[SideburnsOfDoom]

> Yeah, but what you're saying is essentially "I don't need the recipe anymore - I can do this by feel"

I'm really not.

I don't do it "by feel", I measure everything in grams, including water. I hate recipes in "cups" since a cup of flour or salt is not a fixed quantity - it depends on grain size, how hard you pack it down, the weather etc. But 10g salt is a fixed amount.

I'm just saying that "500g flour, 60% hydration" tells me a lot about both how to measure it accurately (300g water), and how it will feel (fairly stiff). It's an accurate part of the recipe, expressed in the fewest numbers.

The % is scale-invariant.

[foobarian]

If ambient humidity can affect moisture content of flour, then you have more unknowns than constraints and hydration % is not enough. Doing it by feel would seem to be required to get an end-to-end result.

[SideburnsOfDoom]

Yes, though that isn't such a big deal for me, as I'm not in a desert or a rainforest, the ambient humidity here is middling and doesn't vary so much. Minor changes are not very important. Flour gets stored in sealed containers, and compensations for the changes during baking are minor. e.g. the cloth over the dough is moistened during summer. Ambient humidity maybe matters like a 1-2% difference here, not a 10% difference.

I do notice seasonal changes, but that's IMHO more due to changes in ambient room temperature than anything else.

Also, I would say that measuring in grams allows you to notice and more accurately quantify that "it's dryer than usual today for the same quantities - must be due to the ambient conditions that require an adjustment".