Winter, Summer, Red Or White Wheat - What is the Difference?

Winter and Summer Wheat

Crops can be planted in the fall and harvested in the spring or can be planted in the spring for a fall harvest.

Wheat Bread

The first are hard winter wheat varieties. These are mostly grown in the Western plains states. The crops are planted in the early fall. The seeds germinate and the wheat grows until the cold weather forces the plant into dormancy. In the best years, a light snow cover can protect the young plants and provide sufficient moisture for the crop to rocket out of dormancy in the spring. Harvest begins in Texas as early as June. Winter wheat is considered to have the best protein characteristics for artisan baking.

Spring wheat is grown throughout the Midwest and is most often of the high protein kind. High protein flour has special applications in the pan bread and pizza bakeries, and should not be used for home baking.

Red or White Wheat?

Most home bakers never realized that they have an option. In the last 10 years, hard white wheat has been widely introduced to professional bakers. Just as there are several colors of corn such as blue, red, yellow and white, to name the obvious, wheat can be hard red or white, depending on the color of the bran layer.

White whole wheat flour has gained in popularity as consumers and bakers have noticed a sweeter flavor in the white wheat in contrast to the slightly bitter flavor of the red variety.

Traditionally, whole grain recipes call for honey or sugar to mellow this bitter flavor. But with white wheat, there is no need to add any sweetener to the recipe. If you are looking to bake whole grain, King Arthur sells a 5-pound bag of white whole wheat, and you can be certain that it is whole grain and will have the same excellent baking characteristics of the hard red winter type.

Winter, Summer, Red Or White Wheat - What is the Difference?

Achim Thiemermann aka Chef Keem blogs about artisan bread baking methods, nutritious eating and healthy living in co-operation with renowned baking artist George Eckrich at http://breadhealthy.com Watch easy-to-follow focaccia bread video tutorials and learn the recipe for the most nutritious bread.

For not so healthy but oh-so-good recipes from Chef Keem's German/Austrian heritage visit http://kitchen.chefkeem.com

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