Different types of Flour

[Catherine]

NB I made a loaf with Kamut flour this weekend. It was difficult to rise and quite heavy but different and tasty. I am going to try pasta with it this weekend.

[Nature's Babe]

Our local shop only stocks kamut as whole grain not as flour. I just cooked the whole grain in stock with ,lentils veg and spices Catherine, I haven't tried bread with it, it might be worth trying half wheat bread flour and half kamut, you might get flavour and a lighter bread then.

[John]

Agree with you NB.
I like to try less common flours like Kamut and Spelt and they work well in a 50:50 mix with strong white flour in the bread machine - using the wholewheat cycle. Just tried Pasta flour like this (white cycle) and it has made a superb loaf - a rich, very pale yellow white that makes superb toast. I always add 1/4 tsp of vit. C powder.

John

[Nature's Babe]

Hi John, Kamut and spelt flour make extra tasty crunchy buiscuits too.

Interested to see that they have developed a new type of aerobic rice which should help ease China's water shortages, reduce methane emitted and soil erosion.

http://www.indiawaterportal.org/node/4545

[Catherine]

Hi John Interested in your mixes for the bread maker. What is the make? As my breadmaker takes three hours for a white loaf, (I make half and half mix on a white cycle) I have a friend who has a bread maker hers takes five hours to make a loaf. I will try the kamut flour again and in the bread maker.

NB what recipe do you use for the biscuits or do you just substitute the flour in the recipe?

I have just put our breadmaker on a dough for flour cakes (tea cakes) with home made soup at lunchtime.

[Nature's Babe]

I just substituted the flour in peanut butter buiscuits Catherine, they came out fine, but you might find some special recipes on line

[Catherine]

Thanks I will try it and see what happens.

[John]

Hello Catherine
My bread machine is a Panasonic - one with a nut/fruit dispenser at the top.
The white cycle takes 4 hours and the wholemeal/wholewheat is 5 hours. There are 'rapid' options of 1:55 for white and 3 hours for wholemeal. The longer cycles give by far the best results. If I'm making anything other than a 100% white, I use the wholewheat cycle.
If you think your machine is just too quick with these slower flours, you could try making the dough then proving and baking in the normal way.
When I use these flours like spelt and so on, I've found that my machine will only give a good well formed loaf with white flour at a 50:50 mix.

John

PS Very pleased with my 'Sonic. Its over eight years old, working 4-5 times a week and still going strong - on its second pan now.

[Nature's Babe]

My machine is quite primitive, first elbow grease and then set to rise in the airing cupboard...quite satisfying though, and no hole in the base of the loaf.

[Catherine]

I have a loaf in the machine at the moment which is two cups of strong white flour, one cup and three quarter cups of Allinsons Wholemeal seed and grain bread flour and quarter of a cup of Wessex Mill six seed bread flour. Mine is an american machine and it seems that English cups are 10 fl oz and american's are 8 fl oz. Since starting to make bread again recently I have changed the way I measure (I lost my measuring cup so I now use a measuring jug which is much easier)

I am waiting to see how it comes out as I made one two days ago which had more of the six seed bread flour in and it did not rise as much as my normal loaves.

[Tony Hague]

PS Very pleased with my 'Sonic. Its over eight years old, working 4-5 times a week and still going strong - on its second pan now.

Me too, almost exactly the same story. Great machine, and quite eco too - it is actually much more energy efficient than using the oven, and by some calculations perhaps even better than commercial baking processes.