Getting Ready to Start to Begin

[Mea]

Greetings,

I've been thinking about purchasing a mill to grind flour, especially for bread.

Reading thru the posts, i realised that Before i order a mill, i need to find out where and IF i can get the wheat. One poster suggested checking with the local co-op. This i did today. And yes, they can get wheat in 25 and/or 50 lb. bags. woot !

They do not seem to have hard White wheat available, except as "organic" at twice the cost. ummm, i may pass on that. They have hard, red, Winter and Spring wheat available.

What i would like to find out is... Is there a difference between Winter and Spring wheats ? Which would be better for bread(s)?

I believe that Shamrock mentioned that Red wheat is a bit more "bitter" than the White. Could a smidgin of honey be used the the recipie to lessen the bitterness ?

Thank You for Your help. Mea.

[Klapton]

Hard wheats have higher protien (gluten) content and are better for bread. Soft wheat makes "all purpose" flour rather than "bread flour."

I don't know if there's any difference in how you would use Winter vs. Spring. The difference between the two is when they are planted. Winter wheat is planted in the fall, and germinated before winter, and harvested the next summer. Spring is planted in the spring and harvested in the fall.

Red wheat makes flour for what is normally called "brown bread." White wheat is much lighter, and tastes more like "white bread" (but not like "wonder bread" lol). If you like brown bread, then you will like bread from red wheat. Which type of sugar you use (honey, sugar, molasses, brown sugar, etc.) will not change the entire character of the bread.

I wouldn't really call brown bread from red wheat "bitter" really... It's just not "sweet" like white bread. Does that make any sense? It just tastes like brown bread, lol. The "bitter" and "sweet" are just relative words one might use to describe the difference in flavor between brown and white bread.

[Mea]

I wouldn't really call brown bread from red wheat "bitter" really... *It's just not "sweet" like white bread. *Does that make any sense? *It just tastes like brown bread, lol. *The "bitter" and "sweet" are just relative words one might use to describe the difference in flavor between brown and white bread.

Yes, i could understand what You were saying. :D

I've always said that "brown" bread had *more flavor* than the white pasty stuff. However homemade white bread has more than store bought. Wondering if freshly milled will have even more flavor ?!

Thank You for the answer. Mea.

[Klapton]

When I bought my first bags of grain, I bought hard red, soft white, and oat groats. I haven't tried hard white - that's next on our list. I've made homemade white bread from store-bought "bread flour" and it was yummy. I can only imagine that home-ground will be even more yummy.

I sometimes wish I had bought hard white instead of one of the others on our last run. It turns out we haven't used much of the oat groats yet. But it's a bit of a drive to where we bought our stuff, and it's not cheap. So we get to wait.

I know Karen (Shamrock) has posted that her favorite is the Montana Wheat brand hard white.

[flourgirl]

Go to www.organicwheatproducts.com as there is plenty of info on wheats and other things there.