[Sca-cooks] was Libum recipe now whole wheat bread

[Terry Decker]

You're making some assumption which aren't necessarily true.  A whole wheat
flour does not necessarily have more bran than white flour nor does it
necessarily have less protein per unit volume.  Whole wheat flour has wheat
germ in it.  White or unbleached flour does not.  Protein is dependent upon
the protein content of the grain being milled.  Whole wheat and white flour
made from the same grain will have approximately the same protein content.
To produce whole wheat, commercial mills tend to return wheat germ and bran
to the flour, which does produce the effect you describe.

In the past, I've purchased a bulk whole wheat pastry flour which has very
little bran and is a soft flour between all purpose flour and cake flour.
King Arthur's White Whole Wheat Flour is a high protein whole wheat flour
that resembles unbleached flour.  Both of these flours are probably very
close to "thrice-boulted" flour and the latter makes a fine loaf of bread
although the former is probably closer to Medieval flours.

Bear

>Whole wheat flour, because of the presence of the bran, has less protein
per
>unit mass (or per unit volume) than white flour. Less protein means less
>gluten, and therefore breads made with 100% whole wheat flour are unable to
>support the gas bubble structure under the weight of themselves. You could
>try adding some vital wheat gluten (look in the baking supplies near the
>flour and yeast), but I suspect you will need at least SOME bread flour to
>support the structure. At the least, look for flours specifically for bread
>machine baking - they have the highest protein levels of any flour on your
>grocer's shelf.
>
>****************
>Reb Avraham haRofeh