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Talk: Hydration
Discuss Hydration here. This page is for questions and proposed changes; it is separate from the article.
Talk
Use this talk page to discuss the entry. Notes stay here until they are merged into the article. Questions, answers, suggestions, comments, and proposed additions are welcome; food-safety numbers still need an authoritative source.
Add a spread-versus-slack distinction
A short comparison between normal spreading and immediate puddling would give readers a practical way to decide whether water is really the lever.
Connect hydration to flour strength
Please connect the water percentage to flour strength and mixing history, so readers do not treat a single hydration number as a universal target.
Start with cohesion and extensibility
The useful first check is whether the dough can hold a fold and stretch without tearing. Hydration is a formula reading; flour and development determine how that reading behaves at the bench.
The percentage is a map
The most useful habit here is reading baker's percent alongside the dough's feel, not using the percentage as a promise about the finished crumb.
When does wetter dough stop being more extensible?
Could the page distinguish water that improves extensibility from water that only makes handling slack? A reader needs a feel cue and a reminder that flour, fermentation, and mixing change the answer together.
Where should hydration be judged?
When a dough feels slack, which observation should come before changing the water percentage: flour absorption, gluten development, or fermentation stage?
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