Every recipe you encounter has water, whether as a direct ingredient or indirectly in other items. Breads in particular are primarily composed of flour and water. Thus it stands to reason that the quality of water will impact the quality of your baking. In this article, we will explore the role of water, common water quality problems and their impact, and adjustments that can be made to improve water while baking.
The Science of Water in Baking
Water performs several functions in the baking process. Water impacts the texture, crumb, and shelf-life of baked goods. It is responsible for all natural chemical reactions during baking, allows bakers to control batter and dough temperatures, and affects the overall consistency of baked goods. A dough with high water content is sticky and elastic, while a lower water content makes dough stiff and firm. After baking, more water creates a puffier, chewier texture with a generally more complex flavor, while less water has tighter, denser textures that can be bland without additional flavorings. This is because water activates gluten proteins in flour, creating binding structures. It also dissolves and disperses certain ingredients, like salt, sugar, and backing powder, and is the key to activating yeast.
Common Water Quality Issues in Baking
For most home bakers, your municipally-treated tap water should be sufficient. However, if you experience issues in your baking, the water quality may be to blame. Common issues include water that is too “hard” or too “soft,” is high in chlorine content, has problems with pH, or has high amounts of other contaminants.
Hard water has a high amount of calcium and magnesium minerals that lead to annoying limescale buildup on your water fixtures. Water with over 200 ppm (parts per million) of these minerals is considered hard water. In baking, hard water causes gluten to harden too quickly, resulting in firmer, unworkable dough. Because yeast feeds off of minerals, excess amounts cause fermentation too quickly, inhibiting the dough’s ability to rise.
Water that is too soft, however, can also be detrimental to baking. Water under 50 ppm does not have enough minerals to feed yeast, meaning it will not activate and ferment. As a result, your dough becomes too sticky. Ideally, water should be between 100 to 150 ppm for optimal baking conditions.
Chlorine and chloramines are the most common treatment for municipal water to kill disease-causing microorganisms. Unfortunately, chlorine will also affect good bacteria, like those found in yeast. This may inhibit the fermentation process, preventing rising. Generally, chlorination doesn’t become a problem for baking unless levels are over 10 ppm. Most home tap water is at 4 ppm.
The amount of acidity in water, or the pH levels, is another factor to consider. Water is thought to be a neutral pH of 7, but acidity levels in tap water may vary depending on what else is hanging around in the water. For example, hard water is more alkaline, contributing to the decreased activation of yeast. Water with higher alkaline can cause tougher gluten. For bread making in particular, a pH a little below 7 is recommended.
Limited studies suggest that the flavor of water doesn’t affect the resulting taste of baked goods, but a lot of people insist that it does. Scientifically, the matter needs to be explored more. At the very least, removing contaminants like pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and heavy metals will improve the overall quality and healthiness of water in general, for both baking and other applications. High levels of sulfur odor have been shown to transfer over to baked goods, negatively impacting flavors. Different minerals found in water, such as magnesium, potassium, and sodium, will also affect the flavor of sourdough as the yeast consumes the different minerals, creating different levels of tanginess and other flavor development.
How to Test and Adjust Water for Baking
To determine if your baking is being affected by any of the aforementioned water quality issues, you can have your water tested.
Testing Your Water Quality
Testing your water quality is as simple as purchasing a kit online. Stip tests allow you to easily test water hardness, pH, and chlorine levels. For more in-depth testing, you can consider color disk kits, which give more thorough information on certain continents than basic strip tests. If you have deeper concerns about water quality, consider professional testing. Check with your local health department, county extension office, or municipality for recommendations on certified laboratory testing.
Adjusting Water Quality
Once you know what water quality issues you are facing, you can begin adjusting your baking. To correct overall water quality issues in the long term, consider a water filtration system. Hard water can be remedied with water softeners or reverse osmosis systems. To reduce chlorine, try carbon filters that adsorb not only chlorine, but also pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, sulfur odors, and pesticides. To assist in protecting your carbon filters and RO membranes from premature loading, consider adding sediment filters as a pre-filter to reduce particulate matter.
Alternatives
Alternatively, you can use store-bought waters. Bottled water can provide consistency in your baking, but keep in mind that regulations are quite lax for bottled water, so quality may vary from brand to brand. Distilled water is another common solution for controlling water quality. Distillation creates basically pure water lacking minerals and chemicals. This means there is no danger of the water imparting additional flavor, that it will absorb into flour better, and will provide a more consistent texture. It will not, however, activate yeast on its own as it lacks the necessary minerals.
Baking Tips for Different Water Qualities
A quick solution for hard water problems is to increase the amount of yeast, or to decrease the sugar and starch content feeding the yeast. Adding acids like lemon juice or vinegar, or adding baking powder can also help. To improve water that is too soft, add slightly more flour or salt to the recipe. Decrease the amount of water, or try a dough enhancer like wheat gluten. To increase pH, add small amounts of baking soda. To decrease pH, try adding vinegar, lemon juice, buttermilk, or other acids. To counteract chlorine, boil the water or let it sit in an open container for 24 hours. Note that if water is treated with chloramines, filtration such as from carbon filters may be the only effective solution.
Water Quality and Specialty Baking
Because bread is almost solely composed of flour and water, water quality may matter more than say in lower water content cookies. Due to the importance of yeast activation, particularly for finicky sourdoughs, water quality can be of the utmost importance. Even though pastries may use less water, it is still a very important ingredient. Water controls the temperature of pastry batters, allowing fats like butter to remain unmelted longer for a flakier consistency that sets them apart from breads. When water is heated in pastries during baking, the steam expands to create the desired layers that make a pastry puffy. Even recipes for specialty diets rely on water. Gluten-free recipes for example require higher amounts of water as the gluten-free flour absorbs moisture more quickly, which can cause dry, crumbly items without adequate moisture. Vegan recipes rely on water and flour creating gluten structures as they will be missing the protein structures developed by eggs.
The Importance of Regional Water Differences
Water quality varies across the globe, with effects from different mineral contents in different soils, different water sources, and more. Even though United States municipal water quality is set by the EPA, each municipality is responsible for implementing these standards, with some more strict than others. As a result, different regions will have different water hardness levels, pH levels, and overall mineral and contaminant levels. That is why testing your water quality can be important for successful baking.
Final Thoughts
Baking is a science, and water accounts for many of the chemical reactions creating a successful baked item. Being aware of your water quality and the issues unique to your situation may make or break your bread or pastry recipe. Now that you know these common issues and how to address them, you are well on your way to creating successful, delicious baked goods.
What is the ideal water pH for baking?
It is recommended, particularly for bread baking, to have slightly acidic water at a pH level a little below 7.
How does water hardness affect bread rising?
Hard water contains a lot of the minerals yeast feeds upon, and having an excess can cause yeast to ferment too quickly, causing bread to rise inadequately. Hard water also toughens gluten, resulting in a firmer, unworkable dough.
Can I use distilled water for all baking purposes?
While distilled water can be great for getting a consistent, smooth dough free of added flavoring, it is not a great option for yeast doughs. Because it is lacking minerals, it will not properly activate a yeast.
How do I know if chlorine is affecting my baking results?
Water high in chlorine negatively impacts cultures and yeast fermentation by killing good and helpful bacteria. Leave water out in an open container for 24 hours, boil water, or use water filtration such as carbon filters to reduce chlorine and chloramines.