Grains

Wheat matters, and here’s why

Sometime around 10,000 years ago, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean and east to the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, people stopped searching for randomly growing patches of wild wheat and started to gather it where it had been purposely sown. Although this “domesticated” wheat was still essentially wild, the fact that it was consciously “contained” was of great significance. The next step was even more momentous.

If you’ve ever planted corn, waited for it to ripen, and at the moment it should have reached its peak, discovered it had been ravaged by raccoons, you sense some of the experience and frustration of those early cultivators. Like dandelions, stalks of wild wheat, at their peak of maturity, release their seeds, or berries, and commit them to the winds. For the wheat, this insured another crop, but totally at the will of the wind. For the early wheat farmers, it meant the possibility of not having another crop where they wanted it in addition to missing the food value of the current one.

What eventually became clear was that a few kernels of wheat in those crops weren’t released. By collecting and planting these stick-in-the-mud wheat berries, people found that the next crop would produce more of the same. Thus very slowly began the human manipulation of the genetic codes of wild wheat and the beginnings of real wheat husbandry and “domestication.”

The two earliest varieties of wheat planted intentionally were called einkorn and emmer. Over time hybridizations were developed with “offspring” containing, for the growers, positive attributes of each “parent.” The implications of this were enormous; it meant the recognition that humans can change the characteristics of plants through breeding, and that they can manipulate the yield of a crop by positioning it favorably and/or by irrigating it, all of which implies stable, non-nomadic communities.

It also meant that humans were beginning to build upon what others had built before, both physically and culturally. It is not an accident that the root of the word “culture” refers both to the physical cultivation of the soil as well as the development of a social and intellectual organization of people. As the antecedents of this word evolved, it reflected and now refers to both the development of the physical act of cultivation as well as that increasingly complex organization of human existence that allowed it. The history of the changes in the genetic makeup of wheat thus reflects the evolution of our human civilization. Perhaps there’s even more information stored in a grain of wheat than in a modern microchip! And, in this hemisphere, the same thing was happening with another wild grass that we know as corn.

But what about the wheat we use today?

Over the millennia, strains of wheat have been developed that produce more and larger berries that are easier to get at, i.e., the outer husks are easier to remove; the plants are hardier and less brittle and the berries have become even more solidly attached to the stalks so little is lost to wind or storm. As new circumstances have arisen, so have more strains, some adapted to wetlands and arid areas, to the tropics and the sub-arctic. Wheat provides more nourishment for more people in the world per unit of land, than any other grain or any food related to animal husbandry.

The following are the types of flours that are in general use. But the old ones have not totally disappeared. If you walk into wheat breeding laboratories anywhere between Kansas State University and Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences in China, you’ll find yourself transported back in time. In these greenhouses are multiple varieties of primitive and ancient wheat still growing. In these places, wheat geneticists are continuing to uncover the secrets in the vast gene pools of all these varieties of wheat, as well as protecting them for whatever our future demands of them.

Durum semolina and durum flour

One of the oldest wheat varieties, durum - from the Latin word for “hard” - is an appropriate name for the firmest of all wheat. Its kernels are larger than other wheat berries and the endosperm is more amber or yellow. When most wheat is milled, the endosperm, or heart of the wheat kernel, breaks down into a fine, powdery flour, but the endosperm of durum is so cohesive that, when first milled, it creates the granular product that we call semolina. It can subsequently be milled more finely into a flour.

Although it has a high level of protein, this protein, when mixed with water, lacks the elasticity of other types of wheat. This makes it is less desirable than other wheat for yeast baking on it own, but used in conjunction with other wheat flours, it makes exceptionally flavorful breads and cakes. Durum's hardness makes it the wheat of choice for producing pasta.

Kamut

Related to durum, it’s likely that Kamut survived in some pocket in or near Egypt and as a result, has not been genetically changed for a long period of time. The story goes that it arrived in the United States via the mail, a few kernels being mailed from Egypt to Montana during the middle of the 20th century. It didn’t “catch on” at this point, but about 25 years later, a specific seed type was propagated that was named Kamut. This, theoretically, is the ancient Egyptian word for wheat. It fares better than wheat in some nutritional aspects, but worse in others. Because it’s related to durum wheat, it’s not usually used in bread baking but can be added to other wheat-based goods. It’s also available flaked and consumed “green” like a wheat grass.

Spelt

Spelt is a grass, one of the ancestors of modern wheat. It originated in Southeast Asia and is probably the “wheat” that was used around the Mediterranean 9,000 years ago. It came to Europe with traders from the Middle East and remained a favorite grain there until the 19th century and the development of modern strains of wheat. It is still grown in some regions of Europe, primarily Germany and Switzerland. In Italy it is known as “farro,” in Germany, “dinkle.”

There are claims that those who are allergic to wheat can tolerate spelt. Our information says that this is probably not true; that those who are sensitive to the gluten in wheat will be sensitive to spelt as well, though the effects may be not as severe. If you have allergies to wheat, it is important to speak with your allergist before you do any experimenting with spelt.

The following Biblical quotation is perhaps the best-known early reference to this ancient grain.

