Ground from whole barley, this
flour can give be used as a flavorful addition to any bread recipe. In
yeast breads, the nutty flavor of barley flour can replace up to ¼ of the
regular flour, and in quick breads and other baked goods, it can be used
to replace up to ½ of the flour called for by the recipe. Barley
flour can also be used in other cooking applications, such as acting as a
thickener in soups and sauces. Barley flour has less gluten than
wheat and may not rise as well as a recipe made with wheat.
Barley flour is just what it sounds like: a non-wheat
flour made from grinding whole barley. It’s a popular alternative to
wheat flour because, unlike many non-wheat flours, it contains some
gluten. This obviously doesn’t make it a good choice for those with
Celiac’s, who cannot tolerate gluten, but it does mean that it is an
excellent option for more conventional bakers looking to expand their
skills by working with alternative flours.
When compared to
regular all-purpose flour, there are some nutritional benefits to barley.
It has slightly fewer calories and more than 4 times the fiber of
all-purpose. It also has slightly more fiber than whole wheat flour.
Below is a little recipe for your bread machine that
uses this flour.
BARLEY BREAD
1 1/2 c. water
1 T. olive oil
3 c. whole wheat bread flour
1 c barley flour
1 1/2 t. Saf-Instant yeast
2 t. light brown sugar
1 t. sea salt
1/4 c. raw sunflower seeds, shelled
Place all ingredients except the sunflower seeds into your bread machine
in the sequence recommended by your manufacturer.
Select the cycle on your machine for dough. When
the machine beeps add the sunflower seeds.
When the dough cycle is complete, remove the bread to a
floured surface and punch it down. Shape it to fit into an oiled
loaf pan.
Let it rise for 45 minutes. Slit the crust
and dust with flour.
Let it rest 10 minutes while you preheat the oven to
425ºF.
Bake for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to
400ºF and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
The bread should sound hollow when tapped. Let
cool slightly, then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling and enjoy.
