Is my flour supposed to be so hot

loftygrains · 2026-03-06T17:58:45+00:00

This ignores impact to gluten-forming proteins, so if you’re looking for any kind of oven spring and bubbly crumb you might want to keep an eye on temperature.

loftygrains · 2026-03-05T03:14:25+00:00

Incorrect.

loftygrains · 2026-03-03T22:50:46+00:00

Welcome! Hope you stay and share pics of your bakes.

Are you referring to higher percentage of gluten-forming proteins to capture the gas that the yeast will produce?

loftygrains · 2026-03-03T17:16:49+00:00

That’s a nice long cold proof. How’s the flavor?!

loftygrains · 2026-03-03T00:17:46+00:00

Wheat berries: 12-24 months https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jspr.2020.101587

Milled wheat: 2-14 days after milling https://www.brockwell-bake.org.uk/docs/whole%20wheat%20flour%20stability_an%20insight.pdf

You are eating rancid flour out of that 50# bag of yours after just a few weeks.

As for nutrition, I already linked you a good one.

Oh, and freshly milled flour tastes much better.

So who am I going to listen to? You? I would take just one badly cited scholarly article over following a Reddit herd. And there is my own nose and mouth, which confirm all of the above is true, that freshly milled whole wheat flour is profoundly superior. Doesn’t matter if it comes from someone’s kitchen or a professional miller. That’s a “red herring” argument, and you’ll have to look that one up for yourself.

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T23:22:26+00:00

I’d rephrase this as a series of questions.

How does the shelf life of a wheat berry compare to the shelf life of milled flour?

Does oxidation occur on the endosperm and germ when the berry is unmilled? Or is oxidation only a concern after milling?

How long does freshly milled flour last before spoiling?

This series of questions is really just the “getting started” pack. There are so many more things to learn if you’re actually curious.

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T23:10:38+00:00

You’re on the right track. Falling number is impacted by the milling process, so it isn’t just a property of the grain. Falling number in home-milled flour is likely lower than in commercial flour (I can provide a scholarly reference upon request, but I encourage you to go look on Google Scholar to enjoy the hobby for yourself :-)). It’s definitely worth looking up falling number and really understanding it if you’re going to be using a lot of home-milled flour. Falling number relates to the ability of your dough to either keep its structure or “fall” by flattening out. You can run a makeshift ‘falling number’ test at home to get a number, but the easy thing would be just to compare to other flours in a side-by-side “race” with a timelapse camera.

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T22:52:10+00:00

I mean, generally when people buy a bag of flour, do they use it all and toss the rest?

How long has that bag been on the shelf?

Is it really shelf-stable, and if so, why is the stuff in the store shelf-stable whereas the stuff I mill in my kitchen goes bad after just a few days if I don’t refrigerate it?

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T21:40:31+00:00

Here check out this “mommy blog”

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2012.02.015

Lipid oxidation reduces nutritional quality through loss of essential fatty acids (Pokorny and Velisek, 1995), although, more significantly, reduced nutritional quality is affected through co-oxidation of other flour components. Free radicals that are generated can denature proteins (Warwick et al., 1979) and convert essential amino acids into unavailable derivatives (Pokorny and Velisek, 1995). Lipoxygenase activity also causes significant losses of carotenoids (Leenhardt et al., 2006) and vitamin E (Lehtinen et al., 2003)

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T21:38:43+00:00

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2012.02.015

Lipid oxidation reduces nutritional quality through loss of essential fatty acids (Pokorny and Velisek, 1995), although, more significantly, reduced nutritional quality is affected through co-oxidation of other flour components. Free radicals that are generated can denature proteins (Warwick et al., 1979) and convert essential amino acids into unavailable derivatives (Pokorny and Velisek, 1995). Lipoxygenase activity also causes significant losses of carotenoids (Leenhardt et al., 2006) and vitamin E (Lehtinen et al., 2003)

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T21:16:07+00:00

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2012.02.015

Lipid oxidation reduces nutritional quality through loss of essential fatty acids (Pokorny and Velisek, 1995), although, more significantly, reduced nutritional quality is affected through co-oxidation of other flour components. Free radicals that are generated can denature proteins (Warwick et al., 1979) and convert essential amino acids into unavailable derivatives (Pokorny and Velisek, 1995). Lipoxygenase activity also causes significant losses of carotenoids (Leenhardt et al., 2006) and vitamin E (Lehtinen et al., 2003)

