The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Roasting Grain before milling?

phxdog's picture
phxdog

Roasting Grain before milling?

Anyone try roasting wheat before grinding it? I saw an episode of "Good Eats" on Food Network where Alton Brown (Host) recommended roasting wheat berries in a heavy pan before soaking and using them in cereals. The idea was that the heat changed some of the simple sugars into more complex (flavorful) compounds.

I wonder if this would effect grinding, gluten development, rise (not as much sugar for the yeast), etc.? I found a few discussions on roasted flour here, but not roasted whole grains.

Phxdog (Scott)

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

I have no idea how it would come out, but I think you might have to consider the flour very low gluten when using for dough.  Hey!  Try it and see.  I am also curious if toasted grain gums up the mill during grinding.  :)

Mini O

proth5's picture
proth5

When the weather gets cooler I'll roast up some wheat and grind flour.  Might even send the resulting flour out for some lab tests.

It will take a while, though, the last snow of Summer usually doesn't hit until September here in the Rockies...

Rosalie's picture
Rosalie

I look forward to your report.

I wonder, though, if the roasting and the soaking go together somehow.  I wouldn't recommend soaking grains you're going to grind. 

Rosalie

proth5's picture
proth5

I don't think that I would soak - or even attempt to temper roasted grains prior to milling.  I think one would be creating strictly a whole grain flour with these.

I'll post sometime in Fall...

Rosalie's picture
Rosalie

What about soaking BEFORE roasting?  You could sprout or not.

Rosalie

proth5's picture
proth5

Uh - wouldn't my roasting process just dry out the soaked grain and then roast it?  Or would I actually be braising the grain? 

I do know that I want the stuff "dry to the touch" before milling.

Learned that the hard way...

Interesting thought.  I'll do the research.

Rosalie's picture
Rosalie

My brain just went off the deep end.  I thought it would result in something interesting.  Maybe not.

Rosalie

JavaGuy's picture
JavaGuy

This is done for beer, so it should work out great for bread. You might try checking some homebrew sites for ideas on roasting. I would assume that wheat would roast about the same way as malted barley.

 

proth5's picture
proth5

Thanks for the tip.  I will certainly do this.

Of course the danger of going to homebrewing sites is that I'll want to add homebrewing to my already too busy schedule...

proth5's picture
proth5

From the Schnupps Grain Roasting site:

ROASTED WHEAT

 

* Roasting denatures the flour within the wheat preventing dough balling in the rumen causing the animal to lose appetite.

Instead, the flour becomes crunchy and continues to move through the digestive system. Rather than feeding 20% wheat,one can feed 40 to 45% in the diet. Roasted wheat has a higher by-pass starch releasing a lower amount in the rumen and a greater amount in the intestinal tract. Out of condition wheat can be salvaged by roasting it, which will destroy powdery mildew, eliminate mold, and eradicate fungus.

Of course, they provide roasted grains for cattle feed.  But the protiens are denatured, which does not sound promising and the flour becomes "crunchy"?

The folks who do this for human consumption seem to think it is best for gravies and soups.

This does not bode well for a bread making application, but I will keep searching

Somaek's picture
Somaek

I would start at lower %, maybe 25% and work up.  This is interesting to me.  I wonder if it would be best for crackers or soda breads...

purple_haze96's picture
purple_haze96

I just tried this out: toasting my grains (wheat, kamut, millet) in a toaster oven before milling. They smelled good and ground up nicely, but didn’t form a good gluten structure. I managed to get a loaf or bread from it, and it tastes good, but the texture is not great. I won’t try it again. 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

give a gluten matrix.  For a first attempt, try just one third of the flour in the dough as roasted, the other two thirds bread flours.   Compare with recipes using oat flour.  Roasted flour can be used to feed sourdough starters and for making tangzhong or roux because there is still starch in the flour.