What happens when you mix flour and water and bake it?
The “standard” bread using all-purpose (plain) flour has a ratio of water to flour weight (hydration) 60-65%. Flour with a higher protein level, labelled as bread, strong, or high-gluten, tend to use 65% hydration.
How much water do I add to flour?
Putting salt and flour together produces a ‘mixture’. In chemistry, this is when two substances are physically combined but no reaction has taken place.
Toasting flour before you use it cooks out the raw taste so that it lends a nutty, more complex flavor to baked goods and even pasta… It just adds an extra layer of flavor with very little effort on your part. You can also used toasted flour to thicken soups or make roux for sauces (gumbo, anyone?).
When mixed in water the flour will?
You’ll get mild unleavened bread. Without salt or any other flavor-enhancing agents, your bread will taste bland. More importantly, however, without some kind of raising agent (yeast, for instance), you’ll have very little air pockets in the bread.
