The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Talk to me about Barley Bread

Anonymous baker's picture
Anonymous baker (not verified)

Talk to me about Barley Bread

One doesn't come across barley bread very much, if at all! Historically I'm under the impression it was more popular but for some reason it has fallen out of favour. Why should this be so?

So my next quest is a Sourdough Barley Bread. Can anyone advise what I should expect? Whenever I try a new bread I want to learn as much as possible before I dive in. Hydration I should be aiming for, how quickly it ferments, what's the gluten like etc.

Don't know why but I'm thinking of treating it like spelt and making it with honey. Just my gut feeling.

phaz's picture
phaz

Never used it, but love barley flavors.

My buddy Google tells me this

Naked barley flour, which was prepared using a pin mill, was characterized and used for the production of naked barley bread. Untouched naked barley flour has high viscosity and water absorption compared with strong flour. These characteristics may be derived from the presence of dietary fiber, which would reduce the quality and volume of bread loaf. Cellulase was added to the naked barley flour to decompose any dietary fiber that was present. The resulting bread had improved loaf volume and softness compared to bread prepared with untreated flour, but still contained 1.5 times more dietary fiber than wheat bread. More here - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science I'd look for more but have to run. Post pics and recipe when you get it sorted. I'd be interested in how it goes.
Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

I don't mind sacrificing volume (and quality? - depends what they mean by quality as I judge this by taste and how healthful it is) because of the fibre. I do like to appreciate a flour for what its worth by trying a 100% single grain bread first before using in a mix. Just wondering what to expect. Will I be able to handle it as a dough or will it rather be like rye. I'll see what the link you have posted says on the subject.

It'll be a little while as for fun i'll be building a starter from scratch with the flour too. Let's ge the full benefit of this rarely used flour (for bread that is).

Will post more...

Filomatic's picture
Filomatic

Tartine 3 has a barley porridge bread.  I've used barley flakes in a soaker, but not a porridge or the flour.  It tends to make a looser, starchier dough.  Here's a TFL:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/37984/tartine-3-barley-porridge-help-incorporating-porridge

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

I've done barley flakes too by replacing the Oats in a "Honeyed, Spelt and Oat Levain" by Sarah Owen, but have never done a barley bread with barley flour.

Will be interesting!

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Prepared by Elnor Vermeer Niffenegger for her Master of Science degree back in 1964

General takeaways from the above and other google searches:

- Replacing up to 25% of the wheat flour in a yeasted bread seems workable without significant changes in the bread

- Replacing up to 50% of the wheat flour in chemically leavened quick breads / muffins / scones also seems to work without changing the finished product unacceptably

- The high fiber content makes barley flour much thirstier than its wheaten counterparts

- The very low gluten content makes barley doughs inelastic and breads crumbly without some amount of wheat flour in the mix.

Paul

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

This helps me a lot! Don't want a crumbly bread so adding a percentage of wheat flour would be the way to go. I like the fact it is very high in fibre too.

I wonder if making a starter with it would bring out a completely different profile then my wheat starter.

Neuse River Sailor's picture
Neuse River Sailor

I like making bread with 50% bread flour and 50% assorted whole grains. I find the addition of barley flour provides some delicious flavors and aromas to the bread. I'd suggest working some barley into a recipe you already like to make and see how it works.

Barley is the traditional grain of Wales. Bobby Freeman's "A Book of Welsh Bread" has several recipes that might be of interest.

Barley flour is not easy to find, what is more common is "pearled" barley which is a preprocessed cereal product. If you can find real whole barley flour, I'd encourage you to give it a try.

My take on barley is it's not going to give you the gluten development of wheat, but it is delicious and easy to work and knead. It makes a beautiful satiny dough.

 

 

 

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

Often added to soups and stews to thicken it up. But breadwise I have very limited experience having only used barley flakes once as a soaker replacing Oats. Never used flour and made barley bread.

I must confess that I didn't know Barley was the traditional grain of Wales and I feel that my first bake should be a traditional Welsh bread.

Thanks for the info and I'm going to see if I can find any recipes from "A Book of Welsh Bread".

Most places near me who used to stock barley flour have discontinued it because of poor demand. However there is a large Holland and Barrett near my work and I believe they do stock it.

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

I make a sourdough that has about 11% barley flour and 9% spelt flour, in addition to strong bread flour. Both are whole, stone-ground (I mill them myself). The barley is organic hull-less grain. The resulting dough is quite soft and a bit grainy from the stone-ground flour, and the gluten structure is weaker than with all wheat flour, but the finished dough is stretchy and the bread has a nice flavour.

