WHY WRITING A FLOUR GUIDE FOR SOURDOUGH BEGINNERS?
Are you a newbie baker, trying to figure out which flour to use when baking the perfect sourdough loaf? Perhaps you have roamed the baking forums on the internet where the real sourdough aficionados excel with their knowledge?
They talk about bread flour, unbleached flour, strong flour, Kamut, Spelt, Einkorn, red wheat, and all kinds of stuff you have never heard of.
Perhaps you feel a bit overwhelmed, but try to relax. Remember that you only need ONE type of flour to make great bread.
So which one should you choose? I will give you a suggestion in this flour guide for sourdough beginners. But before I do that, let’s go through the most common flour varieties for sourdough bakers.
WHEAT
Wheat flour is one of the most common varieties of bread. It is rich in gluten which is a protein that gives the dough elasticity and strength, making it easy to bake with.
Wheat flour is usually divided into three categories. All-purpose flour, bread flour, and whole wheat flour. As the name suggests, bread flour with its higher protein content is more suitable for baking bread than all-purpose flour.
When you add water to the flour, the protein starts to transform into gluten. And more gluten means more elasticity and strength which will help the dough to rise during fermentation.
Is it not possible then to bake sourdough bread with all-purpose flour? Of course, it is. But the odds are higher that you will get a better rise with bread flour.
In some countries, so-called bleached flour is also sold, which is a bit misleading because all flour is bleached. What distinguishes bleached and unbleached flour is the process itself. In the unbleached flour, the process takes place naturally, while the bleached flour is treated with chemical preparations to speed up the process.
There is an ongoing debate if a bleached flour is suitable for baking sourdough bread. Some say yes, and some say definitely no.
Here in Sweden, bleached flour doesn’t exist, so I have no experience of it. Therefore I have no opinion. But I have to admit that flour that has been bleached in a chemical process sounds a bit doubtful.
WHOLE WHEAT
When whole wheat flour is milled, the whole grain is taken care of, making it better from a nutritional point of view than regular wheat flour. It works fine to bake with only whole wheat, but the bread becomes slightly more compact than if you use bread flour. Many people, therefore, choose to mix whole wheat with bread flour or all-purpose flour.
Whole wheat flour absorbs quite a lot of water. Keep that in mind if you’re planning to exchange all-purpose flour or bread flour with whole wheat.
DURUM
Durum is a type of wheat flour, usually associated with pasta, with very high protein content. However, it does not develop as much elasticity as bread flour. Because of that, it’s common to combine it with bread flour or all-purpose flour.
It’s a must if you’re planning to bake Foccacia.
RYE
If you are going to bake with rye flour in Sweden, there are only two different varieties for ordinary consumers. Fine rye flour and coarse rye flour. Both are whole grain rye flour. There are other qualities for bakeries, but they are hard to find for ordinary consumers.
In the rest of the world, there seems to be a variety of qualities. Generally, rye flour does not seem to be as standardized as wheat flour, presumably because it is not used as much.
Here are some terms you might encounter.
White rye flour
This flour only contains the endosperm. All bran and germ have been removed.
Medium rye flour
Some but not all of the bran and germ have been removed.
Rye flour
A finely grained whole rye flour. All germ and bran are included in the flour.
Pumpernickel
A coarsely ground whole grain rye flour.
Rye flour contains much less gluten than wheat flour, and the quality is quite poor when it comes to holding together big gas bubbles. Because of that, bread baked with a high amount of rye flour tends to be dense with small gas pockets.
Rye flour is more sensitive to kneading compared to wheat flour, and you have to be a bit careful so you don’t overwork it, especially if you’re using a dough mixer. It also contains more free sugar, which speeds up the fermentation time.
One thing you may notice when baking with rye flour is that it requires more water than all-purpose and bread flour. So be prepared to add more water if necessary.
