Einkhorn. Sprouting. Ancient Grains. Proofing. Levain. Sometimes, it can seem like breadmaking comes with its own whole new language. Thankfully, it’s a pretty easy learning curve, and breadmaking is much more forgiving than you may think. Today we’re here to talk about all things grainy. From the anatomy of a wheat berry to the changes in grains over the centuries to all the variety of flour options now available (including gluten-free options!), this part 1 of our baking series is here to give you the knowledge you need to make the best choices in grains for nourishing yourself and your family. In part 2, we will cover some of the different types of breadmaking and how they compare to one another.
All Things Bread Overview
To begin, let’s start with the grain we most often think of when in comes to baking- wheat. Wheat is an incredible super food.
It contains 40 of the 44 nutrients essentials for human life, missing only Vitamin A, B12, C, and iodine.
-Breadbakers, inc
(Interestingly, butter contains all of these but Vit C, making bread with butter about as complete nutritionally as I imagine it gets) So why do we see breads and other wheat products as so bad for us? Well, the answer is two-fold. First, we have worked as a global society to breed wheat that is higher in starch and protein, making a wheat much higher in gluten than in previous generations. Second, we no longer utilize the whole wheat berry, but leech away all the vitamin and nutrient value to produce a white flour that is shelf stable. This means we end up with a bread product that is void of nutritive value, and that’s before adding any preservatives or additional sugars that are typical of store-bought bread products. Let’s take a look at where all the goodness lies with a wheat berry with this infographic from Frontiers:
There’s a LOT going on here. Basically, wheat has 3 main parts: the endosperm, the germ, and the hull or bran (“outer layers”). We mostly eat the endosperm. This is what is filtered out and packaged as all purpose flour. This is also what is in self-rising flour, along with baking powder and baking soda. Notice that NONE of the vitamins, minerals, or enzymes are present in the endosperm. Some other variations of endosperm-only flours are bread flour and cake flour. These variations have to do with the gluten content: bread flour has higher gluten percentage (resulting in a strong crumb that will hold up), and cake flour has a lower gluten percentage (resulting in a softer, denser product that is more moist).
You have likely seen whole wheat flour on the shelf as well. This isn’t truly a “whole wheat” product, but is the same all-purpose endosperm with some of the bran added back in. You do have the benefit of the fiber from the bran, but the majority of the goodness is left out. Manufacturers don’t really have a lot of choice in this, because we as consumers want shelf-stable flour that doesn’t go rancid 2 days after it’s purchased. The germ of the wheat is an oil, and it is an oil that goes rancid very quickly. Wheat that contains the WHOLE wheat berry has to be milled fresh.
Thankfully, we no longer have to go to a community grist mill in order to turn raw wheat berries into flour. There are many economical options for countertop mills available for the home baker. I use an electric Nutri-mill, but there are mill attachments for stand mixers as well has hand-crank options on the market. I’ll talk more about the process of milling in another post, but just know that it takes very little time or effort.
One other wheat flour worth a notable mention is Semolina. Semolina, like all purpose, is only the endosperm of wheat. However, it is the endosperm of one specific variety of wheat: Durum. The differences between Durum wheat and regular wheat are a little complex, but essentially sciency reasons make Durum better for stretchy doughs like pasta. If you want the full explanation, this healthline article has a pretty good one: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/durum-wheat-vs-whole-wheat#comparison
Besides Durum, there are many other types of wheat. You’ve likely heard the term “ancient grains.” This refers to a group of wheats that are very genetically similar to the wheat our ancestors would have eaten centuries ago, before modern farming practices altered our diets. Ancient grains are characterized by higher protein content, lower carbohydrate content, and generally weaker gluten formation when baking.
Ancient Grains & Non-Wheat Grains
Einkhorn is one of the most well-known ancient grains. It is the wheat our
ancient ancestors first domesticated and grew as a grain crop. While modern wheathas 42 chromosomes, Einkhorn has only 14 and is notably missing one called “Dchromosome,” which many researchers believe is connected to wheat intolerance. This makes Einkhorn an ideal option for those who typically have trouble digesting wheat.
The berries themselves are somewhat smaller than modern grains with a bright golden color, and has a very nutty and rich flavor with sweet notes. Einkhorn is generally well-suited to baked goods.
Another ancient grain is Emmer. Emmer is closely related to Einkhorn, and is a
hybrid of Einkhorn and a wild grass. Emmer wheat berries are larger in size, and are grayish brown color. Cooked emmer is quite chewy, and is well-suited to use as a whole-grain making risotto-type dishes, or used in soups or as a salad topping. Because of it’s elasticity, Emmer is also suited to use in pasta making, and Durum is actually descended from Emmer.
Spelt is a third ancient grain, and is derived from hybridizing Emmer with a wild grass. Spelt is a light brown color, and is the largest of these ancient grains. While spelt has a lower protein content than Emmer, and much lower than Einkhorn, it is still higher than that of modern wheat. It also has stronger gluten that other ancient grains, though again less-so than modern. Spelt is a good middle ground between ancient grains and modern wheat, allowing for the higher nutrition and digestibility of the ancient grain genetics while also improving the ease of use for rising strong bread. Impressively, Spelt contains all 9 essential amino acids, making it a complete protein!
Khorasan wheat is yet another ancient grain, and is softer than the others,
making it more suited to non-bread uses. It retains that ancient grain quality of lower gluten, higher protein and lower carbohydrate content. Khorasan is most likely a hybridization of Durum and wild grass.
The bottom line: ancient grains are FULL of nutrition. They have higher fiber
content. They have higher protein (some are even complete proteins!). They have a lower glycemic index. They have weaker gluten. All of this also means they can be a little trickier to bake with. There can be a learning curve to baking with ancient grains, so I recommend getting comfortable with milling modern wheat flour, then slowly incorporating ancient grains by subbing out 25% of your modern wheat for ancient wheat. With practice, you can eventually make baked goods completely with ancient grains.
Part I Conclusion
It’s also worth noting that there are other modern grains that can increase the
health of your baking. Rye and barley are both wheat alternatives that offer a variety of nutritive value. I have not personally used these much in my own kitchen, but they are certainly worth investigating.
Also, there are gluten-free options for baking. Nut flours, rice flour, and potato
flour all offer various ways of creating baked goods for individuals who are truly unable to consume gluten. For these flours, I highly recommend searching out flour-specific recipes, as a typical gluten flour recipe will not adapt well to a gluten-free flour.
As you can see, there are a LOT of things to consider when choosing a flour or grain to create baked goods. When we compare a loaf of store-bought white bread to a loaf of homemade bread crafted from freshly milled grains, we are looking at two products that barely even resemble one another. The taste, the texture, and the nutrition are entirely different. We go from a product that is full of empty calories and void of any nutrition, to a product that sustains and nourishes life.
