How to Cook or Grind Wheat Berries

How to Cook or Grind Wheat Berries

Varieties of Wheat Berries

wheat berries nutrition

Hard White Wheat

Palouse Brand Hard White Wheat Berries are great for grinding into a white bread flour, which is best leavened with yeast. These wheat berries have a high protein content of 12% the daily value. With their mild and sweet taste they are perfect for a variety of recipes like cream of wheat to brownies.

Soft White Wheat

Our Soft White Wheat also has a mild, sweet taste, though it is better suited to creating an All-Purpose Flour for baking into sweeter pastries and treats. It is best leavened with a baking powder or soda. Soft white wheat does a more moderate protein content at 9-10% the daily value. 

Hard Red Winter Wheat

Hard Red Winter Wheat Berries are the best of our wheats for sprouting into wheatgrass although all our wheats will still sprout. The hard red winter has a similar protein content to the soft white wheat at 9-11% the daily value, however, hard red winter has a much bolder and nutty taste. Flour ground from these wheat berries can be leavened with either yeast or a baking soda or powder. 

Hard Red Spring Wheat

Palouse Brand Hard Red Spring Wheat Berries are the absolute best for grinding into a whole wheat bread flour and they can make a delicious sourdough loaf. These berries also have a bold robust taste and have the highest protein content at 13% the daily value. Because of its bold, nutty taste and high protein content, these wheat berries are also great in salads. 

Wheat Berry Storage

Storing fresh wheat berries is an easy feat. Palouse Brand Wheat Berries are best when stored in an air-tight container in a cool, dry location like a pantry. As long as wheat berries are stored correctly, you can continue to enjoy them for at least three years. 

Cooking Instructions

Cooking with wheat berries could not be any easier and we highly recommend it as they add a wonderful taste and texture to many recipes. 

What you'll need

  • Fresh Wheat Berries
  • Water*

How to Cook Wheat Berries

  1. In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil.
  2. Add wheat berries, reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the wheat berries have reached the desired tenderness - usually about 30-40 minutes. 

*Water can be replaced with different types of broth depending on the recipe

Fresh Flour Know-How

Palouse Brand wheat berries will grind into 100% whole wheat flour as all three layers - the bran, germ, and endosperm - are ground. This results in a delicious, rich flour that has a bold nutty flavor. Most flours bought in the store have had at least one if not all of these layers removed as well as have additives. 

Fresh ground flour does tend to produce a denser loaf because nothing is removed or added. In order to work easily with fresh flour, there are a couple things you can do to make your favorite recipes. Adding more liquid or more leavening power are a couple ways that will keep all the nutritious benefits of the flour. Sifting is another option, however this will cause you to lose those nutritional benefits of the bran. When using fresh flour it's also important to weigh your flour instead of using cup measurements as it is so much more accurate. 

To store your fresh ground flour, we recommend using an airtight container and storing in a cool dry place just like your raw wheat berries. Because the flour will be whole grain and contains all the components of the wheat berry, it is high in nutrients and oils which can cause a shorter shelf life than traditional store bought flour. Since fresh flour does not contain any preservatives, we recommend using fresh ground flour within six months.  

Grinding Instructions

Wheat berries are easily ground into fresh flour. There are a couple types of mills in the market that are easy to use and at a good price point. 

Here at Palouse Brand we love WonderMill which offers both electric and manual options. It can easily grind 4 cups of wheat berries in just a couple of minutes. 

 

Shop Palouse Brand Wheat Berries 

 

Comments 11

Lazy K on

I’ve use the hard red winter wheat in my sourdough sandwich bread. I combine the ground wheat, sourdough starter and the liquid and let it sit overnight. I have no problems getting a nice tall soft bread. I’m planning on trying the other 3 types of wheat to see which I like best.

Cindy Lambert on

I bought a lot of hard white wheat berries from you and am now realizing my ignorance from your above post, that it is best leavened with yeast. However, would it be possible to make cakes with it with baking powder and soda? Any suggestions of how to adjust that? Or would it be a complete no go? Thanks.

Linda Hofmann on

Btw. Nutrimill has discounted mills that are like half the cost if people cant afford to spend 300 to 500. I purchased my mill thru their discount and it works beautifully with your berries. Comes out very fine for breads or very coarse for other recipes. I promote your berries to all my friends and the nutrimill as we are on limited income. Keep up the nice clean berries.

Linda Hofmann on

I have used the hard red for French bread but it was too dense, so will use the soft white instead. Am experimenting with them all. Thank goodness for some youtubers as there is a good bread recipe there to use. For just wheat bread it was fine. It takes some getting used to using but its definitely better then store bought stripped down stuff. Want to figure out how to do a cream of wheat type next.

Jan Jeffers on

What berries should I use to grind for a whole wheat bread? My breads are coming out very dense and hard. I have several wheat berries, hard, red, white, etc.

Palouse Brand on

@Margie – I would recommend the hard white wheat berry as it has a very mild flavor.

Margie on

I’m trying to learn how to incorporate wheat berries as meat substitutes and which wheat berry would work best ? Suggestions would be appreciated.

Jan Nees on

I have become totally confused on using wheat berries for bread. How fine do you grind? Is there a recipe for 100% whole wheat? What if it is too dense and hard? I am going in circles!

Michele Peterson on

I just wanted to say thank you for the information you provided on this page. It helped me decide which products to purchase for each of the things I want to do. It was very informative.

David Darby on

Got my order of wheat berries and now diving into what can be done and how to use thanks palousebrand

Rosalie Gassen on

I am very happy with my purchase of red winter wheat berries. I bought the 5lb—bag for a test run. I am very happy with the results. We are purchasing a mill to grind them ( I used my Vitamix, and it did very well with the grinding.) I’m considering buying Hard White Wheat to mix with the red so my bread will not be too dark. I hope that works. My husband and I will be making an order real soon on one of each and the 25# bags.

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