“Hooch” is alcohol, the byproduct of fermentation. It’s not the same as the “whey” on top of your sour cream. The ‘fourty-niners’ from the Alaska gold rush days were said to have drank the stuff. I don’t doubt it. Try it!

As for me, I stir my down into the mix when feeding my sourdough. It does make me wonder, though – since it is a byproduct, also considered “waste,” why not pour it off. I know that when fermenting beer, for instance, that alcohol will eventually kill the yeast and stop further fermentation. But, I’ve always been told to stir it back it. Any other ideas, anyone?

On another subject, I keep forgetting to ask: do I pour off the “hooch” from my starter? At first I just stirred it down. What is hooch anyway? Is it the same as the liquid in my kefir or say on top of sour cream?

This has been so much fun for me! Thanks to all!

Lorri U

Wil

I’m afraid you’re about to find out how anal I can be – so bear with me! I have to get somewhat mathematical, but not too much, I hope. Hydration is simply a ratio of flour to water, but you simply can’t do it right by volume – you have to figure it by weight. So weight of water divided by weight of flour equals your hydration level. Simple, huh? 350g of water divided by 500g of flour equals 70% hydration. So you can easily determine how big a loaf you want by using this formula. If you wanted a bigger loaf, say 700g of flour, then you’d simply multiply 700 by whatever hydration level you wanted (let’s stick with 70%), so 700 x .7 = 490g of water. I find using grams as a reference is a bit more accurate than using ounces, but it doesn’t matter.

Here’s why weight is so much better than volume: according to the King Arthur Flour web site a properly measured cup of flour weighs 4 1/4 ounces . Most others say 5 ounces per cup. The original Sullivan St. Bakery recipe calls for 3 cups of flour, which they interpret to be 430g, or 15.2 oz. Lesson – a cup of flour varies greatly by weight because it compresses. As I said earlier, for a pure white flour loaf, I use 500g flour and 350g water for a 70% hydration level.

So, what’s the hydration level of your dough? Well, water always equals 8 oz. (or roughly 227g) per cup. You’re using 1.5 cups, or 12oz. If your cup of flour weighs 5oz, then your hydration is at 80%. I find that level to be really wet, though Eric gets by with it somehow (I don’t know how!). If I try to work with a dough that wet, it comes out sticky and flat – great for ciabatta bread, not so good for what we’re trying to do.

I hate to admit it, but here’s a web site that explains all this much better than I can: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/baker039s-math

Lorri U