First attempt with stone milled flour not successful
Today I am making two (1kg) batches of Ken Forkish’s Country Blonde (so that is - a white loaf with a little rye and wholemeal in, using only levain culture to rise, no yeast). I have successfully made this loaf several times. One batch today I made with Shipton Mill Canadian strong white, the other I made with Shipton Mill stoneground white local English wheat flour. I intended to do a taste comparison - the latter flour is reportedly of fantastic flavour. Sadly, after an 8 hour overnight bulk ferment (I find Forkish’s suggested 12 hour pre ferments too long btw so have reduced after trial and error), whilst the Canadian was as normal - that is, a wet but just about shapeable dough - the stone ground batch was totally impossible - like pancake batter. I’ve poured it into a tin in the hope of rescuing something but was wondering if anyone had advice on handling stoneground flour. And/or English wheat flour. I guess it’s a combination of lower gluten and more non endosperm parts of the grain left in. But on the baking table, what should I do about that? Blend the two flours? Use the stone ground pure but hydrate it and/or fold more?? Thought appreciated.
So I am not all that familiar with Forkish, I borrowed the book from the library, but it did not appeal to me. From your post, it is not clear, what percentage of the flour did you substitute out? I just did a quick search and I saw a recipe that suggests that Forkish calls for 5% wheat. If you substituted only 5% of the total flour, i have no idea what would cause the result. If instead you substituted a substantial amount of whole wheat for bread or AP flour, I have had a similar experience in the past - in general whole wheat ferments far faster that AP or bread flour, so if I tried to follow a recipe for AP, the whole wheat would completely overferment and turn into goop.
Thanks For the answer and thought. The answer is that I substituted all the white flour for white stoneground flour. But given that this behaves more like wholemeal I think the over ferment theory is a good one. What is AP? And what book(s) do you recommend for a general sourdough technique. I like Forkish as it’s a whole technique that can then be adapted. But interested to try others.
Sorry, AP is all purpose flour. If you want to use whole wheat and sourdough, Vanessa Kimbell would be a good choice and if you like Kindle, the price is pretty attractive https://us.amazon.com/Sourdough-School-Ground-Breaking-Making-Gut-Friendly/dp/1909487937/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=vanessa+kimbell&qid=1597581242&sr=8-2
Yes, if you went from All Purpose or Bread Flour to mostly or entirely whole wheat, and tried to use the same timings, it would overproof and turn to goo. For our purposes, Bread Flour and AP flour are common here is the states, and they act fairly differently from a flour a whole wheat flour which typically means it still has its bran and germ https://www.bonappetit.com/story/difference-bread-all-purpose-cake-pastry-flour
Fantastically helpful thanks. I’ve baked a lot of loaves in the last few months but haven’t messed about with different flours so this is very useful guidance. I’ll look up those references. Thanks again.
Shopton Mills did their customers a disservice by calling sifted stone-ground flour "white."
While they attempted to clarify the matter in the fine print, only those who are familiar with milling techniques and technical flour specifications can tell that it is most definitely NOT what bakers consider to be white flour.
White flour is the essentially free of bran, this is not.
They should call this what it is: high extraction flour, or partially whole wheat.
A percent equivalent to a whole wheat flour diluted with white flour might be helpful. Example, with made-up numbers: "This product is equivalent to a mixture of 70% whole wheat and 30% white flour, by weight.
May I suggest you contact them and give them a stern talking-to.
Would you think some Wodehouse-ian vocabulary from his Wooster and Jeeves series might be appropos ? Good ol' Bertie could really turn a phrase when he got his dander up.
Thanks - I was coming to this conclusion (that this isn’t really white flour as we know it). The bread tasted good In the end (saved by the tins), but more like wholemeal bread. As per my previous reply - l’m just realising that there’s a world of difference between knocking out good loaves to a set recipe and technique (in my case Forkish’s) and understanding how to substitute flours. I’m back on the horse though - have subbed out 1/4 of the white for stoneground white in a batch of Country Blonde today. (So 600g Canadian, 200g Stoneground). Shaped up very nicely. Proofing now. Fingers crossed...
Yes to Wodehouse - ha ha!