“And you take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt and put them into a single vessel and make bread of them. During the number of days that you lie upon your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat it.....” Ezekiel 4:9

This was a “famine bread.” But this particular combination of grains and legumes is significant in that it has all the elements of a complete protein, as complete as that in any meat, fish or poultry. Although associated with hard times, it has tremendous food value and is available as a blend (Ezekiel Mix) through mail order.

As valuable as spelt is, it isn’t planted in quantity today because it doesn’t yield as much grain per acre as modern, hybrid wheat. Spelt will grow in areas that are not hospitable to wheat, however, and its demands for chemical fertilizers and pesticides are nonexistent. Europeans have had a long love affair with spelt because of its easy digestibility and reputation as a health food.

In baking, spelt behaves like whole-wheat flour and has a nutty flavor. It can be used just as you would whole-wheat flour and substituted for the same in any of your favorite recipes. It can also be used in combination with other flours or it can be used on its own.

All-Purpose Flours

Most American all-purpose flours are between 10 percent and 11 percent protein and milled from a blend of types of wheat, both hard and soft. It is difficult to differentiate between flours based on their protein component if all you look at it the flour bag’s label. The analysis is rounded to the nearest decimal point obscuring, for flour, an important difference between them. The best way to get to know them is to understand what they’re milled from and then to bake with them.

All-purpose flours from the largest flour companies, both bleached and unbleached, are milled by different mills all over the country. The only thing they have in common is a fairly broad protein range. They can vary greatly in the types of wheat that are blended (hard or soft red wheat or soft white wheat) to achieve the protein levels they are targeting. Their baking quality can vary somewhat from bag to bag and season to season.

A word about quality, or, all flour is not alike

Back in the late 19th century, when modern milling process were really getting underway, a lot of entrepreneurs wanted to get into the flour business, as it looked like a burgeoning industry and a promising way to make money. There were no federal standards or guidelines for milling flour, and as a result, a lot of inconsistently milled and low-grade flour was produced, which was then “improved” with a variety of chemicals. The idea seemed to be to see how low a grade could be milled and still be acceptable to the public.

Where do King Arthur’s flours fit into this scheme of things? Messrs. Sands, Taylor & Wood, the three who introduced our own brand of flour back in the 1890s, decided to take another approach. Rather than produce a flour of minimal quality, they developed a formula for a flour of the highest quality. It was described by one miller in the early 1920s as “the fanciest thing in flour.” This decision, to be purveyors of the finest flour possible, has stood us in good stead. You can imagine the vagaries of the wheat crop from year to year, over the past 200+ years. Some seasons there is too much rain, some not enough. Each growing season is unique. But our commitment at King Arthur is to produce a consistent, high-quality flour from year to year, one that we can depend on to behave a certain way. Our formulation and specifications are tighter than anyone else’s in the industry, thus we have no need to “improve” the performance of our flour with chemicals.

All of the King Arthur Flours mention below are available at The Baker’s Store in Norwich, VT or through The Baker’s Catalogue at 1-800-827-6836.

King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour is milled from hard, red wheat with a protein level, after milling, of about 11.7% (13.2g/cup). Significant flavor comes from the mineral content in the wheat berry, which is located close to the bran, or outside coating.

The protein level of this flour is higher than that in most other all-purpose flours, and our millers take great pains to get the protein level precise to our specifications, the narrowest band of tolerance in the industry. Why is consistent protein level important? Because we assure bakers that our flour will perform the same way today as it did a generation ago, the same in spring as it does in fall, from season to season and year to year. For serious bakers, that promise means a lot.

Because New Englanders are yeast bread bakers by tradition and it was formulated back in 1896 with them in mind, it is as high in protein as it can be while still being comfortably kneaded by hand. Because it is not bleached, i.e., the protein has not been “strengthened” or toughened through the bleaching process, the protein is tender enough that, handled correctly, it will make wonderful quick breads, biscuits, cookies, and delicate pastry. In addition to its tenderness and ability to be kneaded, it has great “tolerance.” This means the gluten can be manipulated for a long time before it begins to break down. As far as the bread baker is concerned, it’s a very forgiving flour. You can make a dough, punch it down several times or just ignore it all day and it will still have enough strength to produce a wonderful loaf of bread. In fact it will be a better bread because, as a result of such a long fermentation, the flavor will be more complex and satisfying. We’ve found, not unexpectedly, that our all-purpose flour is also an excellent flour for the bread machine.

Round Table Pastry Flour

Round Table Pastry Flour is an unbleached, soft white flour made from New York state wheat with a protein of about 9%. It can be used as is to make tender cakes and pastry (because it is not bleached, cakes made from this flour won’t rise quite as high and the texture won’t be as light). It can be used in conjunction with unbleached all-purpose flour to make French-type breads such as baguettes (soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside) that have the characteristics of both flours. By combining the two in various proportions, you can create a protein that will produce the kind of texture you want in whatever you are baking.

Queen Guinevere Cake Flour

Queen Guinevere Cake Flour is milled from soft red wheat, is about 8% protein, and is bleached, because bleaching, in effect, “toughens” the starch so that it can carry significantly more sugar and fat than it could otherwise. As a result, this flour produces cakes that are very light, for those who prefer this type of cake.

