Water Hardness

Appears in
top 1000How Baking Works
How Baking Works

By Paula Figoni

Published 2003

  • About

Water hardness is a measure of the amount of minerals such as calcium and magnesium in water. Hard water is high in minerals, while soft water is low in minerals. If you ever see hard white mineral deposits, called scale, on equipment surfaces, you know the water is hard.

Because minerals strengthen gluten, yeast doughs prepared from hard water can be too strong and elastic; that is, too bucky. They do not stretch when gases expand, or they stretch only to quickly bounce back. Doughs prepared from soft water can be too soft, slack, and sticky. Ideally, water for bread baking is neither too hard nor too soft.