What to use instead of water
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Hydration in a bread dough
It is what turns flour into gluten. How much you use and how warm it is control both the crumb and how fast the dough ferments.
Whole milkRan out
1:1 by weight, and drop the oven 25F
Softer crumb and a tender crust rather than a crisp one, and the milk sugars brown it much darker.
Potato cooking waterRan out
1:1
The dissolved starch keeps the loaf soft and it stays fresh about a day longer.
Whey from strained yogurtRan out
1:1
A faint tang and a faster ferment from the acid, so the dough goes slack sooner than the recipe says.
BeerRan out
1:1, flat and at room temperature
Yeasty and slightly bitter with a darker crust from the residual sugars.
What doesn't work: Sparkling water for a lighter crumb. The bubbles are gone within a minute of mixing, and the yeast produces vastly more gas than the bottle ever held, so the loaf is identical.
Cooking liquid for grains, pasta or a poach
It is a heat-transfer medium, and anything dissolved in it seasons the food from the inside as the starch swells and drinks it up.
Chicken or vegetable stockRan out
1:1, and cut the added salt by half
Seasons the grain all the way through and darkens the colour. Skipping the salt adjustment makes it inedible.
Coconut milk thinned with waterPlant-based
Half coconut milk, half water, used 1:1 for the water
Rice comes out richer and stickier and it catches on the bottom of the pan, so drop the heat a notch.
DashiRan out
1:1
Savoury and faintly smoky. Grains and noodles taste seasoned without adding salt.
Strained mushroom soaking liquidPlant-based
1:1
Deep and earthy, and gritty unless you pour it carefully off the sediment.
What doesn't work: Heavily salted or vinegared water for poaching eggs. Salt loosens the white so it feathers into rags, and while 1 tbsp of vinegar per litre firms it, a quarter cup makes the egg sour and rubbery.
The boiling bath that sets a bagel or pretzel crust
A brief boil gelatinises the outside so the crust bakes glossy and chewy, and an alkali in the water speeds browning and gives pretzels their flavour.
Water + barley malt syrup, for bagelsRan out
1 tbsp malt syrup per litre, 30-60 seconds a side
Shinier, browner and slightly sweet. This is the classic bagel bath.
Water + baking soda, for pretzelsRan out
2 tbsp baking soda per litre
Deep brown and properly pretzel-flavoured, milder than a lye bath.
Baked baking sodaRan out
Bake soda at 250F for 1 hour, then 2 tbsp per litre
Much closer to lye, darker and more distinctly pretzel. Caustic enough to sting, so wear gloves.
Water + honeyRan out
1 tbsp honey per litre
Browns well with a light sweetness, and it is less glossy than a malt bath.
What doesn't work: Skipping the boil and going straight to the oven. Without gelatinising the surface a bagel bakes into a round bread roll, matte and soft-crusted, with none of the chew.