When downsizing a recipe for bread, do you need to cut down every ingredient equally for it to come out well?

I have a bread recipe that is slightly too large for my bread machine, so I need to downsize it a little, but I don't want to make it a full 25% or 50% smaller, meaning the ingredient amounts end up with weird values that don't fit normal measuring spoon sizes well even if I round them a bit. This makes the measuring part a bit annoying.

If I wanted a 15% smaller loaf of bread, would it still come out well if I only reduced the flour and yeast by ~15% and left the other values normal, or do all the ingredients need to have the ratio given in the recipe? The taste being affected a little is fine, as long as it rises properly and has normal texture/consistency.

Best Answer

Yes you do have to reduce all ingredients proportionally for the dough to come out the same. The best way to measure for baking is by weight in grams rather then in volume as weight in grams is extremely accurate and makes for much easier adjustments like those you need to make.

The most critical measurements to get right are the flour and the liquid ingredients to ensure your hydration remains the same, a 15% difference in water is huge in bread baking. Salt's also important, but less so as a 15% increase in salt isn't going to make a massive difference. Yeast you can eyeball to a certain extent and take just a bit off, you'll likely need to play with the amount anyway as bread makers often balloon bread dough - make it rise too quickly - reducing yeast helps to keep rise speed under control.

Again accurate weighing is the easiest way to make consistent bread. 1ml of water = 1g so I weigh the water too.

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Can I divide a bread recipe?

Reduce your recipe, scaling down to make smaller portions of the same tasty baked good. When it comes to reducing a recipe, however, you can't simply divide all the ingredients in half and call it a day. There are plenty of other factors to consider: pan size, baking time, how in the world to divide an egg \u2026

What are the 7 common bread making mistakes and how do you prevent them?

The 7 Common Breadmaking Mistakes You're Probably Making

Failing to Weigh Your Ingredients Accurately. ...

Mistakenly Adding Salt DIRECTLY on top of Yeast. ...

Incorrectly Adding Too Much Liquid. ...

Not Covering Up Your Dough At All Stages of Breadmaking. ...

Inadequately Proofing Your Dough. ...

Failure to Create Steam in the Oven.

How do you evenly distribute fruit in bread?

Bread is too dense when there isn't enough gas in the gluten structure. This could be due to not enough gas produced, or if the gas that is produces isn't retained in the gluten structure well.

Easy Gluten Free Quinoa Flat Bread Recipe / Plant Based Vegan

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