As you read in our last blog post, Why Choose Fresh-Milled Flour, we prefer to use organic fresh-milled flour rather than shelf-stable processed flour any day (every day, in fact). You can add red fife flour to your cupboards to elevate your baked goods and other dishes to a whole new level. Red Fife is a heritage grain that has been said to be Canada’s oldest wheat variety. (For more detailed information on rye flour, have a read of my article “6 Reasons Rye is Popular in Sourdough & What to Know Before Using It”). I've been baking sourdough bread at home for years now and have had a journey full of successes and failures. Red Fife is a grain that originated in Scotland and was brought over here in the 1800’s. Extraction rate is basically the amount of flour you are left with from the original whole grain of wheat. You can also supplement sifted flours to add a whole grain flavour and nutrition boost. Once you feel confident making this type of loaf and understanding its behavior, you can move on to other flours. It consists of two large stones grinding the wheat berries down until it turns into flour. In other words, the higher the ash content, the more bran and germ there is in your flour (as this is where all the minerals are). Although Prairie Hard Red flour is our go-to, Red Fife is a close second. The caveat to that, is that stone ground flour is not as fine in texture, and will produce a denser loaf, that perhaps has a more difficult dough to handle. Although all brodflour flour utilizes the whole grain when milling, some of our flour is sifted so that only the finer flour is packaged to sell. All purpose flour tends to produce a more tender crumb, and bread flour produces a more chewy crumb. Higher protein flours make doughs that are easier to knead and shape, and will produce higher rising loaves of bread with good structure. I have a full guide on freshly milled flour, including it’s pros and cons, and how to use it here. This produces a whole wheat flour that is courser in texture. Breads made with Red Fife flour bake up moister, with a cohesive crumb. Anson Mills also carries Red Fife, as well as flour made from Red May wheat, a soft wheat that goes back to American colonial days. Emmer works well in muffins and quick bread like banana or soda bread. Spelt flour is a lighter, milder flour and works well in cookies and bars. Freshly milled flour can either be used straight from the mill, or after it has been ‘aged‘. Making notes means you will improve with every loaf of sourdough you make, because you will be able to look back and see what affected the bread. Because Red Fife has a high gluten content (13% protein), it can be used by itself or mixed with low gluten flours such as rye or spelt. It has a wonderful unique flavor and produces a beautiful golden colored bread. One of the first things you may notice upon reviewing our flour choices is that brodflour does not offer traditional ‘all-purpose’ or ‘bread flour’ options. The higher the ash content, the denser the texture, but the more complex the flavor. Freshly milled flour at home ¼ cup natural wheat germ. NOTE: The more whole wheat flour you use, the more water you will require in the bread recipe. Here’s a closer look into the some of the possible flours you can use for your sourdough bread, and what affect they may have on your bread result. 3. Our Sifted Red Spring Wheat Flour is the best for baking delicious sourdough and no-knead bread, or for use in any recipe that calls for All-Purpose Flour. So if you’re in a pinch, or on a budget, don’t worry too much. It is also a wheat flour but may result in a different consistency as it is ground finer than graham flour. When it comes to sourdough bread, we are counting on natural organic wild caught yeasts. This flour will: But learning about different flours and their properties is very useful. Pastry flour is designed to produce tender pastries than all-purpose flour. And the more you bake with it, the more you will learn to manipulate your sourdough until you achieve that perfect balance of flavors and textures. If you end up with a dough that is particularly difficult to handle, make use of a greased loaf tin to bake your bread in instead of a banneton. So one way to soften the learning curve is to add a small proportion of the new flour (maybe 10%) to begin with, and note down the difference it made to your usual loaf. Everybody loves receiving gifts. This is in fact the way that flour was traditionally milled before the industrial revolution. Freshly milled flour, whether roller milled or stone ground is a whole different league when it comes to flavor, nutrition and workability. For reference, here’s a quick list of extraction rate’s of flours: As mentioned earlier, there is a fine balance between having enough bran in the flour to develop flavor, but also having enough gluten development in it to give a good structure. Pastry flour has a protein content of around 7-8%. Roller milling is very harsh to the wheat berry both physically and how much heat is produced, and so nutrients are lost in the process far more, than in stone ground flours. What I've noticed with the Canadian All Purpose Unbleached Flour is that it comes together very fast and with little amount of water. Heirloom wheat are traditional forms of wheat that have made a big come back in recent years. You can swap it will all-purpose flour in recipes that require tenderness. 