Maidaura — Maida, the finely milled refined wheat flour | maidaura.com
How to set hydration by flour type, with worked examples and the signs of a dough that is too wet or too dry.
Hydration is a percentage of the weight of flour: a typical bread dough runs 60 to 70 percent, meaning 600 to 700 grams of water for every kilogram of flour. Weigh the flour first, because one cup of maida weighs about 125 grams while one cup of atta weighs about 120 grams, so volume-based measuring shifts the ratio before water is even added.
Worked example at 65 percent: 500 grams of maida takes about 325 grams of water. Swap that maida for atta and the bran absorbs roughly 2 extra tablespoons of liquid per cup, so the same dough needs a visible bump of water to feel correct.
Gluten forms when flour is hydrated and worked, and the protein band sets how much structure that hydration buys. Maida at 8 to 11 percent develops usable gluten at 60 percent hydration with a short knead; bread flour at 12 to 14 percent rewards pushing toward 70 percent and a longer knead.
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A dough that is too wet clings to the bench, tears when stretched and bakes sticky. A dough that is too dry cracks at the edges during shaping and bakes crumbly; add liquid a teaspoon at a time rather than a splash.
Commercial maida is often bleached or aged with agents such as benzoyl peroxide or chlorine to whiten it and speed gluten maturation, so it hydrates faster than an untreated flour of the same protein. Rest the dough 10 minutes after mixing before adjusting either way.
Read the dough at the fifteen-minute mark, not the five-minute mark: flour keeps absorbing water after mixing, and a dough that looked dry early often relaxes to correct.
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