The gel-like starches that are created contribute to this texture and make hot water doughs well suited to other flatbreads like tortillas, piadina, and matzo. Cook's Illustrated says to make cold water doughs for bread and pizza recipes because they benefit from long, slow, yeasted rises.
This is because hotter water breaks down the chewy and tough gluten in flour more effectively and prevents a rigid structure from forming, resulting in a softer but less stretchy dough. Thicker and more sturdy doughs, such as ones used for bread or pizzas, require cold water.
Found in baked goods across the world — tortillas, milk bread, cornbread and cream puffs, to name but four — hot water can speed mixing time; make it easier to fill and form doughs; yield softer, fluffier breads; and create stunning pie crusts like Ms. Hussain's.
Unlike us, yeast will still work to produce gas at cooler temperature. They'll just do it more slowly. So if you do use cold water in your dough, expect to be waiting a little longer for your dough to rise and fill out with gas. This is no bad thing, as a longer prove can help develop more great flavour in your dough.
In each of these baking techniques, hot water (or another liquid, like milk) is combined with flour, which pre-gelatinizes the flour's starches so they can absorb more liquid. This leads to more moisture in the dough and makes for a softer, smoother dough that's easy to handle.
Finally I use the desired dough temperature formula to determine the water temperature for my last mix. I aim for a desired dough temperature of 75°F.
For example, for dough kneaded in a stand mixer (friction factor of 20) when the room, flour, and starter temperatures are all 71 degrees, you would need a water temperature of 67 degrees: (75 x 4) - 71 - 71 - 71 - 20 = 67. This trustworthy formula will help ensure the perfect loaf.
The water should be lukewarm, 105 degrees F to 115 degrees F, something you can comfortably wash your hands in. Tip: The optimal temperature for yeast growth is 80 degrees F to 90 degrees F, so place your rising bread on top of your fridge or beside a wood stove where it can generally get to this temperature.
Water hardness describes the amount of calcium and magnesium ions in waters. This is expressed in ppm, or parts per million. Soft water has less than 50ppm, while hard water has over 200ppm. A water of medium hardness – 100 to 150ppm works best for dough preparation.
Generally, water of medium hardness, with about 100 to 150 ppm of minerals, is best suited to bread baking. The minerals in water provide food for the yeast, and therefore can benefit fermentation.
At higher temperatures, the raising agent is too active and the dough does not have enough time to develop. If it is too cold, the dough may not rise sufficiently or may take a long time to rise. Most doughs need time to rise so that the final result is airy and soft.
Cold. If the water is cold, the yeast still produces carbon dioxide gas, but at a much slower pace. Bakers sometimes let dough rise in the refrigerator for one to three days. Because the yeast works slowly at cold temperatures, it has more time to create lots of special molecules that add flavor to the dough.
Temperature matters
Conversely, dough that rises too quickly produces bread with flat flavor. Nail the sweet spot — warm enough to rise at a decent rate, yet cool enough to develop flavor — and you're golden. Studies have shown that the optimum temperature for yeast to grow and flavor to develop is 75°F to 78°F.
Knowing When To Stop Kneading. Kneading for 10-12 minutes by hand or 8-10 minutes in a mixer are the general standards; if you've been massaging the dough for that length of time, you can be pretty confident that you've done your job.
Spraying or brushing loaves with water while they bake will produce a crispy and crunchy crust with a nicer (in my opinion!) colour than the unglazed one. Water keeps the dough skin from forming the crust, enabling the dough to expand. It also smooths out the crust, creating a more refined appearance.
Have you ever heard the saying “wetter is better” when it comes to bread dough? There's no question that wetter, stickier dough can lead to a lighter, airier loaf, full of wonderful large and small holes (a.k.a. an "open crumb").
For active dry yeast, the water temperature should be between 105° and 110°F for proofing. While 95°F is the best temperature for yeast to multiply, that's not quite warm enough for proofing active dry yeast. It needs the extra warmth to dissolve and become active.
Yeast ferments the sugar present in the dough into carbon dioxide. The CO2 released from the yeast fills the dough and increases its volume. Once, the bread has baked, the heat causes the bubbles to break and makes the bread light and fluffy.
Make Sure You Use Enough Water in Your Bread Dough
The hydration level of bread dough is a key part of getting a good rise and a softer dough. You can even achieve a soft dough with no added fat or milk if you get the hydration right.
The bottom line is that yeast thrives in warm water, sleep in cold water, and die in hot water. So, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, it's important to get the temperatures “just right” for your yeast to thrive and your bread to obtain the best rise and flavors possible.
Here's why colder water makes better dough for yeasted bread and pizza. When making yeasted doughs that undergo a long, slow fermentation in the refrigerator, such as many of our pizza doughs and the dough for our Pita Bread, we use ice water.
Water: For best results, use water that is heated to 110 – 115 degrees Fahrenheit and use a thermometer. Any temperature between 75 degrees and 130 degrees should work, but yeast dies at 138 degrees. Some recipes use milk instead of water to activate yeast, so just follow your recipe.
The warmer a sourdough bread dough, the faster it will ferment and rise. A dough should be warm enough to encourage lively fermentation and flavor creation but not be so warm that it quickly overproofs. For most recipes here, I target a final dough temperature between 75°F to 78°F (24 to 25°C).