Dough Strength Table
I have been thinking a lot about dough strength lately because of the difficulty I've had baking with durum flour. I saw a great article on dough strength referenced in an old TFL post. It is in the SFBI Fall 2004 newsletter - link can be found here: http://www.sfbi.com/newsletter.html It was quite an eye opener since so many different factors impact dough strength. In trying to wrap my brain around this, I put together a handy one-page table. Maybe others will find it useful as well. I tried to summarize a lot of material, and may not have it all right, so have at it, but even more important read the original article!
Factors that affect dough strength – Sourced from SFBI Newsletter Fall 2004
Factor | Strength / Elasticity | Weakness / Extensibility | Comments/Examples |
Protein Quantity | High Protein | Low Protein |
|
Protein Quality | High Quality | Low Quality | Durum has high protein but poor quality |
Ash Content | Low | High | Whole wheat flour is more extendable, less elastic than white flour |
Additives | Ascorbic Acid, Potassium Bromate, Malt |
|
|
Maturation | Matured flour | Fresh flour |
|
Water Quality | Hard water | Soft water |
|
Hydration | Low hydration | High hydration |
|
Added Ingredients |
| Added ingredients | Butter, nuts, berries, etc. |
Autolyse | Autolyse | Autolyse | Autolyse strengthens gluten bonds, but also increases enzymatic activity which makes dough weaker |
Mix Time | More mixing | Less mixing |
|
Dough Temperature | Higher | Lower | This is an indirect effect – higher temp gives faster fermentation leads to stronger dough |
Fermentation Time | More | Less | Acids from fermentation strengthen gluten bonds |
Dough Mass | Higher | Lower | The more dough mass, the faster fermentation |
Starter | Starter |
| Starter strengthens dough due to fermentation acids |
Hydration of Preferment | Less | More | Wet environment of preferment increases enzyme activity which makes dough more extensible |
Preferment Quantity | More | Less | More preferment means more acid which strengthens dough |
Preferment Maturity | More | Less | Mature preferments have higher acid content |
Shaping | Tight | Loose | Baker can adjust based on dough strength |
Comments
wow, this is great! Thank you for digging up such a treasure, Varda! ::copied & filed::
lumos
p.s. The link doesn't seem to work, btw.
I fixed the link. -Varda
Double WOW! Thanks for the link. What a great site!
And I realised at last how much work you put into the chart above. Thank you!!!
lumos
my ancient study skills to try to learn the material. But I didn't have Word Tables or Excel last time I had to take an exam. My exam today is my 100% Durum loaf. We'll see how much I've learned. -Varda
in the newsletter. Thanks for the link.
Varda,
Thanks for the link and your concise summary. Your time and effort to present it here is greatly appreciated by me!
Copied and filed :-)
Janet
As a collector of bread facts this is right up my alley.
Thanks,
Jim
Jim, I finally got a very active and happy durum starter going which I've been baking with. I remember you asked me about that ages ago and I said no way, never. I guess never for me lasts 3 months or so. Anyhow, my interest in dough strength comes from the fact that when I try to bake a loaf with a lot of durum (processed, not whole) I've been getting BIG tunnels. So today, I'm trying to use just about every fact in the table above, to see if I can beat the tunnel problem with a 100% durum loaf. -Varda
Varda,
You sound like me, if at first I don't succeed I keep on tryin'. My Atta/Durum starter is still alive, healthy and wishing you well. I don't remember if I mentioned that I switched over to the Atta that KA Flour sells because it is a dollar cheaper per bag.
I've had better results with Durum by increasing the salt to Two and a half percent and adding a crushed 250mg vitamin tablet per loaf.
I haven't aked a 100% Durum loaf in a while, but I have used the starter in non- Durum loaves as a sub for a WW starter. I'll bake a 100% loaf this week and check back with you.
Keep rising - Jim
Varda,
Upon re-reading Leaders' Altamura process I may have missed something. After a final proof (banneton or tied in a dry kitchen towel) and before going into the oven, give it a quick final shaping.
Jim
Jim, If you see the comments at my latest post on durum bread Nico is suggesting adding salt in the autolyse. Interesting that you are saying to add more salt during the mix probably for the same reason. -Varda
and so useful! Thanks also for the list. Looks like a great site, wonder if they stopped the newsletter as there is nothing past 2009.
I am a fan of that article (if one can be) and made reference to it recently. Well done varda for extracting the data.
I missed the discussion on the recent post where you referenced this article and see there was some disagreement about acid. I finally dug up the old post where I saw the reference - http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/4675/folding-windowpaning-and-dough-strength This is from 2007 - ancient history on this list. I found the article illuminating because I had been thinking in simpler terms i.e., weak flour needs a lot of mixing. Now my thinking is more complicated. I guess that's good. -Varda
Thanks for taking the time to post this!
Varda, Thank you so much for preparing this table.
:^) breadsong