Khorasan (Kamut®) and durum wheat are two varieties of wheat that I have used interchangeably in pasta, bread, and pizza dough. I know they are related and look similar – in the photo above, durum wheat is the smaller grain on the right – and presumably behave similarly. In this experiment, I decided to actually test how similar they are, using a slurry test and baking bread with them. I initially thought of simply testing khorasan and durum wheat, but then decided to add Kamut, which is a proprietary version of khorasan. This means that I compared two grains terroir or differences in location and growing season compared to another grain of a different species and terroir. The short summary is that there seemed to be more terroir difference compared to the species difference in the appearance of the bread, and my taste testers had no consistent opinions on the flavors of all three breads. Some found durum wheat more buttery, others found Khorasan and Kamut more buttery. Same with sweetness.
Durum wheat is a descendant of emmerwhich is the second oldest grain after einkorn. Khorasan wheat it is believed to be a hybrid of durum wheat and Polish wheat. All these grains have 28 chromosomes. For reference, einkorn has 14 chromosomes, while modern and heirloom red and white wheats have 42 chromosomes. In terms of macronutrient profiles, khorasan has a little more protein and a little less fat than durum wheat.
Although the durum and khorasan have similar color and genetics, they have quite different historical ranges and uses. Durum wheat has been widely cultivated for thousands of years throughout the Mediterranean and beyond, and is currently used for almost all consumer pasta products. Semolina, a flour made from the bran of durum wheat berries, is used in bread and many savory and sweet dishes from Italy and North Africa through the Middle East to Russia and India.
Khorasan, in contrast, is a lesser-known grain with a fraction of the annual production of durum wheat. It likely originated in the Khorasan region of Iran and traveled to the United States from Egypt with an aviator returning home after World War II. A few decades later, Bob Quinn began growing khorasan and registered it as Kamut®, eventually founding Montana Grains and Flour to commercially distribute the trademarked grain. Khorasan flour is preferred by people with gluten sensitivities for various baked goods, and the extra large grains make attractive pilaf dishes.
Sewage test
My first step in examining these flours was to do a slurry test to evaluate their hydration needs, gluten strength and enzymatic activity. I mixed the flours with the same amount of water, then I handled the dough to feel its consistency and elasticity immediately after mixing and at 30, 60 and 90 minutes to notice how the water absorption and the strength of the gluten are changed over time. A final evaluation was carried out approximately 18 hours later to determine if/how much each dough had broken down due to the particular enzymatic activity of the wheat.
50 grams of flour
Mixed with 40 grams of water (80% hydration), same kneading sensation. Khorasan looks more orange.
Stretching to 30 minutes, the khorasan tore.
Stretching to 60 minutes, the khorasan tore on both ends.
In this short 90 minute video, Kamut tears instead of stretching.
The next day, about 18 hours after mixing, none of the doughs seemed to have undergone gluten breakdown, although the durum wheat perhaps seemed a little stronger, specifically more elastic.
Conclusions: Overall the flours behaved very similarly. Khorasan took a little longer to gain strength, but hit hard, while Kamut lagged a bit behind in terms of strength after having maximum initial cohesion. The next day the durum wheat seemed to be a little more elastic than the other two. I was surprised by how similar khorasan and Kamut flours were to durum wheat flours in terms of thirst, and also how different khorasan and Kamut were from each other in color and strength at 90 minutes. Since they are the same genetic species of wheat, I guess terroir (the specific farm/location/season) is primarily responsible for these differences.
Cooking test results
Khorasan and durum wheat are both described as buttery or nutty with just a hint of sweetness, and are also said to have a high protein content but not the ideal composition of the protein subcategories glutenin and gliadin for making an airy bread.
To test these descriptions, I baked bread with these flours to observe the characteristics and flavor of the bread. The dough formula was the same for all loaves, and the process was as close to identical to what I can manage in a home kitchen: full kneading, two cycles of stretching and folding, 75% expansion during the first rise , boule-shaped, leavened at room temperature and baked after the same expansion in the baskets.
400 grams of Kamut wholemeal flour / khorasan / durum wheat semolina (3 cups, heaped)
300 grams of water (1 and 1/4 cups)
75 grams sourdough starter, fed with all-purpose flour (1/4 cup)
8 grams of salt (1 1/2 teaspoons)
Kamut produced the tallest bread with the most compact and yellow crumb. This firmer crumb probably had to do with hydration because, as the dough fermented, it became more domed than the others, indicating that it had a drier consistency. This was unexpected given the similarity of all three flours during the slurry test.
The khorasan bread expanded more in all directions and had a relatively open crumb with a more light yellow-brown color.
The semolina bread was flatter than the other two and had an open crumb like the khorasan bread. The color was between Kamut and Khorasan shades.
The tasters perceived differences in the flavors of the bread, but there was no consensus. Some felt that khorasan and kamut were sweeter and others felt that hard was sweeter. Likewise with the butteriness versus the more traditional wheat flavor.
My final conclusion is that these grains are indeed very replaceable AND Differences exist, but they can derive both from the particular farm that grows the wheat or even from the individual crop as well as from the classification of the wheat species.
