The Types of Wheat and What They Are For

Six (6) Types of Wheat Grains

Wheat is the most widely grown crop all over the world. Although its product like wheat flour is popularly known as an ingredient in baking, there is more to wheat than just these pastries and other western products. 

Wheat is among the top three most popular grains along with rice and corn and in today’s post, I am sharing with you the types of wheat grains and their culinary uses. Just keep reading.

All About Wheat
    Attributes and Brief History
Types of Wheat and What They Are Used For
    Hard Red Winter
    Hard White
    Hard Red Spring
    Soft Red Winter
    Soft White
    Durum
Health Benefits of Wheat
Conclusion

All About Wheat

Wheat is a kind of grass whose fruit is a “head of wheat” with edible seeds. Wheat’s most common product is wheat flour which is chiefly used to make bread, cakes, and pastries. Wheat is also used to produce beer. The most common type of wheat is durum wheat which is popular as being used to make semolina flour which yields couscous.

Types of Wheat and What They Are Used For

1. Hard Red Winter

Winter wheat is a type of wheat that is planted in the fall and harvested in the early summer. Hard Red Winter (HRW) grows in the fall and is ready for harvest the following spring. This wheat type makes up about two-thirds of the wheat produced in the U.S. and is 95% of the wheat grown in Kansas.

Common Uses:

Because it is high in protein and strong gluten, HRW is most suitable for yeast bread and rolls and some would use this to make flatbreads, tortillas, cereal, all-purpose flour and Asian-style noodles. Full-flavored hard red winter wheat is the primary grain used for whole grain and whole wheat blends. 

2. Hard White

Hard white wheat, which is grown in a much smaller case than the other types, is a type of wheat that is lighter in kernel color and with a sweeter, more subtle flavor than hard red wheat. It is typically milled whole, preserving its moderate protein and nutrient content. 

Common Uses:

Due to its naturally milder, sweeter flavor, hard white wheat is commonly used for whole-wheat white flour and in making pan bread, tortillas, flatbreads and Asian-style noodles like ramen.

3. Hard Red Spring

Hard Red spring wheat cultivars are normally planted in the spring and harvested in the fall throughout the northern reaches of the U.S. and Canada. This type of wheat is planted in early spring, rather than the fall, and does not go dormant over the winter. Hard Red Spring wheat is also appreciated as a great enhancer in flour blends. 

Common Uses:

Can be considered as the “aesthetic wheat”, hard red spring is best for “designer” wheat foods such as croissants, rolls, hearth bread and bagels. Its high gluten content also makes this wheat ideal to use in tensile pastries like croissants and doughs that rely on a texture with some elasticity, like pizza dough.

4. Soft Red Winter

Soft Red Winter wheat is mostly found east of the Mississippi River. This is often planted as a double crop with soybeans by farmers east of the Mississippi River. Red winter wheat is best for making baked goods like cookies, crackers, and cakes because it is easier to mill and produces a finer, more “soft” feel.

Common Uses:

Low protein and weaker gluten are characteristics of soft wheat. Because of this, Soft Red Winter wheat is perfect for pretzels, pretzel sticks, cookies, crackers, and pastries.

5. Soft White

This wheat type is primarily grown in the Pacific Northwest — both winter and spring varieties. Soft White wheat has low moisture, but high extraction rates and is the go-to grain for all of the crumbly, meltaway pastries, yeast bread, and snack foods.

Common Uses:

Soft White wheat is ideal for delectable cakes, pastries, Asian-style noodles, and Middle Eastern flatbreads because of its low moisture but high extraction rates characteristic. Most cake and pastry flours are also composed of soft white wheat.

6. Durum

Durum wheat is also known as “pasta wheat” as it is the main ingredient to produce pasta, bread, bulgur, couscous and noodles because of its high content of protein and because it is the hardest type of wheat among the rest. Durum wheat is very hard, which facilitates a high yield of semolina. 

This is mainly produced in two areas of the United States: the northern plains, which grow hard amber durum, and the desert southwest (Arizona, California) grows Desert Durum® under irrigation.

Common Uses:

Durum wheat semolina is what milled durum wheat yields when broken into fairly uniform fragments and coarsely ground to produce a good paste texture. With a rich amber color and high gluten content, durum wheat is used primarily for pasta, couscous and some Mediterranean bread. Bulgur, which is a popular cereal, is also made from the cracked and parboiled wheat berries of durum wheat and is a staple cereal grain in Levantine dishes like tabbouleh and kibbeh.

Health Benefits of Wheat

Wheat contains a good quantity of carbs and has no cholesterol. It is also a good source of fiber—per 100g of wheat contains 12.7grams of dietary fiber. Wheat contains phytochemicals that act as antioxidants that help protect our bodies from free radical damage. 

There are still more vitamins and minerals that we can get from wheat. Visit my previous article here to know more about how nutritious and beneficial wheat is.

Conclusion

The versatility of wheat is way more than anyone can write about. From wheat flour to pastries, pasta and making pseudo cereals, there’s no wonder why wheat is the most grown and used crop all over the world. There are still more culinary uses and health benefits that wheat can bring to us. More than the carbs and calories which are our sources of energy, wheat is also rich in protein, antioxidants and fiber which helps improve our digestive health.