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Being a dumbass, I got distracted and ran my bread maker with all the ingredients added except... water.

Cue toasted flour.

Running it again (with new yeast), and noticed three cups of now-toasted flour needed 2 1/4 cups of water, nearly double the usual.

Flour must come with quite a bit of residual water. Bought from a wholesaler, but supermarket flour has very similiar water needs.

Am I really buying flour that's like 25% water by weight, or did the toasting break down the starch grains and somehow make the dough absorb more water?

I have a food chemist buddy I could ask, he'll know the answer but I'll never hear the end of it :p Maybe I'm not that curious...

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Discussion

hh 1y ago

Not a food chemist, but I do work in the food industry and 25% is a lot. Should be around half that. Unless it's some sort of artisanal or hand made flour I guess. But water content is inversely related to shelf life and quality (because the protein and gluten ratio is lower obviously). So, more water, faster spoilage and lower quality.

Low Information Voter 1y ago

Darn, that's what I was afraid of...

hh 1y ago

But I think if you burnt it, your intuition is correct too. It's no simply the water you remove. The water absorption rate is not directly proportional to the water content, and when you start to mess with the rations and the composition (by burning it), the absorption rate will shoot up too. So double sounds about right I guess.