I generally use one part semolina to two parts regular flour. If made with only regular flour, it is too soft for me. Here's my recipe: Ingredients: 1/2 cup semolina flour 1 cup unbleached white flour, plus more for kneading 2 eggs 1/4 tsp salt Directions: Make the dough by combining all ingredients in a large food processor. Process until the dough forms a ball and rolls around without sticking to the sides. You may have to add small increments of flour to get to this point. If you have too much flour, you can add a few drops of water, but you will not want the dough too dry at this point. Remove the dough from the processor and knead with more flour until the dough is elastic and not sticky. Knead the dough by folding it over in half after it has been very lightly dusted with flour. Then flatten the dough and repeat folding over and flattening until it is the correct consistency. It is better to be slightly too wet than too dry, as flour can be added when you are putting it through the pasta machine. Allow the dough to rest for one hour, covered. This time is required for the moisture to be absorbed fully into the flour. Next, cut the dough into pieces making approximately 2" diameter balls and roll one piece out with a rolling pin so that it will be in a flat shape for the machine. Keep the rest of the dough covered until you are ready for it. When the dough piece is flat enough, put it through the machine at the first setting (#1) and then fold it into thirds and roll it through again at the same setting. This makes the dough into a more rectangular shape and gives it straight sides. Folding it over also allows you to get a tiny bit more flour into the dough. As you continue rolling the dough, sprinkle it with flour (I use a flour shaker.) to prevent it from sticking to the rollers. Excess flour can be dusted off but does not really hurt, since you will not be folding the dough again. When you have rolled out the dough, place the strips on a broom handle (or similar object) to dry for about an hour. Now it is ready to be cut into shapes. If you are making ravioli, there is no need to hang the strips to dry. I have tried making it with a bit of olive oil added to the dough, but the dough falls apart for me when I do that. Lars

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

Before going wheat-free, I used to mill my own whole grain flour for pasta and noodles from durum wheat, which is the high-protein wheat variety high in gliadins, and makes the best pasta. Hard wheat varieties are also high in protein with the dominant protein being glutenins, and best used for bread. There are two types of protein that make up the "gluten group" we usually refer to as "gluten" and they are both present in wheat flours. Glutenins provide the elastic quality that allows bread dough to expand, and gliadins, which contribute a secondary roll in bread with the viscosity and extensibility. Gliadins are what give pasta it's strength and is the dominant protein in durum wheat. I milled a coarse grind similar to semolina for making pasta and a fine flour for making noodles. The fine flour is like "00" flour. Most "00" flour that we see in the United States is ground from durum wheat and has a mid-range protein content of about 11-12%. This kind of flour is about how fine it's milled - nearly like talcum powder, compared to the coarse semilina. You can actually make pasta/noodles from nearly any kind of flour, and it's fun to try different ones. I also liked using Triticale which is a hybrid of rye and durum wheat, which had some of the same characteristics as durum. Kamut (an ancient variety of wheat) was the "granddaddy" of durum wheat, and makes good pasta, but a little more delicate. For noodles I made pelâÂÂmeni dough (a sourdough method) and a traditional Russian dough, so try pasta/noodles from other countries as you find recipes. The protein from eggs in pasta dough provides some strength and gives some richness to the flavor. It's a little like using a pastry recipe that contains an egg when you want a stronger crust to hold a hearty meat filling. The egg protein will reinforce the structure helping it be strong enough to hold the filling, and it does the same thing in a pasta or noodle recipe. -Grainlady