"hydration" news and stories

If you bake a lot of bread, you've almost certainly come across directions to fold the dough. In times past, bread recipes instructed you to punch down the dough after it had fermented, though now bakers are generally directed to "deflate" the dough. Folding accomplishes the same goals as deflating, but with some added benefits.

Folding is a technique that's more often used with wetter, or more hydrated, bread doughs, as well as doughs that have been underdeveloped for some reason or other. Doing this procedure does two things: it redistributes air/gasses and evens out temperature, and it aligns/develops the gluten structure. Deflating only accomplishes the redistribution element of folding, but that's really all that's needed for less hydrated doughs. Folding is always used as part of the fermentation stage. Generally, you'll proof the dough for an hour (first rise), fold it, then let it proof (rise) for another hour or so. An under-developed, wet dough can be fermented for many hours with multiple folds.

Now that's artisan bread.

To fold, first flour your work surface fairly well. Turn your dough out onto it and pat out most of the gas. I like to work left to right, top to bottom, but use whatever directions work for you as long as you hit all points of the compass. Take the first side, stretch it out and fold it onto the middle of the dough. Repeat this for the opposing side, then do the same thing to the top and bottom. To finish, get you hands under the dough and turn it over so that the smooth side is on top. Then put it back into whatever proofing container you're using and let the dough finish proofing. Check out the gallery below for images matching the directions.

One of my worst habits, or lack of habit, to be more precise, is drinking enough water. Now that it's on my list of "Make sure you do this," along with taking vitamins, eating more fiber, and cutting down on table salt, you know I'm going to go to my usual OCD addictive extreme and drink too much water.

Sportline's Hyrdo Water Bottle is like a portable water drinking coach that reminds you to drink water because you're carrying it with you, and tells you how much water you really need with a built-in "hydration calculator." Based on your height and weight, you may find that the optimal amount may not even be 8 to 10 glasses. The "Sip Tracker" feature can track how much water you're taking in over the course of the day, so you don't over- or underdo it.

Available from the HydraCoach website for $29.95. For that much cash for a water bottle, you better believe I'll be making good use of it!

Bottled water is big business and so is marketing to kids. Combine the two and you get several new lines of kids' bottled water. You have bottles like Poland Spring's ( a Nestle Corporation) Aquapod. The Aquapod is a "fun shaped bottle" in an 11 ounce size that fits well in a kids hand and is a sporty, modern shape. Their slogan is "change the shape of what kids drink." I guess since the bottle has a sort of football, rotund spaceship/submarine shape it could be used as a toy and tossed around. You could squirt your buddies with a well aimed squeeze, and even bean your friend across the room with a nice toss. Hey, what's not fun about that? Mom's across the country this summer discovered that the bottles float, even when full, something the Nestle folks didn't even plan. So they write their kids names on them and toss them into the pool so their kids can sip and swim, keeping nicely hydrated without having to be dragged out of the pool for a drink. They even have website tie-ins with the Aquapod Squad computer game.

Naturally, water gives you the most bang for your buck when it comes to hydration (unless you're spending a lot of bucks on fancy bottled waters), but what about the rest of the beverages out there?

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has just published Healthy Beverage Guidelines, and while they urge 20 to 50 ounces of water per day, the rest of the guidelines are limitations, so that we're not drinking too much. Tea and coffee? Not more than 40 oz of tea and 32 oz coffee because the caffeine dehydrates you. Lowfat and soy milks are good for hydration, but make sure that you're not relying solely on them for calcium. The guidelines say that up to 32 oz of sugar-free drinks are acceptable, and that juice and sports drinks are next, limited to 8 oz a day. Last on the list? Starbucks Frappuccino and Red Bull. Really now, no one should be depending on those for hydration.