freekehlicious flour for testing

[norma427]

I had posted about freekehlicious flour at Reply 437 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,11044.msg213949.html#msg213949 and then asked on the freekehlicious website were I could purchase some of the freekehlicious flour to try to make some pizzas.  I was sent samples of two 5 lb. bags, for a total of 10 lbs., of the freekehlicious flour and received it today.  The freekehlicious flour isn’t supposed to be available for purchase until 2013.

I would be interested in testing this flour for pizza if someone could give me some guidelines on how I might test it.

These are pictures I took of the freekeh flour and the papers that came in a folder for the freekehlicious flour.

It would be interesting to try and make a pizza that could be called “freekehlicious”. 

http://www.freekehlicious.com/

Any ideas to go about using this flour for a pizza?

Norma

[norma427]

Norma

[norma427]

Norma

[norma427]

Norma

[TXCraig1]

Norma, Tom Lehmann should hire you.

[norma427]

Norma, Tom Lehmann should hire you.

Craig,

Lol, thanks for saying Tom Lehmann should hire me, but he already knows about some of my experiments.  Tom answered many questions for me directly in posts on PMPTT and in PM‘s.  He knows I like to experiment.  Tom Lehmann sure knows a lot.  I even wonder if he tried this flour, or heard of anyone that used it to make pizza.   

Do you think the freekeh flour will work for pizza? 

Norma

[Don K]

I thought freekehlicious was going to be some kind of Halloween dough.

Sounds freeken interesting.

[TXCraig1]

Do you think the freekeh flour will work for pizza? 

I have no idea, but I know I'm going to find out. 

[norma427]

I thought freekehlicious was going to be some kind of Halloween dough.

Sounds freeken interesting.

Don,

Lol, freekeh is supposed to be good for people.  I did some searching on the web, but have to do some more.  Freekeh has been around for many years, but I sure never heard of it until recently.

Your idea for a Halloween dough with the freekeh name is great.   

Norma

[norma427]

I have no idea, but I know I'm going to find out. 

Craig,

Let me know if find some way it will work out.  I think it is low in protein, something like spelt.

Norma

[pizzaneer]

Suggestion:
make a batch for 3 balls of the flour, treating it as a high-gluten flour.  Use one in your home oven, one in your market oven at a higher temperature, and give one to Steve to try out in the WFO.

My prediction is that the new flour will be comparable to 00 in bake character, but with a different flavor profile.

For the batch, go simple.  Keep sugar and oil light or absent.  Document everything- mixing regimen, mix temp, bulk temp and time, balled temp and time.  

Sounds interesting - even if it's only a gimmick, maybe more specialty flours for the home baker will come out as a result.

[TXCraig1]

Craig,

Let me know if find some way it will work out.  I think it is low in protein, something like spelt.

Norma

I meant I'm going to learn from your experiments.  

[norma427]

Suggestion:
make a batch for 3 balls of the flour, treating it as a high-gluten flour.  Use one in your home oven, one in your market oven at a higher temperature, and give one to Steve to try out in the WFO.

My prediction is that the new flour will be comparable to 00 in bake character, but with a different flavor profile.

For the batch, go simple.  Keep sugar and oil light or absent.  Document everything- mixing regimen, mix temp, bulk temp and time, balled temp and time.  

Sounds interesting - even if it's only a gimmick, maybe more specialty flours for the home baker will come out as a result.

Brian,

I like your suggestions.    I will try and research the freekeh flour a little more first.

Norma

[norma427]

I meant I'm going to learn from your experiments.  

Craig,

Good one! 

Norma

[norma427]

I see Dino’s Cucina sells Freekah pizza.

http://www.dinoscucina.com/menu.htm

Norma

[bfguilford]

From an article in the WSJ (of all places):

Freekeh is the name used for any wheat, usually durum, that's harvested when still green, then fire-threshed to give it a smoky intensity and pliant pop. Perhaps the fastest up-and-comer in the ancient grain crowd, freekeh (pronounced FREE-kah) can be found in warm salads, risottos and pilafs. At Pocantico Hills, N.Y., restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns, chef Dan Barber makes whole-grain crackers by puréeing cooked freekeh, spreading it paper-thin and slow baking it for about 2 hours. The result is plainly delicious and shows off the grain's grassy flavor.

