I made my first Emmer flour bread yesterday and visually it came out great. But...the bottom was over done and somewhat burnt. The look, feel and taste on the bottom resembles an over proofed sourdough. Like there was too much sugar as the result of the yeast “over eating”.
i used a sourdough starter and kept to the times stated in the recipe. Along the way the dough reacted like any other low gluten dough I have made (mainly Einkorn). It rose a little, was “pillowy” after both the bulk and final rise in the fridge. Again, I followed all of the instructions. Or at least I think I I did.
Are there any other hidden tips for baking with Emmer flour? I love the taste and the feel of the crumb.
Thanks!
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More information on your exact formula, procedures, times, and temperatures is needed in order to reasonably guess happened and why. Photos would help too. But a blackened bottom is usually not a result of the flour.
(A minor correction: Yeast doesn't create sugar. Yeast reduces the amount of sugar by converting it into CO2 and alcohol. It's the _enzymes_ in the flour (the bran in whole wheat, or in the case of white flour, the added enzymes, or added malt flour) that create sugar out of the starch in the endosperm. The enzymes go to work as soon as things get wet. When yeast/sourdough/LAB is added, then the sugar-eating commences. )
So, here are my blind guesses. ? My first guess would be that 1) the temp was just too high, or 2) the loaf was sitting too low in the oven, and the baking stone/Dutch Oven, or whatever it was sitting on, got too much _radiant_ (direct, like sunshine) heat from the bottom heating element.
Granted, excess sugar could have exacerbated the darkening. But I'd guess you probably need to a) use the next higher rack position, and/or b) back off the temp, and/or c) put a cookie sheet or large pan on the rack below the rack where the bread/stone/DO is to "shade" it from the heating element.
Have you calibrated your oven by using a separate inside-the-oven-thermometer ($4 or $5) to see if actual temp is what the oven setting indicates?