The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

#40 Mesh Screen

GrainBrain's picture
GrainBrain

#40 Mesh Screen

I see it has been a while since the topic of sieves and screens has had much of a role here. Either there's little interest, or could be if someone talked about it?
I make my own high extraction flour with a Nutrimill, on occasion. Yes bran and wheat germ are healthy for you, but hard on your pizza dough if you add some whole grain rye or whole wheat as I do. I mill whole grains fine, then sift with a #40 mesh screen. The dough for pizza is much more workable. I find I typically remove 13.5% of the whole grain. No clue how that breaks down to bran, germ, endosperm, etc. Simply a way to remove larger particles with sharp edges.
If people are not using whole grains in their dough because they find it hard to develop the right amount of gluten, a sieve can open up a new world of flavor, texture, and workable dough for you.

Worthwhilebubble's picture
Worthwhilebubble

Good to know! I have both #40 and #60 mesh sieves on the way for this purpose but for making sourdough loaves. Do you know if the sifting reduces the flour's protein content? I am also home milling wholegrain wheat.

MTloaf's picture
MTloaf

 I have a Mock Mill 100 and I get about 8% extracted with 2 passes through a #40 and a little over 15% with a #50 I have a #60 but I haven't used it much because it took a lot of time to pass through and was removing too much. This is my dust control set up.

sifter

GrainBrain's picture
GrainBrain

It would be extremely hard to compare extraction percentages for a given screen mesh. Seems to depend on how fine you grind. My percentage would not be valid for anyone grinding coarser. As to a #60, the time it takes to sieve will increase to the point where you wonder if you have better things to do with your time.
Am not qualified to say how this impacts protein content, hopefully we can both learn that from someone here.