![[Update] I, 39yo electrical engineer, tried 80% hydration for my 2nd loaf in my life. The basic laws of baking didnt now alow it](https://www.diningandcooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/1763770933_ay3ft21bdm2g1-scaled.jpeg "[Update] I, 39yo electrical engineer, tried 80% hydration for my 2nd loaf in my life. The basic laws of baking didnt now alow it")
Last week I posted my first ever loaf here. A lot of you gave me great advices….
Naturally, I decided to ignore the "basics" and do what if feel was right. I jumped straight to 80% hydration….yeah, exactly
The variable I failed to calculate: I’m in Germany, using standard Type 550 flour (All Purpose). I didn't realize that this flour literally cannot hold that much water without turning into soup.
It was a disaster. I tried to do stretch-and-folds, but it was more like stretch-and-cry….
The final result was an aerodynamically optimized loaf with aluminum coating for better stealth capabilities))
I documented the entire breakdown here if you want to see a grown, hungry and slightly tired guy fighting dough…
https://youtu.be/Y0HXyeFhvZ0?si=MAuAXQqLkgrZn8qu
The taste was actually ok, although I think pretty much every bread, frsh out of an oven tastes good, especially if you are hungry.
I ate all of it the same evening.
Lesson learned: Hydration is not just a number, protein content matters too. Back to 65% for me next week.
I will keep using all purpose flour until the result is acceptable and I get the besics right
by Brotbackzentrale
25 Comments
just stop using thin foil and use parchment paper
Don’t get me wrong, high hydration has its place. But this didn’t even appear to do what it should have done. Looks like a whole wheat??? Which may account for it.
Look, don’t swear yourself off of attempting a 80% or greater hydration rate. You CAN and should do it with the right recipe at some point.
Also… the only way you learn is by making mistakes once in a while.
Keep on baking!
Better use nothing than aluminum foil. You can oil the pan and sprinkle some flour and it will prevent your bread from sticking to it.
Here is the complete documented process of this disaster:)
[Video documented evidence of the a total baking failure ](https://youtu.be/Y0HXyeFhvZ0?si=MAuAXQqLkgrZn8qu)
Yeah, the state of wheat flour in Germany is abysmal. The standard 550 flours are usually at around 11-11.5% protein content, practically unusable for any serious baking, especially if you also want to dabble into sourdough.
If you want to experiment with high hydration doughs, there are some mills that sell quality flour (e.g. I use the Manitoba 550 flour from Hofbräuhaus Kunstmühle #notanad). Italian wheat is usually better, and Italian mills typically have high protein flours. Caputo is not too hard to get if you have an Italian supermarket near you, and their Manitoba Oro is pretty good. Mulino Padano also delivers to Germany. I’ve ordered there once, definitely worth it just to see what’s possible in terms of protein content and dough strength.
Yeah 80% is rough. I do focaccia at 78%. Try 68% – it’s the best of both worlds. Still super workable and plenty of hydration. It’s just my fool-proof percent.
You may find my calculator helpful: [https://itsdayv.github.io/dough-calc/](https://itsdayv.github.io/dough-calc/) — (just enter the total grams of dough you want to end up with and your hydration percent, and click Calculate). I made it because I always know how much dough I need at the end. ie. 900 for a bread loaf or 800 for focaccia or 400 for 5 burger buns, etc. Works well on mobile too.
Thanks for making a loaf that looks my first attempts’ twin. The only way to go from here is up.
Excellent video, thank you.
I use dry yeast, it keeps in the fridge for a really long time. Dissolves more easily than fresh yeast.
80% hydration is good for focaccia, which just means the bread goes in a pan so you don’t have to shape it. I have been making bread for a while now but I have not figured out shaping yet.
When the dough is sticky, I use a silicone spatula. This way I don’t have to wash my hands as much. Just scrape the spatula with a butter knife.
edit: the flour type is unclear to me so I will not comment on that. Even at high hydration bread flour should work up a good gummy gluten consistency. But there needs to be about 12% protein
edit2: everyone is being very judgy about the tin foil. The issue is letting it touch your bread. Nothing wrong with using it as a lid otherwise.
Haha I like your scientific approach 😅
It’s not a hydration issue, you just used way too much yeast. The amount of rise you accomplished in 15 minutes ideally would have happened over as little as a few hours but more ideally closer to 6-12 hours for maximum flavor. The dough is massively, massively overfermented by the time you get to shaping. Try using like 1/10 the amount of yeast you used.
My man baked a geode
Off topic: I worked for german company before my maternity and your german accent brings back memories 😄
Good luck with the bread, I am sure you’ll get it right in the end 🙂
I think you overfermented that dough, hence why it lost more and more of its structure. I would also suggest to use a flour with higher protein content. Aim for at least 12%, 15% is great. Some pizza flours sold in Germany are better in this regard. Otherwise, order flour directly from a mill.
Engineering is just the point where theory meets trial and error. I wish you luck in further experiments!
Thought you somehow managed to short-circuit your bread and leave an arc burn
The lower peak suggests a you are not getting full effect transfer, so either you are railing, something is in parallel with the bread or the bread must be malfunctioning. Nodal analysis?
|| but it was more like stretch-and-cry….
soooo relatable.
Yes, flour here is not particularly good.
I buy mine from Italy (the brand is called Petra, they have their own online shop) and have it sent here. The international shipping is very expensive, so I usually buy 25-30kg at a time and lasts me for most of a year.
There are also German online shops selling good Italian flour (Amatulli is my favorite one, but there are a few more)
I’ve also heard good things of a brand called Rieper from southern Germany.
I mean you hit the nail on the head. Dont experiment with something crazy right of the gate. It’ll either go poorly or you won’t understand why It didn’t go poorly and it will be hard to reproduce
>The taste was actually ok, although I think pretty much every bread, frsh out of an oven tastes good, especially if you are hungry. I ate all of it the same evening.
I dont know why this was so funny to me but thank you. I agree. Even bread with basically unproofed dough is tasty. The challenge with bread seems to be texture more than taste. Better luck next time from a fellow engineer.
The joy of learning about flour types. Cake flour has the least absorption while whole wheat and bread flour has the highest. AP sits pretty with a 65-70% hydration capability. Didn’t learn this until I started playing with other flours and kept making flour soup lol.
Loved your vibe with all this! No skin off the back.
Glad you clarified that was tin foil. It looked like bird seed to me. Using the correct type of flour is crucial, as you now know. Just keep at it, and you’ll end up with a better product each time you bake.
But it did Alloy it!
Hehehe I’ll see my self out now
Mega witzig. Bin auch so eine Nerd und hab vor 3 Wochen mit Brot angefangen und direkt die gleiche Suppe produziert. Ich benutze King Arthur Bread Flour (12.7%)
Good luck to both of us!