Tried using honey instead of sugar in my sourdough and got a gummy mess

I swapped 1/3 cup of honey for the sugar in my usual Saturday loaf and the crumb turned out dense and sticky, almost like raw dough. Has anyone else had honey mess with their fermentation timing or hydration levels?

3 comments

3 Comments

joel_jones18d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, I've totally been there. Honey's a sneaky beast in bread. You have to remember it's mostly water, so you gotta cut back on your regular liquid by about a quarter cup for every third cup of honey you add. I also found it helps to drop your dough temp a bit or let it rise longer, since the acid in honey can slow down the yeast. If you try again, just take two tablespoons of water out of your recipe and see if that fixes the gumminess. Your loaf can still come out fine, just needs a little math.

lindag3318d ago

Wait, you used honey and just swapped it cup for cup with sugar? Honey is way more liquid than sugar, so that's probably the main issue. A third cup of honey adds a lot of extra water to your dough, which would make it gummy and sticky. Also, honey is acidic and can mess with your yeast activity, slowing down the fermentation. Did you adjust the flour or liquid at all when you made the swap? That might be why it came out so dense.

nancyn6918d ago

That "almost like raw dough" description hit home, I had the exact same thing happen with a batch of honey ciabatta last month. I didn't realize honey would throw off my hydration so bad, and it came out sticky and dense just like yours. Joel and Linda are right, you gotta take out some water to balance it out next time.