Understanding Local Bread Flour
Hi everyone, have not been posting much lately due to the busy schedule I was having. Though, that does not mean I have not been baking. I have been wondering on why my bakes are still lacking on the optimum oven spring like most of the gorgeous loaves on TFL. Then one day, I tried out a recipe given by one of the active member in here, Abe. It was a Tartine Bread recipe from My Weekend Bakery. Stuck to the recipe anyway (except that I had to cut short on stretch and fold time due to the hot weather in here). The bread was not bad but it was too chewy and not much of an oven spring....it was because of this, I found out the local bread flour was simply too strong.....so I have decided to embark on yet another experiment!
My Verdict :
- 50% bread flour : 50% all purpose flour = Too soft, not enough of gluten to hold its shape
- 60% bread flour : 40% all purpose flour = Slightly better, but still not good enough
- 70% bread flour : 30% all purpose flour = It's getting there but the bread needs to be more chewy for my liking
- 75% bread flour : 25% all purpose flour = This is the right ratio to work with...finally.
Here are some of my recent bakes with modified bread flour usage....am just loving the alteration I made and enjoying using the Dutch Oven too....not looking back at all!
With whole rye grain (hope this is the right term to use,LOL) Accidentally In Love : )
This is by far, my most gorgeous bake....my friends told me it's poster worthy! Hope to have more in the future.
Crumb Shot (Denser texture due to the buckwheat that I added, I believe some of them got mashed!)
Suggestions and comments are all welcome...happy baking everyone!
Best Regards,
Sandy
Comments
Suggestion:
Send us a loaf for taste and texture analysis. =)
Nice try.....thank you by the way : )
Very good looking loaf. Love the ears and golden crust. Very very nice. I'd love to get my loaves looking like that. And the heart shape to finish it off.
Bet it tasted delicious.
For a long time when I first started the sourdough journey I was stubborn about using bread flour. Just wanted wholegrains as a big part of home baking is to eat healthier. But I slowly came round to introducing strong bread flour. I also haven't looked back. My breads really began taking off - from the oven floor :)
Gotta find the right balance and many times ingredients are added for a myriad of benefits.
Any more loaves available for analysis?
How's life in London? Thank you very much for your kind compliments.
Yes, I was kind of stubborn about the flour thing...didn't pay much attention to it to be honest. I only realise this after asking one of the member here to try a 50:50 and was telling myself that night why didn't I do the same? Silly me! There are so many great recipes out there but we gotta use our logic and wisdom. And of course like what I always said....I am having a different ball game of living in Asia, different climate,ingredients and live culture too. Not easy at times but I find it intriguing enough to keep me going though.
Wish I could spare a few slices for analysis....maybe TFL should consider of having an Annual Bread Meet in different continent of the world? It would be nice for enthusiasts like us : )
Hi Sandy, That looks like a great loaf, with some amazing oven spring. Looks like your sourdough was working at full capacity. Happy baking! Colin
for your kind compliments. I was very pleased with the results of those bakes indeed.
I think you are making lots of progress at your end too. I didn't have much time to comment on your posting though for the past 2 weeks (sorry for that) but I could see your bakes are coming along quite well. Good job there... Keep baking and posting too!
Can't say much more than that! What a beautiful loaf of bread. I have started using King Arthur AP flour for most of my bread as it is still a strong flour, though not as strong as their bread flour. It seems to be working out well. Have been just using the bread flour for when I use a higher percentage of whole grains in my bread.
go with that fabulous rye bread. I have sort of settles on a 50/50 mix because my usual AP is LaFama at 11.2% protein rather than the 10% in the store. I am always changing the amount of bread flour depending on how much low gluten flour is in the mix. Your experiments have paid off.
Well done and happy baking
Kathy and dabrownman for the words of encouragement. I do hope to produce more bakes like that in the furture.
The whole bread baking experience have been (and still) so challenging as I do not get any helpful information from the manufacturer here. Language is the first obstacle I must say and secondly....most of the people are not bothered with details with whatever they are selling in where I live. They would most likely to give me a blank face or simply not bothered to find out more information on behalf on their customers. : (
Sandy,
the loft and bloom on this boule is lovely.
You can really dial it in with flour mixes by using something called Pearson's Square. Designed to calculate percentages of differing feed for farm animals, it can be used to get you to a specific protein percentage. I have used it to calculate how much vital wheat gluten to add to AP flour to bump the AP up to bread flour protein levels. I don't have access to a link that walks you through its use, but it isn't hard to find. The author of the blog entry uses it for calculating flour percentages for making bagels, or some such thing.
thanks so much for the lead and I shall google it shortly after this. No worries on not being able to provide the link as half of the baking experience lies with the journey of learning,at least to me :)
Spoon-feeding is only making one dependable.........
Regards & Happy Baking,
Sandy