September 26, 2014 - 8:01am
Using 100% ground wheat berries
If you are making a bread with just milled wheat berries and no other flour, is it necessary to do a long fermentation period? For example can you just substitute the milled flour for commercial whole wheat flour, and use the same amount of yeast and fermentation time? Or does using the milled wheat require less yeast and a long fermentation period. The reason I ask is that I know that commercial whole wheat has been modified.
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I believe that freshly milled whole grains will ferment faster than the store bought whole wheat flour.
Because it will be coarser than store bought flour, you will likely benefit from a longer autolyse period where you hydrate the flour with water only (no salt, no yeast) for 30-60 minutes at least before adding the salt and yeast.
Once the yeast is added, expect faster fermentation not slower. To control for that, of course, you can use less yeast and/or use cooler water or cooler environment.
WW needs time to absorb the water or it will absorb it from the crumb after the bake. That is when you get a lovely looking slice that crumbles into pieces as you bite into it. I also emphasize the importance of kneading to windowpane-to develop the starch fully and not just the gluten. It takes a bit more to achieve this and may take a little extra hydration but it is very important. A soft sandwich 100% WW is possible if you pay attention to these factors. Using some TangZhong from the flour and liquid in the recipe will also help.
Have you had noticeable success making a TangZhong roux with home-milled whole wheat flour? I ask because I recall reading from someone's blog here that they did not find the method worked that well when made with whole wheat vs. white flour. I have yet to try this with either.
Tang Zhong lends itself to a nice sandwich texture. I've done it a number of times. Just take a small amount of the flour from the recipe and enough of the recipe liquid (ratio is 1pt flour/5 pts water by wt). Works great.
I look at bread as a balance of a starchy gel holding bubbles of gas in a protein netting (gluten). The ratio and hydration of all these elements is what effects the texture of the crumb.
With whole wheat, the most important way to get a soft crumb is to make sure there is enough water, enough time for all the branny bits to absorb plenty of the water and then knead to develop the starchy gel (in other words- knead a lot). Adding TZ just helps expedite the last part as does adding a few tablespoons of rye flour, soaked ground flax or soaked chia seeds. The other 2 points (plenty of water and plenty of time) are still important to follow. If you do all 3-then you are in soft loaf heaven!
Thankyou very much! This is one of the key pieces of missing information that I needed for many of my recipes, in which I have been struggling. I thought my issues were poor gluten development, I didn't realize that the starch gel was also completely necessary to give the bread its structure.
This is my own phraseology. I have never heard it talked about before but it is what I have identified as what is needed. If you add water to flour (a flour containing gluten), the gluten will line up and form pretty much on its own. It is when we knead to windowpane that we are really hydrating and helping the starch to hydrate and form a gel that traps the bubbles. Proper shaping of the loaf also has a lot of influence on crumb structure as well as proofing.
Keep questioning and observing. Taking notes helps,also. Most of all....have delicious fun!
I appreciate your input a lot, because I make a lot of my own flour mixes myself, and couldn't figure out why some of mine would work, and others wouldn't work at all. I didn't even think about the effect of the starch on the structure of the dough.
I had a coworker that was diagnosed with celiac disease-an actual allergy to gluten protein (not the trendy desire to go gluten free). I worked on some gluten free baked products-breads and muffins, for her and it was a great education on wheat based baking, as well. I learned a lot and made some very delicious loafs (and some duds). All ingredients bring different characteristics to the party. It pays to understand the guests.
be sure to use the flour shortly after it has been milled. Don't mill the dough flour when you make the levain the night before for example. Green flour needs to be in a mix in short time from milling. It will be thirsty flour. A firm levain is a helpful aid in strengthening the dough. Well now I want to make a fresh wheat loaf.
Josh
Sometimes I grind the flour the night before so inam ready to go in the morning without having to wake the house with morning grinding, and I have had excllent results.
I suppose they could always be better, but I wouldon't say that this is something to be avoided based on my own results.
When I started baking with freshly ground whole grains I found Peter Reinhart's book, WHOLE GRAIN BREADS, an excellent resource. Not many books are devoted solely to baking with whole grains so there aren't many well marked paths to follow. With the information in his book I was able to grasp the nuances of baking with my grains. His formulas were easy to follow as were his instructions. The information on the 'scientific' end of baking were dealt with in a way that I, as a beginner baker, was able to easily understand and apply.
If you have a library where you can borrow a copy of the book I highly recommend you checking out a copy.
Have Fun,
Janet
My main issues have been with low carb breads. They contain gluten via gluten flour, but without the starch, I am starting to understand now, they have difficulty holding the structure. flaxseeds for example will gel like a starch, but I find they hold onto the water, and don't really act like a starch when baked. What could create the same matrix a starch does for a low carb bread? I now understand why you can't just rely on gluten alone to create the structure of the bread.