Okay, so, a while back I got this wild hair to try baking with different kinds of flour. I’ve always been a regular all-purpose flour kind of guy, but lately I’ve been seeing all this stuff about “low gluten” and “high gluten” flours. Naturally, I got curious. I ended up grabbing a big 50-pound bag of Shepherd’s Grain low gluten flour.
Now, Shepherd’s Grain, as I found out, is actually milled by Grain Craft, and it’s made from this red winter wheat. I guess it’s supposed to be more of an “all-purpose” type of flour, even though it’s labeled “low gluten”. To start, I noticed the bag said it was not gluten free, just low gluten, which makes sense because it’s still wheat flour, so no gluten-free baking for me yet.
My first experiment was just a simple loaf of bread. I wanted to see how this flour behaved compared to what I was used to.
- I followed my usual recipe, but I did notice the dough felt a little different right from the start.
- It seemed to absorb the water a bit differently. I actually ended up using a tiny bit less water than normal, maybe like 2% less?
- Kneading was pretty standard, although the dough felt a little softer overall.
Mixing and Kneading
- The dough rose just fine, no issues there.
- When I baked it, the loaf came out looking pretty good! It had a nice crust, and the inside was soft, maybe even a little more tender than usual.
Rising and Baking
After that, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole. I found some online forum where people were talking about Shepherd’s Grain flours. Apparently, they also make a high-gluten version! Some folks were mixing the two, or even adding vital wheat gluten to their dough. There was even some discussion about using it for sourdough.
I mostly stuck to using the low gluten flour by itself, though. I tried it out in a few other things.
- Muffins: These turned out really nice and fluffy. I guess that lower gluten really helps with getting a tender crumb.
- Cookies: They were okay, a little on the delicate side. Maybe not the best for a chewy cookie, but good for something like a shortbread.
- Pie Crust: This was a winner! The crust was super flaky and tender, definitely a step up from my usual all-purpose crust.
Other Experiments
Overall, I’ve been pretty happy with the Shepherd’s Grain low gluten flour. It’s a good all-around flour. I even used it in waffles the other day, and they were delicious. It might not be the best for everything, like maybe not for a super chewy bread, but for things like muffins, pie crusts, and even just a regular loaf of bread, it works great.
I think my next adventure is going to be trying out the high gluten version, or maybe even trying to mix the two flours together. If you’re into baking and want to try something different, I’d say give this flour a shot. Just don’t expect it to be like those gluten-free flours, because it’s still got gluten in it, just a bit less than your average flour.
