February 19, 2022 - 2:56pm
High Protein Flour?
Hi all,
I recently purchased some very high protein (17.4%) WW flour, stone milled, from a local grower. I'm excited to try it. But...what do I do with it?
Can anyone help explain how a higher protein content will effect my usual sourdough? (I tend toward no-knead, lots of fold, long fermentation times...usually ~75% H20).
I've read elsewhere that protein may or may not mean higher gluten, so I understand that. But assuming this flour is also higher gluten (or not?), I'd love any advice, info, or tips for more info that you may have. Thanks!
ps: A local home baking business uses this same flour (it's a Bolles variety) in some delicious sourdough loaves...so I know it can be done well.
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I mill flour at home.
Unless the flour you bought is far outside the usual North American hard red/white varieties, you can use it as you would normally use a commercial stone-ground whole wheat flour, such as Bob's Red Mill stone-ground WW, with just minor adjustments.
#1: The inherent moisture may be more or less than store-bought WW that has sat around for a while. You're going to have to go by feel, and trial-and-error.
#2: Being fresher than store-bought flour, it will ferment noticeably faster. Use less commercial yeast or levain, and/or ferment/proof for less time, and/or at cooler temps.
#3: If the farmer/miller did not "age" the flour, it's baking characteristics will _slightly_ change over time. IE, it starts out "green" and then oxidizes as time goes on.
#4: The particle size, coarse vs fine, plays a part. Generally speaking, a coarse grind benefits from soaking prior to adding yeast/levain. You may notice that the dough starts out a little like "wet sand", and it takes a while for it to turn into "dough."
That's because, I think, it just takes a while for water to penetrate the larger particles. I needed to keep good notes, and be patient while the dough made from freshly-milled flour went through it's phases, 1) loose wet sand, 2) tight dough, 3) relaxed dough. In Phase 1 it seems over-hydrated, then just let it sit, and it eventualiy goes to phase 2 all hy itself, and it seems under-hydrated. Then letting it sit more, it goes to phase 3, a nice balance of elastic/extensible dough. With my flour, it's not ready for kneading or stretch-and-folds until phase 3 - because in phase 1 it can't make gluten because the water has not penetrated the particles, and in phase 2, kneading or S/Fs just tear it.
I _usually_ add my levain while the dough is still in phase 1, about 45 min to 1 hour after mixing flour and water.
Naturally, this item about the 3 phases is going to depend mainly on the coarseness and consistency of the grind (particle size). So, it may apply a little, or a lot, or not at all.
#5: Adjusting moisture. Remember that phase 2 usually is supposed to seem underhydrated. Try to wait to stage 3 before adding water.
But, if you get to phase 3, and you think it's over-hydrated, my preference is to add store-bought white flour (to "fix" it) because white flour will hydrate quicker than adding more whole wheat. Otherwise, you have to wait longer for the added WW flour to hydrate, and you might get into over-fermented territory if you previously added levain.
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This free Kindle ebook might have some useful info:
www.amazon.com/Guide-Northeast-Grains-Kristina-Razon-ebook/dp/B06W5DLKTV
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HTH.
thanks for all the detailed info. I definitely had never heard of green flour. I'd let this flour sit around for a few weeks, so I think it is aged at this point. One more variable to know! :)
fwiw, I contacted the miller (and grower), they said it was all about adding lots more water. this reminded me that I think I've seen bakers use 80-85% hydration for these high protein flours (esp. stone milled, as this is).
First; I'm in envy that you can get such a great high protein whole-wheat flour locally. Where I live in Australia I cannot get any that high. I love Debra Wink's whole-wheat sandwich bread and had a few fails trying to bake it due to the low protein percent of my flour. Under her guidance, I tried a few tweaks that worked, including adding in some wheat gluten at the correct amount. The recipe is published in Hamelman's Bread, 3rd Edition and recommends whole-wheat flour around 14% protein. Debra has continued to tweak the formula and is now using a red whole-wheat flour around 17% and recommends it for the home baker. The process includes a 12 hour refrigerated bulk fermentation and several hours at room temperature. The final proof is also long at a cool room temperature. The finished bread is a light sandwich crumb with fantastic flavour. I have a post about experimenting with the addition of 5% PFF in a stiff sourdough levain that Debra also adds some clarification comments.
Experiment - Effect of the levain on 100% Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread | The Fresh Loaf
i will check out the link!