Which Flour is Best for Sourdough Bread

Most of us like the convenience of buying flour from our grocer. The choices there are limited, but with good store-wide search, you may come across King Arthur White Whole Wheat, Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat just to mention two good brands.

There is also the online route where you will find many options, but lately, neither stores nor online sources carry what I like. However, nearly all have plain, all-purpose flour, which I have found now and again in the last while. But I have only seen it 25-pound sacks.

Bulk flour like this does not strike me as fresh and I know freshness equals nutrition. So does whole-grain flour, but both are hard to come by at grocery stores any time, not just during a pandemic.

And though white all-purpose flour can make a good tasting, serviceable loaf, there are so many other choices. Each kind of flour offers a different nutritional value, crumb, crust color, and flavor, so why not step out of the “all-purpose sack” and try something new?

Freshly Milled Wheat Makes the Best Flour

First, you should know, most whole grain is stable right up until the moment it is milled. The fact is, I am still using wheat we have had in storage for a long time and studies show it is just a nutritious.¹ And maybe more so since my stock is non-dwarf wheat.

Sadly dwarf wheat is the most commonly available wheat worldwide. However, heirloom wheat and ancient grain varieties from our partner, Mountain West Grains, are available. You can also find sources easily online such as Wheat Montana’s Prarie Gold Flour and those mentioned above.

“At the bakery,” Martha explains, “we only use locally grown, heirloom varieties of non-dwarf wheat. There are no pesticides and it is non-GMO, deep-biologically farmed, freshly milled wheat that is cold processed, unbromated, unbleached and unenriched that we grind fresh for our flour. You can buy this flour from us,” or she suggests, “home milling your own grain fresh whenever you can. That way you will be getting the most nutrition from your flour possible.”

The Harvard School of Public Health reports this about fresh, whole-wheat: “The bran is the fiber-rich outer layer that supplies B vitamins, iron, copper, zinc, magnesium, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. Phytochemicals are natural chemical compounds in plants that have been researched for their role in disease prevention. 

Studies show that at that moment grain is milled, the maximum nutrition is available, but it begins to degrade immediately after that. When wheat is milled the natural oils in the grain are exposed to oxygen which then oxidizes these lipids. According to Katie Kimbal, this makes flour rancid, “as early as 2–14 days subsequently after the milling operation.”²

Of course, for me, the answer is home milling, which means buying whole grain and grinding it fresh each time. The moment I made the decision to mill my own wheat for flour was the instant my bread improved. It had much better flavor, texture, and crust.

Types of Flour for Sourdough Bread

Wheat for Home Milling

• Hard Red Winter or Spring Wheat is higher in gluten (11-15%)³ making this a good bread flour when milled at home. Its high gluten content gives the dough a more elastic nature helping the finished loaf hold its shape in baking.
• Soft Red Winter or Spring Wheat is lower in gluten (9-12%)⁴ making it ideal for “pasta, cake, biscuit, cracker, and pastry flours.⁴ If you used this for bread making it might be difficult to shape and tension before baking and would make for a more crumbly finished product that would be hard to slice.

