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Venturing into Barley Bread

Anonymous baker's picture
Anonymous baker (not verified)

Venturing into Barley Bread

So I've found a good supply of Organic Barley Four and have started my barley bread venture. Where to begin? Well I've come across this article which looks very interesting http://archaeologyeats.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/egyptian-barley-bread-dentist-preferred.html and have started The Leavening. What's interesting about the leavening is it seems to be a very crude starter and what may be something similar to a salt rising starter. Make a small piece of dough, make a dent and fill it with water. When the piece of dough swells and cracks the Leavening is ready then onto the recipe. Salt rising starter is bread made with the initial burst of activity we now know is leuconostoc in nature. This one seems to be very similar. Is this how they used to make bread rather than our more "modern" established starters? Was this the type of bread of Ancient Egypt? 

So while that is maturing i have decided to do a simple 100% barley flour bread with yeast. Just to get the feel of this new, to me, flour. Now i came across a Welsh recipe on this site http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/12137/barley-flour and decided to give it a try. But something didn't make sense to me. The hydration! So i scoured the internet and all recipes seem to have ridiculously low hydration for such a thirsty flour. I wouldn't be able to do these recipes with plain white wheat flour. All the recipes were in cups too so something might be off with things being lost in translation. So going by feel i made a pliable dough and added some oil too because i thought it needed it. Allowed it to rise till the dough became craggy but ran out of time for a second rise (which is also seemingly missing in the recipe but says to knead it again). So i kneaded the dough again adding more water and oil (totally working in the dark here but the dough was now even more thirsty), made it into a ball and put it in the fridge overnight. My plan was to do a second rising come morning then degas a second time for a third and final proofing before baking. But come morning it had risen just perfectly and i used that as the final proof. Threw it into a pot and baked it. If it tastes as good as it smells I'll be very happy. 

Now it's cooling...

clazar123's picture
clazar123

Great writeup....just awaiting verdict on taste.

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

I won't post a photo of a non existent crumb. It did rise somewhat but a very dense bread. Not a brick as such but dense and soft! I tried a piece before fully cooled and it was nice. Tried another piece fully cooled and now it's really nice. Nutty and sweet. Where to go from here?...

1. How much bread flour for texture but not to compromise the taste of the barley? 

2. Bread flour and/or other additions such as flaxseed, chia etc for texture? 

3. Will it benefit from a scald or Tangzhong? 

4. Do i up the hydration to 100% and make it like a rye? 

clazar123's picture
clazar123

I haven't worked with barley in this way but it sure sounds like it acts like rye or even gluten free dough. I know there were a few people last year that experimented with barley. Try the search box and see what pops.

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

I don't think barley has even that. I'll do a search. Tasty grain and worth experimenting with. I can imagine it'll lend great flavour in a mix but I'd like to concentrate on 100% barley for now.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

read would look If I could pick what it is supposed to look like without ever making one before,  Very handsome indeed.  A third rising would have been a huge mistake i'm guessing since 3rd risings are usually a disaster waiting to happen after something else gets messed up.  Can't wait to see the crumb Abe

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

But it is decieving. It looks like a brick but it's soft and cake like. You can see the crumb better if you break it rather than cut it. It did rise as you can see from the cracks in the crust. Taste is very nice and i can imagine it'd make great muffins and the like. This is something i can see myself working on in the coming weeks. A lovely bread. 

 

Excuse the bad image. Trying to take a photo with my tablet plugged in.

IceDemeter's picture
IceDemeter

bake out as almost the same as my muffin crumb when I use 50% or more barley flour with soft white wheat.  I love your description of "more" because I've had that same feeling when using the barley instead of wheat or oats in quick breads, but couldn't think of how to word it...

It is a flavour and texture that I enjoy, so thank you so much for sharing your experiments with going to 100% barley breads since I'll be likely wandering down that path behind you.  I'll warn you, though, if you're not used to it, the high level of fibre can cause some somewhat antisocial physical reactions...

Cheers!

Laurie

bread1965's picture
bread1965

Abe.. what does it taste and smell like?

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

Sweet and nutty taste. So different to wheat bread. I find myself missing the superior crumb of wheat bread but it's very more-ish at the same time. There's room for improvement as I've only baked with it once but i can see myself returning to barley bread often in my baking repertoire. I can see how it'd compliment cookies and muffins. Got a barley sourdough starter going and should be ready soon. Time to try different techniques till I've got it right. 

bread1965's picture
bread1965

I kind of having the feeling it would be a cross between a bran muffin and crumbly banana bread recipe.. at least that's how it looks.. makes me think of molasses too.. ! I'll have to give it a try one day.. in the meanwhile I'll await your iterations.. bake well.. or at least bake happy.. !

Isand66's picture
Isand66

While this is not a 100% barley bread, it's worth trying. Some good info on barley in this post as well. http://www.farine-mc.com/2012/06/barley-bread.html

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

But things are already not adding up...

After mixing the 160g starter + 150g milk + 150g Greek yoghurt + 200g bread flour it was way thicker than as shown in the book. Emmanuel's Pre-Ferment was watery but mine was half way to being a dough. 

When forming the dough i had to add a lot! more water. I can't see how one can follow those measurements and be so off. I can understand slight discrepancies but to be this off something isn't right. 

The dough I've got has less structure than my 100% barley dough which doesn't make any sense because the more bread flour the better the structure. My barley flour dough was lovely and smooth but this one is craggy. 

I shall persevere but not holding my breath.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven
Sadiye's picture
Sadiye

Lemon barley cob from Handmade Loaf of Dan Lepard is a very good bread. Txfarmer has a tread on this bread if you would like to try.  It is 40% barley not taking into account the levain.

Sadiye

MaryMcM's picture
MaryMcM

I've been searching for a recipe that just uses barley flour. They're very hard to come by. I found that Welsh recipe too & followed it exactly but it didn't work at all. How much extra water(?) and oil do you think you added?