Baking in hot weather

The weather has been really hot here this weekend – about 27C/80F. What difference does this make to baking bread?

Sourdough starter is ready much quicker. I mixed up some stock starter with flour and water on Friday morning and by Friday evening it was ready for bread making.

Rise times were also shorter – about 2.5 hours rather than 4 hours that is more typical in winter. After mixing and kneading on Friday night I left the dough in the fridge overnight.  On Saturday morning I made baguettes and rolls which are smaller and therefore would warm up quickly and rise sooner – we ate some of these for lunch. The larger loaves came up to room temperature more slowly and we baked those later on.

Humidity can change – not so much a problem this weekend, but in hot humid weather you might need to decrease the amount of water a little to allow for any moisture the flour has taken on from the air.

Baking outdoors is a sensible solution to the kitchen getting too hot…we will need to fire up the wood fired oven soon!