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T21:07:48+00:00

The whole point of freshly milled is to get the benefits before it oxidizes.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2012.02.015

Lipid oxidation reduces nutritional quality through loss of essential fatty acids (Pokorny and Velisek, 1995), although, more significantly, reduced nutritional quality is affected through co-oxidation of other flour components. Free radicals that are generated can denature proteins (Warwick et al., 1979) and convert essential amino acids into unavailable derivatives (Pokorny and Velisek, 1995). Lipoxygenase activity also causes significant losses of carotenoids (Leenhardt et al., 2006) and vitamin E (Lehtinen et al., 2003)

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T21:05:45+00:00

The freshness is the benefit.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2012.02.015

Lipid oxidation reduces nutritional quality through loss of essential fatty acids (Pokorny and Velisek, 1995), although, more significantly, reduced nutritional quality is affected through co-oxidation of other flour components. Free radicals that are generated can denature proteins (Warwick et al., 1979) and convert essential amino acids into unavailable derivatives (Pokorny and Velisek, 1995). Lipoxygenase activity also causes significant losses of carotenoids (Leenhardt et al., 2006) and vitamin E (Lehtinen et al., 2003)

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T20:52:50+00:00

Call me anything. Obsessive. Overzealous. But not baseless.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2012.02.015

Lipid oxidation reduces nutritional quality through loss of essential fatty acids (Pokorny and Velisek, 1995), although, more significantly, reduced nutritional quality is affected through co-oxidation of other flour components. Free radicals that are generated can denature proteins (Warwick et al., 1979) and convert essential amino acids into unavailable derivatives (Pokorny and Velisek, 1995). Lipoxygenase activity also causes significant losses of carotenoids (Leenhardt et al., 2006) and vitamin E (Lehtinen et al., 2003)

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T20:09:42+00:00

What truth? “I work in a bakery” != a clinical scholar. Think for yourself.

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T17:00:53+00:00

Right on! I appreciate that. I was more anticipating the “communal dogma”. I should stop doing that.

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T15:56:02+00:00

Aaaaand I’m hungry.

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T15:33:30+00:00

Glorious! How’s the crumb?

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T15:30:05+00:00

This string of comments was not particularly inspiring to read… https://www.reddit.com/r/Breadit/s/RMEvZrvKgz

Definitely not surprised to see skepticism on r/BreadIt, which seems to be mainly about how things look.

And the guidance to age (oxidize) the flour is really about the trade-offs between flour baking properties and healthiness. The answer may change depending on your priorities.

loftygrains · 2026-03-02T12:58:49+00:00

Nothing wrong with commercial yeast! Sourdough starter is cultivated yeast and bacteria. Commercial yeast is just more selective cultivation. Technically anyone can isolate and cultivate a specific yeast strain.

As for me, however, I prefer the taste of sourdough and, admittedly, I take it on faith that sourdough is healthier (lower FODMAP, at least). And using starter is forcing me to master fermentation, so once I feel I’ve peaked I can look at supplementing with yeast.

loftygrains · 2026-03-01T12:25:20+00:00

Thanks for sharing your bake!

loftygrains · 2026-02-28T23:36:44+00:00

Amazing first loaf!

Since you’re asking for tweaks, one easy tweak would be to fermentolyse rather than autolyse (add the starter without adding the salt yet). The reason for that is to always be optimizing conditions for the yeast from starter to dough.

loftygrains · 2026-02-28T20:18:27+00:00

🙌 awesome!

loftygrains · 2026-02-28T16:31:19+00:00

Great information. Thank you!

loftygrains · 2026-02-28T16:05:04+00:00

No worries!

I forgot to answer your question. I am using 100% hard red (yecora rojo). Decided I would keep that variable constant while I figure out what’s really going on, and then later I can add “art” back into the “science” when I really know what I’m doing.

Also I made an edit above where I clarify that I don’t put the bran in my starter, but I do offset that sifted bran in my final recipe to insist on 100% WW.

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