Having some trouble with slackness since switch to Kamut
I'm not sure if this is a starter issue or a grain issue, so I thought I'd start here.
I have a several WW recipes that I make every week-one is an enriched WW fruited bread for breakfast toast and the other is our sandwich loaf. I usually used 2 cups hard red spring wheat and 1 cup kamut per loaf but recently started running out of the hard red so switched the ratios.THese are both sourdough based recipes but I do use a little instant yeast so the rises fit my time schedule.
What I've noticed since switching to most kamut is that my dough tends to be very slack and also tears during the final proof.I'm not talking during the shaping-it seems to shape just fine.I'm talking that as it rises during the final proof, after about 15-20 minutes, it is tearing and separating (like when the dough is slashed). When it bakes, it just spreads sideways. I never had a problem like this when it was mostly the hard red spring flour and did do a bake with no kamut to see if there was a difference. There was! No problem with stretchy gluten and tearing.
HAs anyone else experienced this and any suggestions on how to keep the gluten in my kamut loaves in better condition.Am I experiencing and enzyme problem?
Background-I mill my own wheat and kamut berries in a WonderMill.I use the flour either immediately or over the next 2 weeks.I bake every weekend and my starter is active and ready for use by bake time.I also have a LOT of kamut berries left so I'd really like to be able to use it in bread. It is a great, golden,nutty-flavored flour.
in Kamut as Red wheat. The protein levels are high because it contains many kinds of protein, but that doesn't mean it is high in gluten proteins. That is why it is often mixed with high gluten flours and doesn't stand alone in sourdough only recipes.
I might suggest a switch to instant yeast instead of sourdough or add dissolved instant yeast to the sourdough after 4 hours of a 8hr bulk ferment. That way you get your rise before it tears and breaks down.
Mini
I just put a loafpan of kamut WW in the oven. It is in a really deep loafpan so it is totally supported. The last loaf (as a batard)spread out and was flat but the crumb and taste was great so I'm hoping this loaf will turn out as a good sandwich loaf.
I've been doing a google search on the gluten characterisitcs of kamut but haven't been too successful. Anyone have any links-maybe to scientific journals? Authors that are FreshLoafers?
I just threw in some steam-the loaves are looking good-good start on the oven spring.
Thanks, Mini, I did use some instant yeast. I believe this dough needs to rise quicker than the usual sourdough.It's a function of getting it to raise and capture the gases before the gluten falls apart.
I'm just surprised that I haven't read about this characterisitic of Kamut before this.I bought a 50# bag of kamut and have been using it as only a part of my flour. Everything I've read talks it up as a great bread flour with great gluten. It is a beautiful, golden flour and has a wonderful taste but, obviously, it has some unique gluten characteristics that have to be planned for!
http://www.kamut.com/en/health.html
There is a lot of info on this site including some recipes, all using yeast and not sourdough.
Wish I had a camera! The loaves turned out. They were a tad underproofed but I'm afraid if I had left them any longer, they would have collapsed. I think there is almost no time between under and overproofing with this dough.
There was decent oven spring and the crumb was soft and moist-a good sandwich bread.Would be great in a pullman!
So some lessons for using Kamut:
1. Kamut benefits from the addition of another flour with a stronger,less flexible gluten. Possibly, it may benefit from the addition of wheat gluten? I am not a proponent of vital wheat gluten but this may be a good time to use it.I don't like the chewiness it usually imparts.
2.If you use 100% Kamut flour,plan on panning the loaf for support
3. Long sourdough rises can cause the gluten to break down before it is risen.
4.Very easy to overproof.
The nutritional information was interesting.Thank you for the link!