Do I need to adjust recipes when using hard water
Our well water tastes very good but is extremely hard (220 mg/L). Do I need to make any adjustments when cooking or baking or will it work fine?
Best Answer
Several things can be affected by hard water. If you're cooking fruit or vegetables in it, the softening is slowed by the dissolved calcium - it reinforces the cross-links in the cell walls. I'm not sure how strong the effect is; if you do boil vegetables, and you find that they get soft enough fast enough, or that you like that they don't soften too much, then I suppose you have nothing to worry about! But for things like dry beans (as FuzzyChef mentioned), where softening is critical, you might have a real problem.
More of a problem might be bread, which is probably the primary baked good you actually use water in - and it makes up an awful lot of the dough. Once again, the dissolved minerals help cross-link, and so you end up with firmer dough. I searched around, and found this reposted article from Bakers Journal about the effects of hard water on baked goods, which says that water above 200 ppm calcium carbonate is not good for breadmaking, but that you can compensate by using extra yeast and adding acid. I don't want to quote the whole thing here, but it does discuss in more detail, so it's worth a look! I would personally be inclined to avoid the issue by using softer water for breadmaking if possible.
The information besides that from the linked article came from On Food and Cooking, a great general food science book. I don't have any personal experience with cooking with hard water, so unfortunately I can't vouch for the completeness of my answer!
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Does hard water affect cooking?
Hard water affects the taste of your home cooking. From lifeless-looking veggies to failed birthday cakes \u2013 the type of water you use has a huge impact on your home cooking results. Cooking with hard water means your food is impacted by minerals like magnesium and calcium.How do you soften hard water for cooking?
The simplest method of softening hard water is by boiling it. When you boil water, the salts precipitate leaving clean, soft water. Put some water in a pot and leave it boiling for at least five minutes for the best results.How does hard water affect baking?
Baking with hard water will create a dough that is tough and rubbery. Yeast is an ingredient that is heavily affected by hard water, as well. The minerals make it hard for the flour to absorb water, which will interrupt the fermentation process of the yeast \u2013 and leave your bread tough and dry.Why hard water is not suitable for washing and cooking purpose?
Answer. As hard water contains many metal salts,these salts react with the soap and form scum which sticks to the clothes and makes the soap less effective.What are the different options available to treat hard water
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Answer 2
The only food I know for certain which will be strongly affected by your hard water is dried beans. At the level of hardness you describe, you may find that they never soften no matter how long you cook them; I've seen reports of up to 12 hours for cooking beans with very hard water. So use soft water for cooking the beans.
There are probably other foods which are chemically affected by hard water, but several Google searches have turned up no general guides on the topic.
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