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Deanna in TN
Member
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Posted: Sun Oct 12th, 2008 10:30 pm |
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| I've been making bread for years, both sourdough and yeast breads. I finally bought a mill this past year. However, I find that the more whole wheat I use, the heavier my bread is. Do the Beckers just use whole wheat or do they use half wheat flour and half commercial white flour? I'm just asking! My bread using my milled flour is anything but light. I use a sourdough starter which makes a wonderful loaf of bread unless I add too much wheat flour. I've really tried to move from white to wheat and I've done it gradually, but when I use just wheat flour, even I don't want to eat it. Can anyone help me?
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sdavisva
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| Joined: | Tue Jan 15th, 2008 |
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Posted: Tue Oct 14th, 2008 02:46 am |
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Don't give up! I found the switch hard at first too - heavy loaves. The thing that saved me was using less flour (but only what I grind - I do not use any commercial flour) and using oil (instead of flour) to do any hand kneading.
I use the bread beckers basic recipe (the one with the bread machine name in the title). I double it; mix and knead in my kitchen aid; and then I turn it out onto an oiled board. I give it a few moments of hand kneading and then set in a bowl for rising. Basically, I stop adding flour WAY before I would if I were using commerical flour and my dough is very soft. My bread now is just as soft as store bought.
Hope that helps!
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Gigmaster
Member
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Posted: Tue Nov 25th, 2008 05:14 pm |
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I don't allow commercial flour, cornmeal, or any other processed grains in my house...period! I make my own bread, biscuits, specialy flours, oatmeal, masa, cornmeal, grits, etc.... I am no longer able to eat processed junk. I have been permanantly spoiled.
You've been using too much flour. Try easing off on the amounts, and increasing the rising times, or even add another rise. You can also add more yeast.
I promise you, if you stick to it, you will eventually get it just right, then you will not want to eat anything processed again.
Bon Apetit
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JulieMo
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| Joined: | Sat Mar 22nd, 2008 |
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Posted: Wed Dec 31st, 2008 08:35 am |
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I use a mix of freshly ground hard red wheat berries and soft white wheat berries. I grind the berries on the finest setting. I also add 2 TBS gluten and 1 tsp dough enhancer as I am mixing the dough. This produces a nice loaf that is mild in taste and light in texture.
Hope this helps,
Julie +
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Gigmaster
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Posted: Wed Dec 31st, 2008 09:51 am |
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| Adding flax seed makes the loaf lighter and softer as well.
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JeanM
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Posted: Sun Jan 25th, 2009 04:39 pm |
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Gigmaster wrote: Adding flax seed makes the loaf lighter and softer as well.
Do you grind the flax seed? Till it's a powder or just into flakes?
Thanks!
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KSherrill
Moderator
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Posted: Sun Jan 25th, 2009 11:38 pm |
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| Definitely a powder. Whole seeds will do nothing to make your bread soft, but groud flax can do wonders. A coffee grinder works well for this. Never use your grain mill! It will gum up the motor because of the oils in the seeds.
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JeanM
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Posted: Sun Jan 25th, 2009 11:55 pm |
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KSherrill wrote: Definitely a powder. Whole seeds will do nothing to make your bread soft, but groud flax can do wonders. A coffee grinder works well for this. Never use your grain mill! It will gum up the motor because of the oils in the seeds.
Thanks so much! I knew they should be ground somewhat, but I've always just ground them a little and they looked like flakes, but today I got carried away and I got a powder out of them! Then I wondered if that was how I should be grinding them anyway.
Jean
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Gigmaster
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Posted: Mon Jan 26th, 2009 02:53 pm |
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| Grind the flax seed in a coffee grinder as fine as you can.
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JeanM
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Posted: Mon Jan 26th, 2009 03:22 pm |
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| Thanks!!!
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