Remember when we all used to just guess at dough hydration?

I found an old notebook from 3 years ago where I jotted down recipes with zero measurements for water. Last week I pulled out my new scale and tried to recreate my grandma's dinner rolls from that notebook. Turns out I was using way too much water back then and the dough was always a sticky mess. Has anyone else gone back to old recipes and realized how much a simple scale changes everything?

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elliotm702mo ago

Hang on, I gotta push back a little on the 85% vs 65% thing. 85% is definitely a sticky mess for most doughs, but 65% is actually pretty manageable for a lot of basic breads. Your mom's recipe might have been closer to 70% if it felt "right" but wasn't a disaster. Still, you're totally right that guessing water is just asking for trouble. A scale fixes so much, it's almost embarrassing how long I resisted getting one.

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cameronf882mo ago

Honestly, I did the exact same thing last month with my mom’s sourdough recipe. She always wrote "add enough water until it feels right" which meant I was dumping in like a cup more than needed. Got that scale out and realized I was at 85% hydration when her original was probably closer to 65%. Total sticky nightmare every time. It's wild how we just dealt with that goopy mess for years thinking it was normal. Glad you found your grandma's rolls again, that must have been a great feeling.

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