Q. What is a “wheat berry”?

A. A wheat berry is a whole, intact grain of wheat. It has been neither refined nor ground.

Q. Which wheat should I use?

A. That depends on what you’re baking. Wheat can be categorized two different ways: hard or soft, red or white. Hard wheat contains a larger percentage of gluten and a lower percentage of water. This higher gluten content is necessary for baking yeast breads, as it is what allows them to rise. Soft wheat is moister and lower in gluten. The lower gluten content allows it to produce lighter, less tough baked goods without yeast (biscuits, cakes, etc.). Red wheat is darker than white and has a stronger flavor. The “wheat bread” with which most of us are familiar is red wheat bread. (If you think you don’t like wheat bread, try a loaf made with white wheat.) If you like this flavor, it is good for standalone breads. If you are baking a bread which will be accompanied by other flavors (like blueberry muffins), you might prefer the milder flavor of white wheat, so as not to overpower the other flavors. While soft wheat produces lighter yeast-free baked goods, hard wheat may be used in these instances. Hard white wheat is a good all-purpose grain.

Q. What is gluten?

A. Wheat (and some other grains) contains two proteins: glutenin and gliadin. (It probably contains others, as well; these are just the only ones related to gluten.) When glutenin and gliadin combine, they form a composite protein called “gluten.” Gluten is a stretchy, almost rubbery substance. Sometimes this is beneficial and sometimes it is not. Gluten helps things hold together; most baked goods benefit from
at least a small amount of gluten to keep them from falling apart. (Xanthan gum is often added to gluten-free baked goods to help in this capacity, for those who cannot tolerate gluten.) Stretched-out strands of gluten trap the air bubbles produced by growing yeast and cause yeast bread to rise. However, too much gluten in a baked product without yeast may be tough. For this reason, commercial flours are formulated in a variety of ways for different purposes.

Q. What is the difference between bread flour and pastry flour?

A. In the whole foods world, “bread flour” refers to high-gluten (hard wheat) flour, while “pastry flour” refers to low-gluten (soft wheat) flour.

Q. Why does the supermarket carry all those different flours?

A. They have different amounts of gluten. Hard wheats have a higher gluten content than soft wheats. If you’re grinding your own, buying it freshly ground from the health food store, etc., you’re getting pure soft wheat or pure hard wheat flour, but most supermarket flours are a blend. Gluten is sort of elastic; it binds things together. For bread, you *need* that, as it traps the gasses released by the yeast and allows the bread to rise. For cake- and pastry-baking, you still want a little (so it doesn’t just crumble apart), but too much can make your baked goods tough. All-purpose flour is a mixture of about half hard and half soft wheat flour. Bread flour has more gluten in it. Cake flour has less. Pastry flour is similar to cake flour. Believe it or not, Southern brands of all-purpose flour are not even the same as Northern brands. Southern brands of flour contain more soft wheat (low gluten), to be better suited to the biscuits and cornbread popular in the South. Northern brands are a bit higher in gluten (hard wheat), to be good for the yeast breads popular in the North. Generally speaking, you want to look for a higher protein content for yeast breads and lower protein for non-yeast breads. A good bread flour will contain about 14% protein or higher.

If you’re not a gourmet chef, you can use all-purpose or even bread flour for cakes and such and probably not notice much difference (although they will be more tender with the lower-gluten flours), but you can’t substitute cake or pastry flour in a yeast bread recipe.

Self-rising flour has added ingredients, such as salt and baking powder.

Q. If white flour is made from wheat, why do they taste different?

A. There are two reasons. First of all, white flour is so refined that it has basically had all the flavor removed along with everything else. It really doesn’t have much taste. Second, most people familiar with “wheat” are familiar with red wheat, which has a much stronger flavor than white wheat. I would never dream of putting red wheat flour in a cake; it would be awful! But white wheat tastes fine.

Q. Is it possible to use a wheat flour and get a ‘white’ taste?

A. By using white wheat, rather than red, you will produce baked goods with a flavor far less distinctly different from white-flour baked goods. In fact, baked goods made with soft white wheat are often lighter – in color and in texture – than baked goods made with all-purpose flour. (See “What is Gluten?”) “Prairie Gold” or “Golden 86” wheat (a particular variety) is the generally-accepted standard for hard white wheat used for breadmaking.

Q. Where do I buy wheat?

A. There are a number of sources you can try. Many health food stores carry wheat and/or other grains, as do the health foods sections of some large supermarkets. These stores usually carry only small quantities, though, making them very expensive. Most people obtain their grain from co-ops. Check your local health food store, homeschool support group, or community newspaper (the one that tells you when the local parks are having special events, what the library is doing, etc.) to see if anyone knows of a co-op in your area. Or check at foodclub.org.
A few people I know of get their wheat from local mills or bakeries. If you are unable to obtain wheat locally, you can order from Wheat Montana, Morningside Farm, or the Beckers.

Q. What if I can’t afford a mill? Do I have any other options?

A. If you have a friend with a mill, you could ask if you may visit every few days or every week and grind your grain. Be sure to freeze the flour to prevent its going rancid! Some health food stores grind grain fresh every day or two and sell the flour. The price is usually comparable to buying whole wheat flour at the supermarket (which is probably so old that the nutrients have oxidized and the oil from the germ has become rancid).

If all else fails, you can purchase whole wheat bread. This is not as healthy as homemade bread, as it generally contains other preservatives, colorants, etc. It is, however, better than white bread. If you are buying bread, look for 100% whole wheat on the label. Bread labeled simply “whole wheat” must contain some whole wheat but is rarely all whole wheat.