Water amount in recipe

I made this bread yesterday and it came out beautifully. But I was a bit thrown by the water in the ingredients. It says One cup of water in the ingredient listing. Then it says in the directions to add the boiling water and 1/2 cup of water. I added a total of 1 1/2 cups of water but I was concerned it was wrong. The dough was super sticky.

Am I reading that right? Is it indeed 1 cup of boiling water and an additional 1/2 cup or do you add 1/2 cup cold and 1/2 cup of boiling water? It would be nice to be sure.

Thanks!

Terri
  • Posted by: Terri
  • April 9, 2019
  • 5277 views
  • 4 Comments
No-Knead Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Recipe question for: No-Knead Cinnamon Swirl Bread

4 Comments

Maggie
Maggie April 13, 2019
Following the same liquid to flour ratio of Alexandra Stafford's peasant bread, which has the same base, there's half as much liquid as flour. Also, the original recipe calls for you to add a half cup of boiling water cold water to get lukewarm water, but us not really clarified in this one. I think you're supposed to wind up with a total of three cups of liquid for the 6 cups of flour, so yes, 1 cup boiling, .5 cups cold, and 1.5 cups milk. For what it's worth, I would just heat that liquid up in the microwave rather than fuss with measuring out boiling water. Just temp it with a meat thermometer - it should be somewhere in the 90-100(F) range. Or test it on your wrist - it should be baby bottle/bath temp.

And yes, the dough will be very sticky!
 
Terri
Terri April 13, 2019
Thank you! I don't think I had anywhere near 5 cups of water. I believe it was 1-1/2 cups of water total plus the milk. It did come out very good so I guess it was right. It just isn't clear in the ingredients listing. Thank you so much!
 
Maggie
Maggie April 13, 2019
You're welcome! Just to clarify, though, you had it right with 1.5 cups of water and 1.5 of milk (please don't try it with 5!). Once you learn the formula for the base bread, you can change up flours/liquids/baking shapes, etc and get many awesome hot breadstuffs practically on demand. Happy baking!
 
Terri
Terri April 16, 2019
Haha! True. I read your message to say 5 cups. Then I looked again and it was .5. Big difference!!
 
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