April 6, 2011 - 7:30pm
White WW flour in PR's recipes?
Hey everyone,
I recently bought PR's Whole Grain Breads and I made a few things out of there using regular WW flour and realized that I'm not a fan. I bake a lot and have a chance to pick up a 50lb bag of white whole wheat KA flour and was wondering if I could just use that? I want to continue baking through PR's book so I'm hoping that using white ww flour won't mess up the chemistry.
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You do not say exactly what it is that your are not a fan of, The book? Whole wheat flour? Your results? If it is the flavor of whole wheat flour, then white whole wheat may be just the thing for you. Yes you can use it. No it will not disrupt the chemistry of the recipes.
Good Luck with Your Baking,
Jeff
I"m not a fan of the taste, that's all. I wanted to make sure I don't have to add anything else in to make it work.
Long ago I realized I would probably not find many recipes that fit my exact (and ever-changing) tastes -- amount of whole wheat, yield, time frame, available ingredients, sweeteners, you name it. But I found that I could, after a little study, tinker with similar recipes and get a delicious result.
I like whole wheat, but it doesn't have to 100% --although I do that sometimes -- 70-80% is good enough for me. If I increase the hydration of a recipe to allow for the whole grain (2-3 T.water per cup of substituted whole wheat), and add some (1-2 T.) potato flour (or some cooked grain like oatmeal, or maybe some mashed potato) and use the autolyse technique, I can make white bread recipes 'work' for my tastes. We all know there are loads of bread books with myriads of recipes that have only or mostly white flour.
I used to feel like someone who went into a bagel shop wanting a whole grain bagel, and there were ten choices -- nine varied and delicious-looking white bagels, and one plain plain plain whole wheat one (sometimes it's still that way in bagel shops! Whole wheat means lean, plain, dull!) I was a lot happier when I did some experimenting myself and stopped expecting cookbook authors to cater to my specific desires. And its lots of fun!
Mary Clare
Keep at it, in theend.. as you bake through PR recipes, your skills will improve, and so will your breads.. and you will acquire a unique taste for wholegrain breads.. that are unmatched!
Whole white wheat is somewhat sweeter than red wheat, but will otherwise perform similarly to red wheat.
khalid
To tell you the truth, I used entirely white whole wheat in the sandwich loaf recipe and was turned off by the flavor. But, if you fancy the flavor then give it a shot, just pay attention to the hydration needs of the dough.
It works out just fine.
I use whole grain flours all the time. I hate white bread - for me it' flavorless. But white whole wheat flour even from KA doesn't meet me expectations. For sure if you don't enjoy regular whole wheat you won't like white whole wheat.
I'm very disapointed with the Reinhart's book. He useses too much yeasts in his whole grain recipes. I think it affects the taste of his breads. I believe that whole grains need more time to develop the flavor. In my opinion, the sourdough is a key to tasty and aromatic whole grain bread.
I'm curious how much is the 50 lb bag of KA white ww. Is it from Costco or another chain? thanks --mo
I'm curious how much is the 50 lb bag of KA white ww. Is it from Costco or another chain? thanks --mo
I have to agree wih you Przy, there is too much yeast in the recipes. That bugs me too but I can tolerate it more than the heavy wheat. I guess I'll make a quick sandwich bread today using all white ww to see what it tastes like. I appreciate everyone's input!
mo, I'm buying it from gsfoods.com based in Vernon, CA and going to pick it up. It is $28 for 50 lbs. I have no idea if they do shipping.
I find subbing orange juice (part or all) to WW or WWW cuts some of the harshness of the WW's.
Jim
I use both red and white whole wheat flour. In my experience, the flours perform similarly in terms of gluten development, hydration needs, water absorption and baking. I think this is what the OP was asking.
There is no nutritional difference between red and white WW flour.
As many have noted, white whole wheat flour has a much milder taste than red whole wheat flour. Taste is subjective, so if the OP doesn't like the taste of WW flour milled from red wheat, using WW flour milled from white wheat is a good option. One could also mix red and white WW flour.
An extensive discussion of red vs white whole wheat flour, including photos, can be found at this TFL thread - http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/6985/wheat-red-vs-white-spring-vs-winter