Commercial Wheat Flour

• Whole Wheat Flour contains bran, germ, and the starchy part of the wheat berry and all of its nutrients. The protein content is usually between 12–15% which is displayed on the package. This means it will generate more gluten structures for a better and faster rise than white flour does. 
  Whole grain uses more water because it absorbs more and requires a higher hydration level. At Abigail’s Oven, says Martha Levie, “the hydration level for our wheat bread is much higher than it is for our white country loaf at 79%. This gives a finer crumb with smaller gas bubbles in the finished loaf. Also, note that whole wheat has a higher level of bacteria than in white flour. More bacteria means it will be harder to get a long–ferment unless you let chill in the fridge overnight.”
• Bread flour is a label for flour with protein 12-14% protein (meaning more gluten) and it makes for a sturdier loaf. According to Mike Greenfield at SourdoughU, bread flour is “a good candidate for rustic loaves with a good chew.”⁴
  Personally, I use a mix of both, bread flour and whole wheat, about half and half, but I also add ten percent rye to most of my loaves for its flavor.
• Whole Wheat White Flour is made by milling hard white wheat extra fine. This flour has all the nutrition of whole wheat but behaves more like bread flour. It has a lighter and sweeter taste but is 100% whole grain. This is the flour of choice at Abigail’s Oven, but you can also find labels such as King Arthur and Prairie Gold Flour–Montana Wheat
• All-Purpose Flour blends both hard and soft wheat (see the section above) and has a protein content of 8-11%. This means its gluten content is satisfactory for bread making and in a pinch, this flour adequate as a replacement for bread flour. At the same time, it makes good for cakes and cookies, thus all-purpose.
• Sprouted Wheat Flour is made from whole wheat berries that are misted with water, and allowed to just barely sprout. Then they are dried and milled into flour. As a flour, this is purported to have more flavor and nutrition⁵ than other commercial flour and it bakes up like whole-wheat, but with a milder taste. According to King Arthur Flour, “sprouted whole grain has high fiber content and it’s packed with added nutrition.” 
• Semolina Flour comes from durum wheat. It is most often used in making pasta. But when making bread you can exchange some or all of the whole-wheat or all-purpose flour in a recipe. However, this makes bread softer and gives it a crispier crust. Seeded bread and pizza dough both benefit from this addition. Also because Its grainy like cornmeal is is used on oven stones in proofing baskets to prevent dough from sticking.

Ancient Grains

• Rye is the most common of ancient grains. does not contain much in the way of gluten-forming proteins, so it is best in a mix with white or whole-wheat flours, otherwise, your dough will be sticky and the loaf very dense. But when rye is added to other flour in your dough it develops deeper flavor for your bread. I add about 10% to every loaf.
  Mike Greenfield says, “Rye flour is used for starter because is attracts more natural yeast.”⁶
• Einkorn of all the wheat varieties today is the most ancient.  In our home baking, we use it as the only whole wheat we mix into the dough (40 % in every loaf). 
  For most people, this grain is easier on the stomach than modern wheat strains since its starches and glutens are more digestible. However, this flour is tricky to bake with if used all alone.
• Spelt flour has weaker gluten than commercial white flour, but the sweet and nutty flavor makes it a great partner with bread flour. Like rye, it tends to make a heavier loaf but for those who have a gluten intolerance, splet may be a solution.
• Khorasan (Kamut^® ) is higher in protein and mineral content than commercial flour making it a more healthy choice. It is mild, sweet and tastes buttery. However, it requires more water for hydration and can be difficult to shape before baking.

Now with all that written, there are flour types you should avoid for bread making, namely bleached flour and self-rising flour. Mike Greenfield warns, “Bleaching removes pigments that make for a nice creamy crumb color, and adds flavor, but leaves traces from the bleaching process which is not good for the body. Self-rising flour contains baking soda and salt, used in pastry but not needed for bread making.”⁷

What flour do you enjoy making sourdough bread with? Tell us about it in the comment section below.

REFERENCES

¹ Leo Pruimboom and Karin de Punder, “The opioid effects of gluten exorphins: asymptomatic celiac disease,” Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, Nov 2015.
² Katie Kimbal, “Food for Thought: Is Freshly Milled Flour more Nutritious?” Kitchen Stewardship, July 6, 2018
³ “Wheat,” Utah State University Extension.
⁴ Mike Greenfield, “Ultimate Bread Baking Handbook,” ProHomeCooks.com
⁵ Paolo Benincasa, Beatrice Falcinelli, Stanley Lutts, Fabio Stagnari, and Angelica Galieni, “Sprouted Grains: A Comprehensive Review,” Nutrients, February 2019
⁶ Greenfield, ibid.
⁷ Greenfield, ibid