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Hard Wheat, Soft Wheat Red Wheat, White Wheat – so much to know:(((
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Ok, if I decide on a grain mill and it is in our budget, do I get hard, soft, white or red, I know there are websites that can help with this, but what are your preferences – I will predominately be making bread and rolls and things like that at least at first, so any recommendations. Should I buy #10 cans or buckets? Thanks ladies, Linda
We love hard red spring wheat for breads and buns, and cakes. Soft white wheat is more for pastries and biscuits – the texture is quite different. Haven’t tried hard white, so no advice there. We buy ours in 25 kg sacks from an organic farm.
Gaeleen
Hard wheat (red or white) has the gluten content you need for yeast breads. Red has a stronger flavor than white, but like anything, you get used to what you use. You can use this for ALL baking, from yeast breads to muffins, cookies, cakes, pancakes and so on. This is what we do, and we use red or white, whatever I’ve got at the time. We have not have regular white flour to bake with(storebought with nothing in it worth eating) in at least 2 years. In the beginning we baked bread with half whole wheat flour and half white. Over a few months we use less white flour and got used to the flavor of 100% whole wheat for everything.
Soft wheat has a lower gluten content (gluten is what gets all stretchy during kneading and holds the air bubbles when yeast is raising bread), so it doesn’t work as well for yeast breads. It does well in things raised with baking powder/baking soda like cakes, cookies, muffins. The texture when ground is softer.
Hope that helps!
Thank you Gaeleen and Tristan – that explains a lot to me. Now I have something to work with and can look into it with a bit more knowledge. We like whole grain things as well. Linda
I have about 75% hard white wheat, about 10% soft white and the rest hard red. We prefer the texture of hard white in most things. I sometimes use part hard white and part hard red in baking. For things like pancakes, cookies, etc. then the soft white can turn out some better, comes out a little less grainy.
I have the wheat I use in smaller amounts like the soft white and the hard red, in #10 cans that I canned myself. All my rest is in buckets. We could make a staircase. LOL In fact that’s what we have under the egress window in the basement–steps made out of wheat buckets. I use this up so quickly that I just bring up a bucket when I need it, open it, use out of it a few weeks and it’s gone.
Thanks for that info Michelle, makes sense to me, and I am going to try all of these in small amounts and then decide what we like in what combination…and to make sure we can tolerate it. Linda
When I was able to use wheat, my favorite was hard white wheat. The red wheat tends to bake a little denser and heavier, in my experience. =) (i made little red sidewalk bricks of bread a few times – lol) You will have to experiement with it.
One thing you can do to lighten up your bread is add 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons vinegar for four loaves of bread. My recipe calls for 6 cups water, so I measure the eggs and vinegar into it to equal six cups in total.
We use white wheat. I don’t have a mill, but my friend does. So I go over and use her’s or pick it up for a weekend. I’m thankful to have such willing friends. I use it for most things breads, rolls, etc.
Thaks again ladies, brick bread I am very good at – if it was more waterproof I could live in a house I made from it! However I am game and will try until I get it right. Eggs and vinegar sounds interesting, I shall have to get that recipe – I will try the white wheat first then perhaps though I do love the heavy European breads, but I have to think of the others in the family who may not. This is all so interesting and it seems I may have a new adventure for the new year – I find that exciting to think about. Linda
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