Barb at King Arthur

October 25, 2024 at 4:48pm

In reply to by Wendy (not verified)

Hi Wendy, wet weather can, indeed, contribute to a wetter dough. On a rainy day you might want to consider holding back on a little of the liquid in the recipe, and then adding as necessary to yield a soft, supple dough. 

However, the recipe you reference does start out fairly wet because of all the whole wheat flour, which is ultimately a thirstier flour than white flour. It takes more time for whole wheat flour to absorb liquid (hence the pause between mixing and kneading this dough, which should result in a slightly firmer dough that has already developed a bit of dough strength). 

If you happened to use a different brand of whole wheat flour that was coarser in texture, that could also affect how long it takes for the flour to fully hydrate. Coarser flour tends to take longer to hydrate. Similarly, another brand of all-purpose flour would likely be lower in protein, which means it won't develop as much gluten and will also absorb less water than our AP flour. 

If you used our flours and still found yourself struggling with this dough after the pause, you might find these kneading techniques helpful. 

 

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