SPELT
Spelt is an ancient grain that has been cultivated for centuries. It has a high nutrition content and a nice, slightly sweet and nutty flavor. Spelt flour has become very popular among bakers, but it’s not as forgiving as ordinary wheat flour. It has a very high protein content, and it does develop gluten. But the gluten is not as strong as in ordinary wheat flour. The dough tends to spread out on the sides instead of rising upwards. Mixing Spelt with bread flour is one way to solve the problem. Spelt flour absorbs less water than wheat flour, so you may need to reduce the water amount.
KAMUT
Like Spelt, Kamut is an ancient grain with high nutrition content and superior taste. The grain is twice as big as the modern wheat we are used to baking with today. And just like Spelt flour, it has a slightly nutty flavor
It develops gluten, but not with the same elasticity as ordinary wheat. Therefore, bread baked with Kamut flour results in a soft and slightly dense crumb.
It’s common to mix Kamut flour with wheat flour to get a more open crumb.
Keep in mind that Kamut flour requires more water than ordinary wheat flour.
I think that is enough. You don’t need more options if you are a beginner. As I said before, you only need one kind of flour to make fantastic bread. It’s better to learn one flour before you’re trying to mix a whole bunch.
So which one shall you choose?
My suggestion is wheat. I know that sounds boring, but it’s the perfect choice for a beginner because it’s the easiest flour to bake with.
Perhaps you think you already know everything you need to know about wheat flour, but I promise, you don’t.
Baking with a sourdough starter is more complex than most beginners realize. Even with wheat flour.
But it’s not rocket science. Everybody can learn how to bake fantastic sourdough bread with some training.
Just let the learning process take the time it requires. It’s much easier to handle the problems you will encounter with more unusual and tricky flour types when you have learned the basics.
And don’t get discouraged if you fail. Everybody fails now and then, even experienced bakers. But hopefully, you will be a little bit more prepared with this flour guide for sourdough beginners.
Remember what Thomas Edison once said.
“I have not failed. I have just found 10000 ways that won’t work”.
17 Comments
Thanks for this interesting post. My favorite is Kamut. Excellent colour, as well.
Glad you liked it, Anita. I have to admit that I’m not that familiar white Kamut. It’s hard to find here in Sweden.
Can you make sour dough in a bread maker?
Great article thank you! Spelt is so yummy!
Is it true that sourdough enables the GI tract to ingest far more nutritional values as it breaks down the grains to to properly absorbed?
Cheers
Ros
I have never tried to bake in a bread maker, so I don’t know. But I can’t see why it shouldn’t work.
I have heard that the sour environment in a sourdough helps degrade something called phytate, making it’s easier for the body to absorb minerals and such. But I’m not an expert, so I don’t know.
I’m glad you liked the article by the way.
Hi Tomas!
First off all thanks for your helpful articles and tips!
I have a couple of questions about the flours that you mentioned in this article and specifically how to find them in Sweden.
I’m Italian but I leave in Sweden since a couple of years. I’m trying to bake a good bread but I’m having trouble to find the correct flour.
The first question is about the durum wheat flour. In South Italy it’s really common the 100% durum wheat bread and I tried to bake it using a commercial durumvetemjöl (Kungsörnen). The result is a tasty but compact bread. I tried to do the same with a good quality durum wheat flour from Italy and the result was much better. The question is: can you suggest me a good quality flour that I can buy here in Sweden?
The second question is similar but concerning the bread flour (I guess it’s the one that in Italy it’s called “tipo 1”, something in between the all-purpose flour and the whole wheat one). What’s the Swedish name for it?
Tack för din hjälp!
Paolo
Hi Paolo.
Honestly, I think Swedish Durum flour is a bit inferior compared to what you can get in Italy. But I would be very happy if I was wrong, so if there is anyone out there that can tell us about some great Swedish durum flour, please let us know.
Perhaps it’s possible to buy Italien Durum flour on Internet. I know that you can buy it from Kolonialvaror.se. The problem is that they only sell 25 kg bags.
