The Fresh Loaf

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How do you get medium rye flour out of home-milled whole rye?

mbronto's picture
mbronto

How do you get medium rye flour out of home-milled whole rye?

Does anyone know if this can be done by sifting the bran out of the milled whole rye? Or is there some commercial process I cannot reproduce at home to get medium rye flour?

Justanoldguy's picture
Justanoldguy

I too would love to know. Ginsberg has excellent descriptions of the types of rye and wheat flours in his book The Rye Baker but for home millers I suspect it will be a question of 'cut and try' to work out equivalents to the commercial grades. Home milling even adds one more factor beyond the question of bolting or sifting our product - we do have  different types of mills, stone and steel burrs and micronizing, that we would be cranking (pun intended) into the equation. Maybe Mr. Ginsberg will chime in and provide some guidance or fellow home millers will share their experiences.

Abe's picture
Abe (not verified)

To get medium Rye one would have to remove half the bran?

mbronto's picture
mbronto

I use a Fidibus Classic and have a fine mesh filter to remove the bran. If nothing else, I'm going to assume if I take half the whole ground rye and filter out all the bran, then combine it with the other unfiltered half, I will get "medium rye flour". Hopefully, someone who knows, will chime in! :)

Abe's picture
Abe (not verified)

But don't forget if you take off half of what's ground and remove the bran then add the white rye back in it won't be half and half anymore. So better grind a bit extra and take off a little more than half. Or see what you're left with and grind a bit extra to make up the white rye. 

Elagins's picture
Elagins

What is extraction rate (XR)? It's the percentage of flour that comes out of a quantity of grain. Extraction rates vary with the category of flour: because of the way most flours are (roller) milled, the low-protein, low-fiber fraction is the first to come out of the grain, while the high-protein, high-fiber, high-fat fraction  is the last to come out. In practical terms, this means that cake/pastry and all-purpose flours are low XR (say 50-60%), and wholegrain flours have an XR of 100%. Put another way, 100 kilos of wheat will produce 60 kilos of 60% XR flour and 100 kilos of 100% XR flour.

Now to your question. Medium rye has an XR of around 85%, so to get medium rye from wholegrain, you would sift out bran and harder (outer-layer) fractions representing 15% of the total weight of the wholegrain flour that comes out of your mill, which may require several millings/siftings. Also, it's important to remember to start with the weight of the milled flour and not of the grain going in, since some percentage of the raw grain stays stuck in the mill.

Hope this helps.

Stan Ginsberg
nybakers.com
theryebaker.com

mbronto's picture
mbronto

Thank you Stan, this is very helpful. Just one follow up question: 

How would you calculate your sifted XR percentage? 

If I sift out 1 kilo of bran/germ from 10 kilos of 100% XR, can I assume I am left with a 90% XR flour? That would assume I don't sift out any endosperm, but maybe I do? Obviously I need to know what %XR my sifted flour is so I can make the right calculation and get back to 85% XR as you suggest.

Also, would these rules apply to rye and wheat the same?

Thank you!

mbronto's picture
mbronto

Incidentally, just bought your book! Looking forward to reading it. :)

albacore's picture
albacore

I would suggest to knock out that 15%, you will probably find a #40 sieve does the trick.

Lance