Question about using honey instead of sugar in a basic white loaf

I tried swapping out the white sugar for local honey in my standard sandwich bread recipe last weekend. I used a quarter cup of honey for the same amount of sugar the recipe called for. The dough felt way stickier than usual right from the start, and it took almost an extra hour to get a decent rise. When I baked it, the crust browned way too fast and got really dark, almost burnt, but the inside was still a bit gummy. I think the honey messed with the yeast activity and the baking temperature because of the extra sugars. Has anyone else run into this with honey, and do you have a good rule for adjusting liquid or oven temp when you make the swap?

3 comments

3 Comments

sean_cooper581d ago

Had the same sticky dough problem, cutting the added liquid by a couple tablespoons when using honey really helped.

davis.noah1d ago

Cutting the liquid is smart. I once added honey and ended up with dough so sticky I could have used it to patch drywall. My kitchen looked like a glue factory exploded.

knight.felix1d ago

Disagree with cutting the liquid, honestly. A wet dough is just a technique problem, not a recipe one. Maybe @davis.noah just needed to work the dough longer instead of changing the amounts.