— Elizabeth Rybczyk

When we talk about baked goods, we use the word formula instead of recipe, uh, because a formula implies that the, the, the original sort of starting point, or let's say recipe has been tested multiple times, uh, and, uh, those ingredient quantities, um, uh, in conjunction with, uh, equipment and methods applied are sort of locked in. Uh, not in not a hundred percent. There's always gonna be some room for adjustment, but, you know, we, uh, we, we fine tune, uh, the ingredient quantities, uh, you know, based upon those ingredient types of the specifications of those ingredients that we're using. And then we call that a formula at that point. We can just use that over and over in our bake shop, in our kitchen. Uh, and then we have to understand that as we take that formula to a different kitchen, to a different bakery, a different restaurant, a different house, a different region in the world, that some adjustments will be necessary based upon the specifications of the ingredients available to us, or the, uh, the climate, you know, humidity level, um, altitude, and these other factors. Okay? Now, in the case of, um, uh, changing a refined flour, you know, a white flour to whole wheat flour. So we're, we're changing the specification of an ingredient in this case, the major ingredient, uh, in bread dough. All right? The, the biggest thing to keep in mind, uh, when using whole wheat is that it's got everything in it, right? It's got the, especially the bran, uh, is what I'm getting at. Bran is thirsty, and it requires noticeably more water than it's white flour or, or refined flour counterpart. Okay? And so if you're using, uh, whole wheat flour and, uh, without adjusting the water, then the, the dough, right, that you've mixed and that you've needed is gonna be very tight due to the relatively low water content at this point. And so, the, the, the rising process becomes more difficult for, um, the yeast. And so what you need to do is increase the water, okay? And, um, you know, it depends on just how much of this, the, the flower you're using. All right? So, uh, just as an example, if, um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna come up with just a, a broad example. Here's someplace for you to start your experimentation process, okay? But if you're using, let's say, um, three, uh, cups of total flour, and maybe 50% of that, uh, was changed to whole wheat flour, you may need to increase the, the liquid by about a quarter cup, okay? Just as a starting point, okay? Uh, my recommendation is to take notes and be, be prepared to do, uh, multiple tests, uh, in order to, uh, uh, you know, fine tune, uh, this recipe, uh, or this formula to fit your environment, okay? And this, and this change that you're making, okay? But that's what's going on. Uh, your dough doesn't have enough moisture. Thank you.