The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

A recipe from Sally Clarke's in Kensington, London

Ruralidle's picture
Ruralidle

A recipe from Sally Clarke's in Kensington, London

Sally Clarke has been running a restaurant and bakery in Church Street, Kensington, London for around 25 years and this recipe by her was published in The Daily Telegraph.  It is one that I think I will try soon because I really enjoyed the breads she served in her restaurant when I have eaten there.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/8030764/Wholewheat-and-honey-bread-recipe-by-Sally-Clarke.html

Ruralidle

jyslouey's picture
jyslouey

if I can managed to get my wholewheat loaves to turn out light and fluffy.  So far they have been a disappointment each time.

Is there a difference between wholemeal flour and wholewheat flour,  I thought they were both the same thing? 

Ruralidle's picture
Ruralidle

This is an answer I found http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061014083648AAo5FhF but forum topics on TFL seem to say that the two are the same.  However, Little Salkeld Mill in the British Lake District list both wholewheat and an 85% wholemeal flour so perhaps there is a difference after all.  Then again, the other millers whose products I have used (Shipton, Marriages, Doves, Bacheldre) only list wholemeal flours.  This is certainly not a useful answer!

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi

Just to clarify:

Wholemeal = 100% of the whole wheat grain

85% Wholemeal = 85% of the whole wheat grain; the other 15% is outer layers of bran, removed by a sifting process, in the case of the Watermill, to which you refer.

BW

Andy

Ruralidle's picture
Ruralidle

I just wonder why Little Salkeld call one product 100% wholeWheat and the other 85% wheatMeal.  Why not be consistent and use one or the other, not both?  Anyway, thanks for clearing that up for us Andy, your knowledge and experience is most helpful.

Now we need Sally Clarke to explain to us why she specifies wholewheat and wholemeal flour in the same recipe! 

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi Ruralidle,

one would say "Wholewheat Flour", or "Wholemeal". 

Wholemeal Flour is an incorrect terminolgy, as flour and meal really refer to 2 different grinds of a given grain, if I'm not wrong.   Meal would generally be coarser than flour.

And "wheatmeal" is no longer a legally accepted term, if I'm not wrong; 85% wholemeal, or 85% wholewheat flour would be correct

Not that I'm in any way certain that all millers would agree with this, and stick by it.

BW

Andy

Ruralidle's picture
Ruralidle

I certainly am! 

Little Salkeld Mill certainly use the term "wheatmeal" when referring to their 85% flour.  I guess because if it is 85% it isn't "whole"......  My brain hurts!

I think I'll have to go and bake some bread, just to remind myself what it is really about.

Best Wishes

Ruralidle

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi Ruralidle,

Our system is based on % extraction, whereas the Europeans use ash content.

Just put the word "of" in there and it should make perfect sense

So, an 85% flour, means it is 85% of the wholegrain.   In other words, 15% has been removed.

BW

Andy

jyslouey's picture
jyslouey

for explaining the difference between wholewheat and wholemeal flour.  My guess is that wholemeal flour would be flour that consists of all the coarse bits and (like the Hovis brand that I can buy in HK) and wholewheat flour would be the finer flour without the bits, similar to the kind of wholewheat flour from King Arthur Flour Mill.  I bought a packet of their 100% Organic Wholewheat flour which  says "100% of the wheat germ and bran" on the packet and I was a little surprised to find that the flour was finely ground with none of the bits that come in the Hovis pack. It's the first time I bought  the KAF flour and had no idea that wholewheat flour would look different from wholemeal flour, thinking that they're the same but only coming from different countries.

After the clarifications from Andy my interpretation of the recipe could be 30% wholemeal, 30% wholewheat and 40% wbf which would make the dough a little lighter than if it were to be made withl 60% wholemeal.  I could be wrong though.

I'll put a hold on this recipe until Rurualidle has had a chance to check with Ms Clarke. 

Judy

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi Judy,

Does the Hovis pack with the bits in come branded as "Granary"?

If so, it is a blend of white and brown flour with some malted flour and some toasted malted wheat flakes.   This is a propritary blend, and is the only one you can use commercially if you want to call the finished bread "Granary".

100% Wholewheat flour and 100% Wholemeal are, in practice, the same thing from my experience.   However, my understanding is that "meal" would be interpreted as a coarser grind than "flour".   Whether millers follow this in practice, really is open to question!?

