What Flour Should I Use?

This page should hopefully help you understand which flours works best in each scenario.  The first thing to know is the difference between quick breads, yeast breads and sourdough bread.

Quick Breads
Quick breads are exactly what they sound like. Mix, pour, bake, done. There's no yeast, no rising time, and no waiting around. Baking soda or baking powder does all the heavy lifting, which means you can have muffins, banana bread, zucchini bread, cornbread, or a stack of pancakes on the table in about an hour. If you are just getting started with fresh milled flour, this is honestly the best place to begin. The recipes are forgiving, the learning curve is gentle, and the results will have your family asking what smells so good.

Best flours for quick breads: 

  • soft white wheat is the gold standard here because of its light texture and mild flavor.

  • Einkorn makes incredibly tender, flavorful muffins and pancakes

  • Khorasan adds a rich, buttery quality to quick breads that is really lovely

  • Soft red wheat works beautifully too, especially in cornbread and hearty muffins.

  • Spelt and emmer are both wonderful options that add a gentle nuttiness without being heavy.


Yeast Breads
Yeast breads take a little more time, but that time is mostly just waiting, not working. You mix your dough, let it rise, shape it, let it rise again, and bake. The yeast feeds on the natural sugars in the flour, fills the dough with tiny air bubbles, and gives you that chewy, flavorful loaf you can slice for sandwiches all week. Fresh milled flour is wonderful for yeast breads because the natural oils and nutrients still in the whole grain give the yeast more to feed on, which means a livelier rise and a depth of flavor that store bought flour just can't touch.

Best flours for yeast breads: 

  • Hard white wheat is the most versatile and approachable for everyday sandwich loaves.

  • Hard red wheat brings bold flavor and excellent structure to heartier breads. 

  • Khorasan produces a gorgeous, slightly golden loaf with a rich flavor. 

  • Spelt works well in yeast breads but needs a gentler hand since it has a more fragile gluten structure. 

  • Durum wheat, best known for pasta, also makes a beautiful, dense and flavorful bread.

  • Emmer and kamut both shine in rustic artisan style loaves. 

  • Rye is wonderful blended with hard wheat flours for a deeper, earthier flavor and a denser crumb.


Sourdough
Sourdough is in a category all its own. Instead of a packet of commercial yeast, sourdough uses a live fermented starter, basically a little jar of wild yeast and beneficial bacteria that you keep alive and fed over time. That starter is what makes the bread rise, and it's also what gives sourdough its signature tangy flavor and chewy, satisfying texture. The long fermentation process does something really interesting too. It breaks the grain down before it ever reaches your digestive system, which is part of why so many people find a real sourdough loaf made with fresh milled flour feels nothing like the bread they grew up eating.

Best flours for sourdough: 

  • Hard white and hard red wheat are both excellent base flours for sourdough and can be used on their own or blended together. 

  • Rye is a favorite addition to sourdough starters because the wild yeasts love it, and even a small amount added to your dough deepens the flavor considerably. 

  • Einkorn sourdough is absolutely delicious but needs some adjustments in hydration and handling since the gluten behaves differently. 

  • Khorasan, spelt, and emmer all make wonderful sourdough loaves, often blended with a hard wheat to give the dough enough strength to hold its structure. 

  • Kamut sourdough has a devoted following for its rich, almost sweet flavor profile.

 

TYPES OF FLOURS AND THEIR BEST USES

Hard White Wheat
Hard white wheat is the most approachable of the whole grain wheats, mild and slightly sweet, and nothing like the heavy whole wheat flour you'd find at the grocery store. It mills into a beautiful, creamy-colored flour that bakes up light with a tender crumb. Because it's lower in tannins than hard red, it has a gentler flavor that won't overpower more delicate baked goods, while still giving you all the nutrition of the whole grain.

Best for: sandwich bread, dinner rolls, pizza dough, pasta, and everyday loaves


Hard Red Wheat
Hard red wheat is what most people picture when they think of whole wheat bread, earthy, robust, and full of flavor. It has a higher tannin content than hard white, which gives it that classic, slightly bitter whole wheat taste and a deeper, nuttier aroma when it bakes. The protein content is excellent, so it builds strong gluten and gives your loaves real structure and a satisfying chew.

Best for: hearty sandwich bread, artisan loaves, sourdough, and whole wheat recipes where bold flavor is welcome


Khorasan
Khorasan is an ancient wheat with a rich, buttery flavor that sets it apart from modern wheats. The grains are large and golden, and they mill into a gorgeous amber flour with a slightly sweet, almost nutty taste. It has a good protein content but a more extensible gluten structure than modern hard wheats, so it handles beautifully in recipes that benefit from a softer, more open crumb. Many people who find modern wheat hard to digest report doing much better with ancient grains like khorasan.

Best for: artisan breads, flatbreads, pasta, cookies, and muffins


Einkorn
Einkorn is the oldest cultivated wheat on earth, and baking with it feels like something special. It has a deep, rich, almost nutty flavor with a hint of sweetness that makes everything taste more complex and satisfying. Because einkorn has a weaker gluten structure than modern wheats, it behaves differently in the bowl. It absorbs liquid more slowly and produces a stickier, more delicate dough. The payoff is a tender, moist crumb with incredible flavor, and a nutritional profile that is genuinely impressive even compared to other ancient grains. Einkorn contains higher levels of protein, essential fatty acids, and antioxidants than modern wheat varieties.

Best for: quick breads, muffins, pancakes, waffles, cookies, flatbreads, and sourdough (with adjusted hydration and technique)


Soft White Wheat (COMING SOON)
Soft white wheat has a lower protein content than hard wheat, which means it bakes up tender and delicate rather than chewy and structured. The flavor is mild and slightly sweet, and it mills into a fine, light flour that feels familiar if you are coming from store bought all purpose flour. It is a natural fit for anything where you want a soft, light result without a heavy whole grain texture. If you have been nervous about making the switch to fresh milled flour, starting with soft white wheat is a really good idea.

Best for: muffins, cakes, cookies, biscuits, pancakes, waffles, pie crusts, and any quick bread where a tender crumb matters


Soft Red Wheat (COMING SOON) 
Soft red wheat has a similar protein level to soft white, so you get that same tender, delicate texture in your baked goods. The flavor is a touch more earthy and pronounced, which adds a little depth without being overpowering. It has been a staple in Southern baking for a long time, particularly in biscuits and cornbread, and it's easy to see why. Anywhere you want a soft result with just a little more character, soft red wheat fits right in.

Best for: biscuits, cornbread, muffins, cookies, crackers, and pastries


Rye (COMING SOON)
Rye has a deep, earthy, slightly tangy flavor that is completely different from any wheat flour, and it brings a wonderful density and moistness to baked goods. Because rye is lower in gluten forming proteins than wheat, it works best when blended with a hard wheat flour in bread recipes so the dough has enough structure to rise well. You don't need much to make a difference either. Even a small amount added to a loaf deepens the flavor considerably. In sourdough, rye is especially useful because the wild yeasts in a starter are particularly active when rye is involved.

Best for: sourdough blended with hard wheat, hearty sandwich bread, rye crackers, and dark artisan loaves