The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Home baking with inulin/chicory root fibre?

foodslut's picture
foodslut

Home baking with inulin/chicory root fibre?

I found these threads mentioning inulin as a product ....

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/12016/there-way-increasing-fiber-count-homemade-bread

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/7282/wow-oven-spring

.... but couldn't find anything re:  using it as an ingredient in home baking.

Most of my home baking tends to be medium-high hydration (70-75%) partial whole wheat loaves (~40-65% of total flour weight as WW), baguettes (72%) w/pate fermentee or some sweet brioche-esque formulas.

Anybody have any experience adding inulin (I use generic "clear" fibre, the type you mix in water) as an ingredient in home baking?  I'm tempted to start with, say, 5-7% of flour weight to test.  Any issues I should watch out for?

Thanks in advance.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Turns out the roots are full of inulin.  Starchy.  Often eaten roasted.

No personal experience.  

Beth's picture
Beth

No personal experience here, either (or relevant comment to baking), but I've heard that raw cattail roots taste like cucumbers.

rayel's picture
rayel

I like the idea of using chicory root, it sounds so natural, (i think  that term can be used as it applies to chicory) but have no experience using it. I like the Black Bean Bread in Laurel's Kitchen Bread book, for the higher fiber reason, and i'm sure you could easily modify the recipe to use the percentages of whole wheat you prefer. In the 100% WW version the black beans disappear in the slice, and the flavor is mild. Ray

foodslut's picture
foodslut

.... and share the results here.  Stay tuned, and thanks!

 

 

Nickisafoodie's picture
Nickisafoodie

Haven't tried what you point to, but I have made very good breads at 68% hydration, a 100% hydration starter that is about 20% of the recipe weight. And flour by weight using 65% whole wheat, 30% white, and 5% added oat bran by weight - my standard sandwich loaf that also makes great toast.   The whole wheat part is self ground so all of that fiber is in the loaf.  That equates to about 14% of the whole wheat being fiber, (bran and wheat germ)- and the extra 5% I add give a high fiber loaf.  5% added is as much as I have ever tried. 

Oat bran weighs a lot more(106 grams per cup) that wheat bran (63 grams per cup) so if you use wheat bran, you may want to incrase the hydration a percent or two if using weight vs volume. 

Give it a try if you think it worth a go...   My sole reason was to help the insulin response slow down with the added fiber.  I also add whole flax seeds if in the mood - soak them for a few hours in the water you will use for your recipe.

Good luck!

Nick

clazar123's picture
clazar123

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25773/benefiber-breadan-experiment

I tried the clear Benefiber in bread just to see what happened. The link has my comments. I have since used psyllium in a whole wheat,fruited bread. It needed a fair amount of extra water and really rose nicely. Great loaf. That may be worth repeating.

Experiment!

 

foodslut's picture
foodslut

I've started my experiment using a generic form of Benefibre as well, which in Canada is made up of nothing but inulin/chickory root:

http://www.benefibre.ca/fiberHealth/index.shtml?faqs

Here's my "house" foccacia formula, including the Benefibre clone:

  2400
Bread flour50615.4
Whole wheat50615.4
Water841033.8
Inulin561.5
EVOO336.9
Salt 224.6
Instant yeast112.3
 195 
Factor12.31 

The 2400 is how many grams of dough I'm making (~84 ounces, my usual weekly batch).  With this much inulin (about 5 1/2 heaping tablespoons or ~2 ounces) for a batch this large, it ends up working out to ~11 grams of fibre per 1 ounce slice of flatbread - pretty fibre packed if it works out well!

So far, I've mixed and autolysed the dough, with 5 folds (once every 20 minutes).  Next step:  ferment @ room temperature for a bit until doubled.  The dough is as smooth and sticky as it usually is at this phase, so the inulin doesn't seem to be making a difference re:  texture to date.

Pix to be shared as I go along....

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
clazar123's picture
clazar123

Very interesting! My math is a bit rusty so maybe you can verify what I found when I did something similar.

Same link as above:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25773/benefiber-breadan-experiment

 After all was said and done, I calculated the fiber in my recipe for Benefiber (an expensive,processed supplement) and whole grain rye flour(ground at home) and found they were almost identical in fiber levels. The dough characteristics were similar, also-both being rather sticky. Both made delicious,well raised loaves. I was not into Baker's Percentages when I did it so I am glad to see your formula. I'll have to try it out.

It might be interesting for you to repeat your formula using whole grain rye flour. I believe that, for your recipe, I would add about 100g rye flour and adjust the other flours.(Whole Wheat 46%,Bread flour 46%,Rye Flour 7% and skip the inuln but keep the water becauses rye flour is thirsty,also). As for how many cups or tablespoons-that is a whole other discussion and is a much debated topic. It is "about" 3/4 cup in my house. Other sources would call it 1 cup. I must weigh heavy but consistently. I don't sift prior to weighing-stir,scoop and sweep.My rye flour weighs about 144g/cup. Grams are so much easier to communicate between people.

Fiber amount link:

http://www.wehealny.org/healthinfo/dietaryfiber/fibercontentchart1.html

 

 

foodslut's picture
foodslut

2.5 hour ferment ....

.... followed by shape & 60 minute proof....

... and into the oven (on baking stone, 475F for ~45 minutes), and.....

Taste?  No discernable difference from the regular formula "house" foccacia.  The crumb?

Results:  no big difference in product out of oven and cooled.  We cut it up into individual, weighed portions, freeze them, then thaw as needed, so I'll let you know if there's any effect in the frozen-thawed product.

Thanks, again, everyone who threw in some information/advice - much appreciated!

 

 

 

foodslut's picture
foodslut

Just to update those of you who helped me out with this.

I've baked white, rye and whole wheat breads of several types (all yeasted), and the 5% of inulin (by flour weight) seems to have no effect I can spot.  That applies with just-cooled and frozen-and-thawed product.

Thanks, again, everyone who provided some advice/guidance.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

increase the amount.   Go for it!

If a slice of bread has 50g carbohydrates and 50g fiber, then I don't have to count the carb grams in my daily limit.  :)

ertzman's picture
ertzman

Hello,  I am striking up an older thread since I am actively looking to bake bread using chicory Inulin.  I have turned to low carb eating and baking so I need recipes.  Does anyone have a specific recipe for chicory root breads out there?  I am finding it difficult to locate any on the web.

clazar123's picture
clazar123

 

Use the search box for "low carb bread". Lots of posts-this is the most useful one for the lowest carb but requires some special ingredients. I've not seen any for chicory but that may be another search here to try.

Bread is inherently full of carbs. Many people I know on a low carb diet will simply take  a small amount of a really good bread as there choice of carbs rather than a substandard tasting/textured bread. Some people don't have a choice, though, and it is no wheat for them. Some very delicious GF products can be made with almond flour that are low carb.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/28822/wheat-protein-isolate-wpi-whole-wheat-bread-32-carbs-slice