The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Whole wheat vs. whole grain flour

mohall's picture
mohall

Whole wheat vs. whole grain flour

What is the difference (if any) between whole wheat and whole grain flour? My King Arthur flour packet is labeled 100% Whole Wheat Flour and it also says 100% Whole grain flour. Many of Chad Robertson's recipes call for Whole grain flour.

 

Michael

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

is a whole grain too.  Whole means everything - no parts missing and 100% means the same thing.  !00% wheat is not necessarily a whole grain flour - it might all be wheat but the bran and wheat germ are missing or some other part found in the whole grain.

happy baking

suave's picture
suave

Not every grain is wheat.

drogon's picture
drogon

Although this will vary from country to country.

In the UK, where I am, the terms wholewheat and wholemeal are used interchangeably. Wholegrain is less used, but it means the same thing - all of the wheat; endosperm, germ and bran. The marketing departments of the commercial breads pick one which they think will better represent their product.

Quick edit to add: this means meal/grain will mean wheat unless stated otherwise.... I used to make a wholemeal spelt loaf and what's what I labelled it as.

 

-Gordon

AbeNW11's picture
AbeNW11 (not verified)

Is what it says on the tin. But I once read (I forget where) that wholemeal is slightly different (but may differ from country to country).

Wholegrain is nothing taken out. But wholemeal is the bran taken out and some is added back in. Why? Who knows! Perhaps for a different ratio of bran in the flour.

Correct me if i'm wrong!

You can't go wrong with stoneground wholegrain.

drogon's picture
drogon

The actual UK term that should be used is Wholemeal. That means everything. This is defined in the Bread and Flour regulations 1998. It notes:

· Wholemeal - all the flour used as an ingredient in the preparation of the bread
  must be wholemeal. The term "wholemeal" is not defined in law, however it is
  generally accepted that wholemeal flour is the entire wheat grain, which
  contains the bran and the germ.

It goes on to say:

Other descriptions of bread, such as "white", "brown", "stone-ground" are not
specifically prescribed by law. However, the use of such descriptions will be subject
to the rules of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 ­ "where there is no name
prescribed by law for a food, the name used must be sufficiently precise to inform the
purchaser of the true nature of the food and must not mislead".

Note though that (AIUI) some roller-mill processing strips off the wheatgerm and bran and these are added back in to some wholemeal flours - as I understand it, as long as they're added back in the right quantities the resulting flour can be sold as wholemeal.

However you're right about not going wrong with stone-ground stuff - unless its been sifted...

-Gordon

DeKay's picture
DeKay

In a country known for great flour, it is hard to actually get whole grain flour..  See this link from Enlightened Eater.

I actually emailed Robin Hood to ask them how much they stripped out from the whole grain in their whole wheat flour, and they told me it was proprietary.  I emailed them back and said "Your call.  I'll just buy Roger's whole grain flour instead from now on."

jackie9999's picture
jackie9999

100% whole wheat, whole grain - is Rogers flour? Which grocery stores carry Rogers?

Since, in Canada, whole wheat flour means 70% of the germ is removed, where can we buy "whole grain whole wheat" flour and be sure that's what we're getting?

I usually buy from bulk barn and see their "Hard Whole Wheat Flour, Stone Ground" claims its: "Hard flour made from whole wheat contains all three parts of the wheat kernel (bran, germ and endosperm) in nearly the same proportion as the original kernel." Not sure why they used that wording..perhaps whatever germ was removed was added back?