December 27, 2022 - 12:57am
Durum wheat for baking bread?
Hi all,
Got a question. I am looking to purchase about 1 ton of wheat berries and grind the berries myself to make bread.
I found a good deal on Durum wheat, and as we are all low on cash these days it would be a good buy.....
From what I understand Durum wheat is usually used for making pasta though.
Can anyone tell me if I will run into any problems if I use Durum wheat compared to normal bread wheat.
I will be making whole grain bread, so will be using the whole berry in the bread.
Thanks
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Is traditional in Italy and very popular on this site. I have only used durum flour for bread baking. As for grinding ones own flour I cannot help you with that. Durum is a hard grain. I believe the best method for a fine grind is to pass it through the mill twice. Once a coarser setting then again on the finest setting.
Thank you for the tip.
Glad to know that it is suitable for bread making.
Tell me, what happens (I'm fairly new to bread making) if the flour is too course and you try and make bread with it, what will happen?
But that doesn't mean coarser flour won't work. It's just not ideal. If too coarse it won't turn out as nice. It will need less water and will handle differently. I think it doesn't give as nice a crumb and it dries out quicker. But there is a range between fine and too coarse. Since i've only ever bought durum flour and have never ground my own from durum berries I can't advise on the ease of using a home mill. Depends on what mill you have I suppose. But a good quality one should be able to handle it even it if means milling it twice.
Type into the search box durum bread and you'll see very many recipes. I'll also say that grinding your own berries will mean you'll be left with wholegrain durum flour as supposed to the more popular 'white' (or in this case - yellow) durum flour.
Thanks, yes will do a search.
I like the wholegrain as it is more healthy.
wouldn't the main difference between powdery flour and coarser flour be the time to hydrate and starch damage? If so, there are ways to compensate, No?
If the flour was coarser. Break down the larger particles more giving it more time absorb. Coarser doesn't mean impossible to do but will need to be handled differently. And even when handled well I find the resulting bread of semolina to be different than rimacinata. Still nice but not quite the same.
As for home milling and things like starch damage I cannot help. One day i'd hope to treat myself to a home mill but for now I stick to a coffee grinder for smaller amounts if needed.
The finely ground product is many times marked as extra fancy. General Mills has an extra fancy durum wheat (Sperry). However, it is only available in 50 Lb. sacks. Unless you can find a vendor that does repacks.
As in 2000 pounds?
Haha yes, buying in bulk is the only way of getting it cheap in my country, otherwise it is expensive if you buy just 1kg for example.
That requires some dedication!
You might want to search the site and see what we’ve been baking. Though I’ve made a few 100% durum breads, I most commonly use it for Ciabatta (50%) and pizza (10-30%).
Good luck with your project. Might also want to get a sample of the wheat and do a few tests before taking delivery of a ton…
Phil
Several years ago we had a Community Bake for Semolina and similar grains. You can get an idea of what people baked by scrolling through that quite long post. It takes a bit into the comments to get to people's actual postings with pictures, but there is plenty to absorb.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/67151/community-bake-semolinadurum-and-similar-grain-breads
Ok, got another question.
If you had to choose between durum wheat and soft wheat for making bread, what would you choose?