April 21, 2010 - 9:19am
Help with the characteristics of some special flours?
During my trip to the US I've bought a number of flours: Teff Flour, Graham Flour and Oat Flour, and also some raw wheat germ (wich I now understand that I should have bought the roasted type- but what can you do).
I've heard abot Teff and Graham but about the Oat Flour I havn't heard at all. Although I've heard about the first two I still don't know exactly the characteristics of the three. I mean, what is their protein level? What is their water absorption?- Can I use for instance a 100% Graham bread? (As I understand that you cant with the teff and the oat). And what can I do with the whet germ? What do you think the maximum percent of the germ I can put into bread dough?
Thank you very much all!
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Hi
You are asking some complex questions here, but hopefully a few people will chip in with some good advice for you.
Graham flour is a wholemeal wheatflour, if I'm not wrong. I would expect this to be a reasonable grade of bread flour.
Not really up on Teff flour, sorry. I'm thinking it is gluten free? Check this link: http://www.teff-flour.co.uk/what-is-teff.htm
Oat flour will have a very low gluten content. It has wonderful flavour, but also very high water absorption. Commonly oats would be added as meal [pinhead or coarse, medium, or, fine, or as jumbo or porridge oats]
As for wheatgerm, yes, you will have to be careful how much you add to the bread. The untoasted variety means all the enzymes are left in tact. So if you add too much, the dough will break down too quickly, and the loaf will be very poor quality. That said, the germ is full of vitamins and minerals, and a source of fat too. So the flavour benefit is great. If you get the balance right, the germ acts as a great bread improver; too much, however, and you have insurmountable problems.
Best wishes
Andy
I recently bought a bag of Graham Flour from Hodgson mills. I expected it to behave more or less like wholewheat flour. It does not.
There are a few differences.
I've been playing with this perplexing flour for a little while. I love the flavor potential, but have been looking for a way to tame the unpleasant aspects. The easiest bread I've made with 100% Graham flour is honey-Graham flour bread with a relatively large amount of honey and a long fermentation (facilitated by cool temperatures, a tiny amount of yeast, and a large amount of salt).
More interestingly, I recently made a large batard using a hybrid of pain a la ancienne techniques. The formula used 50% Graham flour that was first scalded and allowed to rest in the fridge overnight. This created a deep, complex, and absolutely delicious result. It eliminated the problem of unpleasant crust flavor and helped elaborate on the flavor of graham flour. It also helped soften the bran and protect the gluten structure in the final dough from some of the sharp bran particles. It also created the moistest loaf I've made to date.
I think that scalding the flour was most important to the success of this particular bake. I am pretty excited about this and I plan to experiment with it a little more over the next few bakes.
Cheers.
I've know understand better the qualities of the flours. Manicbovine, what do you mean in scalding the flour? Making a mash, like in PR's WGB? I would love to get an explanation about it.
And another thing, about the wheat germ- can I toast it in a dry pan like you can do with seeds or is toasted germ goes through a different procces in the factory?
Thank you again!
I brought the water to a boil, poured it over the flour, and let it sit in the fridge overnight. I don't have Reinhart's whole grain book, so I can't say whether or not this is the same thing he does.
Hi
As far as I am aware it will just be about raising the temperature of all the germ beyond a certain point in order to de-activate all the enzymes. You may be wise to investigate a little further as to what that temperature would be. I think it's just over 80*C, but not certain about that.
Best wishes
Andy