King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour

King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour is milled from hard red spring wheat, and has a higher protein level than the all-purpose, about 12.7%. It is designed for yeast baking and its high protein can most adequately be developed by machine. It works well in the bread machine particularly in conjunction with non-gluten producing flours and meals such as rye, barley, corn, oat, etc.

Sir Lancelot High-Gluten Flour

Sir Lancelot High-Gluten Flour is our highest protein flour, 14.2%. It is used primarily to make ultra-chewy bagels, or as an addition to lighten rye breads, or some pizza doughs. It is most effectively developed by machine, rather than by hand.

King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour

King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour is ground from the whole grain of hard red spring wheat with a protein level of about 15%. There’s more than meets the eye with that protein level, however. A portion of the protein is located in the germ and the bran, and is therefore not gluten-producing. Because most of the bran is insoluble fiber, so isn’t nutritionally valuable (but certainly valuable as fiber). In extrapolating (for practical baking purposes) the amount of gluten-producing protein in any whole grain flour, take about 75% of the amount given. This brings the level of gluten-producing protein to about 11.25%, an appropriate amount for yeast baking and kneading by hand.

King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat Flour

King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat Flour is a strain of flour sent to us about ten years ago from a consortium of farmers in Kansas (now known as The American White Wheat Producers Association). After we had baked with it we knew that we had something really exciting, at least for those of us who are transported by flour and who’ve been working for years to expand the position of whole wheat in the family of flours.

A lot of us have always known we should increase whole-grain flours in our diets. But secretly, some of us have envied those who profess to “love” whole-wheat flour. Some people really do, but others of us find that it has a flavor that is, no matter how open-minded we try to be, a little off-putting. We’ve told ourselves and our families that “the taste will grow on us” and “we’ll learn to love it in time.”

This new whole-wheat flour seemed to be the answer to years of banging our heads against a nutritional wall. In baking with it we found we could substitute it 100% for white flour in many baked goods with not a whisper of resistance from our loving children and spouses. What was the magic in it that made it taste so good? It is not what is in this flour that makes it taste so good as what is not in it. As we mentioned earlier, hard wheat in this country is almost always high-protein red wheat. This new wheat is also a hard, high-protein wheat and is effectively the same strain as red wheat. Its baking characteristics are similar. It has the same nutritional value. But the red, the reason for the bitter or unpleasant “whole wheat” taste of whole wheat flour, has been genetically eliminated.

White wheat flour is still whole-wheat flour. It contains the bran and the germ, a fact you need to keep in mind both for baking quality and for storage. As with any whole-wheat flour in making bread, unless you add some “white” flour, the bran will interfere with gluten development and you’ll have a heavier (what we like to call “heartier”) loaf than one made with white flour alone. The flavor, however, will be light and delicious. Try substituting it for half of your regular unbleached all-purpose flour.

As far as other baking is concerned, with the exception of certain types of cakes (angel food, sponge, etc.) and particularly delicate pastries, you can substitute white-wheat flour 100% for white flour in almost everything and no one will be the wiser. It makes wonderful (and is best hidden in) quick breads and muffins, cookies and bars. If you don’t want to go 100% to begin with, try 50%, so you know that your family won’t object.

Self-Rising Flour

Self-Rising Flour is a relatively low-protein flour that contains baking powder and salt. It is used primarily for biscuits in this country, although it has a much wider use in British recipes.

European-style bread flours

Although not available on the grocer’s shelf, we are currently creating our own versions of some European bread flours that are available through The Baker’s Store (Norwich, VT) or The Baker’s Catalogue.

Other wheat products that make baking interesting

Before wheat is made into flour, it has characteristics still of interest to bakers and cooks: Here are some other options.

Wheat berries

Wheat berries, any kind, can be used intact if they are soaked long enough (start with boiling water) to render them chewable. It is also possible to sprout them and add them to a bread dough, or you can even sprout them, dry them slowly and grind them into flour to make your own diastatic malt.

Cracked wheat

Cracked wheat is the whole-wheat berry cracked into pieces. It can be soaked just liked wheat berries to add texture to bread. It also can be cooked into a delicious cereal to be eaten as such or to be added to bread. Cracked wheat won’t sprout.

Bulgur wheat

Bulgur wheat is cracked wheat that’s been steamed (partially cooked), and dried before it’s cracked. It can be added to bread doughs after a shorter soaking period. It also makes a very tasty substitute for rice with the advantage of requiring only 15 minutes to cook.

Wheat flakes

Wheat flakes are the wheat equivalent of oatmeal or oat flakes. They can be added straight to a bread dough for texture, or try substituting them for oats in a granola recipe.

Wheat bran and wheat germ

Wheat bran and wheat germ, available separately, can be added to whatever you’re baking to increase the attributes of each or both in a final baked product.

Wheat gluten

Vital wheat gluten (or "gluten flour”) is flour that has been made wet to activate the gluten-producing proteins, then washed to remove the starchy part of the flour, and then dried and milled back to a flour-like consistency. This is not the same as high-gluten flour (see Sir Lancelot above). It can be added, about a tablespoon per loaf, to bread doughs that contain low protein flours or meals (ryes, oats, corn, etc.), or a lot of extras (such as cheese, onions, dried fruit or nuts) to produce lighter loaves.

