What is: Durum Wheat?
For those of you who missed briefing yesterday:
We came upon a question that none of us could answer.
What is Durum??
If you’re having trouble understanding (I was!) – I assembled the following from a couple different websites…
Wheat is primarily classified according to its growing season.
There’s Winter wheat (planted in fall, harvested in spring, ~ 75% of wheat grown in the United States). And there’s Spring wheat (planted in spring, harvested in late summer / early fall).
Beyond the growing season, wheat is further categorized according to its hardness (hard/soft), color (red/white) and shape of its kernel. In the end, we’re left with the following six types of wheat:
Hard Red Winter
Hard Red Spring
Soft Red Winter
Durum
Hard White Wheat
Soft White Wheat
The protein content of the wheat is what determines what the wheat will be used for. The greater the protein, the greater the elasticity of the dough. Hard red winter and hard red spring contain the highest levels of protein are most often used in goods requiring size, like breads and rolls. Hard white and soft white contain the lowest percentages of protein and best suited for baked goods like cakes, cookies, crackers, pastries and muffins.
The color of the wheat – red or white? Red wheat is obviously darker than white wheat. Red wheat also has a stronger, more bitter flavor than white. Soft red winter is often used in blatantly obvious brown crackers and flat breads. These are often marketed as “whole grain” crackers and such. Soft white is used in goods when manufactures want the item to look and taste white, but be able to claim the item is healthy – that is, not made from processed white flour.
Many, many types of grain can be ground into flour to make breads. Ours all comes from Maine Grains. They are in SKOWHEGAN. Know that!
Durum comes from the Latin for “hard” which refers to the actual kernel of grain. It is a very hard wheat indeed, with a high protein content. It is used more often for pastas than for bread!
Every time you drop off a plate of bread…
Tell the guests what kind of bread it is!
“This is housemade whole wheat durum sourdough bread.”
Know what that means! Know where it comes from! Be proud that we baked it upstairs!