The Bread Thread

[citoyen]

Spelt is not the same as bread flour

No, but from what I've read, you can generally use it as a substitute for wheat flour.

The Fresh Loaf forum would be a good place to ask this kind of question. People there seem to get on fine using it instead of wheat flour, and it seems to work well when I've used it as an adjunct in my loaves (never more than 20% of total flour content though).

This is what it says in their baker's handbook:
"Spelt flour: Spelt, which is also known as farro, is an ancient grain that is a cousin to wheat. It contains enough gluten to make a light loaf of bread, but absorbs less water than wheat, and so requires a lower hydration. The gluten is also somewhat less resiliant than that of wheat, and, as such, one needs to be careful when using a mixer, as it's easy to over-develop."
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/other-flours

Here's a recipe for spelt soda bread - though I've not tried it so not a personal recommendation:
https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipes/wholemeal-spelt-soda-bread

[Sergeant Pluck]

Thanks. I saw that Dove’s Farm recipe but elected to go for this Jamie Oliver version purely on the basis of the photos of the finished item (and I happen to have some buttermilk). JO’s looks more like an Irish soda bread to me, and indeed that is what has emerged from the oven. Haven’t tried it yet.

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/simple-soda-bread/

Edited to add - ended up like this and tastes pretty good I must say.

[Sergeant Pluck]

It would have been of inestimable assistance had you been wondering how flour was spelt.

Apols for sense of humour failure.

As a flour it seems to take up liquid differently. The difference in using spelt vs normal flour might be more pronounced in a yeasted loaf, but for this soda bread it seemed no different to plain flour. A wetter stickier dough, perhaps.

[Ham]

If you look back to Sep 2015 (page8?) of this thread, I was experimenting with Spelt, Rye & buttermilk

[citoyen]

I happen to have some buttermilk

#winning

Edited to add - ended up like this and tastes pretty good I must say.

Mmmm, does look good. 

[Sergeant Pluck]

One thing I found was that even though I made my cross cuts very deep - almost through the loaf - it just welded itself back together again as it is quite a wet dough. Still seems to have baked through very evenly.

[Wowbagger]

I've just seen that Waitrose is stocking Marriage's flour in 16kg bags, cheaper than Marriages are selling it themselves. Only 3 types, plain, SR and "Premier white bread flour" (I can't see that one on the Marriage's website) at £10, £10 and £12.

I don't need any yet but...

[Wowbagger]

I've just seen that Waitrose is stocking Marriage's flour in 16kg bags, cheaper than Marriages are selling it themselves. Only 3 types, plain, SR and "Premier white bread flour" (I can't see that one on the Marriage's website) at £10, £10 and £12.

I don't need any yet but...

And, as if by magic, they are not!

[Mrs Pingu]

<sob!>
2020-06-23_06-36-23 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Less of a sourdough loaf. More of a flying saucer, FFS. 

No idea why. It was a new brand of flour but surely wholemeal stoneground is wholemeal stoneground (old was Sainsbo's and somewhat old, new is Gilchesters). Other possible option is that in between folds I left it on the worktop rather than in the bowl (with the bowl placed on top) and when I came back it had flowed all over the top, maybe it overstretched the gluten. Although when I gave it the final prove it sprung back alright when prodded.
 

[Tim Hall]

That looks like it's going to be delicious. Good spring, nice crust.

Fuck. Listen to me 

I dropped in to a friend's garden at the weekend. We chatted, as you do, about sourdough. The last bit of Flatus' remark may have been uttered...

[Mrs Pingu]

<sob!>
2020-06-23_06-36-23 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Less of a sourdough loaf. More of a flying saucer, FFS. 

No idea why. It was a new brand of flour but surely wholemeal stoneground is wholemeal stoneground (old was Sainsbo's and somewhat old, new is Gilchesters). Other possible option is that in between folds I left it on the worktop rather than in the bowl (with the bowl placed on top) and when I came back it had flowed all over the top, maybe it overstretched the gluten. Although when I gave it the final prove it sprung back alright when prodded.
 

The saga continues. I started today's ferment with even less water, looked okay initially but it really wasn't after a while. I ended up having an attack of the screaming abjabs at it and Pingu came through to make sure I was alright 
I ended up kneading more wholemeal flour in (it was that or throw it in the bin in a strop). The end result was less pancakey than last week but not as good as the previous effort with different flour.

So I did some research on the flour and it suggests that the wholemeal should adsorb lots of water, which makes me wonder if it's the strong white that is poor. So as an experiment I made a bog std yeast raised loaf with 100% wholemeal as per their recipe. It did indeed absorb lots of water (70% as per the recipe) without being wet or hard to handle, the dough rose nicely and although it's a bit dense looking that's not really a surprise for wholemeal.
So my attention on now turns to the strong white. According to the label it's 12.7% which isn't super strong but should be good enough, no?

I'd go back to my usual flour if I could get hold of the stuff 

[citoyen]

So my attention on now turns to the strong white. According to the label it's 12.7% which isn't super strong but should be good enough, no?

As noted earlier, the sack I got from my local baker is 12.3%. It generally gives satisfactory results, though never as much lift as I’d like. (NB it doesn’t say ‘strong’ anywhere on the sack.)

Will try to get some of the Marriages Manitoba next time I need to stock up.

Tesco had plentiful supplies of spelt flour, both white and wholemeal, when I was in there the other day. But still no rye.

[andrewc]

2nd attempt.  Basic Delia recipe with flour & yeast from my original Brexshit stash that’s a year past its “use by” date.


Nice crusty crust & dense chewy centre.   Not as good as my local specialist place,  but better than the supermarket.    I'm thinking of a handful of chopped olives in the next batch , or some cubed Boursin...

[pcolbeck]

Apparently there isn't a flour shortage what there is a flour packaging bottleneck somewhere.
So if you have a scoop shop nearby than they have no problem buying sacks of flour and tend to be fully stocked, its just the normal size bags of flour that keep running out.

[andrewc]

How are people storing their bread ?  My last effort is wrapped in cling film, but I’ve read that’s not ideal.  I’d rather not sacrifice counter space to a bread bin.

[citoyen]

I have a bread bin, but if you don't want to sacrifice counter space, you could get all French about it and have a linen bread bag hanging up somewhere.

[fuaran]

Wrap it in a tea towel.
Or could sew a bag from tea towels if you want.
Or get a cotton shopping bag, and sew a drawstring on the top.

[andrewc]

Hmmmmm.......   old pillow case might do the trick....?   

[Ham]

Sliced in the freezer

(also, part baked in the freezer)

[citoyen]

Sliced in the freezer

That too.

[Kim]

Stomach.

[Tim Hall]

Stomach.

Is the right answer.

[Wowbagger]

Apparently there isn't a flour shortage what there is a flour packaging bottleneck somewhere.
So if you have a scoop shop nearby than they have no problem buying sacks of flour and tend to be fully stocked, its just the normal size bags of flour that keep running out.

My understanding is that 95% of the flour sold in this country is in bulk or commercial bakers. Only 5% finds its way into 1.5kg bags (or smaller) for supermarkets. There simply isn't the capacity to put enough flour in small bags for the current demand.

[perpetual dan]

I tried leaving my bread out to rise overnight last night. It rose much more than overnight in the fridge plus a couple of hours out in the morning, but was too sticky. Still tastes good, and a looser texture.

[pcolbeck]

I has "crunchy" flour from Thomas's (a higher class lard version of Greggs localised to North and East Yorkshire). I will give it a whirl tomorrow.
I think they get their flour from Bradshaw's of Driffield which is promising as Brashaws's Hercules strong white is very good.