January 16, 2013 - 5:37pm
Whole Wheat Flour Milling
Hello,
I have been milling hard red winter wheat on the Fein setting(all the way over to Fein on the mill) thru my Komo grain mill and have been sifting it to achieve a somewhat finer flour. However, it still seems a bit 'rough' in feel compared to KAF whole wheat flour.
My question is this - do you blend a couple of different wheat types to achieve a softer flour?
Or more generally, how can one achieve a softer flour?
I would like to dispense with using any store bought flour in my breads and still get a fluffy loaf. I am currently practicing with txfarmer's Wholewheat oatmeal sourdough loaf. I'm not sure if the flour from my wheatberries is strong enough. I am using Walton hard red wheat which is supposedly high protein.
Thanks
Linda
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Hi Linda,
Send your grains through the mill twice. First on a very coarse setting so that you wind up with chunks and bits more so than flour. Next reset your mill to as fine as it will go. If you go too fine, the stones will touch and you want to be just short of that. You can also tell if you are too fine in the setting if the flour comes out very warm. Use a thermometer to check the temperature of the flour as it leaves the mill and if it is warmer than 110° F, it is too fine. After the second milling you can sift out as much of the bran as you want to if you have a sieve that is fine enough. You will wind up with a fairly soft flour that is a little bit gritty. The gritty quality seems to be a function of stone milling. I hope that this helps you.
Jeff
Thanks, Jeff. I will give it a try and see what happens.
Linda
Linda,
Let me know how it works for you.
Jeff
The flour feels a bit softer, but I do note that I sift out about the same amount of bran as before. It will be awhile before I bake with it as I will be in a class all next week.
Linda
I am curious to hear how the bake goes. I do basically the process with an heirloom wheat for one of the breads that I bake. The fineness of the sieve is a critical element.
Jeff
Stay tuned, Jeff. Today I am baking my first loaf of Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Baking - Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread. It is looking very promising. The dough handled beautifully when shaped into a loaf pan.
I ground the wheatberries coarsely first and then finely. After than I sifted it and ground the sifted out pieces one more time - put everything back together again in my wheat flour bin.
Linda
TA-DA! Here it is, the long awaited 100% whole wheat sandwich bread that isn't a doorstop. Thanks, Jeff, for pointing me in the right direction when milling the grain. It made a big difference. Also, Peter Reinhart's 'epoxy' method of using a biga and soaker worked like a charm. I will post a crumb shot in about an hour or so, after the loaf cools.
Linda, what did you use as a liquid? IIRC he gives the option to use milk, buttermilk, or something else.
Barryvabeach,
I used milk in the breads or more specifically Lactaid as I can't tolerate milk.
Linda