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Laurel's Kitchen Whole Wheat French Bread questions

pmiker's picture
pmiker

Laurel's Kitchen Whole Wheat French Bread questions

I was looking the whole wheat french bread recipe on page 96 and 97 and it says 5 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, a combination of: 4 cups bread flour plus 1 1/2 cups pastry flour.  I notice that the book refers to something called whole wheat bread flour.  Nowadays, in the stores, I find bread flour or whole wheat flour.  Two different creatures.  I believe she means high protein whole wheat flour when she says bread flour.  I mill my own wheat.  I can finely grind the whole wheat from either hard red or hard white wheat.  But the pastry flour.  If I finely grind soft red wheat will I be approximating pastry flour?  I believe the mix is to get a flour lower in gluten than regular bread flour. 

Since this is a book on whole grains, I assume whole wheat pastry flour is intended.

I cannot test this until the weekend so I thought I would ask first.

 

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

I grind my own flour too and use soft white wheat when pastry flour is called for and it has worked fine.  Don't think it makes any difference if you use soft red.  My family prefers the white so that is what I buy.

Good Luck,

Janet

pmiker's picture
pmiker

Thanks for the replies.  I have some locally grown soft red but no soft white.  I do plan to use hard white for the main flour to try to offset the soft red's flavor.  I don't use soft wheat much at this point except in pancakes and such.  When I use it in bread I use it sparingly.

Mike

JMonkey's picture
JMonkey

Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. That's one recipe from her book I've never made. FWIW, I've  used soft white wheat for all the other recipes that called for pastry flour, and it worked fine. I'm pretty sure you're right in that she's expecting one to use whole grain flours.

I'd love to get my hands on some soft red wheat to try it out. All I've ever seen is white.

pmiker's picture
pmiker

jmonkey,  what part of the world are you in?

JMonkey's picture
JMonkey

A small college town in the Pacific Northwest. Home of Oregon State University. You?

pmiker's picture
pmiker

A small town east of Dallas, TX.

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi Mike,

I think the recipe intends you to use white pastry flour.   You could just as easily use your freshly milled wholemeal as Janet does.   You may need a tad more water in the formula for wholegrain.

Best wishes

Andy

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

flour is readily available in the USA at Sprouts or Whole Foods retail and at any bakery wholesaler.   It is a common baking item here for bread and pasty.  I'm guessing that is what is used in this recipe.

pmiker's picture
pmiker

I live in a rural area.  Even Bob's Red Mill products are hard to come by out here.  KAF products are just now appearing as is Wheat Montana flour at the local Walmart.

linder's picture
linder

I found Bob's Red Mill soft white wheat berries online or maybe a store that offers Bob's Red Mill products might be able to order you some?

http://www.bobsredmill.com/soft-white-wheat-berries.html

Happy baking!

Linda

pmiker's picture
pmiker

I would like to find it locally or close to local.  Ordering online is about $8 for the product and $15 for the shipping.  That basically triples the cost of the product.

Doc Tracy's picture
Doc Tracy

I've been studying this recipe. From the way I read it- 5 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, a combination of 4 cups bread flour and 1 1/2 cups pastry flour, would mean that you use hawhoa and soft whole wheats. Or, bread and pastry whole wheats. But, both whole wheats. White or red would be your choice.

I didn't notice a single recipe in her book calling for white flour, unless specifying it, which I actually don't remember. Part of what I love about the book.

I've been planning to bake this recipe as soon as I get to the store where I buy my whole grains to buy some soft wheat.