I have known for a while now that I would have to face my fear of wet doughs. Yes, fear. Absolute fear.

I am very good at breads that are relatively dry, and the only doughs that I've worked with that are wet weren't nearly as wet as the recipe I found here - Floydm's Daily Bread.

To be honest, I had a vague idea - at best - at what I was doing. I made a whole wheat poolish, and the rest of the flour was organic spelt. For good measure and texture, I added 1/4 cup flax seeds. I baked on a stone as directed.

For having so little idea about what I was doing, I feel pretty fantastic about the results. The rise was reasonably good, and the texture was perfect. I would hope for a slightly better crumb next time. But I'm not going to be picky after my first try.

Also, I wanted a harder crust, but I think that has to do with a) my stone and b) a better method of steaming.

Made a couple of loaves today that went over well with the Taiwanese in-laws, and that I am pretty happy with.  My usual whole wheat sourdough base, with ~30% added high gluten white flour, and about 1 1/2 cups of rye kernels (soaked overnight, then brought to a boil and then left to soak another few hours) and about 1 cup of flax seeds (soaked overnight), and ~1+% salt.  Probably about 9 cups flour total, plus the extra seeds, making a couple of large loaves.  My sourdough, which I have been keeping in the fridge 100% of the time since coming to Taiwan, hasn't yet developed much of a sour flavour (which is fine with everyone but me), but is working well to leaven my doughs. 

This time, I started with ~3 cups of starter, adding 3 cups of flour the night before and putting in the fridge.  After letting that warm up in the morning, I added the final 3 cups of flour, along with the rye and flax.  Bulk ferment for another 2 1/2 hours, split, stretch, fold, shape, and proof for about another 2 hours.  As you can see, precise measurements and replicability are not too high yet on my priority list.  Will likely try this one again and actually keep track of masses...

I am a newbie who loves to experiment.  From my reading and experimentation I have learned that successful breads roughly have a 3 to 1 ratio of flour to liquid.  And that dough can tolerate a certain amount of "additions" such as nuts, raisins, sundried tomatoes, etc.  Most recipes that call for additions have 1 to 2 Tbs. per cup of flour.  So, my question is. which of these things function as flour (have to be counted towards the hydration) and which ones are additions? 

1. flax seed meal
2. rolled oats
3. steel cut oats
4. fine ground cornmeal
5. coarse cornmeal
6. cooked brown rice
7. toasted wheat germ
8. toasted wheat bran
9. cracked wheat
10. bulgar wheat
11. all seeds are "addition"?
12. all nuts are "addition"?

 Also, can anyone provide guidance on incorporating Greek yogurt in recipes? I want most of my breads to be high protein and high fiber.  THANK YOU.

I stocked up on grains and seeds but I'm running out of room in my freezer. I would be happy to share. I have enough to send to two people. Everything is Bob's Red Mill brand and still in the original packages, and not expired.

If anyone is interested, let me know.

I would like to add coarsely ground flax seed meal to a sourdough bread dough. I have read that too much flax seed meal can adversely affect gluten development (due to enzymes in the flax seed).

What would be a recommended amount in baker's percent? How high could I go?

If it would help, here is the tentative formula I'm working with (I've not actually made the bread yet so have no hands-on experience). The formula has 40% refreshed sourdough starter (100% hydration using commercial bread flour) and 15% whole grain flour. Bread flour is a commercial, unbleached white flour at about 12% protein.

Thanks in advance - SF

Hi

I am new to home baking and trying to bake gluten free (not yet made a great loaf, but still trying).

I have a simple coffee grinder with a rotating blade at home, but it grinds grains very finely.  I have whole Sorghum, Quinoa, Hemp and Flax seeds that I would like to use as flours in my bread.  I have heard that this is a very good way of ensuring that the flour is fresh and of a good quality and nutricious.  

I have a couple of questions about this:

1 - Will the flour that comes out of my coffee grinder be the same as bought flour (of the same type) for the purposes of baking?

