Samuel Fromartz > wrote in message >...
> I've read French bakers use fava bean flour (farine de feve) as a dough
> enhancer.
>
> Joe Ortiz, in The Village Baker, writes that added at a rate of 2 percent or
> less, the flour helps "add flavor, boost the rising process, and whiten the
> crumb of breads made with less refined flours that have a high ash content
> and therefore a grey coloration." (p. 13).
>
> Since I could not find fava flour, I added garbanzo bean (chick pea) flour
> and seemed to get a lighter crumb in a sourdough bagette. Has anyone tried
> this? I've only done this experiment once but will post results as it
> progresses.
>
> Sam

Generally any legume flour is suited as bread enhancer. It can include
many kind of beans( chickpea,broad,lima ,soya etc) . but the well
known legume flours for dough enhancing purposes is the soya flour and
the fava bean.
the soya has more potent effect than the faba bean. I can use only 5
gram of enzyme acitve soya flour opposing to 10 gram of similar enzyme
acitve fava bean flour per kilogram of flour. If you add more it will
have a pronounce effect on bread flavor ( slight percieved rancidity)
as the enzymes act on the flour fatty acids and if the enzyme activity
is excess it can create flavor changes in the finished bread . That is
the reason that artisan bakers are cautious in using such enzyne
active bean flours in bread making.
In fact only the industrial bakers are popular users of such legume
flours as they expect their bread to have whiter crumb while the
artisanal bakers want a creamier natural looking bread crumb with
uneven crumb appearance.
Roy