Tale of five flours

Performance of Selected Guistos  and King Arthur flours for simple rolls.

 Guistos, from San Francisco makes several type of flours for the baker.  I did a little comparison of a few of their flours along with king Arthur Bread flour and  Nashes organic hard red wheat.

Flours compared

1. Guistos organic Bakers choice
2. Guistos Keith's best unbleached 
3. Guistos artisans malted bread
4. King Arthur Bread 
5. Nosh's organic hard winter wholewheat

Methods

I mixed up 5 small 250 gram dough balls all under the same environmental conditions and at the same time.

The ambient temp was 70 deg F.

I choose moderate hydration of 65%

2% salt, 1% instant yeast.

I mixed all small dough balls for 5 min each by hand

Fermented them room temp for 3 hours , shaped them into small rounds , and baked them all together at 450 deg F for 10min then 425 for another 15 min 

Results

All the flours had a similar feel and look  with the exception of the bakers choice which had a more cream color to it

Right off the bat I could tell that Keiths best and the artisan flours were less thirsty , in fact the artisan flour felt to me the way caputo 00 flour mixes. Guistos Bakers choice and the King Arthur were the most similar but King Arthur was more thirsty making a stiffer dough. The most slack dough was with the artisan blend. Of course the stiffest dough was the Nashes whole wheat water hog. Another reason to remember you cannot substitute WW in recipes for regular flour unless you up the Hydration at least 10%

Mixed up ready for kneading

After 5 min of kneading

Kneading response

I had to use slap and fold methods for all except the Whole wheat , and the last couple minutes with the KA flour. I worked each one for five minutes and did a quick check of gluten development

Here is how they looked before baking 

 

 Baking 

They all baked up about the same , the only noticeable difference was with the Artisan flour which gave the best spring. Even the Brick like 100% Whole wheat at 65% hydration looked pretty good.

 Crumb and taste

Well, they were all pretty close. the KA had the tightest crumb and the Artisan the lightest.  As you can see from the crumb shots below - there was not much difference.

Taste wise , the KA and the Bakers choice had the most toothieness, the Keith's best had a slight sourdough taste - (expected because it contains ascorbic acid)

Not to waste any fresh bread

I made a pulled pork sandwich choosing the artisan roll, and my wife made a veggie burger with the bakers choice roll. I froze the rest . and the dogs got a little too. 

 Conclusion

All the guistos performed slightly lighter than the KA and were less thirsty. So you would need to adjust the hydrations if your used to KA for example. I think the Artisan was quite nice but I am not sure it justifies the additional cost of it.  for the Keith's  best, If I want a flour with ascorbic acid , I will add my own or use a SD starter. Also Keith's best says it has other "enhancements" but does not say exactly what enhancements ? 

Next Steps

Use the flours in a  couple full complex breads with preferments

Try the Guistos 00 flour in my pizza oven compared to Caputo 00.

Master Bread Recipe?

I know some (many) bakers have a master recipe from which all their breads derive ( i.e. Chad Robertson). I think all of of stumbles upon what works best for us.
I am getting close to a master recipe that seems to work well for many combinations. But I am still working on it.
I keep a 100% whole wheat Starter
I feed it twice before baking.

So far what seems to work well is the following formula:

• 75% hydration
• 20-25% levain or starter as a % of the d total dough weight
• 2% salt 
• I usually boost the levain by adding a pinch of instant yeast because most of my breads are whole grain
• Flour combination :
• 50% AP
• 35%  Locally milled Whole Wheat 
• 10% Spelt
• 5% rye

I don't know, but this flour combination seems to play well together

For this latest bread , I folded in a seed mix of sesame, flax, sunflower, and pumpkin after kneading and fermenting, right before the final shaping.

Dried Fig Pizza with a cherry glaze

Sounds weird but it works
We had made a cherry glaze reduction for our roasted duck and we had extra. I know that I like my pear and Gorgonzola pizza with caramelized onion and fennel so I thought I would try a take on that.
This pizza:  ( 65% hydration ,KA bread flour fermented 36 hours)

• Caramelize onion
• Fire roast a bell pepper
• Cheese mix:  Gorgonzola, Fresh Mozzarella, and aged cheddar
• Fresh basil and thyme
• Dried sliced figs
• Cherry balsamic glaze 

Dried Fig and Roasted Walnut Sourdough

I searched around for recipes and could not find anything that I liked. I knew I wanted to use up some tasty dried figs before I ate them all like candy.  I  created a recipe based on the experience that  75% hydration works well for whole grain breads , and I have had good luck miking some Spelt and a small amount of rye. I also wanted 15-25% sourdough.
Formula 
Total dough wt 1200gm ( not including figs and walnuts)
Hydration 75%
Starter 25% (fed twice before)
Flour
KA Bread: 50%
WW: 35%
Spelt: 10%
Rye: 5%
Barley malt syrup 1tsp

~ 1 cup chopped dried figs
~ 1 cup pan roasted chopped walnuts

Process:

• Autolyse flours 30-40min
• mix 1 min drizzle in barley malt syrup ( could also use honey)
• Add in pinch of yeast as booster because of the figs and nuts
• Add salt (2%)
• Add in starter 
• Mix (Bosch universal plus)  3min speed 1 then 2 min speed #2
• rest a few min while cleaning up
• dump onto counter and 1-2 stretch and floods
• bench rest 1hr with S&F X2 at 30 min and 60min
• Cold ferment 4-5 hours
• Shape and proof ~ 2hrs ( depending on temp)
• Bake 475F 20min covered then  uncover and bake 20min at 450, then 10min at 425

 You can see the figs and walnuts in the cut ends. This bread is figalicious , sweet and moist, the kind of bread you can just eat plain even without butter.  Great with cheese and soups. I am going to make some killer grilled cheese with it.

Desayuno para el nuevo año

Nothing better than home made #croissants for the new years morning.
Croissants are always tricky - so many variables and opinions. This is only my third attempt. I need a few more times to get it right , but they sure were tasty- plain and with Cherry Jam.