Welcome To The
Hungarian
High Altitude
Whole Wheat Flour Test

Where we bought it: Safeway, Gunnison, Colorado

What we paid for it: $1.49 for 5 pounds

Protein content: 13.3% (4 grams per 30 gram serving)

Interesting Vendor Story: The name confuses everyone. Many people here in Gunnison, Colorado, at an altitude of 7,700 feet (2,346 meters) above sea level, think this flour is good to use at high altitudes. Actually, it's no better than any other flour at high altitudes. And they are confused about the "Hungarian" part too.

The "Hungarian" part of the name comes from the process used to mill the flour, which was developed in Hungary in the 1800's. It was brought to Colorado by J.K. Mullen in 1875, and is still used on this flour. The flour is milled from hard wheat from Colorado, the Dakotas, and Montana, so the "high altitude" refers to where the grain is grown.

Our first impressions: We've used this flour on many occasions, because it's one of the cheaper whole wheat flours at our local market. We've always thought it added a nice taste to partial whole grain breads, and we really liked the 100% whole wheat bread made with this flour. bread. So, we wanted to see how it stacked up against Wheat Montana's Prairie Gold ("the whole wheat flour for people who don't like whole wheat flour"). We immediately noticed that the Hungarian whole wheat flour is a coarser grind than the Wheat Montana Prairie Gold, which may make it less suitable than other flours to be the only flour in a recipe, or to try to hold a rye bread together. We'll see.

The flour has more of a light brown or tan color compared to Wheat Montana's Prairie Gold, which has more of a yellow gold color.

Conclusions - we liked this flour, and were particularly impressed by the Simple Sourdough Pan bread. It was a very workable flour, though it required more water than some other flours.

The Breads

Bohemian Rye The Bohemian Rye was from a very dry dough. I should have increased the hydration of the dough and slashed it. The bread had a very tight, dense, small crumb. The separation of the crust and the crumb, also called "flying crust" was largely because the dough was too dry. The crust is thick and chewy, the bottom has a nicely caramelized taste with hints of caraway and a big rye taste. The bread had an aroma that was largely wheat and rye with a bit of caraway, and little sour. The crumb taste was very complex with rich rye, wheat, and caraway notes. As with the aroma, there wasn't much sour in the bread's crumb. This bread can stand on it', and work as the base for robust sandwiches. Today I had the bread with melted blue cheese on it.... pure delight!

Ciabatta is one of our favorite breads. Whether made with white, whole wheat, or just about whatever flour we have here. As we were making this bread the aroma of the dough was addictive. A tangy blend of whole wheat and sourdough gone wild. When baked, the bread had an open, irregular crumb, with a slightly glossy translucent surface. The top crust was thin and pliable, while the bottom was thicker with the caramel notes I've been noticing recently. The loaf was somewhat flat, especially when compared to the Baker's and Chef's Ciabatta made at the same time. The bread's aroma was what the dough's aroma promised. Very wheaty with a good sour balance. The crumb's taste was a complex wheat/sour taste. It wasn't as strong as Laurel's Loaf for Learning converted for sourdough, but it was very nice. The ciabatta's taste lingered on the tongue, whispering "wheat" to a happy tongue. The bread was hearty enough that it tended to overwhelm the olive oil I dipped it into, but the result was still delightful. (Save your best oil for a milder ciabatta.)

Sourdough Pan Bread was a total shock and surprise. But a pleasant one. I usually only make one batch of test bread at a time. This time, I tested both the Sam's Chef's and Baker's Bread Flour at the same time as the Hungarian High Altitude Whole Wheat. What amazed me was they both rose to the same height, which tends to contradict the folk lore about whole wheat not rising as high as white flour. I discuss this at some length in the Whole Wheat versus White Flour page. The crust was nicely browned on top, lighter on the sides and bottoms. The taste was a very nice mixture of wheat and sour. The crumb was soft, remarkably soft for a whole wheat flour. The crumb had a nicely irregular crumb, though the holes weren't as large as with many white flours. (The vertical slash in the picture is where I had inserted a thermometer - I didn't notice I'd cut the bread in the same place that I'd put the thermometer.) This was a great toasting bread, and was (again) awesome for grilled cheese sandwiches. The bread's aroma and taste both made it clear this was a sourdough bread, offering a whole wheat and gentle sour flavor. We'll be making this one again!

Three stage French bread is a simple sounding bread that has a surprisingly complex taste. A major part of its taste comes from French flours that are unavailable here, so many bakers mix white, wheat, and rye flours to try to duplicate the taste of the French bread this is modelled after. This bread is just whole wheat, so it's not as subtle as the original. This bread had a dense, tight crumb that suggests we should have used more liquid than was called for in the recipe. The crust was rather thin, but chewy. The bottom crust was thicker, thanks to the baking stones. The bread had a strong wheat aroma. Sadly, the crumb and bread were lifeless. They didn't excite the palate, they just slid across it. There was little sour to the taste, and no real aftertaste. This flour doesn't seem to be a good match for this recipe. I think using either more liquid to lighten the crumb, or using this flour as part of the overall flour in the bread, or both, would help the bread.

As is our custom, we took pictures at 60, 80, and 100% hydration. We found that the Hungarian High Altitude Whole Wheat flour was much thirstier than most other flours. The dough was a firm at 80% hydration as most others are at 60%, and we were never able to create a true 60% hydration dough - the dough got too dry to pick up any more flour. If you use this flour, and it is a good flour, make sure you add some additional water and check the consistency of the dough by feel. Just measuring will leave your dough too dry. I don't think it's a coincidence that the Simple Sourdough Pan bread turned out so well, since its instructions tell you to add flour until a certain consistency is reached.

Hungarian High Altitude Whole Wheat Flour at 100% hydration

Hungarian High Altitude Whole Wheat Flour at 80% Hydration

Hungarian High Altitude Whole Wheat Flour at 60% hydration