves I put them in my oven for the final rise. My pans are 18 inches long, and the oven is only about 20 inches wide. You know what happened. I opened the oven door to gently remove them and preheat the oven, only to find the dough had gone bananas in the humidity and had overflowed the pans on both sides stuck to the sides of the oven, and had pooled on the oven floor. This is my only oven. I scraped off what I could, and baked the loaves, but the smell of burning bread that was stuck to the dang oven overpowered the usual smell of fresh baked bread. When my friend came over I wouldn't let her come in, but met her at the door and came up with an excuse to leave. Boy you can't get that burned smell out for a while, even with the vent on over the stove. The oven was then tied up for hours in the cleaning cycle. It was a lesson hard learned, watch the dough, not the timer!