How to scale bread recipes to fit your pan #video
In my last YouTube video, I posted my recipe for making fluffy Japanese Milk Bread in a 9 x 4 x 4 inch pullman loaf pan. While I recommend using the pullman loaf pan for best results, I recognize that not everyone has a pullman loaf pan at home.
Therefore, I created the above video to share with you how to accurately scale any bread recipe to the size of your loaf pan.
CLICK HERE: To download the free tool mentioned in the video.
VIDEO FOLLOW UP – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
- “Do I need to scale the time and temperature as well?
In my experience, I do not scale time and temperature. - “The recipe doesn’t state what size loaf pan to bake in. How do I figure it out?”
The easiest way is to leave a comment and ask the author. But if that method doesn’t work, this is what I do — I do a trial bake by baking the exact recipe in my loaf pan and observe the process and its end results. For example, when the dough is proofing in the pan and the dough clearly rises way above the height of the pan, or overflows like a muffin top – then it is a sign that the recipe needs to be scaled down – and vise versa.
Based on what you notice during the trial bake, you can decide – if you need to scale up or scale down the recipe, and if so, by how many percent.
Let’s say you decide the recipe needs to be scaled down by 12%. Simply reduce the total weight of flours by 12%. And then determine scaled down weight of the other ingredients by taking its respective baker’s percentages times the NEW total weight of flours. Then test it out by doing a 2nd trial bake.
It takes a bit of trial and error, but that’s what I’ve been doing and over time you get better at estimating how much to scale up or down a recipe. If you have another method to share – please do by leaving a comment below.
2. “Can this method you used in the video be applied to other baked goods such as loaf cakes or non pan breads?”
Absolutely! This method is not limited to loaf pan breads. It can be used to scale breads that don’t require a loaf pan, or baked goods such as cookies or loaf cakes. If the baked good doesn’t require the pan, then you won’t need to calculate the volume of any pans. Simply scale the total weight of flours first then multiply the respective baker’s percentages to the new total weight of flours.
3. “Can this method be applied to a bread recipe that uses a round loaf pan/mold (i.e. Panettone Recipe)“
Yes. If it uses a round mold such as Panettone recipes, instead of using the formula of length x width x height to calculate the
recipe’s pan volume and your pan’s volume, you will use this formula = π r²(h+1″). Simply put it is 3.141592 x pan radius x
pan radius x (height + 1 inch).
Is it possible to work out what size pan is needed if a recipe doesn’t specify that? Pans differ from region to region.
I have some great-looking vegan recipes that don’t specify pan size, and unfortunately don’t give ingredients by weight either. In addition, I suspect that they use US cups! I’m trying to “translate” the recipes from volume to mass but it’s slow going
Hey Sage, thanks for your note. It sounds like you are on the right track.
Usually when I come across recipes that use “cups” instead of weight, I will follow the recipe, but measure out the weight of each ingredient on a scale and write it down.
For example, I will put the bowl on a scale, add one cup of flour, and record down the weight in grams. Then if I remake the recipe, I will follow it in grams that I have measured out instead of using cups. (its a personal preference as I don’t have to wash measuring cups and spoons)
Then I will bake the bread/dessert in whichever pan I have decided to use and go from there using the dimensions of the pan I decided to use.
Hope this helps.