How do you bake soft bread with freshly milled whole wheat flour?
You are not alone, and the book is honest that home-milled flour is tricky. Home mills tend to leave the starch less damaged and the flour coarser, so the dough degasses and bakes up flat and dense, even for skilled bakers. The reliable fix is to bake home-milled loaves in a loaf pan rather than freestanding, and to add a little extra water since the bran drinks more. Blending in some strong white flour also lightens the crumb.
Answered by Hendrik, The Bread Code
From the book
I am still yet to find a good way of milling my own wheat flour at home. Even after trying to mill the flour 10 times with short breaks, I was not able to achieve the same properties as with commercially milled flour. The doughs I would make felt good, maybe a bit coarse. However, during baking the doughs would start to de-gas quickly and turn into very flat breads. I have had great success though when utilizing home-milled flour together with a loaf pan or as a pan bread. If you have found great ways to work with home-milled flour, please reach out. The potential of using home-milled flours is huge. It would enable even distant communities to grow their own wheat and be able to produce amazing freshly baked bread.
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