Whole grain taste tests
Followed 100% whole wheat recipe from full proof baking.
Hard white spring wheat
Yecora Rojo
Einkorn
Spelt
Turkey Red
Einkorn specific starter. Reduced hydration- 360-370g for wheat, 320-360g for spelt, 260-320g for Einkorn. 30min-1hr autolyse for spelt. Started at the low end and splashed in water until it seemed comfortable to work with. Tried taking aliquots. I need to take more dough, so that the rise is easier to judge as I always question whether I'm over or under proofing.
White wheat- home milled. most mild. Whole wheat for people who don't like whole wheat.
Yecora Rojo- home milled. I like this one a lot. Very smooth/buttery? flavor at the beginning.
Einkorn- home milled. First einkorn loaf. Very sticky at the beginning, so handle as little as possible. Read many different thoughts on whether to long vs short autolyse and what hydration to use. In the end I just had to try it out and see. I definitely prefer a higher hydration. Will try to keep better notes next time. It felt too stiff otherwise. At the end of bulk fermentation, it was a little sticky, but could still be shaped. The most flat loaf by far. Mild nutty flavor with a slightly bitter aftertaste. I will play around more.
Spelt- not home milled. Very nutty. I liked the taste a lot. Surprised that it didn't flatten out more.
Turkey Red- home milled. Also like very much. Most flavorful, but not sure how to describe.
Notes from previous bakes
100% Red Fife- more neutral whole wheat
100% Kamut- the only grain I haven't liked thus far. Very sour note. Didn't get any nuttiness from it.
Comments
Thanks for posting your analysis on the different grains. I don’t have a home mill and don’t have access to some of those you baked with so find it interesting. Someone once told me to make a pancake if you want to quickly taste the flavour of a grain without baking a loaf.
Benny
Thanks, Benny, for the tip. I still have millet and amaranth to try, so making pancakes would let me get to them before my next big round of baking.
After browsing this site for ~1 yr at this point and reading about so many different grains, I was very curious to try some other grains. They are different, but my less discerning husband just said all these loaves tasted like bread. I made 50/50 whole grain loaves previously and found it harder to tell the difference.
I'm lucky my friend let me borrow their Mockmill, so I need to mill a bunch and acquire my own mill in the meantime.
PG