2 - Can the flour be damaged by the heat generated from the blades?  If so, how long would this take to happen?  The grinder works pretty fast, and can reduce grains to powder within about 5-10 seconds.  Is this fast enough to avoid damage.  If not, would it be helpful to do 2-3 second bursts instead with a pause in between?

3 - Would "sponging" the flour produced before baking help?  (I have read a little about this technique, but never tried it)

4 - Can Teff seeds be ground for flour in a coffee grinder?  If so, where can I find them (UK)?  I have seen the flour in health shops, but never the seeds.

I would anticipate that these home-ground flours would make up about half to three quarters of the total flour blend - the rest being made up of bought potato and tapioca starch (though now I have found tapioce seeds in a local asian shop, and am considering grinding these also...)

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you.

I have baked the Dreikornbrot twice and figured out pretty quickly that the water measurements were just plain wrong.  I think the total water used should be only 300g or about 1 1/3 cup.  With 1/3 cup of water going to the seed soaker and 1 cup of water for the flour.

My real question is if this recipe is really intended to make 2 9 x 5 loaves.  During both tries the final bread in the 2 loaf pans is only about 1/2 of the way up the sides of the pan.  It really tastes great, a nice dense crumb, but the slices are only about 1.5 inches tall.

Has anyone tried making just 1 loaf with this recipe?

My sourdough Rye starter seems healthy and fine.  I am wondering if the proofing time may need to be increased.  Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Manfred

I just thought I would share the recipe I came up with for the quinoa flour. I incorporated it into one of my other recipes I created a while back. It isn't a high percent of quinoa, but it sure does come through in the bread. This is not a gluten free recipe.

Honey Grain Bread

2 3/4 cups water (1/4 c. used to proof yeast)
1 T. Salt
5 T. Butter or Olive Oil
5 T. Honey (use 1 T. in proofing yeast)
3 cups Bread Flour
1 cup Quinoa Flour
1 cup Flax Flour
2 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/3 cups Quick Cook Oats
5 t. yeast
2 T. vital gluten

Set to ferment over night or longer
2 1/2 c. water
2 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour
2 c. bread flour

I proofed my yeast in 1/4 c. warm water, 1 T. honey, 5 t. yeast.

I proof the yeast while I am adding the other ingredients to my mixer bowl that has the fermented flour in it. Sometimes depending on the amount of moisture in the air I have had to add an extra 1/4 c. of flour.

I set my mixer to mix for 12 minutes, but keep an eye on it. I have noticed that when I have let my fermented flours go for longer then 12 hours or so then it takes a lot less mixing to work the gluten up.

Once the dough has been mixed and is looking smooth and stretchy I like to scrape it out of the mixer bowl and kneed if for a little bit to see how it feels. Even though I enjoy my mixer I still like to kneed the dough. It is a great way to releave stress. Anyways, I set it aside now in a greased bowl and cover and let rise for 2.5 to 3 hours, until it doubles in size. I have been told I should let it rise twice before shaping it and placing on a baking pan or in a bread pan, but so far I have only done a single rise before placing in the pans. Then I slit the tops with a razor blade and let rise covered for 1 hr. (Next time I am going to try a little longer rise in the pans and also try a double rise before shaping.

I had put them in a cold oven and turned the oven to 400 degrees for 10 minutes, turned it down to 350 degrees after that and let bake an additional 25 minutes. They did not get a spring in the oven at all so I think I will put them in a warmed oven next time because that is how I normal do it, but wanted to try something different this time.

The bread was not heavy at all and has a delightful nutty flavor and when toasted it melts in the mouth and has a great crunch to it. We have not been able to keep the bread very long as it is gobbled up long before I usually make my next batch of bread. I might double this recipe for 4 loaves instead, but I do enjoy baking.

A few things I want to try with this next time as well is getting a stone for the oven and doing artisan loaves with it again. This might sound strange, but the artisan loaves had much more flavor then the loaves in the pan.