As any regular reader here knows, I'm a big fan of using ancient grains. And you may have also noticed, I also don't always find it easy. That said, I'm also the world's leading lazy baker (or one of 'em), so sometimes I end up whining to my cat – or here. No whines for now. Thanks to the miracles of Skype and friendship with bakers Alessandro Spoto and Martina Reggia from Gustiamo (importers of ancient Sicilian flours) my efforts are moving along.
In my latest collaboration with Alessandro and Martina, they've set me off with a 3,000-year old ancient grain that came to Sicily from the ancient Greeks. Thank you, Odysseus. Or maybe Homer. Whatever, a big issue with using ancient grains is wastage. Lucky for me, between Skype, instant messaging, and friendship, I got help from two of the world's great bakers (from Sicily, no less).
Here is my first go with Maiorca, a tasty but tricky flour! Key points: Absorption, cold water, and salt to build a structure for these high nutrients but weaker gluten-structured flours.
An AMAZING bread…you should be proud or you!!! Bravo
Jeremy!!!
Gracias Milagros…still some tweaking and deciding on fermentation method…too much acid maybe? Biga’s work, or straight yeast…but I think it was my first try, so….will keep at it!
És possible que aquesta farina tengui origen a l’illa de Mallorca?Aquí,els forners artesans com jo mateix feim servir la farina de xeixa,un tipus de blat antic molt adaptat al nostre clima. El feim servir per a fer el “pa pagés”, un pa semiintetegral amb una certa semblança al pane toscano.
En realitat és sicilià … Igual que amb els altres que he utilitzat del molí, Filippo Drago.http://molinidelponte.com
The name Maiorca had me confused also having recently baked with the Xeixa flour that Bernat mentions from Majorca. It seems that certainly this wheat Maiorca has been on Sicily for a long time as the great Russian agricultural scientist and wheat collector/breeder Vavilov collected in 1927 at the foot of Mt Etna http://www.wheat-gateway.org.uk/map_search.php?coll_ID=664 but it was also found other parts of Italy http://www.wheat-gateway.org.uk/search.php?send=1&per=50&search=maiorca
However on the general subject of baking with pre-modern wheats with their weaker gluten composition even if protein % is often high (less HMW glutentin etc) I found this blog post about baking with Xeixa helpful and have applied usefully to other “heritage” wheats from France and England http://crustandbeer.com/la-isla-de-la-xeixa/