Calculating Water Temp for Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer

[jumpsuit23]

Hi all. I was wondering if there was a tried and true formula for calculating Water temp for the Lehman Dough formulation. It says to shoot for a final dough temp between 80-85 degrees F. I will be using a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer as well. Any suggestions?

[02ebz06]

My suggestion would be to experiment and document.
Air temp plays a factor, warmer in summer, colder in winter.
Try different water temps and then document the air temp, the water temp, time of you kneading procedure, and the dough temp.
Once you hit the desired dough temp, make note of time of year as well for future reference.
Just my 2 cents...

[Pete-zza]

Hi all. I was wondering if there was a tried and true formula for calculating Water temp for the Lehman Dough formulation. It says to shoot for a final dough temp between 80-85 degrees F. I will be using a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer as well. Any suggestions?

jumpsuit23,

This is a technical article by the late Tom Lehmann on how to determine the finished dough temperature, so a fair amount of work on your part will be needed to comply with the article:

https://web.archive.org/web/20070502014430/http://www.pmq.com/mag/2003spring/tom_lehmann.shtml

In your case, you will want to use a final dough temperature of around 70-75F since the 80-85F number is for commercial mixers.

Sometimes members will just start with a water temperature of around 75F and go from there with adjustments as necessary. You might also try using a friction factor of around 15 for your KitchenAid home mixer.

Peter

[apizza]

In the book "The Best Bread Ever" by Charles Van Over he suggests using a base temperature for the device being used. For his food processor  it was 130 deg. Take the temperature of the dry ingredients and subtract that from 130. The result is the water temperature. He was looking for a dough temperature between 75 - 80. As suggested by 02ebz06 you will have to experiment to determine a base temperature for the kitchen aid to get to your 80 to 85 range. You could start by measuring your flour temp then pick a water temp, probably not too cool. Knead for the desired time. Take dough temp. Example.
70 deg dry ingredients.
75 deg water
Base temp 145.
If you overshoot, say 90 deg dough temp, drop the base temp to 140 next time and check dough. 140 - 70 =70 water temp. I'm guessing flour temp won't move much.
Crap now I'm confused. Anyway I hope you get the idea.

[jumpsuit23]

Thank you all for the great responses. Question though, why is the recommended final dough temp different when prepared in a home setting?

[Pete-zza]

Thank you all for the great responses. Question though, why is the recommended final dough temp different when prepared in a home setting?

jumpsuit23,

Because commercial coolers used by professionals are more efficient than home refrigerators.

Peter

[Gluten4punishment]

I start with 65 deg water in my kitchenaid and by the time it’s done 6-7 minutes later the dough is about 80

[amolapizza]

You also need the flour and ambient temperatures to calculate this.

It goes something like this:

1. Note the temperatures of the air, the water and the flour.
2. Mix dough as usual and take the dough temperature.
3. Multiply the dough temperature by 3.
4. Subtract the air, flour and water temperatures.

What is left is often called the "friction factor" and what you need for calculating your "Desired Dough Temperature".  Note that it's valid for this dough and this way of mixing, if you make another kind of dough it might be different.

[Anton1]

Hi all. I was wondering if there was a tried and true formula for calculating Water temp for the Lehman Dough formulation. It says to shoot for a final dough temp between 80-85 degrees F. I will be using a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer as well. Any suggestions?

In addition to Peter's reply #2, here's another link from KA website: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2018/05/29/desired-dough-temperature
Anton1

[politon]

This General Mills chart targets a finished dough temperature of 80F with an estimated friction factor of 30F:
https://www.generalmillscf.com/-/media/files/industry-resources/bakery/technical-support/water-temperature-chart.ashx?la=en