September 29, 2010 - 10:09pm
No luck with Khorasan Flour (Kamut) ?
Hello,
I have made spelt sourdough and spelt and rice sourdough many times with good results but everytime I try to make Khorasan Sourdough it just collapses into a mound of dough and when I bake it turns into a brick. I am following the recipe correctly and can not see any reason why it should go wrong.
I have used khorasan to make sourdough pizza crust and it works perfectly but no luck making a loaf of bread!!
Any help or ideas welcome!
Thanks Heaps!
Share
Kamut can make wonderful bread as long as you know about its unique character. It has lots of gluten but it is very stretchy and doesn't hold its shape well.
As you've discovered, it makes great flat bread and pizza dough.Great stretchy gluten! This is my whole wheat flour of choice for pizza dough. But because of this unique type of gluten, you either want to stick to making flat bread or use a loafpan to support it. Unsupported loaves (like boules or batards) tend to spread out. I have made lovely loaves of bread with 100% kamut flour baked in pans of various shapes. Golden and delicious.
As for the density, this is a dough you may want to underproof and handle gently when proofing. It goes from underproof to overproof and deflating very quickly. Rough handling when putting it into the oven can also cause a quick deflation.
One way to improve the shape-holding ability is to mix it with some other wheat flour. I frequently will mix hard red spring wheat with the kamut. Gives me the best of both.ANother thought is to add some vital wheat gluten for some better shape-holding gluten.Whatever is available and easiest.
Thanks for the reply!
I have been using a silicon bread pan which has some support ridges on the bottom (not like the cheap ones) but maybe I need a metal pan or similar...?
I actually can't eat modern wheat flour varieties at the moment but am able to have ancient wheat including khorasan/kamut and spelt. Maybe I could add a little bit of wholemeal spelt flour.
Also does khorasan not like a much kneeding and handling like wholemeal spelt?
Thanks Heaps!
I've never noticed any difference when kneading the kamut dough but I don't knead much. I use the stretch and fold technique and it raises fine with about 3-4 stretch and folds after the initial mix.
Hi,
Just made up another Khorasan Dough with success this time.
This time I added about:
(1kg White Khorasan Flour)
80 - 100g Chia Seed
and about 150g Wholemeal Spelt
I'm sure both the Chia and Spelt helped the dough form. Unlike last time this dough was much easier to work with and held together well without being a big sticky dough mess!
I have not baked it yet and will report back when I have.