Whole wheat flour, technically, is flour milled from the whole grain, and nothing more. It can be milled from hard or soft grain, spring or winter grain, red or white varieties, or even durum wheat (which is used for making pasta). Although it's generally understood "whole wheat" flour is flour with enough gluten in it for yeast breads. Pastry flour, as already posted by lpinkmountain is milled from soft wheat varieties - which is lower in gluten and best used for baked goods where you don't want a lot of gluten development - cakes, pastry, cookies, quick breads, etc. When you mill your own flour it's important to understand these grains and their baking characteristics. In storage I keep: -hard red winter and hard white winter wheat varieties -hard red spring and hard white spring wheat -soft white wheat -durum wheat (used for pasta) -triticale (a hybrid of rye and durum wheat) To make "cake" flour, which is lower in gluten than pastry flour, I use a 3:1 mixture of soft white wheat and either oats or spelt. The low-gluten flour is great for delicate cakes like Chiffon or Angel Food. Winter/Spring - indicates the growing season of wheat. In the mid- and southern States that grow wheat, it's planted in the fall, grows about 8-10-inches and winters-over. The plants go dormant during the winter, breaks dormancy late Feb., and matures during the summer and is harvested in June/July/August, starting in the southern States and traveling north. Spring wheat is grown in the northern States and southern Canada. It is planted in the spring and harvested late summer/early fall. Winter wheat generally is a smaller seed than spring wheat. Hard winter wheat mills into a slightly stronger flour, containing more glutenins than spring wheat because of the longer growing season than spring wheat. But those smaller grains of hard winter wheat contain more bran after it's milled, while spring wheat has more of the starchy endosperm. Hard/Soft - These are primarily terms of interest to millers to describe the texture of the endosperm and how it breaks down in milling, but are also related to bread-making strength. Hard for higher gluten levels, soft for lower gluten levels. If you forget which variety of wheat you milled into flour, all you have to do is rub it between your fingers to know. Hard wheat varieties are slightly gritty, while soft wheat is soft like talcum powder. Red/White - Bran color. Red and white wheat have the same plant traits and nutrition, but the bran color is different. Red wheat has 3 genes that determines the bran color. Early varieties, such as Turkey Red, had 3 genes that made the bran very dark, the flour very dark, and the taste was very acidic. Most of today's varieties of red wheat only have one or two of these genes for less color and a less acidic flavor. Think of white wheat as the albino of wheat varieties. It has no genes for bran color so it's light in color and the taste is mild and almost sweet-tasting. Durum is a different variety that has the highest amount of protein, but the dominant of the protein group in durum wheat is the gliadin protein, rather than the glutenin. Therefore it's best used for pasta because of it's strength and viscosity. -Grainlady

Kari & Clare - Kari - My sources for wheat: 1. locally grown hard winter red and white wheat (free or very cheap, but usually NOT chemical-free or organic) 2. Heartland Mill, Marienthal, KS - organic grains 3. Bob's Red Mill - soft white wheat (and other grains) 4. Wal-Mart - Hard Spring White Wheat - Prairie Gold (from Wheat Montana - chemical-free) - they also carry hard red wheat Bronze Chief. Wal-Mart has only recently started carrying Wheat Montana wheat around here - $5 for 25-pounds. Mills: 1. (A very old) Whisper Mill - which is an electric impact mill (now known as a Wonder Mill) - this mills most grains/seeds/beans into a very fine flour - fine flour = fine bread, coarse flour = coarse bread. 2. Marga Mulino Flaker Mill - for cracked grain, flakes, and coarse farina (for cooked cereal) 3. Corona Corn Mill - for coarsely milled grain and corn meal. 4. Porkert Seed Grinder - for small seeds, such as amaranth, poppy seeds, teff, etc. 5. Bosch Coffee/Spice - for milling flaxmeal. 6. Family Grain Mill - a hand mill, that also has an electric-powered motor to run it as well, that has a lot of attachments available for other uses (meat grinders, flakers, etc.). This is my back-up mill. You have to mill the flour twice to get a reasonably fine grind of flour. Source for recipes: I suggest you start by substituting unbleached/bleached flour in your favorite recipes with a portion of wholegrain flour. There are all kinds of books out there on whole wheat baking. I have a collection of 28 beans, seeds, and grains that I use milled and whole - included in that, several types of wheat. I develop many of my own recipes because I use really "odd" ingredients, including gluten-free baking. Here's a few books I like from the large selection in my library: RECIPES FROM THE OLD MILL (Baking with Whole Grains) by Sarah E. Myers and Mary Beth Lind WHOLE WHEAT COOKERY (Treasures from the Wheat Bin) by Howard and Anna Ruth Beck THE AMAZING WHEAT BOOK by LeArta Moulton THE SPLENDID GRAIN (all kinds of seeds and grains) by Rebecca Wood WHEAT COOKIN' MADE EASY by Pam Crockett --------------- Clare - Wheat comes in HARD (strong/high-gluten) and SOFT (weak/low-gluten) varieties. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour is milled from (low-gluten) soft red wheat, just like you thought. It's best used just as you described - in baked goods where you don't want a lot of gluten development - for the most part, anything other than yeast breads. Low-gluten bleached flour would include White Lily and Martha White - which are great for quick breads, pastry, etc. I purchase soft white wheat berries from Bob's Red Mill to mill into whole wheat pastry flour. I also use freshly-milled spelt and some rye, barley, and triticale for baked goods that need low-gluten flour, as an alternative to soft wheat flour. All wheat has a protein level that determins if the grain is hard or soft. Even in the same field you'll find protein (gluten) level differences from one side of the field to the other. If a portion of the field is shaded(usually at the edge of the field) and/or there's a low place in the field that retains water after a rain, the wheat that receives a lot of water/shade will usually have a low-protein count. Even though hard wheat may have been planted, the protein level is also determined by the amount of rainfall, and other factors. Soft wheats are characteristicly plump (a lot of endosperm), while hard wheat varieties (especially winter wheat) is small, wrinkled, and very hard when you bite it. When soft whole wheat is milled, the flour is exactly that - very soft to the touch. Hard whole wheat is much 'grittier' - due to the higher percentage of bran to endosperm ratio. All bleached/unbleached flour is milled from a combination of wheat protein levels to formulate the amount of protein for the type of flour needed. High-protein wheat is used for yeast breads, a combination of hard and soft wheat is milled for all-purpose flour, and pastry flour is milled from soft wheat. There are also fields of extremely high protein wheats (15% or more), but they are mixed with lower protein wheat to make flour. I've used some wheat that was 16% protein, and it took forever (lots of kneading and a very long fermentation) to develop the gluten in bread - 12-13% protein level is much better for yeast bread. Too much gluten will make a tough loaf of bread. The highest protein level wheat is durum wheat. Unlike hard red and white wheat varieties which are used for yeast breads, durum wheat is used in pasta. I mill durum for whole wheat pasta - NOT red or white varieties of wheat. Commercial whole wheat pasta is made with wholegrain durum wheat. The elements in wheat protein that we call "gluten" are actually a gluten group - GLUTENINS and GLIADINS. Glutenins provide the elasticity quality that allows bread dough to expand. Gliadins contribute to the viscosity and extensibility of bread dough. Red and white wheat varieties have a dominance of GLUTENINS and less GLIADINS. Durum wheat has a dominance of GLIADINS and less GLUTENINS. Therefore, even though durum wheat has a high protein level, it's unsuited for bread making, due to the type of protein. -Grainlady

