Bread baking and the equinox

on Sep 29th, 2008Bread baking and the equinox

More than a decade ago I was part of a bread bakers’ mailing list that began with owners of then-new bread machines but expanded to include those of us who make bread by other methods. One of the most generous and helpful people was the late Irwin Franzel, who used bread making as part of a rehab program for young people, in Florida if I recall correctly. He used machines but his knowledge transcended the nuts and bolts.

He became aware of a phenomenon at this time of year in which tried and true recipes produced shorter, dense loaves. He called it “short loaf syndrome” and attributed it to the autumn equinox. He also came up with a solution. While his information is seemingly specific to machines (ABMs), which can be so fussy, all of us learned from it and appreciated the subtle reminder of one of many benefits of weighing flour.

I’ve kept his information all these years — since September, 1996 – and I remember it every September. It’s valuable knowledge, food science, that I’ve never seen elsewhere and it follows exactly as he wrote it.

Thanks again, Irwin. You were one of the best.

The effects of the equinox on bread making

“When the autumnal equinox approaches, strange things will happen to the breads made in our bread machines. This may sound like witchcraft but it’s not! People call or write saying, “I have been using the same recipe for a long time. All of a sudden, my loaves are coming out short and dense! What’s wrong with my machine? Is my yeast bad? Is my flour bad?”

When we make bread by hand, we don’t measure the ingredients accurately. We make a dough with more water than the bread needs. During kneading, we add flour to keep the dough from sticking and to make it more elastic. We keep adding flour until the dough is the consistency experience has taught us it ought to be.

When we make bread in an ABM the procedure is different. We carefully measure all the ingredients into the bread pan, start the machine and come back for our ready to eat, baked loaf. At the season’s change, the loaves come out to be shorter than usual! Why is this and how can we avoid it?

Flour normally contains 10-15% moisture, 12% average. A cup of flour, which is about 100 grams, will have about 12 grams of water content. For comparison, a tablespoon of water weighs about 12.8 grams. A three cup loaf will start with three tablespoons of water in the flour!

During the summer months, the humidity may be twice as high as it is in the winter months. As a result, more moisture gets into the flour. This moisture is in the air filling the spaces between the tiny particles of flour.

FYI, there are about 100 billion particles of flour per cup! The total surface area of these flour particles is unbelievably large, about 4.5 acres!

It should not be surprising that a couple of tablespoons of additional water can get into three cups of flour in the summertime. So, we reduce the amount of water in our recipes in the summer and increase it in the winter.

What is the right amount to add or subtract? We have been teaching a procedure that makes the correction easy. Around the third week in September, make a standard recipe and withhold 1/4 cup of water or other liquid. The dough will be dry and stiff, as the kneading proceeds.

Add the liquid to the bread pan, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the surface of the dough ball gets smooth and acquires a satiny look. Count the number of teaspoons you add and adjust your recipe accordingly. A quarter cup = two ounces = four tablespoons = twelve teaspoons. If your loaf comes out satisfactorily, adjust your recipe accordingly and the short loaf syndrome will not occur.”