Winging it with flax seeds

Made a loaf of 100% whole sprouted Red Fife like last week’s, this time w/ 40 g of flax seeds soaked for about 7 hours. I have not used seeds, soaked or otherwise, in any of my recipes until now. I wasn’t sure whether to drain the flax seeds or not; drained them a bit but what was left was a gloppy seedy mix. The resulting dough was wayyyyy too wet, so I added more flour from the bag, without weighing or measuring. Did a series of stretch and folds in the bowl, and proofed overnight for about 14 hours.

I began w/ 450 grams of sprouted Red Fife, 75 grams starter, and about 350 grams of water, not including the seed soaking water, but I have no idea where I ended up. This was a high H2O dough. Moving the proofed loaf into the banneton was a challenge, it was so wet and sticky. In the end it turned out great, and has good crumb for a whole wheat seeded loaf.


3 Likes

SusanMc,

Lovely looking loaf! Have you made bread with 100% Red Turkey as well? I’m curious how the two hard red wheats compare with one another. Any outstanding differences?
Thanks,
~ irene

Looks nice! I add flax seeds to the flour for the preferment. So they soak in there. Works well. I think gives the bread also a nice consistency and it is good for your digestion. Was a while ago that I worked with that formula, think got the hydration right by trail and error. Love flax seeds in my bread.

1 Like

Irene,

I have not yet tried Turkey Red. A lot of people really like it though. Sometime in the next few months I will probably break down and get myself a Mockmill or something similar, since at present I’m limited to baking with store-bought flour.

My favorite flour so far is whole spelt - delicious!

Susan, thanks for your reply. I’m hoping someone who has used both hard red wheats will chime in with an opinion.

And in the mean time, as a very happy owner of a Mockmill (from Breadtopia), I’ll venture to say that there’s nothing ‘similar’. The Mockmill is so compact, so efficient and so straightforward in its ease of operation that I suspect it’s outselling most other home mills.

Just my not at all unbiased opinion. :slight_smile:
~ irene

@trillium, I have a Mockmill 100 that I purchased from Breadtopia a little more than a year ago and I absolutely LOVE IT! Also, I have purchased and baked with both the Turkey Red and the Red Fife whole wheat berries that I’ve purchased from Breadtopia and then ground using my Mockmill. Frankly, I really like both of these whole wheat berries and I honestly don’t have a favorite of the two. While I’m sure there may be subtle differences in them, I’m hard pressed to really discern anything appreciable. I do keep bags of both berries in my freezer and tend to use them interchangeably when desiring a heartier whole wheat. I’ve even used both in the same loaf of bread. I also keep a supply of white whole wheat berries when I want to use whole wheat in some of my recipes but don’t want the heartier whole wheat flavor, such as when I bake the cranberry pecan sourdough which is one of my favorites.

Leah

2 Likes

Bread looks great.

Thank you for the recommendation!

Leah, thanks for sharing your impressions of the similarity of the two wheats. I’m always torn between wanting to try everything and wanting a delicious whole grain loaf I can bake twice a week while mentally digging weeds in the vegetable beds! Too much good stuff!

I’m glad to hear your enthusiasm for your Mockmill. I bought my first grain mill about ten years ago and found it so tedious to use and clean that I gave it to a friend. I didn’t even consider buying a replacement until I saw the videos about the Mockmill. It’s a joy to use, there’s no cleanup beyond a quick wiped down with a damp rag. But I have to admit that it’s loud. I keep my ear plugs amongst my baking stuff!

You got me giggling! YES! I have to agree that my Mockmill is a bit loud. You should have seen the look on my puppy’s face the first time he heard me use it. It didn’t scare him but he gave me that look…you know that look…the one that says “Mommy, what ARE you doing?” BUT, like you wrote, it is amazingly easy to use with virtually no upkeep. Puppy ignores it now. It doesn’t phase him.

I never had a grain mill before. My Mockmill is my first mill and I honestly believe will be my one and only. I do love it that much. I only use it for milling flour for bread so I don’t even have to change the settings. I know you can crack grains and use it for more than I use it for, which is just for my sourdough breads. Every once in a while I adjust the stones to a more coarse setting and just run some white rice through it to clean and deglaze the stones though I honestly think I’ve only done that a couple of times because it hasn’t seemed necessary.

I’ve actually been trying to think of what differences I may have between the Turkey Red and the Red Fife. They both bake up beautifully for me and I do believe they can be used interchangeably without issue. In hindsight, Between the two I believe I personally lean more in favor of the Turkey Red for a couple of reasons.

  1. I like the fact that it’s an heirloom grain that is being brought back into production. It was a grain that was almost lost and being rediscovered now. I like that.
  2. The flavor profile of the Turkey Red, in my opinion, is milder than the Red Fife. I enjoy baking bread as gifts. The Turkey Red has a milder flavor. I find that my bread recipients are more receptive to eating my whole wheat sourdough because it has a milder flavor and doesn’t scream “strong whole wheat taste” that some people just don’t care for.

Other than also baking sourdough rye bread (I love Breadtopia’s whole rye berries), I haven’t branched out into experimenting with other whole wheat berries to grind in my Mockmill; at least not yet, LOL. BTW, I blend my Turkey Red or my Hard White Wheat berries with Breadtopia’s Organic High Protein Bread Flour, which helps give me a higher rise to my breads. The other bread flour that I’ve used and also really like is Breadtopia’s Select Bread Flour which has more whole grain in it already. Both are excellent bread flours to combine with other whole grain though I do find that the High Protein Bread Flour gives me a higher rise.

Thanks to Eric and Breadtopia, I am a very committed and satisfied home bread baker!

Leah

Excellent result. 100% whole grain, sprouted no less, is not an easy bake. I use flax a lot, which I grind, because they aren’t easily broken down so it’s more nutritious. They are very gelatinous. Hamelman’s Bread has many soaker recipes, including flax. It’s a great book in every way. I use soakers nearly every time I bake.

1 Like

Thank you, Leah. Happy baking! :woman_cook:t2: