The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

sourdough

Michele 26's picture
Michele 26

sourdough

Hi My name is Michele and I am new to this site.

I started baking and selling sourdough bread along with a few others and have never had a problem before.  I recently bought 2 40 LB bags of silver star flour from the Roger's mill in Armstrong BC.  I used up the flour I previously bought in town last night to make 2 loaves of sourdough and opened the silver star flour to make the rest and this morning the dough feels tough and  not pliable as it usually is.  Do I need to add something else to the dough ?  I have never used silver star flour before.

naturaleigh's picture
naturaleigh

Hi Michele, and welcome to the site!  I'm sure others, more experienced, will have some excellent wisdom to add but I'll throw in my two cents.  I also switched recently from my 'usual' bread flour to a well known brand that was on sale over the holidays.  There was a HUGE difference between the flours and I had to add considerably more water to get the doughs to be comparable to what I was used to before as far as look, feel and activity.  I now believe that the flour I was using before was much fresher and less dried out compared to the King Arthur Bread Flour I nabbed at the store.  It is a good lesson to be reminded of, that all flours are different and will behave in their own way based on moisture content, protein percent, ash content, type of wheat berries, age, presence of additives, etc.  After I use up this KA flour, I'll be switching back to what I was using before (Heartland Mill or Breadtopia) as I was getting better results before even with the adjustments in water.  I'm assuming you need to adjust up your moisture content in your recipe as well (not knowing any of the specifics between what you were using and the Silver Star product) given the fact you are noticing a decrease in pliability and and increase in 'toughness'; if the new flour has a much higher protein percent, maybe cutting your recipe with some AP flour might help as well.  I would definitely start with a smaller batch and do some experimenting until you find that sweet spot.  Let us know how you get on.  Maybe there are some folks here that have experience with that brand of Canadian flour and can help.  All the best!  

EDIT: looks like lazyloafer had some experience with this brand before.  Perhaps you can reach out to them directly: 

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/51969/rh-heritage-unbleached-flour

loaflove's picture
loaflove

Hi there

I use Roger's silver star from costco and it makes excellent bread.  I read that it is a commercial bread flour.  When i do my stretch and folds it is quite stiff and hard to stretch by the 4th fold.