Baking Temperature

• When baking bread at high altitudes, you need to reduce the oven temperature. The baking time will be the same but decrease the temperature by 25 degrees. To prevent over-baking of the bread, you can use an instant read thermometer and take the bread out of the oven when it reaches 200 degrees.

Yeast

• The decrease in air pressure found at high altitudes causes larger air pockets when yeast is active in bread. Therefore, you do not need to use as much yeast at high altitudes as you would at sea level. Decreasing the amount of yeast by a third to half is recommended. Do not alter the rising time of the bread, just decrease the amount of yeast. You can also add salt to the yeast, as salt acts as a yeast retardant.

Flour

• The quality of flour is important when baking bread at high altitudes. Look for flour that is unbromated and unbleached. Flour that has a minimum of 12 g of protein per cup is the best. Look at the nutritional panel on the package of flour to ensure that you have plenty of gluten. You can mix high gluten flours such as durum flour with your normal plain white flour. Durum flour has a very high gluten content.

Moisture

• Bread tends to be dryer at high altitudes when compared to sea level. This is due to the dryness of the air and cooler temperatures. To compensate for this loss of moisture, use extra large eggs. You can also increase the amount of liquids used in the recipe. However, when increasing the liquids, add additional liquid one teaspoon at a time. Stop increasing the liquid when the dough is smooth.