Sourdough Flours, Flour for making Sourdough, Sourdough Bread Flour (2024)

FAQs

Sourdough Flours, Flour for making Sourdough, Sourdough Bread Flour? ›

Ideally your strong flour should be between 12.5-14% protein and non organic, especially if you are new to sourdough as non organic flours are stronger and will make your introduction into sourdough smoother.

Ideally your strong flour should be between 12.5-14% protein and non organic, especially if you are new to sourdough as non organic flours are stronger and will make your introduction into sourdough smoother.

If this is your first time making sourdough, I'd recommend starting with all-purpose flour because it tends to behave the most predictably. If you're feeling ready to branch out, just start feeding the starter with whatever whole-grain flour you would like to use for baking.

While bread flour is the best option, it can sometimes be used if you don't have bread flour. “Check the protein content,” advises Chef Jürgen, since it can vary from brand to brand, and an all-purpose flour that contains protein on the higher end of the range, 12 to 13 percent, will produce a better outcome.

The flour you use the dust the banneton is key to the dough not sticking. Rice flour is the best flour to dust the banneton with prior to adding your dough. It's best not to use all purpose flour at all for this job.

Bread flour is a high protein flour, usually made from hard wheat varieties. It contains about 12- 13% protein, depending on the brand. Because it's a “strong” flour, it's excellent for chewy bagels, artisan-style sourdough bread and anything else that needs structure and height.

It's perfectly fine to use it, I've used it in mine & I have no problems. It could work well for some "discard" recipes, but not good for feeding the starter.

One way to ensure a structurally strong starter is to use some proportion of high-protein flour (above 11%) such as King Arthur all-purpose flour, or, if you can find it, high-gluten bread flour.

Can I use 00 flour to make sourdough? 00 flour is finely ground flour with a slightly lower gluten content than other flour types. While this is perfect for baking an Italian pizza crust, it's not so great for sourdough.

What Flour Should I Be Feeding My Sourdough Starter With? You can feed your sourdough starter with any flour you like, as long as it provides the starches the wild yeast in your sourdough starter need to convert to Co2 to rise your dough. The flour you choose should always be unbleached flour.

What is the healthiest flour for sourdough bread? ›

Rye Flour

Compared to wholemeal flour, rye flour is said to be the most nutrient and amylase-dense option for a sourdough starter. Overall, it has a lower gluten protein content than wheat flour, which means that rye flour produces slack, sticky and dense doughs.

There are 4 types of wheat flour that are most used in bread recipes. : all-purpose flour, bread flour, whole wheat flour and white whole wheat flour.

The difference between bread flour and 00 flour is the protein content, and therefore the gluten levels. Strong bread flours tend to have higher levels of gluten compared to 00 flour. 00 flour is also less absorbent than bread flour, meaning less water is required when using 00 flour.

Over the past decade-plus of baking, I've tested all manner of flour from whole grain wheat to spelt to einkorn, and while they all do work, my preferred flour to use when creating a sourdough starter is whole grain rye flour and white flour (this can be all-purpose or high-protein bread flour).

Give your sourdough a gentle rub to spread the water around. 2. Dust your loaf lightly with flour.

For basic baking needs we can definitely recommend the two below that we have used ourselves: Laucke Wallaby Bakers Flour, 5kg bag (11.9g protein), best for sourdough bread, afforable and readily available in most stores. Your easiest pick that always works.

You can feed your sourdough starter with any flour you like, as long as it provides the starches the wild yeast in your sourdough starter need to convert to Co2 to rise your dough. The flour you choose should always be unbleached flour.

Sourdough bread can be made with whole grain flour or with white flour. White bread and whole grain breads, including whole wheat bread, are made with flour, water, and yeast, but minimal fermentation. White bread is made using white, or refined, flour which is stripped of a lot of its nutrients during processing.

whole wheat flour increases fermentation activity.

Sourdough relies on a mix of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria, rather than baker's yeast, to leaven the dough. It's richer in nutrients, less likely to spike your blood sugar, contains lower amounts of gluten, and is generally easier to digest than bread made with baker's yeast.