Guar gum and psyllium experiment, 12/30/20.

Dec. 30, 2020.

Goal: to add soluble and insoluble fiber to white (refined) bread flour with guar gum, psyllium powder, chia seed and flaxseed.

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A few days ago I did this by just throwing the ingredients together without measuring anything. I made a pita (flatbread) with it, and baked it in my toaster oven on a Lodge cast iron 9.25" serving griddle.

It came out surprisingly good.  So I decided to try again, measuring the ingredients this time so I can repeat it and share with others.

• 100 grams Gold Medal Bread Flour.
• 5 grams whole dry chia seed.
• 5 grams ground flaxseed.
• 1 gram pure psyllium powder. Purchased at an Indian grocery store, Patel Brothers.
• 1 gram guar gum, "Pure Organic Ingredients" brand, purchased from Amazon.
• 2 grams salt.
• .5 gram instant dry yeast.
• 10 grams cold starter, 100% hydration. Last fed evening of 12/26.
• 61 grams bottled spring water. Maybe 1 gram more was added during kneading.

Make sure the guar gum and psyllium are well distributed/mixed with the flour prior to adding water, otherwise they will clump.

I forgot that I had used some fat-free milk powder and a dash of nutritional yeast in my previous attempt, and did not use them this time.

Started first ferment around 11:30 am.  Dough is a _little_ stiff.

Shaped into 8.5" diameter round flatbread, started final proof, around 1:00pm.  The dough had softened and loosened up noticeably, and was easy to shape.

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Pre-heated toaster oven, with both upper and lower elements turned on, to 400 F indicated. I'm not sure what actual is. Held temp at 400 for 10 minutes to get cast iron griddle/plate up to temp.

At 2:00pm, after a 1 hour final proof, I docked the flat dough with a fork, so it wouldn't puff up, and loaded in the toaster oven,  with the side with holes facing up. Lowered thermostat to 350 F, and turned off upper element, leaving lower element enabled.

Baked 5 minutes, flipped the bread over, and baked 4 minutes more.

Internal temp was 206 F.

The first down side (the side without holes) resulted more crispy than I wanted, but the other side was perfect.  I will likely pre-heat to only 350 next time, and bake 4.5 minutes each side.

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There is a mild off taste that I think is the psyllium. So I will eliminate it next time.