Meet Nash’s soft white wheat flour: grown and milled here on the farm.
What? White flour that is really wheat?
Yes, this can be confusing sometimes, as we have thought about white bread versus wheat bread ever since milling really took off in the United States. We should really talk about these breads as being made with whole grains vs. processed/refined grains, as that refers to the process the grains undergo after they are harvested, and not just the color of the bread. All breads are made from wheat or other variety of grain. The difference is what is left of the seed after it undergoes processing.
When a grain is refined, it is stripped of the germ and bran and only the endosperm (starch) remains. This is great if you want your flour to be able to sit on the shelf for years and not go rancid. However, it removes the most valuable nutrients, such as protective oils, fiber, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and iron. These nutrients help to feed the seed as it germinates and grows. When we “enrich” refined grains, we add these nutrients back in. Why remove them in the first place?
Nash’s soft white wheat flour is a whole grain product, so when we grind the wheat seeds, all parts of the seed including the bran (which contains fiber), the germ (which contains valuable oils and nutrients) and the endosperm are all still there, creating a nourishing end product. At Nash’s, we grow and mill the grains at the farm, delivering a fresh product with a difference you can taste. Our soft white wheat flour is perfect for making pastries, cakes, cookies, cereals, flat breads and crackers.
Our flour is a living product. To maintain its freshness, we recommend storing it in the refrigerator or freezer.
Hello – What is the protein content of this soft white flour compared to your hard red wheat flour? I purchased some bags at PCC at looking to expirement with them in my blends this weekend.
Thank you,
Travis
Hi Travis. Thanks for your interest in our flour! Our hard red wheat flour is about 11% protein, compared to about 9% for our soft white wheat flour. Have you played around with our hard white wheat yet? It’s new for us, so we don’t have a protein analysis of it yet, but it’s probably up there with the hard red. We’d love to hear how your baking turns out!
(P.S. — The hard white flour isn’t yet at PCC, but you could find it at our farmer’s markets in University District, Ballard, or Capitol Hill.)