February 19, 2020 - 12:17pm
Home milled flour
Is it necessary to sift the bran out of the milled wheat berry flour before making bread? I have heard that the bran has sharp edges and hinders the forming of gluten strands?
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Is it necessary to sift the bran out of the milled wheat berry flour before making bread? I have heard that the bran has sharp edges and hinders the forming of gluten strands?
You have several options. I mill and use it without any sifting. Others sift out certain amounts, the amount that is removed is sometimes described by the amount left over as an extraction - for example, if you sifted out 10% , you would have a 90 % extraction. A few sift out some of the bran, then add it back in either at the beginning or towards the end of the mixing - the assumption is that if they are kept together they will have less impact on the final product than if they are distributed throughout the flour. I tried the last method a few times, but found it too fussy.
I'm with Barry. I'm going to all the trouble of milling grain to make bread, whole wheat bread. If I 'extract' something then it ain't whole. Besides, who needs one more thing to clean up?
Several have written about a first step of mixing the freshly ground flour and water only. Refrigerate it overnight. Then proceed with adding the levan and salt.