At some point I imagined that a sourdough bread made with mostly cake flour would have a delectable soft sweet crumb texture. Or at least a better 'bite' than loaves made with bread flour. Perhaps softer on the tongue, with a good sweet flavour! And without the chew or bounce that I've come to expect with lots of gluten.
Alas, these breads, although 'okay' were a learning experience. The breads weren't bad per se, in fact quite enjoyable to eat and with some sort of chew to them too. But they certainly didn't live up to my preconceptions, in that they weren't naturally sweeter and they weren't exempt from having some rubbery texture like I've come to associate with gluten. I've come to realize that cake flour may sometimes just be cheaper than bread flour, because well, it is a cheaper flour.
Now, I can't generalize if this is true for all cake flours. The protein in this cake flour was a surprising 11.3%, and it was about 2/3rd the price I pay for a better stoneground bread flour.
Breads were made at a hydration of 68% with 15% of the flour mixture being from whole spelt flour, and 85% cake flour. Since I was worried about getting gluten I mixed the final dough just before going to sleep and let it 'fermentolyze' in the fridge overnight. This meant it was slow to get going the next day whilst the dough warmed up, but in the morning it started with a developed windowpane and good stretch that came from the long and cold fridge period. Just had to be patient in letting the dough develop after that.
-Jon
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Nice looking loaves Jon!
Cake flours might generally be cheaper because farmers get paid more for higher protein wheat. I wouldn't necessarily expect cake flour to be sweeter in taste, the naming refers to the protein level. Low protein and sourdough can be challenging as SD fermentation degrades flour much more so than yeast only. You got a really good result, well done! And then using spelt on top of that is a bold move!
It might be worth seeing what you get from this flour with a yeast only bake to get another idea of its characteristics. SD fermentation with it dual fermentation tends to remove more sugars from the wheat and the acidity generated makes the protein chewier.
I've always apricated lower gluten breads, when turned into toast it can be very brittle and melt in the mouth.
Thanks for sharing and Happy Christmas!
Michael
Thanks Michael. Huh. I thought I'd closed this chapter and would give up on this cake flour for bread (I am just not a fan in general of the taste of this flour), but now you've got me thinking about trying a yeast only bread, just to confirm if it wasn't the SD fermentation.
-Jon
At the risk of sounding repetitive and predictable, might be worth trying the SD shaggy biga technique I've described in various posts in the past. Works well with low gluten white flours like the one you describe.
Have to say though, the bread doesn't look bad in the photos. Maybe add some cooked potato to the BF adjusting hydration, for a softer more appealing crumb. Cooked potato approximately 80% water.
I wasn't thinking about your location. Eventually, though, the light came on. Cake flour in South Africa is fairly similar to a U.S. all purpose flour. There are enough variations by millers in both countries that I wouldn't say the two flour types are identical but I found cake flour to be a serviceable analog for the AP flours I was accustomed to using in the U.S.
Both flours have a lower gluten content than flours sold as "bread flour" in both countries. Both tend to be bleached although unbleached versions are available in the U.S. I'm not sure if that is true in South Africa today, since I moved back to the States 13 years ago. Neither flour is as low in protein as the "cake flour" sold in the U.S.
One would have to get the specifications for a particular flour from the miller to know it's protein content. That, in turn, would give you an inkling of what sort of texture to expect in the finished bread. Other ingredients and process will affect the outcome, as well.
Paul
I think that's a very pretty loaf, Jon. Thanks for sharing the results.
I actually have very little experience working with flour with less that 12g protein for long-fermented SD loaves, so I was really curious how this would go. Though I wonder if using low protein cake flour would give different results in SD loaves if it is only mixed into the final dough with a relatively high PFF %? Less degradation?
Cake flour definitely benefits from long IDY fermentation, giving some of that sweet taste you mentioned. I use it for overnight waffles - using high protein flour results in a significantly inferior end product.
Lin
Thanks Lin. As Paul pointed out my particular cake flour is more like the American AP flour, I suspect your cake flour is an even weaker "pastry" strength. And maybe I'll look for a nice Italian pastry flour for some further experimentation at some point.
Interestingly, my experience with high preferments is that it made my gluten weaker.
I think it may be a machine mix vs hand mix thing, and I was using a yeast water which may have also contributed towards degrading the gluten.
Do you know when you're mixing a flour with water and it just smells nice and somehow nutritious? Well, this cake flour was kind of neutral and I think it had been bleached. I'm not such a fan of it, as you can tell!
-Jon
Well both of those loaves look incredible Jon. I think you did exceptionally well with that flour and having spelt in there to boot. Great experiment overall.
Happy New Years.