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

I'm not too fussed on how much my bread rises (within reason). I like to appreciate each grain for what it has to offer. For me to sacrifice the height of an all wheat bread to experience other grains for their flavour and health benefits is fine. I've learned to appreciate each one for what they are rather then to compare it to lofty loaves. Thanks for the advice and your idea for a recipe.

IceDemeter's picture
IceDemeter

for this question, since I just pulled the first batch of muffins using 60% barley flour / 40% soft white wheat (both ground at home) out of the oven.  I've ground my own pot barley (that still includes the bran --- more commonly available is pearled or pearl barley which has been steamed and the bran removed) for years and used it in quick breads. I just tried it in a porridge bread last week as the porridge addition, but it honestly had never occurred to me that it actually does have gluten and could be used as the main flour in a yeast bread!

Just from knowing how it "feels" in a quick bread batter (very similar to oat flour), I'd have to say that you might be better off treating it more like a rye and expect something with more of a gelatinous response instead of a strong gluten response.  I don't find it to be as thirsty as rye (I'd guess that it would be fine around 70% or so), even with the bran included, but that is based on fairly quick production.  Most of the fibre in barley is soluble, so will suck up a lot of water over time, so the hydration would likely have to be increased for a longer autolyse / retarded bulk ferment sort of time-line.

As for flavour - well, I find barley to be somewhat nutty but fairly bland, really.  I tend to think of it with figs and almonds, or sweetened with a really subtle maple if that is wanted.  Right now it is mixed with pumpkin / honeydew / cranberries / almonds in my muffins, and isn't strong enough to stand up against all of those other flavours.  I do use it all the time in soups and stews, though, and feel that it works really well with mushrooms and cream and subtle leek sort of flavour levels.  I would almost look at going for more of a savoury approach with a yeast bread, instead of going sweeter with honey or the like...

I'm really curious about this now, so will be watching this space for your updates!

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

I did have an idea of doing a long autolyse because of the very high fibre content of barley. And if I see it drinks up a lot of water this can be adjusted when adding the levain and salt. Adding honey to the dough was my instinct and thought it'd coax out more flavour and compliment the bread.

Your muffins sound really delicious. From what I've heard about the crumbly nature of barley bread due to a weaker gluten I would think barley would suit muffins really well.

Thank you for all the advice.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

less than wheat about like spelt.  Rye has no gluten so it better than rye and if you get spelt wet it will just run away from you and puddle on the floor and barley isn't like that.  Waat ever whole grain barley you put in the mix can handle 100% hydration.  I put 10% - 15% barley in my multigrain breads all the tine with no ill effect at all.  Here is a weird bake back in mid 2013 when I =started using the first of the Bran levain builds and also had a barley gruel. This one was about 33% barley with teh rest whole grains of some kind at 100% hydration.  I find the taste if barley grassy.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34096/multigrain-caramelized-pickled-veggies-parmesan-flax-sesame-seeds-barley-boil-toadish

Good luck Abe 

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

When you say 100% hydration are you advising to make a barley bread like I make rye? Or will 100% hydration still make a dough because of the really high fibre?

Thank you for the recipe link. Going to take a look now...

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

100% whole grain barley or start with 90% and move into it.  I'm not sure what he barley is like in the UK if it is like the rest of flour you want to be at 80%.  I would be at 100% in a tin here  - just watch the dough

Abelbreadgallery's picture
Abelbreadgallery

Barley is my favorite cereal. 

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

I look forward to trying it.

hanseata's picture
hanseata

is from Farine's blog. I made it several times, it's very tasty: http://www.farine-mc.com/2012/06/barley-bread.html

She used a mixture of Greek yogurt and milk, I prefer buttermilk/milk. The protein helps breads containing flours that don't have much gluten to achieve a better structure and rise.

Karin

 

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

On my other forum post http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/51443/venturing-barley-bread isand66 has also recommended this recipe. My barley starter has just started to mature and can't wait to try it. I know the author says that barley starters are too tangy but hey I've come this far I'm gonna try. 

Thank you Karin. 

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Good luck, and do try that bread.

Karin

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

But things are already not adding up...

After mixing the 160g starter + 150g milk + 150g Greek yoghurt + 200g bread flour it was way thicker than as shown in the book. Emmanuel's Pre-Ferment was watery but mine was half way to being a dough. 

When forming the dough i had to add a lot! more water. I can't see how one can follow those measurements and be so off. I can understand slight discrepancies but to be this off something isn't right. 

The dough I've got has less structure than my 100% barley dough which doesn't make any sense because the more bread flour the better the structure. My barley flour dough was lovely and smooth but this one is craggy. 

I shall persevere but not holding my breath.