(Dough Handling & Fermentation) A Baker's Guide to Humidity: Adjusting Your Dough in Singapore's Climate

If you’re a home baker in Singapore, you know the struggle intimately. You follow a recipe to the gram. The dough feels perfect in the bowl. But by the time you come back for your first set of folds, it’s become a sticky, unmanageable puddle that seems to have a life of its own.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Welcome to baking in Singapore, where our biggest challenge often isn't the oven—it's the air around us.

Why Humidity is a Secret Ingredient (That You Didn't Add)

Think of flour as a dry sponge; it’s incredibly absorbent. In a high-humidity environment like ours, flour absorbs moisture directly from the air long before you ever add any water.

This means a recipe that works perfectly in a drier climate can feel overly wet and sticky here, even if you measure everything with your Baker's Foundation Scale. The humidity is a secret ingredient you didn't account for, and it can throw off the entire balance of your dough.

But don't despair! With a few simple adjustments, you can learn to work with our climate, not against it.

Three Simple Adjustments for a Happier Dough

1. Start with Less Water. This is the simplest and most effective trick. When trying a new recipe, hold back about 5-10% of the water called for. Mix the rest of the ingredients and see how the dough feels. Is it shaggy and dry? Add the remaining water, a little at a time, until it feels right. It's always easier to add more water than it is to take it away.

2. Trust Your Touch, Not Just the Numbers. A recipe is a map, but the feel of the dough is your true guide. You're looking for a dough that is soft and pliable, maybe a little tacky (like a sticky note), but not a sloppy mess that glues itself to your hands and your Bench Knife. Don't be afraid to deviate from the recipe's water amount to achieve this feel. Over time, you'll develop an intuition for what your dough needs.

3. Make the Fridge Your Best Friend. High humidity often means faster, more aggressive fermentation. The refrigerator is your secret weapon to slow things down and regain control. A cold proof (the final rise in your banneton) not only develops a deeper, more complex flavour, but it also makes a high-hydration dough firm, chilled, and infinitely easier to handle and score with your lame.

A Quick Note on Flour Storage

To give your dough the best start, store your flour in airtight containers. This protects it from pests and, crucially, minimizes how much ambient moisture it can absorb from the air before you even start mixing.

Baking in the tropics isn't a curse; it's just a different kind of craft. By understanding how humidity works and making these small adjustments, you can tame the stickiness and turn our climate into an advantage. You’ll be baking with more confidence and pulling beautiful, consistent loaves from your oven, rain or shine.

Happy Baking, The Crumb & Crust Co. Team