hard red/white spring wheat berries
I have 6 gallons of hard red spring wheat and 6 gallons of hard white spring wheat. I have a mill and have ground my own flour and used it in other recipes/baking but not in artisan type bread baking yet. I have read some on this topic but there seems to be some conflicting info and I can't quite figure out what types of bread these wheat berries and their flour would be best suited for. I also have diastatic malt powder. Can I make my own bread flour? Does anyone use these types of wheat berries and grind them at home? If so, what types of breads are you making with them? Ideally I would like to use the flour as the main part in a formula instead of adding a percentage to another flour.
Would either of these be well suited for all or part of the flour in say Susan's Sourdough Boule?
Any pointing in the right direction would be appreciated. Thanks.
Either way, your flour is whole wheat flour. While white whole wheat has a milder taste than red whole wheat, their baking properties are identical as far as I know.
Making white flour from wheat berries can be done, but it's quite a process. Check proth's blog for more info, but her final conclusion was that it wasn't really worth it, except perhaps as an interesting experiment.
I also have a mill and make almost all of my bread with 100% whole grain flour. If you're new to whole grains, I would recommend Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads and/or Laurel Robertson's The Laurel Kitchen Bread Book for more information on how to best use it. Substituting it directly into recipes designed for white flour will produce something edible (and even enjoyable in most cases, at least in my experience), but won't give you the best results.
I grind my own berries; I use the hard white wheat as I prefer the milder taste. I use this whole wheat flour all the time! My family prefers breads made with both white and the whole wheat flours, so those are recipes I look for. I second the suggestion of Reinhart's whole grain bread book.
Ria
I use both hard red and white wheat. I usually use a little rye with it. I use Reinharts whole grain book but I ad a little bread flour or gluten to hold the bread together a little better.
Looks like I need to get the Whole Grain Breads book! Thanks for the input everyone.