Flour test - Kamut

I was given a bag of Kamut by a friend to test. I have read good things about Kamut and needless to say, I was very eager to see how it will turn out. As I was in the process of refreshing my sourdough starter, I decided to do some sourdough loaves with it. I did not follow any specific recipe of the masters but just made up one using my generic method. That was probably not very wise and to aggravate that, my wife announced that she had a dental appointment and that I had to send my daughter for a class. OMG.

Initially I wanted to make a rye starter since I had some leftovers taking up valuable freezer space. The initial build was with rye flour but I decided against using rye for the second build because I was afraid that it will compromise the evaluation of the Kamut. I ended up with a starter which was one-third rye at 100% hydration.

The main dough consisted of 25% Kamut with the rest consisting of Prima's Clover flour. I have always had problems with this flour and the recent batch that I got seemed to be at the higher end of the protein range. I keep telling myself that this was the last time that I was using this flour and I hope I remember this the next time I am at the distributor.

The Kamut had a pleasant nutty smell and it was relatively easy to handle the dough which was at 75%. The bread was baked at 220 deg for around 10 mins with the rest of the bake at 190 deg. The loaves smelt fantastic when they came out of the oven. As luck would have it, my friend happened to be on an errand near where I live and I was able to present two loaves to her.

The flavor of the bread was good although the crumb was a little moist when I first cut it a couple of hours later. However, this was characteristic of sourdough as this type of bread needs a day to set. The crumb was a little better when I ate it the next day. Unfortunately, I forgot to tell my friend about this and I guess I'd have to do better the next time. On the whole, the bread could have been a little better had I followed a proper recipe instead of making one up on the spot.