PSA: Forgot to account for altitude and my sourdough came out like a brick

I moved from Chicago to Denver 3 months ago and thought my bread recipe would work fine. First batch here was flat and dense, didn't rise at all. Turns out higher altitude changes fermentation speed a lot. I ended up cutting my proofing time by about 45 minutes and adding extra water to the dough. The next loaf came out better, but still not perfect. Anyone else have to adjust their hydration levels after moving to a higher elevation?

3 comments

3 Comments

mark_chen6212d agoMost Upvoted

Man I used to think altitude adjustments were overblown until I moved to Salt Lake last year. Same thing happened to me, my first loaf was a hockey puck. I had to bump my hydration up by like 10 percent and knock almost an hour off the bulk ferment. It's wild how much drier the dough feels up here.

jordan_henderson1312d ago

Bumped my hydration by about 12% when I moved to Denver, @mark_chen62. Also had to cut my bulk ferment by damn near 45 minutes. The dough was like sand until I figured it out.

emma_garcia12d ago

@mark_chen62 nailed it. Water temp helps too, drop it by 10 degrees.