Types of wheat

Hard vs. Soft

Hard wheats

Hard wheats are generally high-protein wheats; i.e., they contain more gluten-producing proteins than soft wheats and thus produce more gluten. Physically, a hard wheat berry tends to be longer and more bullet-shaped than soft wheat berries, which are plumper. Hard wheats, because they can produce more gluten, are best for yeast-leavened goods.

Durum wheat, the hardest of the hard wheats, is usually milled into semolina (a golden-colored granulated flour with the consistency of Cream of Wheat), which is used primarily for pasta. It can also be milled into a finer, golden flour that can be used the same way. Because it’s a more primitive wheat, with fewer genes, the protein in durum lacks the elastic gluten characteristics necessary for producing light breads.

Soft wheats

Soft wheats are the plump ones; they have a larger percentage of carbohydrates and thus less gluten-forming ability. These are used for baked goods that don’t need a highly developed matrix of gluten strands, such as cakes, biscuits, pastry, etc.

Red vs. White

The color of the wheat relates to the visual appearance of the wheat berry itself and to pigments found primarily in the bran. Hard wheats in this country are generally, but not always, red. (Australia’s primary hard wheat is white, a type that is beginning to find a market in the U.S.) Soft wheats can be either red or white.

Winter vs. Spring

Winter wheat is planted in the fall; it grows until it’s about 5” tall, and then with the onset of winter and cold weather, it becomes dormant under (hopefully) a good snow cover (vernalization). It resumes growing the following spring and is harvested in late spring and early summer.

Spring wheat grows predominantly in the northern plains states and in Canada, where the climate is more severe. It is planted in the spring and harvested in late summer and early fall.

From wheat to flour

Today there are over 30,000 varieties of wheat, each with its own merits. Most simply, we can classify current wheat varieties as some combination of each of the following: hard or soft, red or white, winter or spring. U.S. wheat is grouped into six classes based on hardness, color and time of planting. The six classes are hard red spring, hard red winter, hard white, soft red winter, soft white and durum.

There is something about harvesting wheat that invariably inspires one to stop and take note. Until the 19th century this job was done by people who worked together and gathered the wheat primarily by hand. Those sheaves of wheat that were thus carefully gathered and tied together, standing like sentinels in a field, symbolize the annual rhythm of civilization in a way that nothing else can.

Today the harvest is accomplished quite differently, but it’s still awe-inspiring. In America it starts in late May in the southern plains states, when the annual migration of the great wheat combines begins. Over the next few months, like great beasts they graze their way north into Canada, consuming each crop as it reaches its apogee. Although these machines represent 20th century “high technology,” they have an archetypal model in the massive migrations of animal herds that have occurred annually for thousands of years, giving this event a very primordial implication.

Of course everyone knows that wheat was first milled by grinding it between two stones. Modern milling is not terribly different. Once the wheat berries are cleaned they’re passed through steel rollers, the “first break.” These rollers are corrugated and designed to break the berry into its constituent parts so the chunks of endosperm can begin to be separated from the bran and germ. With each successive pass through increasingly smooth rollers, the small chunks of endosperm are ground into flour and passed through a series of sieves, with silkscreen mesh of various sizes, resulting in several “streams” of flour. The first stream produces what’s known as “patent” flour, that which contains the least amount of insoluble material. This can be equated with the earliest runs of maple sap that produce the fanciest syrup, the first cold-pressing of olives that produce extra-virgin olive oil, or the first pressing of wine grapes that produces the highest quality wines.

With each successive rolling and sifting, streams of increasing mineral content are removed. The next major stream to come off is known as “First Clear Flour.” This is significantly darker relative to patent flour, although it does have some positive applications for bread baking. It is used often in making rye breads. “Second Clear Flour” follows and contains an even greater level of non-endosperm (i.e. bran) material. The last is the “lowest” flour grade of all, often referred to as “Red Dog.” Along with the bran and germ that has been removed from the other flour streams, it is generally used as animal feed. When all the streams of endosperm are blended together, except for the “Clears” and “Red Dog,” you have what is known as “straight” flour.

Once flour has emerged from the milling process, a number of things are or can be added to it. The U.S. government mandates that every all-purpose flour must be enriched, so small amounts of iron, niacin, thiamin and riboflavin are added, much as vitamins A and D are added to milk. This was mandated in the early 1940’s by the Food and Drug Administration as a way to alleviate vitamin deficiency diseases such as pellagra, beriberi, and rickets. Folic acid has more recently been added as well, small amounts of which can help prevent malformation of the spine in a developing fetus.

To increase the level of enzyme activity, a small amount of malted barley flour is usually added to all-purpose flours as well. Malted barley flour is a natural ingredient made from sprouted barley that is dried over low heat and then ground into a flour. As we mentioned above, sprouting stimulates the production of enzymes that break starch into sugars, which yeast feeds on. Malted barley flour, which is available as “diastatic malt,” contains active enzymes, the right amount of which can increase yeast activity in a dough.

