Question for goodcompanion

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  • May 30, 2011 at 4:04 am #42771
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Erik
    I have a dumb question for a professional baker. What type of wheat is used for bread making? Here in NW Ohio we raise hard red winter wheat which I’m told is not used for bread. I am not sure of all the different types of wheat,but I realize there are several. Thanks for any response.

    May 30, 2011 at 11:47 am #67550
    goodcompanion
    Participant

    Gee, hard red winter is the preferred baking wheat around here.

    The thing about good baking wheat is you want a high protein content for decent rising properties. If you are making johnnycake any wheat will do. But to get good protein (and gluten development is directly linked to protein) you need a good variety for your area, a good season, not too wet, (ha ha!) and an early harvest (hard dough stage).

    Soft wheats (white, red) are mostly used in pastry flour.

    There is some hard white wheat with decent baking properties out there but I’ve never seen or used it.

    Durum wheat is mainly used for pasta and couscous, though it is sometimes used in bread.

    Both spring and winter wheats of all varieties can produce good results. It is not a hard-and-fast division. Many so-called winter wheats can be spring sown and vice versa. For us, usually fall sowing is ideal.

    In terms of flour, bakers look for protein percentage, generally anything upwards of 10% will give you a strong rise, and ash content. Ash content will give you an indication of the level of impurity in the flour. Germ and bran in the flour contribute to ash content. I like a little germ in white flour so a highish ash content isn’t necessarily bad in my book. Ash content represents the percentage of the wheat’s mass that can’t be incinerated. Pure wheat endosperm, the basis of flour, goes up in flames nearly completely.

    You can’t test protein levels and ash content without a flour lab. You need to mill the wheat and bake with it and see what happens. There are a lot of variables in milling that can affect the result too, especially if you are sifting to make a kind of white flour, as I do.

    Makes cornmeal look pretty simple, eh?

    May 31, 2011 at 12:20 am #67555
    Rivendell Farm
    Participant

    Dave,
    I live in Michigan, about five miles north of the Ohio/Indiana line and most all the wheat grown here is soft red winter wheat. Are you sure hard wheat is raised in your area? The climate here isn’t great for hard wheat- too much rain. Bob

    May 31, 2011 at 12:52 am #67553
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Thanks for the info, Erik.
    Not to wet ( ha ha ) We just survived the wettest May on record for my area. And the second wettest of any month on record. I’m sure a lot of folks are in the same situation.

    I will definitely be experimenting with some home ground wheat this year.
    Thanks again.

    May 31, 2011 at 12:58 am #67551
    goodcompanion
    Participant

    Wheat is definitely a tricky one. You can plant a crop and get yield but poor flour quality. Or maybe get neither yield nor quality. The industrial ag “solution” to this problem is to have all the flour wheat for the whole country grown in the semi-arid areas. Back in the old days I guess people did the best they could with such varieties and weather as they had and a good crop was maybe something you could really take to the bank. But you might not want to risk the farm on getting that bumper crop of first-rate baking-quality wheat.

    I have been hammered with lousy growing conditions one year out of two. Much as I love growing wheat it is very frustrating to plant every year and graze it off every other year! This has led me to try to add other grains that are not so temperamental.

    Must admit I feel somewhat vindicated in this decision as my rice crop is still alive and thriving when we are totally flooded out and nothing in the area has gotten planted. Not to say that on the whole I’m any happier about this relentless rain than anyone else…arrgh.

    Last time I checked though, my stand of winter wheat was looking okay. Excess rain before heading is not a very big deal. It is waterlogging after heading you really have to watch out for. Paves the way for all kinds of bad things to happen to the health and well-being of your future flour.

    May 31, 2011 at 3:36 am #67554
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Rivendell Farms
    I guess I really don’t know what kind of wheat is raised around here. I always heard it was used for pastry flour so from Erik’s post it makes sense that it is soft red wheat. Isn’t Montgomery home of the legendary Fowler Brothers?

    Erik
    I’m sure with all this moisture there will something in the wheat this year. It seems like we get a new disease in wheat and corn every year. Hope your rice crop does well for you. The weather hasn’t been to kind to farmers for several years now.

    May 31, 2011 at 11:23 am #67552
    goodcompanion
    Participant

    @Dave G 27303 wrote:

    Rivendell Farms

    I’m sure with all this moisture there will something in the wheat this year. It seems like we get a new disease in wheat and corn every year. Hope your rice crop does well for you. The weather hasn’t been to kind to farmers for several years now.

    If it continues fair from here on out it might be okay! The seed heads are not formed yet so they can’t be affected by fusarium yet.

    June 2, 2011 at 12:22 am #67556
    Rivendell Farm
    Participant

    Yes, the Fowler brothers were from Montgomery, but I don’t believe either of them is still living. I have to admit to not being a big fan of horse-pulling, though. I’d rather watch horses plow. Unfortunately Montgomery today might be best known for its Meth labs. Bob

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