Farina Sourdough Bread

Bob,   Thanks so much.  -Varda

Hi Andy,  I don't want to get too deep into this nomenclature but...  I am somewhat uncomfortable with the name semolina, as in my readings, semolina always comes out as farina for durum wheat.   The definitions for middlings varied quite a bit - mind you I'm reading modern automated milling literature.   Middlings are usually defined as leavings from the milling process.   In one document it says that middlings will be completely different composition from mill to mill.   It's just whatever is left over, and generally sold by the mill for animal feed.   In other cases middlings and farina are used interchangeably.   In one document purporting to describe modern milling practices, middlings are described as the result of the first milling after separating out the bran and germ.  That one's the outlier.   I am not a 16th century miller (their technology is in many ways better than what I have) nor am I from UK, so in trying to find language consistent with modern milling and American English, farina seems to do it.  

In any case, enough of that.    Thanks so much for your compliments on my bread.   The sun today was lovely.   Most of my pictures made the bread look washed out there was so much light.   Such a problem.  

-Varda

if you look at the formula.   Thanks so much DA.   Of course you use farina - you use everything!  -Varda

your comments, Grind.  -Varda

is just a blah old hot cereal from my youth - like grits but made of wheat rather than corn.   (But you probably don't know grits either - not sure what to compare it to.)    Thanks so much for your comments.   I was very happy with how this came out.  -Varda

Josh,  On my first sample, I thought, oh not really sour.   When I came back a few hours later, it tasted much more sour to me.   Not something that hits you in the face, more like complex deep layered flavor.    But definitely not a straight almost white bread.    We'd have to compare side by side with the long retard approach to see.   Thanks so much for your comments.  -Varda

Thanks so much.  No fat here.   No lamination.  Just regular old flour and water.  I was thinking that this bread doesn't require home milling.   Just some sifting of whole wheat.     And I see the superficial resemblance to AP's bread, but trust me, he's way out ahead of me.    Thanks so much for your comments.  -Varda

I will continue to experiment with the long autolyse but right now I'm not sure of impact since I've never made the same bread with and without.   Would love to see what you come up with.   It seems to me that milling is great, but sifting is where you get the power and control over your flour.   Just thinking.   Thanks so much for your comments.  -Varda

I was pleased with how the bread came out and surprised to discover the humble cream of wheat coming out of my milling process.   -Varda

John, Amazing what a difference photographing in sunlight makes.   But the bread is really delicious.   Thanks for commenting.  -Varda

Syd, I went flourless for the proof in couche and so the surface is etched with the linen imprint.   Thanks so much for your kind words.   As always wondering what you are up to in the baking department.   -Varda

Sam,   You seem to have transformed from gvz.   Thanks so much for your comments.   The crumb exceeded my expectations.   Usually the opposite happens.   -Varda

I'm sure you would enjoy this bread.   As I explained to John, it doesn't require home milling - just home sifting.   My theory was that the farina would be a great feed for starters and I think I've been borne out although more research needed.    I used a very dry starter - 60% with a very absorptive substrate (as AP would call it) and it never liquified but as it grew its density got lower and lower.    I fermented it cool but not cold, mostly out of fear of over-ripening, the kiss of death.  Not my usual starter by any means.   Thanks so much for your comments.  -Varda

but you certainly have the imagination and touch as evidenced by your shocking green bread.    I hope to see a lot more from you.   Thanks so much for your comments.  -Varda

Hey Anna,   This is another reason I used the term Farina instead of Semolina.   On store shelves at least in the US, semolina always means durum meal.    I would think that Bob's Red Mill would be the place to start looking for Farina in the store.   You may have to look at list of ingredients.   They sell a lot of cereals, so perhaps one of them is farina or mostly farina.   I would suggest that you just go ahead and use Cream of Wheat, but that seems kind of scary given the amount of processing they do on it.   The alternative is sifting whole wheat flour with a very fine sieve and a fine sieve as I detailed above.    Thanks so much for your comments.  -Varda

First of all, Tom,  thanks so much for the nice things you said about my bread.

Now on to the arithmetic.

Here's how I see it:

My Yield

Golden Flour   67%

Coarse Flour   27%   (for the sake of this argument I'll say that the milled flour I used is called Coarse)

Bran   4%

Loss   2%

A typical breakdown of whole grain wheat is:

Endosperm  82.5%   (includes White and Farina)

Germ  2.5%

Bran 15%

So let's say

Golden + Loss = White flour + bran   (note I'm assigning all loss to the golden just because that's what gets lost)

Coarse = Farina + Bran + Germ    (note I'm assigning all germ to the coarse which is a guess)

So assuming that the missing 11% of bran is distributed roughly proportionally between golden and coarse that gives

67% + 2% = White flour + 7%   or White flour = 62%

27% = Farina + 4% +2.5% or Farina = 20.5%

My formula:

White flour    450g

Coarse flour      143g

or

White flour          450g  75.9%

Farina                    109g   18.3%

Bran                          21g   3.6%

Germ                        13g    2.2%

So as my formula is constituted it is high on white, very low on bran, and a little low on germ and farina.   Wouldn't know how to give  a percentage whole grain to this, but it ain't 120%

to rest of your comment.   Sounds like what you are doing is very creative and interesting and exploring the range of possibilities when we constitute our own flours.   Would love to see a detailed post on it.    And sorry for the pedantic outburst above.    The bread devil made me do it.  -Varda

Happy baking!  -Varda

Thanks so much for commenting.   I have a new couche from Breadtopia which is a lot stiffer and sturdier than the KA one.  I haven't seen it leave a pattern before, but this time I retarded overnight with no flour, so I guess that's what did it.    And oh - the milling and sifting is my idea of a good time.   Just weird I guess ;-)   Hope to see what you've been up to.  -Varda