flour type advice
Hello,
I would like some advice from the experts please.
I am fairly new bread baker. I started baking bread driven by my digestive intolerance for American mass produced bread. After doing some research I decided, if I am going to bake, I will go all the way for the most original of all breads and started with einkorn sourdough. So far, I have been very successful with crusty french sourdough bread baked in a dutch oven as well as variations of it with some whole grain einkorn and/or rye added. The adults of my family love it and I love making it. No digestive problems either. Einkorn sourdough bagels and pizza were a success too.
My kids, however, want nothing to do with the crusty bread, wanting American style soft sandwich bread instead.
The 100% all purpose einkorn sourdough sandwich bread made in a bread pan is too heavy for their liking and so are the buns (all from Jovial Cookbook). I tried Tanzhong Roux with these recipes too. I also tried white spelt flour recently, baking this: http://www.beetsandbones.com/russian-sourdough-spelt-baton-bread/
It turned out nice on my second attempt, I got a thin crust, but inside it is a little dry and not as soft as what they want.
Without having to go all the way to modern american white flour, what are my best alternatives to try next? My kids do not have digestive issues, but I don't want them to grow on the same wheat that gave me my problem. I want a healthier bread for them.
Some of my thoughts were:
1. Increase hydration on the spelt recipe above and bake in a bread pan. I can't see it not spreading out with any higher hydration. Will it give me what I am looking for? That and Tangzhong Roux?
2. Some kind of mix of einkorn (and or spelt) and modern wheat? Which modern wheat would be a less toxic variety? I looked at Animo Caputo Chef. It seems it has some American wheat in it according to my research, but it's probably a fraction. What ration of Animo Caputo to All Purpose Einkorn would be a good starting point? Is it a more promising route than option 1 above?
3. Adding oat or potato flour. This seems to give softness, but I am afraid weak gluten in einkorn won't work with these?
Any other ideas? My kids are beginning to really rebel against my bread :( I can't believe there is no way to bake something better for them than the store bought plastic bag wrapped variety.
Almost forgot to mention, I don't want to use any commercial yeast either.
Please help, I am at loss on which way to go from here.
Thank you,
Nataly
I make King Arthur's white sandwich bread recipe, and it is a stable recipe and tasty. The flavor and softness come from potato flour, dry nonfat milk, and butter in the recipe. It's probably available via a google search (the recipe).
It calls for all purpose flour, which you could experiment and try a flour of your choosing. This is a non-sourdough recipe, you will also need to account for that, if you are committed to the sourdough technique.
Perhaps a little page from the annals of txfarmer will give you some inspiration : http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/21575/sourdough-100-whole-wheat-oatmeal-sandwich-bread-whole-grain-breads-can-be-soft-too
This is a recipe for whole wheat, but I don't think einkorn or spelt could be substituted, since the technique involves beating the hell out of the dough in a mixer, which neither einkorn nor spelt could be reasonably expected to tolerate. The principle of the technique is the incorporation of air, the same technique that makes brioche so light and airy (despite all the butter and eggs).
You could try a mix of organic white flour with white spelt flour to start, say at 50/50. Whatever technique you are using to develop your dough, push it to the max. For example, if you are doing 4 sets of stretch and folds, for each set, do a lot more stretching and folding. If you're kneading by hand, adopt the "slap and fold" technique (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbBO4XyL3iM) and do it for a LONG time. Longer than you think would be necessary. Though it is rare that hand-kneading can overwork a dough, with that much spelt I'm not sure it will hold up. That's what experiments are for. You could also add a little bit of oil or butter to the recipe to up the softness ante.
God bless you for fighting the good fight for your kids ! I am hoping that my (future) children never even become aware of the existence of soft supermarket bread . . . I commend your efforts for steering them to the straight and narrow. Good luck and let us know how it goes !
Thank you!
I've been baking pure 100% Einkorn loaves for a few years now, for my wife. Everyone who I've shared it with really likes it and for the kids what I do is to up the hydration and don't try to brown the crust. I also will pt it in a plastic bag so it get all soft and steamy with completely make step crust soft. I also male classic PB&J sandwiches with it so the kids don't even care what the bad is. Since I want tall the kids to have a good palate for one food when they grow up I followed Dr Oz's advice and slowly increase their intake of whatever it is that they are complaining about over a period of ten days. By the tenth day they are completely adapted and often make that food their new favorite. Einkorn is a challenge but to me its superior nutritional contents and easy digestibility make it a winner.
Oh boy, my kids are so spoiled. They did eat the sandwich variety for a month or two before saying they are fed up with it... I tried the plastic bag trick too :(
can be unspoiled just as they can be soiled, just keep pushing forward to find the solution that works for you.
Just an update about where my experiments took me so far...
First I made this: from white spelt flour: http://www.beetsandbones.com/russian-sourdough-spelt-baton-bread/
It was a little to dry for my taste. I felt adding any more water I would have to bake it in a pan, because it was trying to spread too much on me as it is. Another thing I learned compared to einkorn, the bread was less dense, easier to rise and so softer, but at the same time there is some roughness to it or maybe it is the dryness? The flour itself feels a sandy as opposed to silkiness of einkorn.
So, for my next attempt, I decided to adopt what seemed to be a popular soft sourdough white wheat pan bread from here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/soft-sandwich-sourdough/
I started with making it 40% spelt (white Vitaspelt), 40% einkorn (all purpose Jovial) and 20% KAF (organic bread type). I went for 71% hydration and I introduced tangzhong roux, since I was aiming for moist soft bread. I also replace honey with malt extract, because I avoid baking with honey.
I really liked the results. The bread was flavorful, fluffy, moist and well risen. Even 20% of bread flour made a big difference in gluten structure and I think there is no need to add more. It works great for sandwiches whether toasted or not.
Here is the recipe if anybody is interested. Everything is in grams. My pans are 8.5" x 4.5". I didn't bother with steam, just ran my wet hands over the top before putting the pans into the oven and I used 375F after the initial crust browned as opposed to 400F in the original recipe. I also went light on the kneading, just a few minutes by hand so as not to break fragile gluten in spelt and einkorn.
Soft Sandwich Bread
20% bread flour / 40% spelt / 40%einkorn
2 loaves
3 loaves
Levain
starter
45
67.5
Bread Flour
83
124.5
Einkorn
50
75
Spelt
50
75
water
190
285
Roux
Einkorn
30
45
Water
150
225
Dough
Bread Flour
82
123
Einkorn
251
376.5
Spelt
281
421.5
Water
20
30
Milk
230
345
Butter
65
97.5
Salt
12
18
Malt Extract or Maple Syrup
40
60