Baking problems with home ground flour
Hello,
I'm new here - Veronica Shelford, living in the Gulf Islands off the west coast of Canada. I'm hoping someone will have had experience that can help me out. I've just bought a grain mill (WonderMill) and starting grinding my own whole wheat flour for bread recipes I've been using for years, but the results are very poor. The bread keeps collapsing in the middle. The flavour is fine and the texture not bad apart from the collapsed area. The gluten content of the flour appears to be fine.
Are there ways that one should alter standard bread recipes when using fresh ground flour? Usually collapsing means too much water or too much yeast, in my experience. But I've read here that fresh ground flour needs more moisture, not less. Should one let the flour soak awhile before working it?
If anyone else has had any similar experience, and found their way through it, I'd be very grateful for any help. Or even if not, suggestions will be very welcome.
Thank you! This looks like a useful forum - glad I found it!
- Veronica