Fulltofta organic wholemeal rye flour
Key information
- Variety name: Fulltofta
- Certified organic wholemeal rye flour
- Evolutionary spring rye developed by Hans Larsson in Sweden, grown at Balcaskie in 2020
- Above-average values for most key minerals
- Suitable for making real bread (with long fermentation and no additives) and moist fruit cakes and North European spice biscuits
More Information
Top tips for baking with this flour:
- Always ferment your bread slowly (using sourdough) to control dough development, bring out flavour and enhance digestibility and nutrient bioaccessibility
You will find more baking advice and recipes here.
Apart from its above-average mineral content, this grain has some other qualities that bakers should note:
- The 2020 crop is quite high in protein (12.82%) but has a low Falling Number (73), probably due to rain falling on the ripe crop and delaying the harvest. Nevertheless, this rye can be turned into wonderful bread by bakers with a basic understanding of fermentation. It is no accident that the great rye bread baking traditions of Eastern and Northern Europe depend on long fermentation with sourdough. Indeed, without sourdough, this flour will make an extremely sticky dough and bread. The reason is that sourdough lactic acid bacteria take time to acidify the dough in a way that controls excessive conversion of starch to sugar by the amylase that is naturally present in cereal grains. Low Falling Numbers equate to higher amylase levels, and by industry standards 73 is low indeed. But the pay-off is that this flour is naturally rich in maltose sugar which accounts for the lively fermentation that sourdough bakers will enjoy even as they learn to tame it.
- It follows that best results will be obtained with a longer, cooler fermentation in which the sourdough lactic acid bacteria have sufficient time to acidify the dough. It can help to reduce the water and proportion of ‘production sourdough’ (see Andrew Whitley’s helpful DO Sourdough book for an explanation of this term) in your final dough so that the final rise (‘proof’) takes longer, allowing time for the all-important acidity to infuse the entire dough.
You will find more baking advice and recipes here.