Water Temperature

Appears in
Professional Baking

By Wayne Gisslen

Published 2008

  • About
Dough must be at the proper temperature, usually 78° to 80°F(25.5° to 26.7°C), in order to ferment at the desired rate. The temperature of the dough is affected by several factors:
  • Shop temperature.
  • Flour temperature.
  • Water temperature.
Of these, water temperature is the easiest to control in the small bakeshop. Therefore, when the water is scaled, it should be brought to the required temperature. On cold days, it may have to be warmed, and on hot days, using a mixture of crushed ice and water may be necessary. Also, if a long fermentation is used, the dough temperature must be reduced in order to avoid overfermenting.