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Great read Mark and Melissa, anyone baking with whole grains should read this article.
This was a great article. I think I could use a primer on bread baking terms. Is there somewhere I can improve my bread baking vocabulary?
I’m glad you enjoyed the article. This glossary might be of help. The baking and sourdough starter FAQs are pretty neat too 
Thank you I will do that now. I was unaware that the glossary was in the FAQ section.
Feel free to ask questions here if you don’t see something defined or if you want more details. (I think we’re planning to increase the visibility/searchability of that section at some point.)
Great article, thanks for doing all the experiments with detailed information. We recently did several rounds of our regular weekly sourdough using 15% spelt (the rest was a nice blend of hard wheat, High Protein and Turkey Red, 70% hydration) Our flours are about 75% whole grain. We are never aiming for open crumb, but these were quite dense and almost “gummy” Had to be left out longer. They were good as toast. We stopped using the spelt and our results were as before…no more gummy.
I have been making Einkorn sour dough bread weekly for about two-years and have successfully used some of the suggested technics, such as:
In addition, I avoid handling as much as possible after mixing, such as going as directly as possible from the Ankarsrum bowl to the proofing basket.
I also cheat by adding gluten – 2 T to a 1 kg loaf.
Great article Mark & Melissa! I usually limit my whole grain percentage to 25%-30% of the total flour and/or add gluten powder to maintain a nicely risen loaf, but with these techniques, I should be able branch out to using more whole grain ancient & heritage wheats in my baking. Thank you!
Very nice work sussing out the possibilities with these unique flours. I will try the slurry test. You are inspiring me to try more combinations. I also like to combine regular bread flour with whole wheat, eikhorn, or spelt (50/50). It seems by doing this I still get interesting flavors and overall fairly good gluten development.
There are so many fun mixes yet to try. Thank you for your excellent article.
G
Wow, perfect and timely post, thanks, Mark and Melissa! I also live in the mid-Atlantic and use locally grown organic grains. I’ve heard that these grains bake differently than those grown in the Northwest grain belt. I was interested that you cited the high humidity as a factor. Any idea why that affects the grains?
I actually have a 100% spelt bread bulk fermenting as I write this but mixed it before I saw your post. I’m anxious to try some of your suggested approaches. This time I can at least skip the cold retardation, although I liked Melissa’s suggestion of 20 minutes in the freezer to lessen dough oozage and facilitate scoring.
Always something new and wonderful to learn on Breadtopia! Thanks!
The slurry test idea is genius. I’ve been baking for about 40 years and have been milling my own grain for the last 4-ish. It’s been like learning to bake all over again with the home-milled grain. Some loaves are great, some are quite dense. You’ve given more ideas to play with. Thank you.
Thanks for the article! I’m really into baking with heritage grains and looking forward to trying some of these tips.
Where did you get the Redeemer flour? I’ve looked all over for it but haven’t been able to find a source.
I’m not sure I’ve got a complete answer regarding the impact of humidity. Certainly humidity can result in enzymatic activity that will weaken the capacity to form strong gluten. But my feeling is that it also somehow effects protein levels.
Next Step Produce (nextstepproduce.com) grows Redeemer. They don’t seem to do sales through the website, but you can call or email them to see if they have any available and, if so, how to get hold of some. I drove over to the farm to get mine.
Lewis, Small Valley Mill in Halifax, PA also sells Redeemer (and a number of other grains) - www.smallvalleymilling.com
One of Marks suggestions is to bake in a loaf pan. I just purchased a ceramic loaf pan for that purpose and would like to be able to do the final fermentation directly in the loaf pan since my oblong banneton is too big and the dough is deformed when I turn it into the loaf pan. But this makes preheating the pan in the oven, which I do with free-form loaves, impossible. Any suggestions on alterations I’d need to make for starting with a cold baking vessel?
Thanks Mark and Melissa for a very informative article.
Richard
Normally, when one bakes a pan loaf, the loaf is shaped like for a batard, but then put directly into a well greased loaf pan to proof. So it never goes into a proofing basket. Then, when proofed, you just pop the loaf pan into the oven. The pan loaf in my photo was baked in a ceramic loaf pan. 