Bryan Ford's Pan Rustico, and learning how to handle an Azure flour
Like scorchia, Covid-19 led me to invest in a big bag of "ultra-unifine" bread flour from Azure. I've used it in place of white bread flour in a few recipes and decided it was time to let it shine in a classic-style sourdough.
I tossed up whether to use Ford's Pan Rustico or his Pan Integral recipe. Perhaps the latter would have been more appropriate, but for whatever reason I went with the former.
Dough made with this flour feels extremely soft and smooth. It absorbs water easily, so I splashed in a little extra as I mixed, probably about 50g (for a half-batch). I followed Ford's "squeeze and rest" method for the mix, and found it very effective.
The taste of the bread is excellent. The texture of the crumb isn't as custardy and open as I like it. I think my handling was quite light, so I wonder if this is either inevitable with this flour, or suggests a higher hydration would be beneficial.
Comments
Looks beautiful. Your picture of the crumb did not come through at the time I'm writing this.
Thanks!
Hmm... i posted the second image using a Google photos link. Maybe that doesn't work. Thanks for letting me know, I'll check out some options. It's been a while since I blogged here.
As I mentioned on scorchia's thread, the bran is about 14% of the grain, so removing 10% of the bran still leaves at least 98% extraction.... virtually whole wheat.
So, the simplest way to use it, is in a WW formula. Though, as it has a smaller particle size than most WW, it will absorb water faster, and will likely ferment and develop gluten just a bit faster than regular WW.