Bread Thread
- Thread starter Gary Knowels
- Start date
Thanks! Yes, it is a stone ground whole wheat ("golden wheat" is KAF's new name for "white whole wheat"):
Allow us to reintroduce this fan-favorite flour
Our customer-loved White Whole Wheat Flour is now called Golden Wheat Whole Wheat Flour! Changing the name helps communicate that this flour is not a blend, but rather milled from 100% hard white wheat.
The whole wheat and rye flour together were 30% of the total flour (and I only used a litle rye flour).
Zak
Nice! I haven't tried KA's version but I bet it's great. I also toss a little HWW in cookies, pancakes, enriched pan loaves, etc. it just brings up the flavor of all of them.Thanks! Yes, it is a stone ground whole wheat ("golden wheat" is KAF's new name for "white whole wheat"):
Allow us to reintroduce this fan-favorite flour
Our customer-loved White Whole Wheat Flour is now called Golden Wheat Whole Wheat Flour! Changing the name helps communicate that this flour is not a blend, but rather milled from 100% hard white wheat.www.kingarthurbaking.com
The whole wheat and rye flour together were 30% of the total flour (and I only used a litle rye flour).
Zak
My most common bastards are 10% HWW and 10% HRW, and my starter is 30% dark rye. It's the most flavorful mix I can make before the wife starts to object.
Go M’s
I really enjoy playing around with craft whole grain flours. I find it fun evaluating what kind of dough they make how they handle, and what they taste like. Lately I've been playing with flour from Barton Springs Mill in Texas.
Whenever I get a new flour I make a loaf that is 80/20 glacier peak bread flour to whole grain. It gives me a good reference point.
2 weeks ago I tried Marquise. It handles beautifully and has wonderful soft texture, but it's a very subtle/plain flavor. I think it would be good as a mix with a really bold flour. Unfortunately, no photos.
This week I tried heartwell. It's a purplish hue, almost the color of dark rye. It made a less elastic dough than Marquise, but built strength fine. It has a BOLD earthy, rich, but not spicy flavor. The texture is quite bouncy.
Stardust is my favorite so far, but heartwell is a contender.
Whenever I get a new flour I make a loaf that is 80/20 glacier peak bread flour to whole grain. It gives me a good reference point.
2 weeks ago I tried Marquise. It handles beautifully and has wonderful soft texture, but it's a very subtle/plain flavor. I think it would be good as a mix with a really bold flour. Unfortunately, no photos.
This week I tried heartwell. It's a purplish hue, almost the color of dark rye. It made a less elastic dough than Marquise, but built strength fine. It has a BOLD earthy, rich, but not spicy flavor. The texture is quite bouncy.
Stardust is my favorite so far, but heartwell is a contender.
Wayne Kohan
Life of the Party
Gary, do you order your flours online? I’ve debated doing that, but the cost of shipping always gets to me. I actually ordered from King Arthur recently with a gift card I received and so I did get 5 pounds of the Golden Whole wheat and baked this morning since shipping was the same as it was based on cost, not weight. Here’s my bake from today, left one is sourdough with Kirkland AP (? Made by Central Milling) and the golden whole wheat with a touch of rye. The right loaf is same stuff but I added a sugar/cinnamon swirl.
Nice loaves!
I do order them online and pay for shipping. For me the fun I have is worth the marginal increase in per loaf costs. My last order was $88 for a total of 20 lbs of flour (5 lbs x 4 varieties).
I only use 80 g per loaf, which means ~120 loaves of bread, or $0.67/loaf
The glacier peak is $65 for a 50 lb bag provided I go pick it up in Burlington. That's about $1.15/loaf.
Excluding water, time, energy, and tools, I'm still under $2 per loaf so I see it as negligible. Sure, I could probably get the cost down to $1.10 or so by making different flour choices, but I'm not stressing about the $8 per month difference.
wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
Ok, I'm an absolute neophyte at making bread. But I am smart enough to ask for help selecting the right tools.
I notice several of you are baking in a Dutch oven. Which do you think works better, enameled or regular cast iron ?
(This also gives me a reason to buy another Dutch oven)
I notice several of you are baking in a Dutch oven. Which do you think works better, enameled or regular cast iron ?
(This also gives me a reason to buy another Dutch oven)
I don't think it matters for the quality of the bread. Enameled requires less care. Standard cast iron will need a very thin coat of oil inside and out every handful of bakes. The steam inside has a tendency to break down the seasoning and you can get rust issues if you don't reapply it. Cheap enamel pieces can scorch or crack at high temps (500°+) so make sure you check manufacturer guidelines. I have a Marth Stewart branded 6 qt enamel DO that is used for years up to 525 degrees with no problems though.
wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
Thanks, this helps me a lot.
By far the best vessel for baking hearth loaves is the Challenger Bread Pan, but it is a HEAVY and EXPENSIVE monotasker so I only recommend to people that are going to bake a lot of bread.
Wayne Kohan
Life of the Party
I was doing my bread in the Lodge Combo Cooker initially, as I had bought one years ago actually for camping. Then my wife bought me a dedicated ceramic coated bread pan. But we redid a few things in our kitchen recently and so we bought a new range so we got the gas stove top with the electric oven, and now I do mostly open bakes, where I get steam from pouring boiling water into a heated pan and bake on a pizza stone. This has worked great for me.
I occasionally need a loaf of bread to take somewhere or give away when timing does not allow for the lengthy process of an overnight proof in the fridge so I have been trying to come up with a quick alternative. After getting the starter fed and ready this loaf was 2 1/2 hours start to finish. The dough is more relaxed and does not score as cleanly and doesn't form a great ear but the crumb is good, the bread is tasty, soft and chewy and it is nice to be able to bake a loaf on short notice. Whole wheat sourdough with dehydrated blueberries and pistachios with toasted sesame seeds.
I use a Lodge Combo Cooker, or my oval clay baker.
Good method, I wish I could follow it. With a gas oven that necessitates a lot venting, it's a virtual impossibility to get enough steam to build in my oven without going to crazy lengths.
Some day when we redo our kitchen, I'm going to try to get a steam injection convection oven
a boy can dream
What's your process and ratios for that? I'd be pretty happy to turn that out so quickly
Got my starter going first thing in the morning. It was ready by 10:30. 400 gr of bread flour, 100 gr of ww, 100 gr starter, 380 gr water, 12 gr salt, 4 gr diastatic malt and 4 gr instant yeast with a handful of blueberries and a handful of pistachios. Stretch and fold after 30 minutes. Again after 30 minutes. One set of coil folds after 30 minutes. Get the oven and the Challenger up to 465. Wait about 15 minutes and dump it out and shape and put it in the banneton. After about 15 minutes take it out and score and into the oven for 18 minutes covered then reduce the heat to 400 and bake for 14 minutes uncovered. I've done more than a dozen loaves that way and no complaints from me or anyone else. First couple times I left it in the banneton for too long a proof and the dough was too relaxed and when I put it in the bread pan it kind of collapsed. It doesn't come out as pretty as with the extended proof in the fridge with no yeast but for a last minute loaf it is very acceptable.
wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
This makes my head hurt thinking about it. But it shows your dedication to your craft.
I'm going to keep it simple and do dry bakes.
Right now I'm trying to decide on which Dutch oven style and brand I want to buy. I can get a Lodge 5 qt enameled at Seirra here in town for $40. + tax. Or I can look for something a bit more expensive.
Haven't made up my mind yet