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When baking at high altitude it seems that most recipes advise to include a little more flour to the mix. Is it related to boiling point?

Ocaasi
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Steve T
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  • Similar questions have been asked here. See if they are of any help: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1813/adjusting-cookie-recipes-for-high-altitude and http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/3373/high-altitude-pizza-crust-how-to-adjust-yeast – Ben McCormack Jul 29 '10 at 01:40

1 Answers1

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The air pressure is lower at higher altitudes; when you add extra flour to your baked goods, it prevents them from rising too quickly or too much.

ETA (about the water): Water boils at a lower temperature at higher altitudes, so the extra water called for in high-altitude baking is to compensate for all the water turning to steam faster than it would at sea level.

Iuls
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    Your question made me curious about high-altitude baking (Home Economics was a long time ago for me and my answer stemmed from what I could remember from the class). Here's a link to a more detailed explanation of the science involved which you might find useful (the main site looks useful, as well): "http://www.highaltitudebaking.com/science.htm". – Iuls Jul 29 '10 at 00:24