Organic flour
Hey everybody...
Just jumping into milling. I've noticed many of the WW sourdough recipes call for some type of lighter AP or bread flour. I'm trying to avoid using commercial flour (hence my own milling) and was wondering how to get these varieties without going down the dark road of commercial mills. With the term "Organic" being ripe for exploitation these days, I would have to take any claims that a major commercial mill makes regarding the "organic" quality of their flours with a serious grain of salt. I'm not going to mill my own heritage Red Fife or Turkey wheat berries and then dump a bunch of King Arthur bread flour in there, because...well, that's kind of defeating the whole purpose, in my opinion. So how do we know we're "doing the right thing" when we we order organic? (Sorry, I was trying to get through this post without naming names). So...Whom do we buy from, and why? Breadtopia appears to have excellent organic options, as well as a conscience. Any thoughts? BTW, I am aware of the discussions/arguments about sifting/bolting the home-milled flour to achieve a reasonable facsimile of AP or bread flour. This post assumes that I would be buying organic flour. Thanks.
Just today I rec’d an order of berries from Breadtopia. The great thing is, you can buy 10 pounds for almost the same price as 50 pounds, per pound. The shipment and individual bags (heavy zip lock) where we’ll packed. Shipping fees are reasonable and fast. All they sell is organic. Customer service is always excellent. Call and ask for Galen or Eric.
If you go 100% whole grains you might want to invest in a sifter or two. You can extract some of the large bits and use them to feed your starter, make a soaker, or lighten your loaf. Here is an example. Breadtopia also sells them.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BP2Y52Q/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
NOTE, they come in different mesh sizes.
HTH,
Dan
I am also very happy with wheat berries from Breadtopia. Like birchbark, I didn't want to make bread 100% milled flour and want to mix with good "bread" flour, without using commercial flour. I have been getting Heritage Turkey Red flour from here:
http://www.sunriseflourmill.com/turkey-red-heritage-refined-wheat-flour/
What I normally do is use 80% of the Turkey Red Flour from above and then mix it with flour that I mill. So usually the other 20% is Mockmilled Turkey Red, Hard White Spring, Rye or Spelt that I sift with a #40 sifter (from breadtopia) which gives me 85% extraction flour. The bread made like this gives me great flavor and texture.
Thanks for the input. I've been using hard red and hard white, and the high-extraction flour from Grist and Toll in Pasadena and I love the taste, but I'd like to try and get a more open crumb, if for no other reason than to be able to stick my chest out and say I did it. Onward and upward.
Open Crumb. You and me both. Take a look at this gynormous post. We’re all looking for the open crumb. And for no better reason than to say “we can do it”. Even if we have to put on latex gloves to eat our sandwich. Hehehe
Heres the link. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/55230/anyone-interested-champlain-sd-bake
Danny
Keep us updated on your progress birchbark. It seems more difficult to achieve using a lot of high extraction WW flour.
Hans, if whole wheat is ground at medium setting, then all of the large bits extracted, will the resulting flour perform something like BF or AP? I’m thinking about trying that now.
I plan to use the large bits in the Levain. Hopefully the large bits in the Levain will soften, and I don’t plan to machine knead only S&F. That way I still get the nutrition and hopefully the rise. What say you?
Dan
Good question Dan. AP/BF have the bran and germ removed. It really takes roller mils and multiple stages to do that. I have not tried that so it will be interesting to hear how it goes.
I bought some Red Fife (regular and bolted) and Turkey Red (regular and bolted) from Breadtopia. I tried several loaves using about 1 part regular grind and 3 parts bolted, and all the loaves seem to pancake while they're in the oven. So I don't know, maybe you have to mix in bread flour to get a nice rise. I read Peter Rienhardt's book "Whole Grain Bread(?)" and he struggles with it too, so I don't feel so bad. I can only get a good rise if I cheat and add some commercial yeast. I wonder if anyone makes a legitimate bread flour using an heirloom grain.
Take a "bread flour" like KA blue package, or say, Pillsbury "Better for Bread" that my mom used for years...how are those different from a bolted whole wheat flour? I've read in several places that you can't make bread flour at home, and it takes a major operation.