Tradition has created a desire for white flour. Flour whitens naturally as it ages and is oxidized by exposure to air. (Flour that has oxidized, or aged, has better baking qualities.) But as we are an instant gratification society, rather than using time as an agent, most millers use chemicals. So as the flour comes off the line, bleaching and oxidizing chemicals can also be added.

The additives that medieval bakers used to “whiten” flour are banned today. But it is legal to add a number of chemicals, many of which are toxic in large amounts and/or over long periods of time, to accomplish the same thing, i.e., to whiten flour and to instantly oxidize it rather than to wait for it to “age” naturally. The most controversial one at present is potassium bromate, which has been (and in some cases still is) used as both an oxidizer and a conditioner. It has come under scrutiny, however, as tests with it have indicated that it is a known carcinogen in animals and possibly in humans. For some time now, any food sold in California containing potassium bromate has had to carry a warning label. It is banned in Canada, Europe and Japan.

Other chemicals such as chorine dioxide, benzoyl peroxide and chlorine gas, all of which whiten and oxidize flour, are currently permissible additives. As it’s baked, benzoyl peroxide creates benzoic acid, which, although it has an FDA Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) status, can be mildly toxic to the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes. The residue in baked goods made with benzoyl peroxide-bleached flour can be detected as a bitter aftertaste by people with sensitive palates. Benzoyl peroxide whitens flour but does not appreciably change the baking qualities.

When the flour is treated with chlorine gas, it decomposes and leaves trace amounts of hydrochloric acid, a highly poisonous agent. It has been linked to respiratory problems in mills where it is used. This chemical process substantially changes the nature of the wheat proteins and starch. It sort-of chemically “cooks” them making something that was elastic and extensible into something rigid and tough. In baked goods where other ingredients do not mask it, it imparts a flavor detectable to some.

It seems ironic that ancient additives, which were for the most part naturally occurring and benign (such as ground bone, or chalk), are not legal but have been replaced by chemicals that are, in fact, quite toxic. Although some experts rationalize that these chemicals are virtually dissipated by the time the flour is used, we tend to be skeptical knowing how, over time, we seem to discover more and more things that can be traced back to the use of some chemical or other. We know that flour of the highest quality can be produced without the need for any chemical additives. We also know that chemical additives mask and artificially compensate for the desired characteristics lacking in lower-grade flours. So our choice at King Arthur Flour is to avoid them, pure and simple.

The nutritional value of wheat

As every credible food pyramid notes, grains are the very foundation of a healthful diet. Wheat provides a major source of the complex carbohydrates. In addition, by combining the proteins found in wheat with those in legumes (beans) or milk products, we create complete proteins equal to those in meat (but without the fat), which grow and repair healthy bodies.

What about the nutritional issues surrounding white flour versus whole wheat? Nutritionally, white flour provides a source of high quality, extremely digestible complex carbohydrates. When it’s enriched, it provides some nutrition in excess of that in whole wheat flour. On the other hand, whole grain flours provide the vitamins that are present in the germ as well as the fiber present in the bran. But because of the composition of the bran, whole grain flours are not as easily digested as white, and some of the nutrients, although technically present, can’t be absorbed by our digestive systems. The moral to all of this is: use whatever is best for the particular goal you have in mind. Balance that by eating a wide variety of many kinds of foods and enjoy them all.

The Wheat Berry Revealed

Approximately 83% of a wheat berry is endosperm; about 14% is the bran layer and only 2.5% is the embryo or wheat germ. In a cup of whole wheat flour (representing about 5 slices of Italian-style bread made with water and no extra sugar or fat) the wheat berry will provide the following nutrients. (While a wheat berry has some other nutrients, none of the others are of a quantity to be nutritionally significant.)
	Endosperm	Germ	Bran
Calories	302.8	15.1	48.8
Fat (plant fat)	8g-.4g	.5g
Protein	9.1g	1.1g	2.6g
Carbohydrates	64.9g	1.7g	8.4g
Fiber	2.6g	.5g	7.0g
Potassium (K)	106.0mg	36.8mg	246.3mg
Niacin (NIA)	.624mg	.104mg	4.47mg
Thiamin (B-1)	.02mg	.42mg	.21mg
Riboflavin (B-2)	.04mg	.03mg	.06mg
Iron (Fe)	.75mg	.4mg	2.3mg
Calcium (Ca)	151.4mg	trace	2.3mg
Phosphorus (P)	75.7mg	48.1mg	267.3mg
Note: Although there are significant amounts of some nutrients in the bran, particularly the minerals, some of them are not available nutritionally. Because much of the bran is insoluble fiber, it passes through the system quite intact taking its nutrients with it. So when you compare nutrients of whole-wheat flour with those of white, it is appropriate to exclude about half of those in the bran.

Rye, a different science, another art

Rye flours are associated with Northern Europe and Scandinavia, primarily because rye is the grain that grows most successfully in those climates. In fact it was the backbone of most bread made during the millennium between 500 AD and 1500 AD known as the Middle Ages. Today rye is produced around the world, but most of the world's supplies are produced in northeastern Europe: Russia, Germany, Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. In the U.S., much of our rye comes from fields in Canada.