1 tsp white granulated sugar. This flour reminded me the most of the Con Agra Mills flour which produced such poor quality results, that I began this flour testing. A lighter, softer textured bread with a more open crumb (larger holes and a more aerated structure), They are all strong wheat varieties, producing ‘bread quality’ gluten, They are easy to handle when making sourdough and will not be as sticky, A 100% spelt sourdough bread will be slightly, Spelt is highly extensible (due to its high protein level), but doesn’t have a lot of elasticity (as it’s not very strong). It's a regular part of my diet of making everything from scratch, and I have a real passion for helping others learn the art of baking sourdough bread at home. Ash content will have an affect on the density and flavor of your bread. And is a superior bread flour, which attributes to it being the favorite wheat of the baking and milling industry of the 1800’s. I use my hands for mixing and kneading the bread. 1 ¾ cup cool water . All-Purpose Flour . Measuring Canadian flour in American recipes | The Fresh Loaf The theory is, that using organic flour contains a slightly different profile of mineral content, and doesn’t contain the added chemicals in it. This flour is relatively easy to handle, and is more likely to give you a successful loaf of sourdough bread with a high rise, and open crumb. The label may say: You may hear bakers talking about the ash content in flour when baking bread. Therefore, it is logical to choose organic flour whenever possible to bake sourdough bread, as it is natural and chemical free. Emmer is an ancient grain and has a beautiful nutty flavour. Many thanks. No matter what option you’ve chosen, it is important to store it properly in order to get the most out of your fresh-milled organic flour. Red Fife is one of Canada's oldest varieties of wheat; legend has it originating in Ukraine or Turkey. This is especially important if you are new to baking with sourdough. Using whole wheat flour in sourdough bread will give you: The more wholemeal you have in your sourdough, the more dense it will be, but the more flavor it will also have. An important point to note is that rye flour requires a lot more liquid so you may need to be generous with the amount you add. Here are some tips to start you off on your journey to sourdough success. Think of it like training, the more alternative flour you add, the more you will learn to handle different flours. Noodle flour, Pau flour, All-purpose flour or plain flour, Pastry flour: 9.5% – 10.5%: Low protein flour: Biscuit flour, Cake flour: 7.5% – 9%: Flour should be stored in a cool, dry place and preferably in a tightly sealed container. Here’s my complete guide to different flours, their properties, their pros and cons, and how/why to use each of them in a sourdough bake. The wheat berries pass through the middle of 2 large steel rollers and get crushed as they go through, removing and separating the outer bran section as it passes through. Whole wheat flour contains the entire grain of wheat. As long as you try your best to feed your sourdough starter with a good quality organic flour, your starter should be strong enough to still bake excellent bread whichever flour you use for the rest of the bake. It’s useful to understand these, so that you are better able to experiment with different flours and flavors with greater success. Now, pour the batter into the pan, drop dollops of the peanut butter mixture on top of the brownie mixture, then swirl a brownie knife through it to make a pattern. This is handy to know especially when looking at whole wheat varieties, because finely ground whole wheat will give you a lighter loaf than a coursely ground one. What type of flour is best to use for sourdough bread? When working with a new type of flour, use the guide above to understand its unique characteristics and adjust your recipe accordingly. The protein content can give you an idea of how much gluten can be developed, but the QUALITY of the gluten can better be determined by the strength of the flour. Toronto, ON M6K 3H1 There’s a reason why many artisan bakeries often add rye to their sourdough breads, and it’s because rye is like a super food for wild bacteia and yeasts, and is notorious for being the perfect addition to sourdough, adding wonderful complex fruity flavors. A high extraction rate flour will have far less bran and germ left in it than a low extraction rate flour. Using new flours, will inevitable be more difficult to use than ordinary bread flour. A cup of all-purpose flour weighs 4 1/4 ounces or 120 grams. For this reason, it is best for denser-style breads and cakes. Often referred to as Faith Red Fife (and also the oldest Canadian wheat), it has a different flavor compared to modern wheat, that of honey overtones and nuttiness. Now, where does brodflour’s flour fit in? Stone ground flour has made a bit of a comeback in recent years and shows no sign of slowing down. Spelt flour is the more common of the heirloom varieties, and known to be less harsh on the digestive system. The percentage of protein in each type of flour differs, and it is important for a bread baker to understand which protein level is right for them. matt@brodflour.com. This makes it a good middle-of-the-road flour that can be used for a whole range of baking, from crusty bread to cookies to fine cakes and pastries. 2 cups Red Fife flour – see below, no substitutions. taste: herbaceous, nutty, toasty color: caramel great for use in: Artisan and pan breads, cookies, biscuits, whole wheat pastries 4 lb. 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