Bread Baking Glossary | Winter Wheat | Summer Wheat | Red Wheat | White Wheat

Winter Wheat and Summer Wheat

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

The first are hard winter wheat varieties. These are mostly grown in the Western plains states. The wheat is 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. The winter wheats are considered to have the best protein characteristics for artisan baking.

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

Red wheat 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 wheat 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 wheat.

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-lb bag of white wheat, and you can be certain that it is whole grain and will have the same excellent baking characteristics of hard red winter wheat.