Like wheat berries, rye berries contain an endosperm (the food source for a sprouting rye seedling), the bran (the outer coat of the berry) and the germ (the embryo that would produce a rye seedling if the berry were planted). Rye contains more minerals than wheat (iron, phosphorous and potassium), but almost no gluten-producing protein (it’s the gluten in wheat that catches carbon dioxide bubbles produced by growing yeast which makes bread rise — no gluten, no rise!). To make a loaf of rye bread that isn’t as solid as a brick, you need to either incorporate some wheat in your dough or you need to understand a little of the chemistry of a rye dough.

Rye comes as “flour,” “meal,” or “chops.” Rye flour is ground just from the endosperm of the rye berry and, like white wheat flour, does not contain the bran or the germ. Rye flour ground from the center of the endosperm “white rye.” Rye flour ground from a larger percentage of the endosperm, moving nearer the seed coat, is called “cream rye.” Rye flour ground from the outside of the endosperm, after the white and cream rye have been removed, is “dark rye.” “Medium rye” is ground from the entire endosperm.

Rye meal is a coarser “flour” ground from the entire rye berry and is equivalent to whole wheat flour. Rye meal is ground fine, medium or coarse. Coarse rye meal is commonly called “pumpernickel flour.” Pumpernickel is an affectionate German name given in fun, both to the meal and the hearty breads made with it, to describe their effect on the digestive system. (“Pumpern” is the German word for “intestinal wind” and “nickel” is a word for demon or sprite.)

Rye “chops” is the equivalent of cracked wheat, and can add the same crunch to bread. Rye flakes are berries that are steamed, then rolled, like rolled oats; they add a slightly less intrusive texture than rye chops. Rye berries can be used whole in bread if they are handled like wheat berries.

Rye bread, the kind that you associate with Northern Europe, is a totally different creature from the wheat bread with which most of us have grown up. If you are using rye as an addition to a wheat bread dough, or if you are adding significant amounts of wheat flour to lighten a rye dough, you are still essentially making a wheat bread. When you use nothing but rye, you have to throw out everything you know about making bread. Creating bread out of rye flour is another science. See a traditional entire-rye bread recipe in the sourdough section (p. TK).

A colloquy on corn

Corn occupies a special place in our culinary culture here in the United States….well, actually several places in several sub-cultures. While we in New England associate it with our colonial forefathers as Indian meal, and the foodstuff that saved their new colony over the first winter, corn had, thousands of years previously, found its way into southeastern United States.

In spite of our long history with it, and Native Americans before us, corn is not native to the U.S. although it is indigenous to the western hemisphere. Like wheat, it was likely domesticated from a wild grass called teosinte in Mesoamerica. Traces of corn pollen, in fossil form, have been found in lake sediments beneath Mexico City. This makes the predecessor of corn over 80,000 years old. As a domesticated crop, it was first grown by the Mayans, the Aztecs, and the Incas over 5000 years ago. It was well established three or four thousand years ago in the southeastern U.S. but didn’t reach the northeast until about 1000 years ago, well before Europeans arrived here and long enough to have become an important part of native American culinary culture. Like wheat, its offspring has been extremely adaptable to different geographical areas and climates.

Corn is an important ingredient in baking, and has been for centuries. Cornmeal is the most common form; most of the cornmeal you find on the grocer’s shelf is made in large mills and is degermed and “hulled.” This means it will keep almost indefinitely without starting to taste “off.” There are a number of gristmills around the United States that still mill the whole kernel including the germ. Like whole-wheat flour, the oils in the germ are subject to rancidity, so need to be consumed fairly quickly. These whole kernel meals are much more interesting and have much more flavor and texture than the large-production ones.

Cornmeal comes in several grinds, fine, medium and coarse, as well as in several colors, yellow being the most common, then white which you find in the south, and blue which you’ll find in the southwest. Nutritionally the yellow comes out on top as it contains beta-carotene, which translates to an additional 630 IU of vitamin A per cup.

Like any non-wheat grain, it contains no gluten so needs wheat to hold it together in a bread or muffin or cake. The early New England colonists used cornmeal in making “Indian Pudding,” cornmeal mush, Johnny cake, and anadama bread.

While not a mainstay of baking, cornstarch is used primarily as a thickening agent. You’ll see it in many of our fruit pie recipes.

•Masa harina: This is hominy (corn that has been soaked in an alkaline solution to crack the outer shell, revealing the endosperm and increasing its nutritional value) that has been dried and ground. It’s used to make tortillas and tamales. It’s already nutritionally superior to regular cornmeal but traditionally these flatbreads were eaten with some kind of beans, the beans containing amino acids that complete those in the cornmeal and creating a whole protein.

Oats, a baker’s versatile pal

It would have been hard to grow up in the United States without having been confronted at some point with “oatmeal” for breakfast—or with oatmeal cookies, oatmeal bread, oat muffins, or atop a fruit crumble. In the last decade, oats have experienced a renaissance, probably due to its elevated nutritional status and the focus on the nutritional benefits of grains in general.

