Made another bread with all ruchmehl - a Swiss "semi whole" wheat flour. Used some quite old unfed rye starter from the fridge (maybe around 25 g?), 450 g ruchmehl, 330 g warm water, 11 g salt. Mixed with a hand mixer and spiral attachments until moderate gluten development. Did three folds about 30 min apart, then left at around 28ºC for a few hours, until nicely grown and airy. Preshaped, and then shaped into a batard, left to final proof overnight on the balcony. Baked in the morning on steel 230ºC around 15 min with steam, then 210ºC without steam until good colour.
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Again the ruchmehl gave a rather open crumb! It has 14% protein, higher than any flour easily available here. It makes a very nice strong dough. I can see why the Swiss bakers like baking with it.
This time the flavour is clearly a little more tangy (I guess due to low inoculation with unrefreshed starter and long bulk), but still delicious, and the texture is great. Very pleased with this bread, and I think I might just keep using this flour for everyday sourdough bread. Flavourful and so easy to use. I might compare to some German Type 1050 at some point, should be the most similar flour available afaik.
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that's a wonderful-looking bread! Might have to try making it when next I'm in Switzerland (in about a month.) Thanks for the inspiration.
Rob
Thank you Rob! Where are going to in Switzerland?
My base will be Zurich, but I'll be traveling around. You know Switzerland: you can easily get enerywhere from anywhere. You're in Basel, right? I may need to be there, too, and it would be great to meet.
Indeed I am. Let me know if you are visiting! Would be nice to meet up.
Beautiful loaf Ilya! Looks like you’re adapting well to the new flours.
Thank you Troy!
That is a great looking loaf of bread Ilya, the crumb is wonderfully open considering the amount of whole grain. We’re you aiming for a sour bread and are you happy with the flavour of it?
Benny
Thank you Benny!
I wasn't aiming for sour bread (just didn't plan ahead), and it's not really sour - just the tang is a little more pronounced, but still delicious. I don't like actually sour bread, I've made that by accident a couple of times by overfermenting quite substantially, and while still OK, it was not my favorite.
Wonderful looking and alveoli and texture look great.
Any stickyness to the crumb? I don't think so from the pic, but hard to imagine it in real life.
-Jon
Thank you Jon! No stickiness, no. Wonder why you are asking? I've never had any stickiness in wheat bread, only rye...
Imagining the ruchmehlwas like one of my flours which gets very sticky. Even more impressed by from what I can see of your ruchmehl, think it is a keeper.
Wow, that's gorgeous, Ilya! Timing is interesting, just talking about this on a German FB page relative to a Ruchmehl by Marcell Paa. Trying to get a handle on the flour - isn't it durum somewhat finer than a semolina, coarser than fine "flour?" "Haze"?
Extraordinary man. Thanks for the thread.
Thank you Paul!
I don't think Ruchmehl has anything to do with durum. It's a particular version of high extraction flour, from regular wheat. I assume, hard wheat, since it is quite strong. Maybe that's where the confusion is coming from, hard wheat in English vs durum wheat in e.g. Italian?
Sorry, yes you're right and I have it wrong. It was actually a recipe for "hartweizen-ruchmehl" from Marcel Paa, and I was confusing the hartweizenmehl for the ruchmehl. Can't find it but this particular grind of the durum is this intermediary coarseness they call a "haze."
I follow Marcel Paa myself and I live in the States ( from Germany originally) he is great ! But can you tell me what the flour is called here in America ? thanks
I don't think the exact match for Ruchmehl exists anywhere else, but it's similar to something like high extraction flour. It's similar to Halbweissmehl/Typ 720, or T110/Typ 1100 would be even closer, I suppose.
Here is some info: https://schweizerbrot.ch/blog/mehlsorten-und-mahlgrade/
Shipton Mill in the UK do a copy Ruchmehl; I don't know how close it is to the original, but I have used it with good results. I have read that it has a high percentage of the wheat grain aleurone layer and the starch that lies near it in the grain.
Lance
Ah yes, that's right, I remember I think Abe commented about it in another post of mine, called something like Swiss dark flour?
Yes - Shipton Mill call it Swiss dark. This article confirms it contains aleurone layer flour, so I think it has to be specifically milled - you can't just sub T80 or T110, etc and expect to make the same bread with it.
Lance
Indeed, not the same! It has a subtle particular flavour to it. It's surprisingly common here, literally available in every supermarket and even every small corner shop, and it's cheap too. And I'm sure Shipton mil do it justice, they have great flours.