[butzy]

I am currently using a no-knead bread recipe that uses a high hydration (78 %) and uses AP flour.

(910 gr AP flour / 710 gr water / 20 gr salt / 1 pack instant yeast)

If I want to use bread flour instead of AP, should I change the hydration?

And in case of brown flour or whole wheat flour?

Bread flour is easier to get here than AP and I prefer wholewheat over white bread.

Wholewheat is difficult to get, but I can get brown flour.

Hence the questions.

 

[brianshaw]

Substituting the white flours is 1:1.

Substituting brown flour or whole wheat for white flour is much more complex. Recommend you study Reinholt's "Whole Grain Breads" for the best understanding. In the end you may find, as I have, it much easier to use a reliable brown or whole wheat bread recipe than do the conversion of a white bread recipe. Reinhart's book will give you the opportunity to do either.

 

[butzy]

Thanks Brian,

I will check out Peter Reinhart's book.

I found some info on the web that said to use 5 extra teaspoon of water for every cup of flour when using wholewheat instead of AP.

I then did a cup to weight conversion with the info on King Arthur;s webpage and came to a 99% hydration!

So I am not going to use that method /img/vbsmilies/smilies/confused.gif

I think you are right in that it is easier to find another recipe, but I still like to work out a substitution method.

 

[kylew]

I find that bread recipes are best used as guidelines rather than absolutes. Before you get to swapping WW for AP, the conditions in your kitchen will vary from day to day. If it's humid one day you may need to add less water than on a dry day. Your hands/fingers will be the ultimate guide to whether or not a dough is properly hydrated. 

My Principal Operating Method: When I think I've added enough water, I add more water

Kyle

 

[brianshaw]

Plus more...

The methodology for whole wheat bread needs to be different from white wheat due to how the flours hydrate differently. Reinhardt pre-soaks in a lot of his recipes to hydrate the WW before asking the dough. I've used extended autolyse to do similar.

One thing I've found when I've done adaptions to WW is that even a 50% sub of white for WW can be too much. King Arthur had a "whole grain white flour" (I hope I got that correct) yhat worked the best for me. It andled more like white flour than any other WW flour I tried.

 

[butzy]

Thanks all,

I will just give it a try and start with using about 25% brown flour and 75% AP or bread flour and add just a little bit more water.

See how that works and increase more with the next attempt.