I will see if I can find some more information.
The name bread flour is actually a wheat flour with higher protein content. In Sweden you can use “Vetemjöl Special”. Check the protein content on the bag. It should be 12-13%.
Now you have to correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Tipo 1 a mix of wheat flour and whole wheat flour. If so you can use anything called “vetemjöl med fullkorn”.
I hope that will be of some help.
Hi I am new to sourdough bread making and getting better every time, one question I would like to try making my next loaves with Brown bread wheat flour, can I just replace same quantity as the white bread flour? Or do I use half and half? Thanks Pam
Hi Pam,
When you say brown bread flour, I assume you mean whole wheat. You can replace white wheat with whole wheat, but you should be prepared that the bread will be more dense and compact. The taste will probably be great, but you will not get as much volume.
Hej, thanks for the quick reply.
I will have a look on the website that you suggested,and maybe I will try to mix the Durumvetemjöl with a stronger flour.
The tipo 1 is not a mix of different flour, it’s a type of flour less refined because it contains a greater quantity of bran and wheat germ. Let’s say that the difference is the “sifting rate” (“abburattamento” in Italian). But maybe the vetemjöl med fullkorn could work.
I’ll let you know once I have tried.
Paolo
I bought sourdough flour from the store. I thought that it was what you use for sourdough bread. However now that I am doing research I see that is not the case.
How do you think I could use sourdough flour? I can’t find any recipes that use this type of flour.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you very much,
Chelsey
Hi Chelsey.
If it is what I think it is, it’s ordinary flour with added sourdough flavor. We have something similar here in Sweden. They add some sort of “sourdough powder” (whatever that is) to make it taste like sourdough bread.
You add yeast, salt and, water and bake with it the same way as with ordinary flour.
I love the way strong whole wheat flour rises for sourdough starters/bread, but it is too water-absorbent to work with (it is a canon ball at 76% and impossible to stretch and fold).
When I add unbleached all purpose (strong or regular), the viscosity is better but my starter doesn’t give a strong rise.
Should I just bake anyway? Is this a symptom that the flour is rancid? What gives?
Hi Gabrielle.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I assume we are talking about the viscosity and rise in the starter and not the final dough. If so, it’s not strange if you get a better rise with whole wheat. There are more microorganisms and nutritions in whole wheat compared to all-purpose flour, the same goes for whole rye. That’s why many bakers add some whole wheat or even rye in their starter, myself included. It makes it more active. I would continue to add at least some whole wheat to the starter if you notice that the activity goes down.
Hi Tomas, love the article!! I’m a newby to sourdough but I’ve decided to make my own flour with 4 kg dark whole wheat, 1 kg each of oats, barley, soybeans and teff. Please let me know if this type of combination will work or if I should add all purpose and should I use the combination flour to make my starter? Thanks in advance for your time.
Hi Tezeta,
I have never tried that combo myself, but I do think it’s worth a try. Bear in mind, though, that you will get a pretty dense bread due to low or nonexistent gluten content in many ingredients.
It doesn’t have to be something negative as long as you are aware of it.
I think you can use all those flours in your starter. All of them should be fermentable, but my advice is that you stick with whole wheat to start with, especially if you are a beginner. When you have established a strong starter, you can always add other flours and see how your starter reacts.
Good luck, and happy baking.
Wow. Thanks for the response. Was thinking that the whole wheat and the soy would have enough gluten/protein. I was also told that the barley was for bread as opposed to beer. We have a long tradition of sourdough bread here so I’m assuming the shop keeper would know. Maybe I’ll add some more wheat before having it milled but like you said keep the starter simple to start with. Again thank you ?
Soy is high in protein, but not in protein that will transform to gluten. As a matter of fact, I think soy is gluten-free. Barley contains gluten, but not as much as wheat flour. Perhaps around 5 to 8% compared to 12 to 14%.