Most modern wheat stems from emmer wheat, which was domesticated around the same time as einkhorn wheat and found in the Jordan valley and the Damascus basin from around 10 thousand years ago. Jared Diamond, in his book “Guns Germs and Steel”, traces the spread of cultivated emmer to the “Fertile Crescent” around 8500 BC, reaching Greece, Cyprus and India by 6500 BC, Egypt shortly thereafter. By 5000 BC wheat had made it to Germany and Spain. By 3000 BC, wheat had reached England and Scandinavia, from there it spread further, finally reaching China 1000 years later.  Using flour for bread making can be traced to the early Egyptians with their use of oven technology, developing baking into one of the first large-scale food production industries.

There are two ways of milling flour; by stone or by roller. Before we can get into the why and the how of milling, we need to have a basic understanding of the anatomy of a wheat kernel. 

The wheat kernel is the seed of a wheat plant once the outer hull is removed. The kernel consists of three main parts: the bran, the germ and the endosperm. Obviously, there is a whole lot more going on in there, but let’s keep it to what the different components mean to our flour.

The outside of the kernel is the bran, this is where you get all your fibre. On the inside we have the endosperm, which makes up the most of the kernel – this is where the carbs and proteins live and provide food supply to the germ, which is the innermost part and contains all the nutrients and fat.

Stone milled flour mills grind the whole kernel (the bran, endosperm, and germ) with a stone usually made of granite. As a result, the flour tends to be more fibrous and flavourful, as it contains all the fats and nutrients. However, because of the inclusion of the germ (which contains fat), stoneground flour is significantly more perishable than roller-milled flour. This is also largely due to the stones that can increase the heat of the grain, especially compared to that of stainless steel rollers. 

After grinding most of the commercial mills will then sieve out the larger pieces of bran to create a consistent flour. This ensures bakeries don't need to alter their workflow by adjusting kneading times or altering their hydration.

Roller milling flour separates each part of the kernel before grinding. Then, depending on the end product, the mill may discard the bran and germ (white flour) or add them back in with the endosperm (whole flour). Some mills may include another step after milling, including bleaching (not in organics) or enriching the flour to replace what was taken out during the milling process (things like niacin, riboflavin, folic acid etc). The reduced fats and oils mean that roller milling tends to be more shelf-stable as well as having more protein by volume (provided the germ and the bran haven’t been added back in of course).

When we talk about protein in flour we are talking about gluten. Gluten are a type of structural protein, they have elastic properties. Gluten build the structure of bread. This allows your loaf to hold air and give your loaf a chewy and elastic texture. There are two proteins in wheat flour, glutenin and gliadin. The glutenin contributes to the strength and elasticity of your dough and the gliadin contributes to the extensibility (stretch).

Before you knead your flour and water into a dough, the proteins are randomly arranged. Once you start to knead the dough, the wet gluten interlink with each other and form a web. The longer you knead the more links are formed and the tighter your dough will get. This web (or matrix) is also formed when the wet dough is left alone (the autolysing) as well as during bulk fermentation. This matrix helps to trap the carbon dioxide exhaled by the yeast, trapping it within the gluten matrix, a bit like air in balloons; this is what makes your dough rise. Next to kneading and time, gluten development is influenced by the amount of water (both amount and quality), temperature and the addition of other ingredients (salt, milk, oil) as well as other chemicals and additives (enzymes, conditioners).

For people that dabble in a bit of everything – Plain flour (commonly referred to as All-Purpose) will do everything reasonably well. The plain flour we stock is on the lower side of protein (around 9%), which means it will do cakes really well, and bread ok. If you want to make a soft sandwich loaf or perhaps a fluffy naan, then it actually does quite well. If you want to use it in sourdough or a pizza base, you will need to keep your hydration below 65%, or it will struggle to keep up. 

Another flour that surprised me as an allrounder is our roller milled spelt flour. It has a high protein count at 14%. This is most likely due to spelt having higher gliadin: glutenin ratio than wheat and therefore doesn’t form as strong gluten matrix and isn’t as strong. 

The rest of the flours we stock tend towards the bread-making end of the spectrum with protein counts of 12% and above. So, your choice will come down to flavour, fibre content and taste. I am a big fan of having a bulk amount of roller milled wheat flour (either heritage or baker’s), as it stores better and has a nice high gluten content (around 13%). Then I mix in a small amount of other types of whole stoneground flours that I want to add some fibre and flavour. I usually mix at 60-70% roller milled to 30-40% whole flour to get my desired result. Doing it this way means I don’t have to store too much of the volatile stoneground flours but I always have some flour on hand.