OT: The Life Scientific

[Bob Eager]

Or, of course, the well known Gimli Glider, mentioned here before.

[Bob Eager]

One attoparsec per microfortnight is about 1 inch/second.

And my lectures usually last about a microcentury.

[The Natural Philosopher]

ER no. Since moisture content of flour can vary for example.

[Dave Liquorice]

Foot per nanosecond is easy but I'm not familiar enough with parsecs.

My favourite unit of measurement is the 4 3/4" 35 mm foot.

[S Viemeister]

I don't know that that's really true, although I read it often. I've been baking for many years (and I'm pretty damn good at it!), and the main difference appears to be differing protein content. Higher protein flours will absorb more water than lower protein ones.

[john james]

Yes it really is true, particularly when making bread.

When I open a fresh 5KG sack of breadmix, I normally use 295g of water with 500g of breadmix otherwise the top of the loaf has too many large air holes in it.

Toward the end of the sack I often need 320g of water to get the same result.

Sure, but there is also that other effect as well.

[john james]

Yes it does, particularly with bread

Doesn?t alter the fact that the amount of water you need needs to be specified more accurately than that to get a reliable result with the same flour when you are say doing multiple baking sessions with the same flour after you have determined how much water that particular flour needs.

[harryagain]

[Nightjar]

On 01/04/2015 15:39, Jethro_uk wrote: ...

Imperial measure taught me to think in multiple base systems, although I didn't know that at the time.

When I started employing people trained only in metric measure, I had to teach them Imperial measure. We were still making products that had been designed in the 1950s and the need for interchangeability of parts meant they had to be made to Imperial measurements.

I don't have a problem converting common units between the two systems in my head. I will use a calculator if a great degree of accuracy is required, but I don't need to look up the conversion factors for many.

[S Viemeister]

Your flour _loses_ moisture after the sack is opened? I can't say I've ever noticed that - are you in the UK?

But I've never used 'breadmix'.

[john james]

No idea what happens.

No.

[Nightjar]

The second paragraph of that makes me wonder what the tide gauges showed for the period 1993 to 2009 as compared to what the satellite data indicated. Unless they were in complete agreement, the satellite data should be treated as suspect.

[whisky-dave]

depends how much you're doing and whether or not Mary Berry is judging you.

[whisky-dave]

Nah micro 4/3rds is my favourite it's a photography thing.

[whisky-dave]

You use weight to measure out water ...

whats that in fliud ozs ;-)

[Mike Barnes]

That's normal in baking nowadays - digital scales are more accurate and convenient than volumetric measures.

[S Viemeister]

Yes. For tiny amounts of other liquids, I use lab-type measuring cylinders.

[john james]

Yes, its easier to put the breadmixer tin on the digital scales, add 500g of breadmix and add 295g of water.

[john james]

I use micro scales, max 10g.

[Paul Herber]

The graph to the right of the second paragraph shows tide gauge and satellite data and the agreement is pretty good.