November 20, 2017 - 9:58am
Please comment on Graham Flour
I have never used Graham Flour but hear (read) that it can be used interchangeably with whole heat flour. Some writers insist that it is distinct and worth seeking out. One description says it has more texture.
If you have used it, is it special and worth trying out or does it taste just like whole wheat flour?
Beth Hensperger recommends Bob's Red Mill brand and I have also seen Hodgson Mill brand Graham flour. Do you have favorite brand that I might try first?
Thank you!
Share
as whole wheat. It is quite a bit coarser and takes a lot more water. Over and above that no matter if the dough feels fine the bread itself gets dried out very quickly. I used it as if it was the same as WW and was quite disappointed in the bread. I have since just put in 1c at a time in a recipe to get rid of it. I followed an old recipe of mine and made a regular yeast buttermilk ww bread but subbed the graham flour. I have made this recipe for 40 years and it is always tender and lovely. It was just too coarse and dry . I know now not to get graham flour unless I want to only use very small amounts. Good Luck !!
I have had bad results using Graham flour where the recipe calls for whole wheat flour. I bought 5 pounds and knew I had made a mistake after my first bake. I used the remainder bit by bit along with regular WW flour and did a dance of joy when I used the last bit!
Thank you so much for sharing that experience my friends. I haven't looked up everything on this site but someone else also said their bread was very dense (in an undesirable way) when they used graham flour. I don't think I will repeat your experiment. Its interesting that some people recommend it. Maybe its just good for graham cracker like cookies.
If I may ask, just to know, apart from the texture is the flavor just like traditional whole wheat though? And if you remember which brand were you using, Hodgson Mills? Bob's Red Mill?
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you so much.
...and from what I remember, the flavor was not significantly different from the flavor of traditional WW flour.
This is a staple flour for me. As others have noted, it is ground more coarsely than standard WW flours - and I use this to my advantage in making a 'high extraction' flour. Measure 350g into a sifter, put an empty bowl on the scale and sift until the scale hits 300g. The coarsest bran remains in the sifter and I have what I use as an 85% extraction flour. I use it together with various ratios of KA white whole wheat and KA Artisan Select. I find the bread to be nicely flavored and having a good density for a mostly whole wheat loaf. I use the bran for coating rustic loaves, etc.
Thank you foe tha tip TerryD! I have been reading about 85 extraction flour .....when I want to try one of those recipes I have a simple place to start. I can imagine that the sifter places a an important role. I found this one on Amazon. May I ask, do you think it will work for this kind of sifting?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001TR9AW2/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3DQJ4KDP8NCFK&coliid=I22PY5TJYS34O7&psc=1
Thanks!