WAY-TO-GO!!!!! Where there's a will, there's a way.... ;-) That's a wonderful price for wheat!!! This is similar to recipes where you sprout the grain then grind it (see link below for information) for unleavened and leavened breads. You'll get more nutrition from sprouted grain, but there are advantages when you soak the grain, as well. Your method couples this ancient method with the bread-making method from the book, "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Jeff Hergzberg and Zoe Francois. BRILLIANT! Many traditional people (pre-industriliazed people) soaked or fermented their grains before making them into porridge, breads, cakes and casseroles. Ask someone who is "of-an-age" if they remember when the instructions on the oatmeal box called for an overnight soaking. All grains contain phytic acid in the outer layer (the bran). Soaking allows the enzymes, lactobacilli and other helpful organisms to break down and neutralize phytic acid. When you soak cracked or rolled cereal grains overnight, it will improve their nutritional benefits. Instead of the "glug of vinegar", I'd probably use some whey from my homemade kefir as the acid. I already use grains that are chemcial-free. Using an overnight sponge method for 100% whole wheat bread will make the loaf much lighter. Soaked flour is also a method used with wholegrain flour that makes it much lighter. Soaked grains are also easier to digest - for you folks who have digestive problems with whole grains (NOT related to gluten intolerance). If you use steel-cut oats, try this soaking method. Oats happen to have a high amount of phytic acid in them, so this is a very beneficial method for preparing them. I mill my own oat flakes in a flaker mill, or coarsely milled oats (similar to steel-cut). This makes it cook much faster. Bring 4 c. water to a boil (in a pan that has a lid). Turn off heat and add one cup steel-cut oats. Add 1-2 T. whey, buttermilk, yogurt, or kefir (cultured dairy products) or even a little vinegar or lemon juice (all are acidic ingredients). Cover pot and leave overnight at room temperature. The next morning cook the oatmeal on low for 9-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Sprouted Wheat Bread Recipe

After a bit of trial and error we assembled the grain mill, I can never remember how that auger goes in. And we ground wheat: We ground it twice so it was nice and fine. Now, what to do with that lovely wheat flour? Cookies, of course, the universal food, LOL. But their Dad doesn't like chocolate and I was out of chips and so we settled on peanut butter cookies, with one M&M on top of each or one "unicorn" chip, so Daddy could pick them off if he decided he didn't want the decoration. A sprinkle of raw sugar for crunch, and they were ready for the oven. The girls didn't think they were sweet enough, so they added Nutella frosting, but I liked them. They weren't particularly sweet, but they were soft and fluffy, and tasted of fresh grain and peanuts, which I thought was very nice. I also have hard red wheat, hard white wheat, soft white wheat and some corn. I'm going to use the rest of this batch of flour to make bagels, I think. If this virus gets worse I won't see the girls for a while, but if it stays "stable" in my area we'll do some more baking and talk about why certain types of wheat are better for certain kinds of baking and maybe make something like soft pretzels. Their teachers were very impressed and said they thought no other kid in the school district would have that particular lesson, combining science, agriculture and a bit of math, LOL. Annie