Can I Make White Bread with Fresh Flour?

I received a question from a reader this week that I thought may resonate with some other folks.

Essentially, this person had some family members with a strong preference for white bread.

He knew whole wheat was the best option for its nutritional value, however, was concerned that his family wouldn’t like fresh milled bread because they only ate white bread.

This is a great question.

And, coincidentally, I too was a skeptic when I first learned about the benefits of fresh-ground, whole-wheat bread.

If you are new to home milling, let me take just a minute to cover the basics of fresh-milled wheat.

WHY YOU SHOULD MILL YOUR OWN FLOUR

1. Milling your own flour means you buy wheat berries in bulk (also called wheat kernels or whole grains). More on buying wheat HERE.
2. You use a small mill in your kitchen to grind these little kernels into soft, fresh flour.  The mill can be electric or hand crank.  More on mills HERE.
3. Then you use the fresh flour to bake bread and other things.  More on how to start making bread HERE.  Basic whole wheat bread recipe HERE.

BENEFITS OF FRESH FLOUR

Gluten has been receiving a bad rap lately.  I agree that storebought bread and any manufactured products that contain gluten are not a good idea.  I don’t eat them.

Homemade bread (or cakes, cookies, tortillas, crackers, rolls, buns, or anything) that is made with fresh-milled flour is an entirely different product.

It doesn’t make me sick  It doesn’t make me bloat.  Fresh-milled breads are a superfood, practically unmatched.

1. Fresh milled wheat berries contain 40 of the 44 essential nutrients (that come from food) needed to sustain life
2. Grinding your own flour will save you money
3. Consuming fresh flour promotes a healthy gut, sweeps intestines clean, and ensures regularity (lots of poop y’all)

Milling flour is really a no brainer when you study the health benefits. More on the health benefits of fresh flour HERE.

It is worth it.

I read the books.  I listened to the experts.

“I agreed.”

“You win.”

BUT

If my family doesn’t eat the bread it doesn’t matter how healthy it is

I couldn’t wrap my brain around what a loaf of bread would be like if I milled the flour.

Right in my own kitchen.  With a little home mill?  How could this possibly compare to the soft, white loaves sold in stores?

I never liked the wheat bread sold in the supermarket – especially the ones with bits of grain, seeds, and nuts in them.  Yuck.

Let’s talk about it

A friend of mine who had been milling flour and baking bread for years handed me a half of a loaf of her fresh-milled bread and told me to try it.

I was speechless.

It was amazing.  It was soft, slightly sweet, and my family loved it.

But, it wasn’t white. It was actually quite brown.

Wheat kernels are not white – they are brown.

Brown kernels = brown bread.

If your flour or bread is white, it has been tampered with.

The end.

The truth is, very few organic things are pure white.

If you have an aversion to brown bread I suggest 3 things –

1. Close your eyes
2. Remember the dark brown loaves at Outback Steakhouse.  They aren’t white but are still delicious, lovely, and soft.
3. Consider that if a food is white or very pale – it has usually been processed.
   • White sugar is bleached
   • White table salt is bleached
   • Clear apple cider vinegar is refined
   • Perfectly clear oils are refined
   • Pale butter is pasteurized
   • White bread is bleached

On the flip side of pale foods – there is color and HEALTH!

1. Cane juice crystals are brown – actually contain trace minerals
2. Real Salt is multicolored – filled with minerals
3. Raw apple cider vinegar is cloudy and has the mother floating inside – filled with antimicrobial and antioxidants
4. Cold-pressed oils have more nutritional benefits and are better for the environment
5. Raw butter is bright yellow – filled with probiotics and showing off its K vitamins!
6. AND whole wheat bread SHOULD be brown.  When you look at the wheat berries (the fruit of the plant) the color ranges from a dark to a light brown color.  The bread is going to be in the same color range as the wheat kernel.

So, to answer the question, “Can I make white bread with fresh flour?”

The answer is, “No.”

But you can make a light, soft, lovely bread that is delicious and nutritious.  

Now, let’s talk about how to make the LIGHTEST bread with fresh-milled flour.

HOW TO MAKE LIGHT BREAD WITH FRESH-MILLED FLOUR

In order to get the lightest bread, you will want to use hard white wheat berries.

If you are well versed in the different grains available, you may be thinking that soft white is the lightest.  You are correct.  Soft white wheat berries are the lightest and whitest of all the whole grains – but they are also very low in natural gluten content.  This makes them practically unusable for a loaf or a yeast bread recipe.  Without enough gluten, the bread can not stretch, rise, and hold together.  If you attempt to make a loaf of bread with soft white wheat, it usually will fall in the center or have a lumpy finish.  This is because it can not hold itself together.

Soft white wheat is better suited for sweetbreads (cakes, pies, cookies, and recipes that use baking soda for rising).

This brings us back to using hard white wheat.  Hard white makes the most wonderful, soft loaves.  I think anyone accustomed to white bread would enjoy a loaf made primarily made with hard white.

In my kitchen, I usually start with a base of hard white wheat berries and toss in some super grains for superior nutrition (like kamut, spelt, or oat groats).

No matter which wheat berry (there are actually dozens of whole grains available) you use for baking, none of them are going to be white.

This is a good thing.

Hard white wheat berries will make a beautiful, soft loaf. I will not be white, but I think it will be the best bread you’ve tasted.

To learn more about home bread-making with fresh-milled flour –

XO,
Candi