Baking Tips for FMD

On FMD, there are lots of flours to choose from for baking. But just because there is a wide variety, doesn't mean it's all easy. Not all flours bake the same as all purpose white flour, so knowing some tricks can help make your baked goods the best possible. 

Here are my tips for baking with FMD compliant flours.

If you're using Sprouted Wheat Flour, it needs to be manipulated for best crumb and moisture. Since sprouted wheat is the most popular, as it is p1 and p3 on FMD, it is the most versatile. Sprouted wheat is pretty dry and coarse and without some additive, your baked goods can be dry and coarse. It also is very heavy, so yeast has to work hard to make it poof. 

Any ONE of these will work. You generally don't need to do multiple- but I do use instant yeast and the Yudane method shown below. These works with any brand of sprouted wheat, as I've not seen much difference in brands. 

Also, my recipes have adjustments built in. These tips are for your own converted recipes. 

1. Add a bit more liquid to your recipe, if there are no vegetables in the batter/dough. Anywhere between 1 and 3 tablespoons, but it depends on the recipe. 

2. Lower your baking temp by the 15-20 degrees. You may need to shorten the baking time also, so check your baked goods about 2/3 of the way through to see if they're done. 

3. Add a splash of vinegar. I use apple cider vinegar. (White vinegar is only for cleaning) If you're making a yeast dough, do not let the yeast and the vinegar come into contact with each other in the mixing bowl while you are adding the ingredients. I will do in this order- water, yeast, flour, salt, vinegar- then mix. You can also use fresh lemon juice. You do not taste the acid at all- but it will soften the wheat. 

4. Add tapioca flour. This flour will help hold moisture in. It's not necessary for quick breads with veggies in them (zucchini, carrot, etc). Remove 1 tsp per cup of sprouted wheat flour and replace with 1 tsp of tapioca for every cup of sprouted wheat. 
For example: 3 cups of sprouted wheat- remove 3 tsp total from the flour and add 3 tsp tapioca flour. 

5. Add xanthan gum. I use about 1/2 to 1 tsp per recipe. This also helps retain moisture. 

6. Use The Yudane method. This is a Japanese method of making a roux and adding to the dough when mixing. This will help make the bread soft and fluffy. Put 1/4 cup of the flour from your recipe into a bowl. Add 1/4 cup boiling water (subtracted from the recipe) and stir. Allow to cool to room temp, then add to your mixing bowl and mix as usual. You are not adding 1/4 cup of flour and water to the amount in the recipe. 

7. Use sorghum flour to replace some of the sprouted wheat flour. I generally do 1/4 cup sorghum per cup of flour. So if a recipe calls for 3 cups of sprouted wheat flour, you would use 2 1/4 cups sprouted wheat and 3/4 cup sorghum flour. (sorghum flour is p1 and p3 on FMD)

8. Yeast. Use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast. Instant yeast does not need to bloom to work. It is more potent. With instant yeast, you do not rise 2x. Mix your dough as instructed in your recipe. Cover the dough (I use a muslin tea towel drenched in hot water and wrung out very very well. Do not allow the towel to touch the dough). Allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes. Shape your dough and then allow a single rise until almost doubled, then bake as recipe says. Active dry yeast is not powerful enough to fully rise sprouted wheat dough 2x. 

9. If you only have active dry yeast, add more, do not allow the first "rise" to be a full rise. Do not let it go more than 50% bigger than dough ball, so the yeast has enough "umph" to rise the second time. 

Other tips:
Oat flour will not work to replace sprouted wheat flour 1:1. Do not use more than 1/4 of the total flour in the recipe as oat flour

Brown Rice Flour- I never have good success with the flour. As a blend, with no more than 1/3 the total flour being brown rice, you should be ok. (brown rice is p1 only, on FMD)

Coconut Flour- do not use this in place of all purpose or sproute wheat flour. Coconut flour needs lots of moisture and lots of eggs. It is not interchangable. Look for recipes written for coconut flour (like my Cherry Coconut Bars)

My favorite blend for p1 on FMD is 5lbs of sprouted spelt with 2lbs einkorn. I mix in my flour cannister and use in my recipes. 

If you use spelt flour in phase 1, you generally do not have to make adjustments, but if you find your baked goods dry, try one of these to see if it helps. 

If you bake with any other flours, I find adding xanthan gum is best. 


I hope this helps!!
Carolyn