Non-white flour bread recipes

[chandos]

Hello to all,
I have never posted here before and hope I am doing it right. I have baked simple bread recipes for a few years with varying amounts of white flour, from 100% white to 25% white. I recently discovered that a medical condition I have is a lot worse when I eat white flour. It doesn't seem to be a gluten thing, whole wheat is okay. I was reading the recent post about bread rising higher and am looking for even more information about 100% whole wheat flour recipes and 100% spelt flour recipes. I'm guessing these won't rise very well but I am limited now in my choice of flours. So my questions are: Does anyone have any recipes using 100% non-white flour? How do I keep from getting door-stop loaves? You all seem so knowledgeable and helpful. Thank you for any help you can give me. I'm sorry this is so long.

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[BakerAunt]

Hi, Blanche. Welcome to Nebraska Kitchen!

The highest proportion of whole grain bread that I have baked is the Honey Spelt Sourdough Bread on the King Arthur site. In addition to what was in the sourdough starter, I used 1 cup King Arthur AP flour, but the rest was four cups of spelt flour. I was amazed at how light that bread was. I did use an Emile Henry long baker, but some of the people who commented on that recipe had devised ways of baking the bread without using one. I think that the levain is one factor in getting a lighter bread.

I have baked the Grandma A's Ranch Hand Bread, in the Nebraska Kitchen recipes here, as a little over 50% whole wheat (with some flax meal added in). You might want to take one of your good 50% recipes and see if you can "push it up," by substituting a 1/2 cup more of whole wheat each time and noting the results.

The King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book, while not just about yeast breads, is a valuable resource.

You will find that all of us on this site do a lot of experimenting, and we report back whether the results are good or not so good (we've all had our share of bad days in the kitchen), and that helps us to learn and to improve as bakers. Wonky, one of our very experienced bakers, tried very hard to produce a 100% spelt bread, but she reported that she just could not get a light enough loaf. Her experiences inspired me to try the spelt bread recipe that I mention at the start of this post.

I'm sure others will have suggestions for you as well. Welcome again.

[Mike Nolan]

According to researchers, what happens on a microscopic level with whole grain breads is that the sharp edges in the bran cut the forming gluten chains, so you don't get a big gluten net to hold in air.

Peter Reinhart's Whole Grains Breads book has a number of 100% whole grain breads, but also a number of transition breads with increasing amounts of whole grain flours. The Broom Bread recipe in that book is 100% whole grain, it is excellent and rises fairly well, but it takes a long rise.

With whole grain breads you have to knead longer and allow extra rising time.

Another possibility is to add extra gluten by adding some vital gluten.

If gluten isn't your problem, you could also try some rye or barley flour recipes, they have some gluten but not as much as wheat flour. I found a 100% rye flour recipe online a few years ago, it takes some practice to not get a brick but it is still fairly dense, like a firm pumpernickel.

Welcome to My Nebraska Kitchen.

[chocomouse]

Welcome, Blanche! I"m sure you will enjoy our conversations. King Arthur Flour has a number of whole wheat recipes on their website. I've tried several of them and the rise and crumb was excellent. You might also do a search of the site for spelt and other flour recipes.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Welcome on board. This is a great group with a wealth of knowledge.

I've only made small forays into whole grain breads. I do add whole wheat flour to pizza dough and pancakes. I also add flax meal and more recently I've started adding chickpea flour. I'm going for more fiber and more protein for my kids.

I have a list of things to try with rye bread. It has a long rise, as Mike suggests, and while my loaves are far from being door stops they are not as light as what I can buy from local bakeries. Still I have a list of things to try and I will let you know my results.

I may also start working on whole wheat because I really need to have both those breads in my repertoire. I've tried a KAF whole wheat recipe that included orange juice to tame some of the WW bitterness and that part did work well.

[Mike Nolan]

Blanche, I'm a bit curious as to what it is in the white flour that you're reacting to that doesn't show up with whole wheat flour. What brand/type of flour were you using, was it bleached and brominated? Nearly all packaged flour is enriched, including whole wheat flours.

[skeptic7]

I really recommend Laurel's Kitchen Bread Cookbook for all whole wheat recipes and advice on making those breads. I find it easier to make relatively flat breads like focaccio and English Muffins and baking flat quick breads like biscuits and scones, and cornbread in 8x8 and 9x9 pans.

Since the doughs are relatively heavier it helps to spread them out instead of forcing them to rise high. Also using eggs makes the dough rise better since beaten eggs add structure.

A light whole wheat bread requires greater care than a white flour bread, for example I find that scalding milk is optional for a white flour bread, but a whole wheat bread made with nonscalded milk doesn't rise as high as one made with scalded milk.

