I have a recipe for a whole-wheat sourdough bread that works pretty well, but it's not very exciting -- it's a basic bread. I've had honey-wheat bread that I've liked, so I'd like to adapt this recipe. At what ratio can I substitute honey for white sugar, and are there any other changes I need to make for the chemistry to be right?

I tried to answer this question by looking for recipes, but all of them are different enough from mine that I'm having trouble isolating variables. Recipes I've seen generally call for two tablespoons of honey, give or take, for a loaf that uses around 500 grams of flours. The recipe I'm starting from uses one tablespoon of granulated sugar. (I'm then adding a bit more to make up for the sugar that would be in the milk I'm not using.)

The ingredients in the recipe I'm starting from are:

• 240 ml levain
• 240 ml water (recipe called for milk)
• 1 tablespoon oil (I add a bit more because of the milk substitution; recipe called for butter)
• 1.5 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (I add a teaspoon more, as above)
• 210 g whole-wheat flour
• 280 g bread flour

An answer to a question about substituting brown and white sugars links to a conversion guide for various (dry) sugars, but it doesn't include honey.

posted over 3 years ago

CC BY-SA 4.0

3y ago by Moshi‭

Monica Cellio‭ staff

1566 reputation 37 24 208 52