September 18, 2016 - 5:55am
Using Just Durum and Whole Wheat
I've been MIA all summer due to family illness, but I continued to bake... Mostly variations of Essential's Columbia Bread (often w a Raisin water starter as the leavening agent)... but also Hamelman's Semolina and recently variations of 100% whole wheat.
I'm looking for a recipe with just durum and whole wheat as the flours... mostly for the high protein content. I'd likely add a tad of honey...
Anyone have any suggestions? Can I just substitute whole wheat for the AP in recipes that sound good?
Thank you in advance.
hester
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Here's a few you can try.
https://mookielovesbread.wordpress.com/2016/08/07/spelt-durum-whole-wheat-with-smoked-sesame-seeds/
https://mookielovesbread.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/sprouted-durum-whole-wheat-sourdough/
You can sub whole wheat for the spelt in the first one and regular instead of sprouted in the second. I suggest you hold back some of the water for the final mix since your flour may not be as thirsty as my fresh milled.
Seems like I need to retain at least some AP in the recipe. I have one I've used w 60% Durum and 40% AP. Perhaps I should do 60% Durum, 20% ww and 20 % AP before abandoning the AP altogether. Thanks again for your reply
hester
It's Abe with a new screen name. I really hope all is OK! Been thinking about you and wondering why you've been quiet. Will write to you soon and catch up. Here is the Altamura formula from which you can build on.
Durum Flour 100%
Water 65%
Salt 2%
Mature Durum Flour Starter 20% at 65% hydration
You can build on this perhaps replacing 20% of the flour with whole wheat bearing in mind you might need to add more water depending on how it feels. Durum Wheat degrades and ferments fast so shorter autolyse and watch the dough. A more gentle kneading will benefit.
and sharing w me your new screen name. Oh I love that idea of just substituting some of the durum w Whole wheat. And ... I love Hamelman's Durum recipe (I think it's 60% Durum and 40% AP), and iirc, he only has the levain ferment overnight. The final dough in any iteration doesn't ferment long. I think he calls it Semolina bread, but it's w Durum flour I'll check and let you know.
I was thinking to email you. Will do that to catch up.
Thanks for responding.
P.s. my mistake... he does allow retarding the final (shaped) dough over night. I might try that.
hester
Durum is a sweet flour and WW isn't. I don't think you need to have any AP in there with them at all though. A bit of honey would be OK if you have a sweet tooth or want to cut the bitterness of the WW.
Hydration is always based on the flour you have and where you live. A 100% whole grain durum and wheat bread would be more thirsty. For a whole grain bread you can start at 68% hydration and see how it feels with about 20% pre-fermented flour in YW SD or even both as a mix - a favorite for many who don't like sour bread but still want a natural levain. You can add water till it feesl right. Whole grain breads like to be autolysed for at least an hour too, with the salt srinkled on top, so when you start developing the gluten it has soaked up enough water to get a proper feel for it.
Happy baking and welcome back Hester.
Had a rough summer. With things being calmer now, I can post and still be coherent... lol.
Dab, do you think I should make the levain from whole wheat or AP? I'm doing the levain tonight. I have the option of either. B/c I just finished a 100% whole wheat bread last week, I have some starter from that... So it'd be easy to just skip the AP
Thanks again for the warm welcome back. Feels good to be here. So interesting how on-line communities are. Esp. ones like this. Floyd has done an outstanding job here.
hester
In fact I usually sift out the bran for the whole grains and use that for the levain feeding first. It is nice to get the bran wettest the longest and let the acid of the levain break it down so it doesn't cut the gluten strands as much plus the bran acts as a buffer allowing the LAN+B to keep producing acid at much low=er pH than normal making for a sour bread where the dour stands up to the whole grain flavor well and the acid acts to strengthen the gluten strands making for a a more lofty loaf.
as the levain build was last night. So these breads will have 60% durum, 15 % AP (From the Levain) and 25% whole wheat. Next time I'll just do it w the whole grain in the levain. Thanks for the detailed explanation.
You are a fund of knowledge.
hester