You’ll still find rolled oats in their “old-fashioned” mode but, for those of us whose lives hurtle along at a typical 21st-century pace, they are also available in “quick” and “instant” varieties. These flattened oats appear in almost all the granolas that have become the darlings of the health-conscious. And, as Irish oatmeal, steel-cut oats have gained a following. And what child hasn’t subsisted on Cheerios in some phase of picky (or otherwise) eating?

Today the world oat crop comprises only 1/10 the volume of the wheat crop (although it’s twice as big as the rye crop). The largest percentage of it is grown in the United States, primarily in the north/central part of the country (Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, South Dakota), areas where it’s cool and moist. Of all the oats grown, between 90% and 95% are used for animal feed. The remainder is used for human consumption. The largest producer of rolled oats is the Quaker Oats Company, which made them a national breakfast — the first trademarked American cereal — in 1877.

Unlike wheat berries, oats are harvested with hulls or husks that constitute about 25% of their weight. Before milling, this hull needs to be removed, not an easy task historically. Once the hulls are off, they’re called groats and look very similar to wheat berries. Nutritionally oats contain a higher percentage of fat than wheat, about 7% versus 2%. (To keep this in perspective, this means that about 17% of calories from whole oats come from fat, an amount that anyone on a diet would be proud to own up to). Oats contain more protein as well, although it is not gluten-producing. Oat bran is rich in water-soluble fiber, which helps reduce blood cholesterol. (The fiber in wheat bran is primarily insoluble, which has other benefits.) Oats also contain more iron, B-vitamins, calcium, and calories than wheat.

Oat flour is produced as a by-product of the cutting and flaking operations and is being used more and more in cereals, as an addition to breads and other baked goods, and in baby foods, as it’s easy to digest.

Oats appear in lots of familiar places in our diets, and in the recipes in this book. Try substituting about 25% oat flour (either King Arthur’s or “milled” in your food processor from rolled oats) for the same amount of wheat flour in whatever you’re baking to create the typical nutty oat flavor. Anything made with oats stays fresh longer, too.

Other grains

Amaranth

Amaranth is not a true grain. It is related to pigweed, also known as lamb’s-quarters, often found as a volunteer in your garden. It can be cooked and eaten as a cereal, popped like popcorn, and it can be ground into flour. Because it contains no gluten, it needs to be mixed with wheat flours for yeast-bread baking in similar amounts as soy flour (see below). Amaranth can be found in health food stores.

Barley

Barley, a wild grass with a nutrition profile similar to other grasses, has a history that is as old, or even older, than wheat. It may have originated in China, or Ethiopia, or somewhere in between. Remnants have been found in a swath between North Africa all the way to Afghanistan. In ancient times, and even in modern historic times in Europe, barley played a much greater role than that of wheat. It was easier to grow in many places and was the grain for malting (beer and ale was consumed much the way we consume water today). But as people discovered the gluten-producing properties of wheat protein, and what it meant for a resulting bread, barley began to lose favor.

For the home bakers, most of barley’s use comes from malt. Although other grains can be malted, long periods of experience and experimenting have led people to believe that barley produces the best result, both for flavor and for its “diastatic” properties.

Diastatic malt

Diastatic malt is grain that has been sprouted, slowly dried at relatively low temperatures and then ground into a powder. When grain begins to sprout, there is a rise in the level of enzyme activity in the grain that begins to break down the starch in the endosperm into simple sugars that the new seedling can feed on. This is primarily maltose ….thus the name “malt.” By allowing the grain to begin to sprout, then to dry and grind it, the enzymes are not destroyed. Once the enzymes are in some kind of wet medium, they become active again and continue to turn available starch to sugar. This sugar, intended for a new grain seedling, can also create a fine food for yeast, either bakers’ yeast or brewers’ yeast. If you look on a bag of all-purpose flour, you’ll see that there is a tiny amount of malt added. Wheat flour has its own enzymes, but often not enough to create a flour that will make good bread. So the level of enzyme activity is corrected by adding a bit of diastatic barley malt.

Malt for baking is dried slowly and at a very low heat. Malt for beer is dried somewhat differently, but to realize their close relationship, just think about how often beer or ale is used in baking.

For bakers, barley has some limited uses in other forms. Barley grits are cracked barley that is steamed like bulgur and can be eaten as a cereal or, like oatmeal, added to a bread dough. Barley flour is roasted barley that has been ground into a nutty-flavored flour. Like wheat flour it can be used for thickening. You can include it in any baked product by substituting it for some of the wheat flour. Because it is not gluten producing, you probably don’t want to use more than a couple of tablespoons per cup of wheat flour. Barley flour adds its own flavor to whatever you bake, and a lot of history. Malt syrup is made from malt berries that have sprouted and are thus full of “maltose,” the sugar that gives malt its name. It can be used in baking.

Buckwheat

Buckwheat is not a grass like most of the other grains with which we bake. It’s actually related to rhubarb and burdock and grows as vigorously as the latter. It probably originated in China, although some claim Russia, and is a minor crop in the United States. Because it blooms continuously throughout the summer, it is a good bee crop and makes a unique honey.

