wheat germ-restored wheat flour, what exactly is it?
Well, to start off hello everyone! I've been coming to the site for a while and have been baking bread with recipes from the site for quite some time as well. And of course, baking bread for quite some time as well now too! : )
I must say I enjoy the site and it is a great addition to have to my array of baking knowledge now : )
But to the topic!
As stated I am wondering what exactly is 'wheat germ-restored wheat flour'? Is this a fancy name for organic wheat flour? Or is this something entirely different? A recipe I am looking at calls for it as the first ingredient followed by water, unbleached umbromated wheat flour, whole wheat flour and sea salt, and I really do not want to botch the recipe by replacing the first ingredient with something I think 'may' be similar.
Any help or direction on this topic would be fantastic!
Thanks a bunch!
Arlo
That's the embryo of the wheat kernel. It's removed during the milling process because its oils would shorten the life of the flour.
Wheat germ restored flour is just flour that's had the wheat germ added back. King Arthur sells it and if you Google "organic wheat germ restored flour," you'll get lots of hits.
What I don't know is if you could just buy some wheat germ and mix it in your flour. Maybe one of the millers here could suggest an appropriate percentage.
In Leader's "Bread Alone" he suggests adding wheat germ by "stirring 1 tablespoon of raw or toasted wheat germ into each cup of unbleached white flour". Remember to refrigerate the wheat germ as it'll become rancid in warm temperatures.
I ran across an interesting small mill on-line: http://www.freemansmill.com/.
Among other products, they offer a so-called all-purpose flour which is de-branned, but not de-germed. That information is in the clickable mill tour. I’m guessing the flour is pretty tasty, but it would need to be refrigerated. Evidently protein is on the low side.
Hi
If you add raw wheat germ then it's still enzyme active. Traditional Hovis flour in the UK used added wheatgerm as a bread improver, as well as to enrich and fortify the bread. BUT, too much will break the dough structure down hastily, so the amount added is as critical as, say, diastatic malt.
If you toast the germ, this will inactivate the enzymes; it may give additional flavour, I suppose....but you will lose the "improving" feature of the germ.
Best wishes
Andy