Grain Types

My sister Camilla requested a post explaining about the different types of wheat, since she didn't know there were different kinds. I spent most of my life not knowing either - but now I'm obsessed with wheat types!

Hard Red Wheat:

Small reddish grains of wheat, hard red wheat has a high gluten content, and is ideal for bread making, and any cooking where a development of gluten is desired (ie, anything made with yeast that is kneaded, etc.) The flour of hard red will have visible red specks of the hull sprinkled throughout. Available through any LDS Church Home Cannery.

Hard White Wheat:

Larger yellow/brown grains of wheat, hard white wheat also has a higher gluten content. Available through Provident Living or any LDS Church Home Cannery.

White Flour available in the Supermarket:

A blend of various hard and soft wheat.

Soft Wheat:

A low gluten content. Used for pastry and pie crusts and anything that is risen by baking powder or soda and where a soft crumb and minimum development of gluten is desired (cakes, cookies). The brand of Soft Lily flour and cake flour are soft wheat.

Durham Wheat:

Principally used for pastas. A yellow, large grain. When milled into flour it is known as semolina, and it is its yellow color that gives pasta its color.

I've only ever used hard red and white wheat, but I'd love to get some soft and durham wheat (to make my own pasta). There are plenty of places on the Internet that sell them, but I'm hoping to find them for sale in local feed stores, health food stores, and the like.

Bread made with Hard Red Wheat alone will be fairly dense and have a hearty (sometimes almost bitter) taste. White Wheat tends to be slightly bland, which works very well in dishes that aren't traditionally whole wheat, and so you do not want a whole wheat flavor. I mix the two for bread baking and for most recipes using yeast. For everything else I use White wheat alone.

Whole wheat absorbs more water, so when adjusting a recipe for whole wheat add slightly less flour, so that the balance of dry to wet ingredients is not changed.