How to Convert Liquid Ingredients in Bread Recipes ❤️ Baking Tips

Lately, many fellow bakers have been asking me how to substitute liquid ingredients in bread recipes, such as:

How do I replace milk with water? ❓

How do I replace water with milk? ❓

If I'm out of heavy whipping cream, do I substitute an equal weight of milk? ❓

🔑 It is actually very straightforward:

🌼 First, know the approximate water content of common liquid ingredients used in bread baking (see Photo 2):

Milk: ~88%

Heavy whipping cream: ~50-70%

Whole egg: ~75%

Egg yolk: ~50%

Egg white: ~87%

Yogurt: ~70-80%

Honey: ~20%

Sweetened condensed milk: ~20%

❗❗❗ Conversion Formula:

Keep this formula handy:

🔐 Weight of Substitute Needed = (Water % of Original Ingredient × Weight of Original Ingredient) ÷ Water % of Substitute Ingredient

🌼 Let's walk through a few practical examples:

🔐 Example 1: A recipe calls for 100g of milk, and you want to use water instead.

🗝️ Using the formula: (88% × 100g) ÷ 100% = 88g water.

🔐 Example 2: A recipe calls for 100g of water, and you want to use milk for extra flavor and nutrition.

🗝️ Using the formula: (100% × 100g) ÷ 88% ≈ 114g milk.

🔐 Example 3: A recipe calls for 60g of heavy whipping cream, and you want to substitute milk. Using the water content percentages and the formula, you need about 34g to 47g of milk (depending on the fat content of the cream).

❤️ Baker's Notes:

🌼 The goal of this post is not to encourage swapping ingredients at random. On the contrary, I recommend sticking to the original recipe whenever possible, especially if you are a newer baker still building hands-on feel for dough.

🌼 Knowing how to convert liquids simply gives you a reliable backup when you run short on an ingredient or need to avoid an allergen.

🌼 Whether or not you substitute a liquid, whenever you try a new recipe for the first time, always hold back about 1/5 of the primary liquid (usually water or milk). Once the dough comes together in the mixer, feel its hydration and add the reserved liquid gradually as needed so the dough doesn't turn overly wet.

🌼 Why hold back liquid? Different brands and batches of flour absorb water differently, ambient humidity and dry weather affect flour moisture levels, and different brands of heavy cream vary significantly in water content. Holding back a little liquid keeps you in full control of the dough.