I think they lost me with the "grassy flavor", but I'll be interested in hearing how your experimenting works out.

Anybody live near Old Tappan, NJ? Maybe stop by Dino's to check it out.

Barry

[norma427]

From an article in the WSJ (of all places):

Freekeh is the name used for any wheat, usually durum, that's harvested when still green, then fire-threshed to give it a smoky intensity and pliant pop. Perhaps the fastest up-and-comer in the ancient grain crowd, freekeh (pronounced FREE-kah) can be found in warm salads, risottos and pilafs. At Pocantico Hills, N.Y., restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns, chef Dan Barber makes whole-grain crackers by puréeing cooked freekeh, spreading it paper-thin and slow baking it for about 2 hours. The result is plainly delicious and shows off the grain's grassy flavor.

I think they lost me with the "grassy flavor", but I'll be interested in hearing how your experimenting works out.

Anybody live near Old Tappan, NJ? Maybe stop by Dino's to check it out.

Barry

Barry,

Thank you for the information about the Freekeh!  I am confused if it is a grassy flavor, or a smoky flavor that Freekah imparts and if that only pertains to the grains, or cracked grains.  I have read both things. 

I also wonder if any member lives near Old Tappan, NJ and could check out their Freekeh pizza.

Norma

[norma427]

Freekeh flour is one product on this video from PMQ Pizza TV.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZJJsa5HNaE" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZJJsa5HNaE</a>

Few more articles.

http://www.urbanspoon.com/cities/53-north-jersey/restaurants/1470445-dino-s-cucina/menu

Freekeh pizza
"Dino's is the only restaurant in the USA to have Freekeh Pizza. It was just yummy !!! And the..." - julia
more »
"Dino's is the only restaurant in the USA to have Freekeh Pizza. It was just yummy !!! And the best part is that it is starch resistant and very high fiber. O magazine, Bon Appetite, Wall Street Journal and Dr.Oz are all putting this on their lists of healthy things to eat in 2011. Check it out you won't be sorry sooooo delicious !!!!!!" - julia

In this article is about “Get Your Freekeh On” and says it is an up and coming grain, but the article doesn’t mention anything about pizza, only crackers made with Freekeh.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203471004577141363042147218.html

This is a begginner’s guide to Freekeh, but not the Freekeh flour.

http://positively-healthy.com/a-beginners-guide-to-freekeh/

I wonder how much of regular flour I will need to add to the Freekeh flour to be able to make a regular pizza.

Norma

[norma427]

I wanted to try the Freekeh flour to see what would happen.  I didn’t think the Freekeh flour could be used alone without another flour.  I mixed a higher hydration dough (74%) with 100.34 grams of GM Full Strength flour and 70 grams of the Freekeh flour.   I thought the Freekeh flour might absorb more water.  I guess it did, because the dough doesn’t feel too sticky.  The dough was mixed with the flat beater only in my Kitchen Aid mixer.  I also used 2.0% salt and ADY.

The dough did feel like it developed some gluten, but I don’t know if the dough developed enough gluten to make a pizza.

Norma

[norma427]

This is what the Freekeh dough ball looks like this morning.  It looks like it is fermenting a little.  When I used the expanded dough calculation tool to figure out the formulation I thought I wanted to try a pan pizza.  The size I put in the expanded dough calculation tool was 10”x8”.  Now I am not sure if I want to try a pan pizza, or a regular pizza with this dough ball.  The dough ball weights 0.63 lbs.

Does anyone have any suggestions which way I should try this GM Full Strength/Freekeh dough ball? Pan pizza, or regular pizza?

I still don’t know if the percent of Freekeh I used in the formulation is suitable for any kind of pizza.

Thanks for any suggestions in how I should bake this dough ball.     

Norma