Making Bread in Texas

[Longhorn13]

Every time I make bread from a recipe, such as Peter Reinhart's bread books, I feel I need to add much more flour to get it to the correct consistency. Does anybody else have to do this?

[texaspeppers]

I didn't know this before, but took some bread making classes about 2 months ago. I thought the same thing about his recipes. The dough is often pretty wet at first, especially cibatta bread. It only takes the right consistency after the required amount of kneading. 'Develops the gluten' to use the big school terms. If you add much flour, it makes the loaf heavier than intended. I used to make bricks before the class and now am in love with his recipes. Good luck.

[shanagain]

I'm in western TX and consider any and all bread recipes to be a guideline rather than an absolute.

But that goes for anywhere - it all depends on the humidity on any given day, at any given location. Sooner or later you just learn when your dough is "right."

[zorra]

Do you mean, the climate is warmer or the humidity more intense than wherever you used to live? I don't know, but it makes some sense to me that if you are used to a drier climate you might have to add more flour on a humid day.