One cannot find Red Fife in the UK so I've just treated myself to a very expensive packet of Red Fife flour from Canada as a special treat. No! I am not telling you how much I've paid for the shipping :)
This isn't happening too often I can tell you but had to be done at least once.
This is "Red Fife by Rowe". To be fair this company had a very good price on the flour itself and while the shipping is expensive it was still better than quotes from other companies.
Lets make this one packet count!
Since I won't be making too many breads from this flour (perhaps two medium sized loaves) can you recommend any recipes for me to try. Will choose two different recipes, one should be 100% red fife and the other may be a mix of flours. This way I can appreciate Red Fife for what it is with the 100% recipe and then perhaps use it as a mix so that Red Fife can bring out the best in other recipes. Has to be sourdough.
Looking forward to your suggestions.
with which you are familiar. The differences will be more obvious and easier to discern.
Ideas for the second loaf will most likely pop up while tasting and eating the first loaf.
Compare and Contrast. I hope it lives up to expectations. Have you used it before?
but that is my "MO" (method of operation) with any unfamiliar flour. I'm always running into new flours and brands.
Most often I make one simple crepe first. That tells me a lot about the gluten, absorbency and taste of the flour before making a whole loaf of bread.
Mini
It was one of the best tasting breads I have made so far. Now to be fair, there was also some fresh ground red spring wheat in it so i can't really discern exactly what was the reason for the flavour. The other flours were ines I had used before.
I think i'll make a simple first bread like Hamelman's Vermont and use Red Fife for the wholegrain flour to get a sense of what it's like. Nothing too complicated with too much going on. Also it will last longer this way and I get a few loaves out of it. Other options are the Tartine, Yohan Ferrant's "Do Nothing Bread" with a 60:40 wholegrain: bread flour ratio. We'll see.
i use it regularly. I get the Red Fife from Daybreak Mills. I don't know how far they ship but you might look at theit website.
I usually mix with AP The Red Fife has a distinctive flavour - almost cinnamon and a beautiful colour.
almost Cinnamon flavour that made me make up my mind to try it at least once. I saw that website but they don't offer the option to ship to the UK.
You're lucky to have it local.
If one day I can assist send me a pm.
Thank you Jane. Much appreciated! We'll see what I can do with this one 2lb packet and if I really like it i'll treat myself every now and again with your help.
After reading this post I purchased some from Anson Mills. Looking forward to baking with it!
hope you like it!
is that it is a landrace grain which means that it adapts to its climate, environment etc. It is not a hybrid. As a result, Red Fife grown in different parts of Canada can have much different properties, like color, flavor, protein content etc. So Red Fife grown in some parts of Canada is a hard red wheat and in other parts it is a hard white wheat. So if you find one you like grown and milled in a certain part of Canada make note of it because any old Red Fife from anywhere will not be the same. This is one of the reasons it was crossed with other wheat types to create hybrids that would produce a uniform grain product over greater growing regions in Canada,
I would bake a cocktail sized tin of 100% Red Fife at 80-85% hydration just to see what the grain really tastes and acts like,
Happy Red Fife baking Abe
That is very interesting! Is this more usual for Red Fife or does this apply to all un-hybridized wheats?
Looks like one packet just won't do. I'll have to sample from different regions. Can I tell just from looking at the flour? Whole-grains can look alike. All wheat, when wholegrain, is red-ish. But then again I don't think we get white wheat here either so I've nothing to compare it to.
Thank you Dabrownman.
P.s. so in one region it is Red Fife and in another it is a Not So Red Red Fife.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Fife_wheat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landrace
The red fife I got was from Southern Ontario. I am planning on ordering some from Daybreak Mills. I had no idea that the two might be different.
When I first started looking in to Red Fife the only description I ever found was thar it is a hard red wheat. That seems to be Canada wide and also the same for the midwestern states. It is often referred to as the original bread flour.
When you consider that the wheat industry in Canada is highly regulated, consistency becomes paramount.