Organic KAMUT® White Flour for pizza now available

[jsaras]

http://www.montanaflour.com/100-organic-kamut-white-flour

I've been using this flour for quite some time and I love it.  I first got my hands on it from my friend Chris at Slicetruck Pizzeria in Los Angeles, who, in my estimation, makes the best thin crust American pizza I've ever had.  This flour is commonly used in Europe.  Up until now it's only been available for purchase by the palate and it's not inexpensive ($1.13/lb if you buy the 10 lb. bag, shipping not included). 

What's to like about this flour?  The protein content is 14% and it can be hydrated to 117.94% so it's really hard to mess it up.  In spite of the high protein figure, it does not produce a tougher crust than the other high gluten flours I've tried.  I've made most of the major NY-oriented recipes using this flour without difficulty.  Kamut has a natural "sweet", buttery, rich flavor.  It's also high in fiber, manganese, magnesium and niacin (B-vitamins).

It's so different from "modern" wheat strains that many individuals who have wheat sensitivities are able to eat Kamut and it's generally easy to digest.  However, if you have gluten sensitivity you're still out of luck.

Note that this is different than the whole grain Kamut flour available from Bob's Red Mill which is only 10% protein.

The only downside is that there are no established recipes for this flour (Chris won't divulge his formulation).  Perhaps the pizza geeks on this forum can take care of that.

Regards,
Jonas

 

[trblaze]

Have you come up with a recipe for the Kamut pizza dough yet?  Thx

[jsaras]

I haven't used it for quite some time, but there is a Kamut formulation in the new Gemignani book that I'd like to try, sans diastatic malt.

[mitchjg]

Hi Jonas:

Interesting information that you originally posted.  Thanks for that.  Any particular reasons why you moved away from that flour?  You seemed to have been very enthusiastic.  $$$ ? Something better? Just a change? , etc.

My sister does not have celiac but claims that wheat negatively impacts her health, so wondering if this is worth pursuing for good pizza when she is around.

thanks,
Mitch

[jsaras]

It may well be worth pursuing for health reasons, but it's tasty in its own right.

I moved away from it because it was hard to come by, expensive and the last bag that I had went bad quickly.

There's a place in West LA called Slicetruck Pizzeria that makes excellent thin crust American pizzas with Kamut and Grandma pies as well.  I'll try the Gemignani percentages the next time I get my hands on some Kamut.

[jsaras]

I picked up five pounds of Kamut Khorosan flour from Slicetruck Pizzeria in West LA yesterday ($2/lb), so I took the opportunity to try Tony Gemignani's percentages for this flour, though not his workflow.

Flour 100%
Water 65%
Salt 3% (the highest salt level I've ever tried)
ADY 0.25%

I fermented at 73 degrees for about 24 hours. The dough doubled, if not a bit more than that.  It definitely was not overfermented.

While opening the dough, it felt like a low hydration dough. It wasn't that difficult to open, but it was more on the "play dough" side of things.  I prepared my variation of a Bianco Rosa pizza. 

Since I've had issues in the past with Kamut burning, I kept the baking temp at around 550 for about 5 minutes.  Interestingly, the bottom was very slow to brown.  That may have been the result of the use of rice flour as a dusting agent, something new to my workflow.

The dough had no oven spring whatsoever and the final crust was on the biscuity side.

When I try my next Kamut pizza I'm going to try the San Francisco Baking Institute's recommend formulation of 80-85% hydration and 2.5% salt.

[jsaras]

I tried the San Francisco Baking Institutes formulation.  Details here: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=26286.msg360315#msg360315

[akuban]

Just wanted to drop by to thank you, Jonas, for mentioning Kamut flour several times in your posts. It put an itch in my brain that I finally scratched the other week after seeing it mentioned yet again in an article by Chad Robertson: http://luckypeach.com/pizza-gut/

ANYWAY. That article was the last straw, and I bought a bag to play with. I've been doing a pseudo-Detroit style pizza, playing with Kamut blended in, and it gives it SUCH a fantastic flavor. Thank you!

[jsaras]

Hi Adam,

I'm glad you gave it a go.  Most of the time I think I'm just talking to myself in cyberspace ;-D.

Seriously though, Kamut deserves to be used much more than it is currently.  Usually the fear with ancient "grain" flours, is that it will have a bitter/weird flavor note.  It does not.  It is hard to come by (I'm lucky enough to live within 15 miles of a pizzeria that uses it exclusively), but if anyone is inclined to try it out particularly as a blending flour, it's worth a try.

Cheers,
Jonas

[akuban]

I'm glad you gave it a go.  Most of the time I think I'm just talking to myself in cyberspace ;-D.

Naw, it's clear that folks here admire your contributions and knowledge. I see your username a lot, can't help but run into a thread you're in, and there's a lot good discussion. That's how I saw you mention Kamut and then got curious. The flavor is nice. I'm only using 20% in my Detroit-style riffs, and I notice the difference. It's not off-putting or even super assertive. Just a pleasant, mild nuttiness that you identify more as "good flavor" than the typical "absence of flavor" most pizzerias produce with their same-day doughs.

It's funny 'cause I follow the Slicetruck on Instagram and found out he was using it from a brief discussion there. Small online world. Chars!

[bigMoose]

Jonas, you mentioned that the Kamut flour spoils quickly.  Could you expand upon that?  Did it go rancid?  Did it happen in weeks, or months?

[jsaras]

I made that comment when I had what I thought was reasonably fresh Kamut shipped from Montana Flour.  For whatever reason, I had a string of several pizzas in which the dough balls nearly disintegrated when it came time to open them.  It was also happening when I was using Kamut as a blend-in.  For a while there I thought I lost my mojo.  The only thing that I could trace it to was that bag of flour. 

That said, I currently have some that's been in my freezer for about six months and it was fine when I used it two weeks ago.  So I'm not sure what caused that previous bag to go bad so quickly.   Maybe it was exposed to high heat during shipment.  I don't think I'd make too much of it.

[andytiedye]

Thanks for the pointer.

I just bought some kamut from there- -Not the flour, the grain.  That should keep for a LONG time.

Ground a few cups into flour and made a pizza yesterday.

Nice flavor, didn't rise as much as wholewheat or Kabf.

[MikeMcM1956]

Thanks for the pointer.

I just bought some kamut from there- -Not the flour, the grain.  That should keep for a LONG time.

Ground a few cups into flour and made a pizza yesterday.

Nice flavor, didn't rise as much as wholewheat or Kabf.

Don't want to hijack the thread, is there a post somewhere about your solar oven?

[andytiedye]

Don't want to hijack the thread, is there a post somewhere about your solar oven?

https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=53750.0

[andytiedye]

Another solar sourdough pizza,
This time 50% Kamut flour, 50% KABF. stuffed.

[andytiedye]

It is possible that kamut flour needs a bit more cooking than regular flour.  The pizza in the above post was a little undercooked in the center at an internal temperature of 190°F, this one was better at 200°F.

[jsaras]

It is possible that kamut flour needs a bit more cooking than regular flour.  The pizza in the above post was a little undercooked in the center at an internal temperature of 190°F, this one was better at 200°F.

With my experience in using Kamut for non-deep dish pizza, the answer is definitely no.