June 11, 2015 - 2:02pm
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
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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
Not every grain is wheat.
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
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.
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:
It goes on to say:
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
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."
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?