Oh, no! Bad sentence on my part. Southern California. We had a wonderful Syrian bakery that made brilliant pita. I still miss them. My heart breaks for what has happened there, but I've never been to Syria. You haven't said why you're eschewing "enriched flour" and don't need to, but white flour products are required by law to use vitamin enriched flour, and even most home baking white flour (bleached or unbleached) is enriched and has a little malted barley flour in it as well, which has a lot of an enzyme that's needed for rising. Unless you have a specific problem with one or more of the vitamins or the barley, the enrichment shouldn't be a problem. Maybe you're just concerned that there's white flour in there. White flour is often added to whole wheat flour to make the rise spongier. Sometimes vital wheat gluten is added to strengthen the gluten (the bran in the whole wheat can weaken or cut it). Wheat gluten can be isolated by hand by washing the wheat and kneading out the starch, and has been done for centuries, so it's not a weird industrial product. Anything that's made with white flour in the U.S. uses enriched flour. There may be some places that mill and sift their own flours that do not, but that's an extremely rare exception. Therefore, I would guarantee that the Lebanese pita are made with enriched flour. The thinner thing is probably a lack of leavening. Even in the Middle East, nowadays, the pita have leavening and are a bit spongy. That's not traditional. :) I haven't seen Kontos, and I'd guess it's an East Coast brand. I don't doubt that it's good! Whole Foods might be a better place to get 100% whole wheat, however, unless you can find a Middle Eastern or halal store where people are into the "new" kind of dietary laws (no white flour, pasture raise livestock, etc.). Maybe try stores near the colleges? College kids tend to be into better eating. Turlock is from California. I know they freeze to ship it to avoid preservatives, so you might find it there, but more likely the Whole Foods have something local. Good luck on your quest.

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

If you are not trying to avoid gluten or wheat or have an allergy, I'd use all-purpose or half all-purpose and half white whole wheat. You can mill pearl or quick barley in a coffee/spice mill, but it may be more coarse than when I mill barley in my grain mill. You could use a combination of barley milled in the coffee/spice mill and all-purpose or white whole wheat, as another option. If you do mill some barley in a coffee/spice mill, only do a small amount at a time. A blender or a food processor probably won't mill it fine enough. Barley flour tends to quickly settle after it's milled, so a cup of barley flour today can become 2/3 c. after it settles, so be sure to "fluff" the flour before you measure it if you store it. -Grainlady

Ironically, I was using coconut flour (and also nut flours) long before I went gluten-free as a way to reduce high-glycemic foods in our diet. When it comes to sorghum flour, I suggest milling your own, but I suggest that with all the whole grains because "fresh is best" - for the flavor as well as the nutrition. Sorghum is soft enough you can mill it in small batches in a coffee/spice mill. Sorghum flour tends to be gritty, so try to use it with a mixture of other textures, like oatmeal, unsweetened coconut.... Using the "soaked flour" method also helps; and when you make cookies, chill the dough overnight and that will help eliminate the grittiness. --Add 1/2 to 1 T. of cornstarch to every cup of sorghum flour to improve the smoothness and moisture retention. Arrowroot or tapioca flour can also be used measure-for-measure for cornstarch, or you can use 2 T. of Ultra Gel for every T. of cornstarch. --Use xanthan gum as a binder and for moisture retention. Add 1/2 t. of xanthan gum per cup of sorghum flour for cookies and cakes; or 1 t. per cup for breads. --Add a little extra oil or solid fat if you think your recipes are too dry. --Make small cakes, large cakes can dry out quickly. --Add an extra egg or egg white for improved smoothness and crumb structure. --Add a little extra baking powder and/or soda to boost rising properties. --Interestingly enough, you may find mixing doughs and batters longer than what you think would be necessary also helps the end results. --Sorghum flour works well combined with other grain/seed/bean flours. When working with bean flour, mill small white beans because they have the least amount of "beany" flavor. Sorghum flour, in combination with bean flour, helps cut the bitterness of bean flour. --You can also help "mask" some of the strong flavors of these gluten-free flours by choosing brown sugar, or even better, coconut palm sugar, or maple sugar, over white sugar. --Many gluten-free products and recipes use flour/starch mixtures that tend to be very low in vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber, and are high-glycemic, which can raise the blood sugar of diabetics. I tend to side on healthier ingredients and milling my own grains/seeds/beans for improved nutrition from the commercial all-purpose flour mixtures. Even though these commercial all-purpose flour mixtures are gluten-free, they are not healthy options, in my opinion, so I wouldn't use them frequently. You are potentially trading one health issue - gluten - for another. --Adding legume flours, ground flax, ground chia seeds, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, and flour milled from corn (especially high-nutrient blue corn), are going to add a wider variety of nutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants. Nut flours add protein to keep the glycemic impact lower. --Potato starch is often used in combination with other gluten-free flours, but you can also add dried potato flakes to baked goods, which will aid in holding moisture. --Benefits of using sorghum flour. Sorghum is high in insoluble fiber, with relatively small amounts of soluble fiber. The protein and starch in sorghum endosperm are more slowly digested than many other cereal grains. The slower rate of digestibility of sorghum products may be beneficial to diabetics over using high-glycemic flours and starches. --Sorghum flour tastes similar to wheat flour and is mild-flavored. --Sorghum flour mixes well with corn flour in tortillas. -Grainlady