Many of us are familiar with the knock-on effects of a warming climate, from melting ice caps to the more frequent incidence of severe forest fires. As temperatures continue to climb, we will start to see other unanticipated effects, not just with the production of our favorite food and drink items but how they are prepared as well. Enter the baking industry. Baking requires a high degree of precision and can be difficult even when the environment one works in is stable and predictable. But with the change in the average global temperature (and larger temperature swings in some parts of the world), an additional layer of uncertainty is thrown into the mix.
Bakeries exist everywhere, and the result of a rise or proof of bread dough can vary widely with a few degrees of difference. In 2021, for example, a Chicago bakery was forced to toss out over 2,000 dry, hard croissants and retool their baking recipes due to discernible differences in the product’s water and protein content and how it develops gluten. Not only is it becoming more challenging to keep baked goods from over-rising or drying out, but the quality of raw ingredients is suffering in these hotter growing conditions. The E.P.A. has reported that the climate in the lower Midwest region of the U.S. has gotten more precipitation in the winter and less in the summer and that the area in this region where wheat can properly grow has shrunk.
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