The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

new flour test

Elagins's picture
Elagins

new flour test

I've been talking to a potential supplier who's up in the hard wheat belt and produces only certified organic flours. he was nice enough to send me a few samples, one of which is organic high gluten, milled from hard red spring wheat, about 13.5% protein. we were going to have a NY smoked fish brunch this morning, so i decided to whip up a batch of bialys using the flour.

i would love to stock this flour, but i need to know if there's enough demand to justify ordering a couple of thousand pounds of the stuff. can you folks let me know? i promise you this: it will be attractively priced.

it's interesting stuff. first, the color is rather more beige than, say, All Trumps (which i compared side by side) ... very creamy. also, the grind was slightly coarser than AT, both to the touch and to the tongue. taste-wise, the raw flour was slightly sweeter and nuttier than AT, without a trace of that bitterness you sometimes get with raw flours.

the mix was also interesting. i had to increase my hydration by about 2% in order to get the consistency i was looking for. the gluten formed relatively slowly, but came together almost immediately at about 9 minutes under the dough hook, very, very elastic and not very extensible because of all the work it had been getting.

i used a relatively small amount of fresh compressed yeast, and got doubling in about an hour, then divided the dough into a dozen boules and put them in my proofing box. they reached near full-proof after about another hour and i formed the bialys.

i was amazed at how extensible the dough was at that point. the gluten was amazingly well formed and very very smooth, and didn't fight back at all when i stretched the boules into the bialy shape.

at that point, they went immediately into the oven, and since the photo upload isn't working for me here, you can see what they looked like on this link:

http://www.nybakers.com/images/bialys10-4-09a.jpg

the bialys tasted wonderful; the flour itself gave a nice moderately chewy crumb and the color of the flour lightened in the baking, but still had that lovely creamy beige tone to it.

i have to say that this is probably the best batch of bialys i've ever made!

Stan Ginsberg
www.nybakers.com

PS, i'd give recipes, etc., but Norm (nbicomputers) and I just signed a contract to do a Jewish baking book, so I'm afraid our publisher now has first call on all our intellectual property!

Comments

ericjs's picture
ericjs

I would definitely be interested in trying this flour, but it's too early in my bread journey to tell if I would buy it very often. I do make bagels now and then so do occaisionally buy high gluten flour (though right now I've already got a few pounds in the freezer).

I like breads that are more on the white flour side of the spectrum than whole wheat, though I like mixing in a bit of whole wheat or rye for flavor and want to work on seeing how much I can increase the proportion of that without sacrificing the texture. I'm also planning to experiement with emmer and einkorn flour. So perhaps in both of those cases it might help if the white flour I used was as high gluten as possible, so this flour might be a good choice for me.

mattie405's picture
mattie405

Stan,

  If I could turn out bialys that looked like that I'd order a load of your flour for them. Bialys are one of the things (along with pizza) I miss about living in the city now that I am down south permanently. When I get back from vacation and showing sis the how too's of pizza I will be sending in another order for more of the Caputo 00, if you have this new flour available then I will try some of it. Mattie

PS.......put me on the list for the book when it comes out!!

SteveB's picture
SteveB

Since Stan is unable to provide a bialy recipe, anyone wishing to bake bialys can feel free to use the recipe shown in the link below:

www.breadcetera.com/?p=185 

 

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com

 

Elagins's picture
Elagins

and those are beautiful rolls. different recipe from ours, but aren't they always?

one of the beauties of bread baking is that there are many paths to the same mountaintop.

enjoy guys, and be patient. you will have it!

and by the way, Steve, i love your blog.

Stan Ginsberg
www.nybakers.com

hansjoakim's picture
hansjoakim

Love the way you formulated that post, Steve! ;)

SteveB's picture
SteveB

Thanks, Hans.  Unless there's been a recent change made by Floyd of which I'm unaware, I've always understood that the primary function of TFL is to provide a forum for the free exchange of baking-related information and ideas.  I'd hate to see that change.

 

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com

 

Elagins's picture
Elagins

Steve, I'm not restricting the free flow of information. there are a lot of different sources , such as your blog and a lot of the books that are regularly metioned here -- for example, Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking Across America -- where folks can find recipes for bialys, bagels, etc. within the limits imposed by legal agreements that i'm party to, i'm happy to provide as much information as possible about things that i think might be of interest to our community.  unfortunately, there's a line i need to walk and some inherent conflicts in being both a baker and a merchant. i'm doing the best i can to serve everyone's interests.

SteveB's picture
SteveB

Stan, there is quite a difference between the restriction of the free flow of information and the refusal, however justified, to provide relevant information.  I never accused you of the former.

I found your initial post to be a bit disingenuous, since its postscript states that you are unable to address what, at the time, was a non-existent concern (i.e., a request for your bialy recipe).  Whether intentional or not, your postscript comes off as a non sequitur... a promotion for your upcoming book.  

  

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com

 

Elagins's picture
Elagins

i thought i'd head off any inquiries about recipes ... if i wanted to promote the book, i'd do so in a much more direct way. i took this approach because people invariably ask for recipes here and i simply wanted to let them know that i'm not in a position to provide any specific information. at the same time, pointing them in other directions is okay, and perhaps i should have done that instead. apologies for some misdirected caution and enthusiasm about this new flour.

jannrn's picture
jannrn

Stan, I am very interested in that flour....your Bialys are beautiful! Steve....THANK YOU for the recipe and your wonderful Blog!!! Though I can understand the difficulty Stan must face being both a baker and a merchant, I see your point too Steve....Personally, I appreciate ALL the help and information I recieve on a daily basis from this site! I have been a baker for a long time but never had the courage to post any pictures until now. Also, I hadn't had the courage to try Artisan breads until I stumbled onto this site! Now I am like a House-a-fire (as my Grandma would say)!! I am not looking forward to returning to work now because I will not be able to bake as much!!! You all have added a new dimension to my baking and I am FOREVER GRATEFUL!!!!