Drat, should have seen that coming! So my sourdough levain (made with strong bread flour) has been bubbling away all night and I've just gone to make it up into the full scale dough only to find I don't have enough bread flour left. However I do have spelt, wholemeal, pastry flour, italian OO or french T55. Can you wonderful TFL breadheads rescue me, which of those would make the best substitute?
My first bet would be wholemeal. But are you talking about strong wholemeal flour? What does the protein content say? If you do go for this option increase the hydration.
Not the pastry flour. That won't work.
Italian 00 and French T55 are very white flours. In the UK bread flour is not as white as these two. There are different grades from wholemeal to bread flour and these two are very white. More used for pasta and baguettes. I think it would be ok to use but as a mix with your wholemeal as your wholemeal should be stronger.
Spelt would be a nice option. Would need less hydration and will ferment quicker so watch out for that. Doesn't rise as much as normal bread flour but very tasty. Either go for all spelt or again as a mix.
So Italian 00 and/or French T55 I'd go as a mix with wholemeal. French T55 as your first option (it's a bit stronger).
Spelt I'd use but if you wish you can mix with wholemeal. Watch out for quicker fermenting.
Or you can do a mix of all of them making sure the wholemeal is the bulk. So 70% wholemeal and the rest a mix of other flours.
There are many options these are just ideas.
Thank you Lechem, hope it's not too snowy down your way.
This is really helpful. I'm fond of the nuttyness that comes from spelt so I've gone with that, following your "top tip" to reduce the hydration, and I'm watching for quicker fermentation.
The wholemeal's labelled strong flour so if I forget to order flour again I might try the wholemeal-T55 combi which sounds interesting.
Many thanks for the swift response.
If it's not too late then honey goes very well with spelt. Enjoy!
I'm in London and so far the snow hasn't stuck around. Hope you're not too snowed in. Good time to bake.