“Man, this dough is dry,” I thought to myself as I added yet another tablespoon of water to the bread dough I was kneading.
I mentally reviewed the adjustments I’d made to the recipe.
I’d doubled the recipe. No problem there.
I’d used 2 cups of milk instead of 1 cup milk and 1 cup water (got to use up that just-about-to-turn milk!) That could increase liquid needs just a little since milk has a small amount of solids in it. But I’d already added, what? A quarter cup of water?
And the dough was still dry – tons of flour still just sitting on the bottom of my bowl!
I’d used all whole-wheat flour instead of 2/3 whole wheat, 1/3 bread – and had added a tablespoon of gluten per recipe to compensate. That might increase water needs a little…but by now I’d added at least a half cup of water!
The only answer I could come up with is that I shouldn’t have measured out all the flour per recipe before kneading. I must have just never noticed that I never ended up needing the full flour allotment, since I usually mixed everything together with just half the flour and then added in a half cup extra flour at a time as I kneaded.
And then my ten minutes of kneading were up and I wet a dishcloth to cover the dough.
That’s when I saw the oil, still in the measuring cup where I’d carefully measured it out.
Half a cup of oil, substituting for four tablespoons of melted butter times two.
No wonder I needed an extra half cup of liquid.
I used the oil for a salad I was making for the evening meal – and let the bread raise and cook as usual.
It turned out fine.
Even so, I’m writing this down as a note to self: When a recipe isn’t quite turning out as you’d expected, check to make sure you included all the ingredients.
Ha! We all have those times. Once I was making a meat and rice casserole and didn’t realize I’d forgotten the rice til we were half done eating it. I knew something seemed different about it…