[Sca-cooks] Emmer flour as samidh?

[Terry Decker]

Yes.  However, when fine wheat flour is called for, the period bolting 
process produces a roughly 75% extraction rate.  The average flour from your 
grocer's shelves have an extraction rate of roughly 72%.  Flour has a fat 
content from the wheat germ.  In one study, modern (probably roller milled) 
whole wheat had 2.76% fat content, while 64% extraction flour had 1.40% fat 
content.  There is a difference in the fat content of flours produced by 
roller milling which removes the germ during the first pass (making a 
separate salable product) and stone milling which does not remove the germ 
before bolting may alter the fat content of the flour, but I have no data on 
the extent of the difference.  Roller milled whole wheat has the germ 
returned to the milling and should produce no appreciable difference in fat 
content between the two processes.

Unless you are trying to accurately reproduce a flour, such as emmer, durum, 
or spelt flour, something like King Arthur's Unbleached White Whole Wheat or 
an unbleached all purpose flour should be adequate for most purposes, 
although the fat content may be lower than period flours.

Bear


> Does this mean that for all period recipes we should be using whole wheat 
> flour rather than white flour?
>
> On 9/1/13 9:32 AM, Terry Decker wrote:
>> Until the mid-19th Century and the introduction of roller milling all 
>> flour would have been whole grain with the bran included.  The question 
>> is whether or not the flour has been bolted to remove the coarse bits 
>> leaving fine flour.  If the bran and the shorts (coarse fiber byproducts 
>> AKA cellulose and cell structure material) are too coarse for your 
>> purposes, sieving the flour through a 40-mesh (610 micrometer) sieve 
>> should produce a flour equivalent to the finest Medieval flours.
>>
>> Bear