BW

Andy

ps. On the UK system, White flour is generally c.72% extraction, or, 72% of the wholewheat grain 

jyslouey's picture
jyslouey

It's their pre-mixed Granary bread flour and one just needs to add water and yeast according to their directions, no more fuss.   That's not what I bought, the Hovis wholemeal flour comes in a yellow and brown bag, just like the colour of the packaging of their IDY.

Incidentally, since I understand you're teaching at a Univ in the UK, would you know of a good culinary school in B'ham that offers classes but not  as a course for ppl who would want to enter the baking/catering industry that I could attend specifically for breakmaking, similar to what they offer at SFBI? 

I have made searches on the internet but most are degree/diploma courses.  Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.  Many thanks.

Judy

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi Judy,

Yes the yellow and brown bags are the relatively new packaging for the Hovis Wholemeal, now proudly sporting a Union Jack and claiming to be milled only from wheat grown in Britain.   And it makes good bread too!

I haven't used the King Arthur Flour, although have obviously read a lot about it, both on here and on their own website.   I just wonder if it might be stoneground, from your description?

There is quite a difference between stonegrinding [traditional] and rollermilling[industrial] flour.

The Hovis flour is first of all milled through to white flour.   This is done by passing the grains between ever finer sets of rollers.   It is a very efficient way to remove bran and germ without taking any of the endosperm along the way.   As noted above, a typical industrial strong white flour in the UK today has an extraction of over 70% of the wholegrain.   The traditional equivalent of white flour is known as bolting, and the flour is passed through increasingly fine sieves.   At the equivalent 72% a bolted flour would be discernibly darker than the industrial grade.   To take a bolted flour down to the truely white industrial flour would probably give extraction in the 50%  region...ie pitiful, wasteful, and not a commercial proposition.

So for the Hovis flour, the bran and germ come off in coarse pieces.   These are then added back to the white flour to give you the modern industrial wholemeal.   But the flour has a fine grind, which I associate with "flour" as opposed to "meal"; it's just the outer matter which is left coarse.   Personally, I find this a lovely flour to work with, I don't know about you.   It does have enzymes added as Improvers, although, and to their credit, Rank Hovis do acknowledge this in the ingredients.   Bizarrely, they are not obliged to do this if they do not want to, as enzymes are classed as "processing aids", under current UK/EU law, and do not need to be declared!   Rather more unfortunately is that the UK grain is grown very intensively, and is thus quite heavily treated with fertilisers etc.   Don't get me wrong, it is a spectacular achievement to be able to grow Canadian-type hard wheats in the UK which can be used as 100% of the grist in industrially-made bread.   BUT, the English farmers expect a yield 8 times as large as their Canadian counterparts, and the crops are sprayed up to 6 times to achieve this.   As a food system for producing domestic wheat for bread, I'm not sure it will prove sustainable in the longer term!

Birmingham: well, yes there is the University College of Birmingham [UCB], which could lay claims to being the best College, or University to study Food in the UK.   It has a large and successful Bakery School.   It may do informal courses, but I'm not sure they would hit the mark for what you are looking for.   Richard Bertinet is a few miles to the South West in Bath.   There is School of Artisan Food in Nottinghamshire, which is not that far to the North.   They do short courses in addition to degree/diploma courses.   There will be others offering what you need.   You should visit the Real Bread Campaign website here:  http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/ for more courases.   Good luck; when are you over?

Back to Hovis; the firm was really helpful to me in the Spring of this year when I had an assignment to write for my MSc in Food Policy, analysing the systems used to produce wheat used for bread production.   Bag of goodies at the end of the day, including the mouse mat shown in the photo below...thank you Colin Lomax!

 

DSCF1418_edited

All good wishes

Andy

 

jyslouey's picture
jyslouey

on various cooking schools in the UK.  I found one in B'ham and will certainly check it out.  My sister-in-law who lives in B'ham did mention to me earlier this year re UCB but I think they only offer degree/diploma courses and are not designed for ppl who is pursuing bread-making as a hobby, although they may hold short courses during the summer.  I have also considered the Richard Bertinet School in Bath but it is quite out of the way for me and quite expensive since I will need to allow for accommodation on top of the air fare and course fee.

Judy