Does this advice lead to better bread? Or does it overcomplicate things? In this email I’ll be looking at the different types of wheat, and how to choose one that works for you.
Red wheat vs white wheat
Red wheat and white wheat refer to the colour of the grain, rather than whether any processing has been done: it’s possible to find both whole and refined versions of these wheat flours.
Red wheat has a stronger flavour, which is often welcome in breads, but some whole red wheat flours can sometimes have a bitter flavour, and this may not be welcome when you’re trying to make pastries or a mild-flavoured loaf.
White wheat has a milder flavour, and it still makes great bread, as well as being an excellent flour to use in cakes, biscuits, and pastries.
Hard wheat vs soft wheat
Hard and soft wheats refer to the amount of protein in the flour, and also have to do with how hard the bran is.
Hard wheats are often chosen for bread baking, especially by people who bake with refined flours, because the extra gluten helps create a dough that holds its shape and traps lots of gas, but when working with whole grain flours, the hard bran in the hardest wheat flours can often act like tiny knives cutting through the gluten, achieving the opposite of what you want.
The bran in soft wheats can also do this to some extent, and will also benefit from the slower approaches to developing gluten that I discussed in an earlier Floury Friday.
Winter wheat vs spring wheat
Winter wheat is wheat that is planted early enough in the autumn to allow for some growth before the winter sets in, it is then harvested early in summer. Spring wheat is planted in the spring and harvested in midsummer or late summer.
The timing of the wheat growing is mostly to do with local, seasonal conditions. In regions where wheat won’t die in the winter, sowing wheat in the autumn usually means less weed competition, more reliable rainfall, a way to protect the soil during the winter, higher yields, higher mineral content, and the harvest happening during dry weather earlier in the season, when there is also a chance to grow a second crop after the harvest.
Spring wheat is most commonly grown where the conditions aren’t right for autumn sowing. The yields and mineral content are lower, but the protein content is slightly higher, so some bakers prefer spring wheat for this reason.
Protein content
Some bakers make a lot of fuss about the protein content of wheats, because when baking with highly refined flours, it’s the gases trapped in the gluten protein network that give flavour to the bread, so when you’re using using flour without any flavour of its own, it makes sense to trap as much gas as possible by having as much gluten as possible in the bread.
When baking with freshly milled flours, a lot of flavour comes from the flour itself, so the protein content is not as much of an issue.
Autolyse and resting after mixing are techniques that can help improve the gluten structure in low protein wheats.
Types of protein
The proteins in grain that bakers pay attention to are glutenin and gliadin. Glutenin is what gives bread its elasticity: higher amounts of this in the grain will create a dough that holds its shape better. Gliadin is what gives extensibility, and this is what makes the bread easier to stretch and shape.
Some grains will have more glutenin and less gliadin, others, such as spelt, less glutenin and more gliadin.
Ancient grains
Khorasan (also called Kamut) and emmer are ancient grains that can be used in the same way as wheat. Feel free to use these in any of my recipes that call for wheat without making any adjustments to the recipes.
Spelt and einkorn are also ancient grains that can make delicious breads, but they need a bit more care that Khorasan and emmer, so I’ll discuss working with these in a different email.
Is organic grain always best?
Organic wheat is wheat that is not genetically modified and has not been sprayed with toxic chemicals. Wheat and many other grains grown with modern methods are sprayed shortly before harvest with cancer-causing chemicals to dry them down uniformly. For health reasons, it is worthwhile to seek out organic and biodynamic grains, whether they be certified organic, or from a local farmer who you know and trust.
Is there an all-purpose grain that can be used for everything?
If you just want to keep one type of wheat in your kitchen, I recommend choosing an organic hard white wheat. If you want to use ancient grains instead of wheat. feel free to work with organic emmer or Khorasan (or with some adjustment, einkorn or spelt).
May your kitchen be filled with the smell of freshly baked bread. Floury regards,
Kate
P.S. If you'd like to access an archive of all previous Floury Friday emails, simply visit http://katedownham.kit.com.
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