Hi everyone, Katie here with another newbie question.
I’m after a crusty Italian loaf with an airy crumb. From what I see, online bakers use a strong bread flour at 70-75% hydration. Unfortunately, all purpose flour is all I have to work with in my corner of the Third World. I read that you can add wheat gluten... yeah, if I ask for that, people will look at me like I’ve sprouted a second nose.
So I was in the store today and saw, for the first time, Quaker Oat Flour. Anyone know about this? Will combining it with all purpose be of any help to me? I think I need to raise my protein level from 12 up to 15 percent. Any other suggestions or additives?
As always... thanks everyone...
Katie
Adjust for the flour and you'll be fine. That would be less water and maybe minus a rise. Enjoy!
It's oat so it's not going to increase your gluten. It will probably add a nice flavor but will work against the texture you want.
TomP
@kay-dee what do you expect from the added wheat gluten?
Protein content und hydration are only numbers. They alone don't make an airy crumb. Only fermentation and (dough) structure make an airy crumb. Adapt the hydration and the process to your flour. Start with 60% hydration and your AP flour at room temperature (if not above 27ºC). Nothing else. Except yeast or sourdough and salt ;)
Here is imo a very good example with low protein content (from mwilson's blog, something between 10-11% protein):
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/74888/wildfarmed-rustico
It seems to me that you're slightly misunderstanding what the protein percentage is used to judge in bread making. In the context of baking performance, when people talk about the protein content of flours that's basically shorthand for gluten forming protein. It's only the gluten forming proteins that will develop a stronger gluten network. Any other type of molecule that adds to the total protein content will not help with gluten development, and will probably hinder it instead.
Wheat contains a higher portion of gluten forming proteins than anything else (to my knowledge). So even if you find a grain with a higher total protein content listed on the nutritional info, it will still have a lower proportion of gluten forming proteins than any wheat flour. So replacing some of your wheat flour with that will lower the gluten content of your dough.
If you want your dough to have more gluten in it, unfortunately the only options are wheat flours with a higher protein percentage, e.g. bread flour and vital wheat gluten. Hope you're able to find what you're looking for.
“With a strong ap like King Arthur, I usually go 60% on the water and feed 1:3:5, 3:3:5, 5:3:5, or even 8:3:5 depending how long it will be going between feeds --- 12, 8, 4-6 hours or less, accordingly, or depending on temperature.”
Now we’re getting into it. And I didn’t take chemistry :-(
Seems the only way I’ll get High Protein Flour is to have it flown in. Real expensive! But if that Rustico Loaf presented in the link is any indication, I can use All Purpose Flour with an LM Starter. My brand of flour is Blanquita Enriched Wheat, pre-sifted with, according to the package, 3.2 grams of protein per cup of flour... less than 9.5%.
Okay, can I use this stuff to make that Rustico Loaf? And what’s an LM Starter and how do I get one?
Much thanks, everyone...
Katie
Sure you can. LM is not for you right now. Enjoy!
Blanquita ap supposedly has ~3g protein per 34g flour which would indeed be less than 9.5%, but that wouldn't be per 1 cup of flour. Packages usually base protein content on 30g flour which is less than 1/4 cup.
That flour is used in the Dominican. Is that where you are?
you should be able to make a crusty Italian bread using AP flour, water, salt and yeast. Here's a recipe from a fellow freshloafer -- https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/72700/straight-dough-emergency-italian-bread
if you worry blanquita brand has too little protein, you probably need to cut back on the water and do a bunch of kneading to develop the gluten.
Have fun trying it. Let us know how it goes.
Rob
I used to think that oat flour needs at least 75% hydration, until what I did recently cleaning up excess inventory. I had excess oat, dried bananas, and coconut oil, I just didn't want to put much energy on "leftover" bake, so I did 65% hydration and maybe less than 10% oil, with IDY. Surprisingly rose well in the oven
But there is a caveat, in the past I always skipped bulk ferment for sourdough because I live in the tropics, and time is my enemy. But because that batch I used IDY, I did bulk ferment until doubled, shaping was done without intentionally degassing the dough. See, dough that has been through bulk ferment usually has more volume after final shaping compared to dough that is shaped right after mixing. Which means doubling after final rise is more prominent in dough with bulk ferment than the one that isn't bulk fermented.
Nowadays for sourdough I only do bulk until 10% rise, and do poke test instead, because doubled dough that didn't go through bulk I feel always came out denser than my liking, and poke test does better job in that case.
Happy baking!
Jay