Buckwheat flour is non-gluten producing and has an assertive flavor all its own that is somewhat of an acquired taste. It is used traditionally in the Far East in noodles; and in Russian pancakes (blini) particularly right before Lent when they are served with almost anything, caviar being traditional, but salmon, sour cream, jam, whatever tempts the baker.

Millet

Millet has been in cultivation for several thousand years as a food crop, even though today we tend to think of it as something just “for the birds.” A native of Africa and Asia, millet has the ability to deal with arid climates and nutritionally deficient soils. But in addition to its ability to grow in pretty inhospitable places, millet has other benefits. It’s nutritionally similar to wheat but has a greater number of amino acids (the components in protein) than wheat and most of the other grains found in this country. Most millet grown today in the United States is used for animal and bird feed. But we can benefit from millet too. Think of it like rice or bulgur. Try adding some to your next loaf of bread; it’ll give it lovely gold flecks and some delightful crunch. Just as we’ve learned to share oats with horses, we need to learn to share millet with the birds!

Quinoa

Quinoa (“keen-wah”) is native to this hemisphere and was a staple of (and considered sacred by) the Incas. It self-seeds, and it, too, grows in some pretty difficult places, in this case extremes of temperature and altitude. Though technically not a grain, Quinoa has more complete protein, iron, and vitamins B-1 and B-2 than the traditional grains that we consume, and can be a valuable addition to our culinary repertoires. When it’s cooked it looks like a collection of tiny “Saturns,” the planet with the rings around it (a selling point for children!). It, too, can be used as millet, bulgar, and rice. Whole quinoa as well as quinoa flour, available at health food stores, can be added like soy flour to any baked goods to enhance their nutritional value.

Rice

Rice is a grass that has adapted itself to almost every geographical area and climate the world makes available. Like wheat and corn, it feeds an enormous percentage of the world’s population, more than half of it in fact, but it is still culturally eastern. More than 90% of the world’s production is grown in Asia.

Rice flour is not a large part of our baking heritage although it is often added to short bread recipes (and other cookie recipes) to make a sandier texture. Rice protein is not gluten producing, so it doesn’t make a typical yeast bread, of course. But it is a boon for people who have wheat (gluten) allergies as it can be combined with other ingredients to make fairly acceptable baked goods.

Sensational soy

Soybeans, as most of us know by now, are a wonder plant. For humans, soybeans provide a myriad of beneficial functions. Unlike most other beans, they contain all the amino acids that make up complete proteins, similar to that found in meat, fowl, or fish. They are also high in calcium (a hedge against osteoporosis), iron, Vitamin A and the B Vitamins. In addition, and unlike animal proteins, soybeans contain no cholesterol and very little saturated fat.

Of particular interest to bakers are soy milk and soy flour. In baking, as a milk substitute, you can replace 1 cup of regular milk or water with an equal amount of soymilk. Your recipe will have the flavor of the soymilk. To make a soy “buttermilk,” use 1 cup of soymilk plus a tablespoon of vinegar. Because it adds moisture to baked products, soy flour can also be used as a cholesterol-free egg substitute in selected recipes, such as bread and cookies. It won’t give your baked goods the same wonderful flavor and texture as a real egg. Try replacing an egg with 1 tablespoon of soy flour and 1 tablespoon water. (Before you get carried away however, remember that eggs have nutritional value of their own and that it’s not so much the cholesterol you eat that matters, as the saturated fat.).

Soy flour is ground from roasted soybeans and is available either as full-fat soy flour, which contains the natural oils that are found in the soybean, or defatted soy flour, which has the oils removed during processing. Because the important nutrients in soybeans are not found in the oil, defatted soy flour is more nutritionally concentrated. Soy flour does increase moistness in baked products and gives them a longer shelf life. So, in addition to its nutritional benefits, it has others as well. Full-fat soy flour, like any whole grain, will become rancid, so if this is the flour you wish to use, we suggest buying it in small quantities and either using it quickly or storing it in the freezer.

Like most flours, soy flour tends to settle in a container, so always stir or sift it before measuring. Because the protein in soy flour is not gluten-producing, it works best when it is combined with wheat flour. A general rule when using soy flour in yeast breads, is to replace about 15% of wheat flour with soy. This can be done by sprinkling 2 tablespoons of soy flour in a measuring cup and filling the remainder with wheat flour. If you want to accentuate the flavor of the soy flour in your bread, toast it on a baking sheet in a medium oven for a few minutes, stirring it occasionally, before you add it to your recipe.

Because quick breads don’t depend on the gluten-producing properties of wheat flour, soy flour works particularly well in them, as well as in muffins, pancakes, waffles, brownies and other bars. You can use up to 1/4 cup soy for every 3/4 cup wheat flour (1 ounce to 3 ounces). Do not expect the same flavor, however.

The next step, a hybrid

Triticale is a hybrid of wheat and rye, relatively new on the market. The thinking that stimulated the effort behind it is that it would have some of the hardiness of rye combined with the high yield potential and baking characteristics of wheat. Triticale is a slightly better source of “complete protein” than is wheat, so in combination with wheat it can increase the nutritional value of many baked goods. It is recommended that you use it in conjunction with wheat flour in making bread. Triticale is also available in health food stores in flake form.