January 8, 2016 - 1:01pm
Tempering Soft White Wheat
Reading through past posts here, it seems as though the rule-of-thumb for tempering wheat is to get it 14%. However, I'm working specifically with soft white wheat, so I wanted to double-check and see if that's still an appropriate target.
I weighed out the wheat berries, this morning, took their moisture reading at 9.0%, and gradually added 5% of their weight in water, while dispersing it. They're now around 73 degrees, too. I'm aiming to take another reading at the 12-hour mark, before milling.
Any thoughts on a better approach? Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks - Mr. Waffles
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I'm still a relative newbie here, all things considered, and I was curious about the use of the term "tempering" in this context.
I'm familiar with tempering chocolate, and knife steel, but I have not heard the term applied to wheat.
Could you explain, please?
Tempering here refers to adding water to whole wheat berries, before they are milled into flour.
When one purchases unground wheat, it's rather dry. If it's milled as it is, the various components (bran, germ, and endosperm) may not separate in a way that is in the best interest of getting a good yield of flour with one's desired characteristics. By adding water to the wheat, prior to milling, the berries behave better in the milling process.
Mr. Waffles
Mr. Waffles
Unfortunatly, just more questions and not answers.
How do you determine the hydration of the wheat berries at the start?
By whatever hygrometer you are using, your math and times seem to be in sync with what I recall reading.
From what little I remember from reading about tempering, the bran is supposed to flake off in larger sheets, is that right?
What is the effect on the germ and endosperm?
Again, sorry that this is just more questions.
dobie
To take the readings, I use an Agratronix MT-Pro.
I am quite new to milling, so I am sure others here could ultimately give some deep answers, but my understanding is that hydrating the berries to the proper level helps the bran come off in larger pieces vs. shattering into powder. Especially because I want to sift/bolt it into a finer flour, that is key for me. The endosperm and germ are also supposed to separately more cleanly from the bran -- allowing for a higher yield of flour.
And I wound up answering my own question, after quite a bit of reading, this past weekend. I found a variety of academic sources that said the moisture level for soft white wheat should be between 13% and 15.5%, although 14% and 14.5% were the most common recommendations. As well, they said the tempering time should be between 12 and 24 hours, with 12-16 hours be the most common recommended timeframe. Temperature did not seem to be specified.
Agratronix MT-ProMr. Waffles
Thanks for the info. Interesting stuff.
Thanks for the link as well. Pretty pricey.
dobie