[chandos]

Thank you all for the welcome and taking time to respond. Mike, I don't know what it is about the white flour that aggravates pain. My neurologist said that is not uncommon and I should experiment to find out what works for me. Even eating pretzels causes a problem so I switched to popcorn for an evening snack and that helped a lot. I use only King Arthur flours but not organic. I will look into the two baking books mentioned. I have never heard of Peter Reinhart but am anxious to try some new recipes. I recently retired and have plenty of time to wait for bread to rise! I liked the comment that people on this site experiment and then post their results. What a great way to learn!

[Mike Nolan]

I'm not sure organic flours are any better than ones that aren't certified as organic.

My daughter-in-law had a problem with wheat that caused her to break out in rashes, but she can control it with medications. But when she's here I try to minimize cooking and baking with wheat flour. She doesn't have a problem with rye or barley.

Doctors used to label all the wheat allergies as Celiac disease, but there are at least five different types of allergies or reactions to wheat products, and wheat is also suspected as being a trigger food for children with ADHD.

[Mike Nolan]

Peter Reinhart has written several books on baking (I have at least 6 of them), and is a teacher of baking science at Johnson and Wales University in North Carolina. His book "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" won the James Beard Award for best cookbook. I helped test several of the recipes in his "Artisan Breads Every Day" book.

One of these years I hope to make it to the Asheville Bread Festival, where Peter is one of the regular lecturers. I've exchanged a number of emails with him, but haven't met him in person.

[Joan Simpson]

Welcome Blanche wishing you success in your baking and glad you've joined in posting.We all love to cook and bake and enjoy the help and encouraging we receive from each other.We learn everyday!

[skeptic7]

Blanche;
WHat sort of breads do you like to eat? to cook? I normally just buy sandwich bread, but I bake muffins and scones out of whole wheat. I've made apple crisp out of whole wheat, and I've made apple crisp without any wheat flour by using ground oatmeal.
If you are just trying to avoid white flour, you can eat more corn -- Southern cornbread and Mexican Tacos are wheat free. Northern cornbread can be made with half whole wheat flour and half cornmeal. Southern spoonbread is also all cornmeal.
It isn't a bread but rice is gluten free.

[chandos]

Again, thank you for all the comments and suggestions. Skeptic7, I like all sorts of bread and muffins. Scones are out because of the fat. I am trying to get off medication and have cut it in half twice. Am almost down to the lowest dose by eating more plant based foods. I'll never be totally a plant based person but increasing the lentils, beans, fresh veggies and whole grains has helped a lot.

Mike, are you a professional baker? You have had a lot of experiences beyond what I could imagine.

[Mike Nolan]

No, I'm not a food industry professional, I'm what most people would call a serious home baker, though in the past 4 years I have taken a week-long class in pastry making (pies, tarts, turnovers, etc) at the San Francisco Baking Institute and a week-long class in chocolate at the Chocolate Academy in Chicago. Both classes were Christmas presents from my sons.

By training I'm an engineer/computer analyst, with a BS in Computer Science from Northwestern and an MBA from Nebraska. I retired in 2016 after a 43 year career as a computer programmer, systems analyst and database manager.

I first learned to bake from my sister when I was about 9, helping her make bread and cinnamon rolls. But I didn't do much baking until about 24 years ago, when we got a bread machine. It took me about 6 years to outgrow the bread machine in terms of what I like to bake, these days most of my breads are kneaded in a Kitchenaid mixer.

About 15 years ago I started doing most of the cooking for our family, because I was telecommuting/working from home and my wife works at the University of Nebraska.

Last year I joined the Bread Baker's Guild of America, they have a lower membership rate for student/home bakers. I'm hoping to take some BBGA classes later this year.

Because of my engineering training, I'm something of an experimenter in the kitchen.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Bread Baker's Apprentice" by Peter Reinhart is well worth the price even if you never use a recipe from the book. Chapter 1, "What Is It About Bread" is a great read. Mr. Reinhart's story about winning James Beard National Bread Competition and then going to bake makes this book worthwhile. I've been given it as a gift several times. Perhaps next time I will exchange it for one of his whole grain books.

Another interesting baker who has changed the way we bake is Jim Lahey. He is a commercial baker in New York and is at the front of the no-knead movement. He has some great stories of studying sculpture and going to Italy to pursue that and coming back a bread baker in his book My Bread.

Blanche, sorry if I missed it but what sort of equipment are you using? As Mike notes he outgrew his bread machine to a KitchenAid. I used to use my KitchenAid for bread but I tend to make batches that are at least four pounds of dough and my 5 quart bowl is just too small to handle it. Also I make bread a couple of times a year with some middle schoolers and I received some comments from parents whose kids wanted to buy expensive stand mixers. So I started making the dough by hand and found it easier than using my too small mixer.

Now based on comments here I may try to go back to my mixer to increase the rise of my breads. Of course that means I will need to reduce the recipe sizes.

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