Disclaimer - Before we get into the test, it's worth mentioning that we are not connected with any flour vendor mentioned on this web site. We can't tell you where to find any of these flours outside our own home town, and we have no idea why the vendor discontinued your favorite flour, or why your favorite recipe is no longer on the back of the package. And now... here's the review of this flour.....

Where we bought it: As with the 20% Bran Flour Test, it can be argued that we made this flour, rather than having bought it. To 4 1/2 pounds of the 20 percent bran flour, we added 1/2 pound of medium Rye flour. At this time, I don't have pricing or nutritional information on the rye flour we used, so the information below is just an estimate.

Since this test, we've decided that keeping a separate bin of 20% bran flour plus rye at the ready is more trouble that it's worth. This is in keeping with our impression that Mr. Leader sometimes goes out of his way to make his, and our, lives more complicated than they need to be. Instead, we have been modifying our recipes, or formulas, that had been using 20% bran flour pus rye to use 70% unbleached white flour and 20% stone ground whole wheat flour and 10% medium rye flour. Our lives have been simplified, which is often a good thing.

What we paid for it: Around $1.10 for five pounds

Protein content: Around 11%

Interesting Vendor Story: No, not this time

Our first impressions: This flour handled water even more unusually than the 20 percent bran flour. When I added flour to a dough, the dough got very dry at once, but moistened up again with kneading.

Any special reason we're testing this flour: We liked what happened with the 20% Bran flour, but we've always liked what a touch of rye does for a bread. So, we decided to make the flour about 10% rye.

How'd we screw up the tests this time? Well, I did forget to slash the Simple Sourdough Pan bread, so the loaf tore a bit as it rose. The rye bread was odd... we did everything right, but we still aren't sure why the Bohemian Rye didn't rise the way it was supposed to.

Conclusions:

The Breads

The Bohemian Rye didn't rise as well as usual, for what science fiction movies refer to as "reasons unknown". A tough skin formed on the loaf, so we slashed the loaf. Upon baking, we observed substantial oven spring. The bread was very dense, and took substantially longer than usual to bake. The other loaves rose normally, so we don't know if this was "just one of those things", or if there is a problem with this modification to the recipe. The aroma was very rich with rye and caraway with little sour aroma. This also suggests that the starter hadn't, for some reason, done much. The crust browned nicely, it was thick, fairly crisp, and chewy. The crumb was very tight and moist with very small holes. It had a sweetish taste with a strong rye and caraway flavor. The taste was fine, but the bread was just too heavy.

When we hear the word Ciabatta our ears perk up. It's a fine bread, a fun bread. The aroma was deep and complex with rye, wheat, and sour aromas present - the aroma was very inviting. The crust was nicely browned, thin, not real crisp, not real chewy, though it did have some "tooth" to it. It also had a taste that stayed with us. The crumb was somewhat translucent, nicely open, and with small to medium sized holes. The loaf spread somewhat more than I wanted on its last rise, but it wasn't a real problem. The crust was soft, with a nice, mild but complex taste with a nice balance. Still, we aren't entirely sure if we prefer a ciabatta this complex.

The Sourdough Pan Bread had a nice sour, rye/wheat aroma, a much deeper and fuller aroma than usual. The crust was, again, nicely browned, and crisp enough that it broke when bent. It had a rich flavor with nice caramel notes. The crumb was open, with small to medium sized holes. The loaf rose well, but had very little oven spring. I managed to forget to slash the loaf, so it tore as it rose. This batch had both more and better sour taste than usual, along with a nice wheat taste with a good hint of rye. A very nice, and long lasting taste.

Our Three stage French bread had a lightly sour aroma, a lot of wheat, and a hint of rye in its aroma. The crust was nicely browned, fairly thick, flexible, and chewy. It had nice caramel notes and a good wheat taste. The crumb was fairly tight, but still open. The loaf had a good rise, and some oven spring, The crumbs taste was mild, with a hint of sour, a good wheaty taste, and some rye present. A very nice, rich, bread.

Hydration Pictures As discussed, we took pictures at 60, 80, and 100% hydration. The flour handled nicely, through it took a while for the hydration to take its full effect. The doughs were somewhat drier than the Safeway Unbleached Flour's or the 20% Bran Flour.

20% Bran Flour plus rye flour at 100% hydration

20% Bran Flour plus rye flour at 80% Hydration

20% Bran Flour plus rye flour at 60% hydration