This site does not earn commission on any link today. If that changes, this notice will say so.
Which Wheat Berries Should You Buy?
Updated 2026-11-04
Buying your first bag of wheat berries is confusing, because the labels describe the wheat, not what it is good for. Two words matter most: hard and soft.
Hard wheat for bread, soft wheat for pastry
Utah State University Extension lists these ranges:
| Wheat | Protein | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| Hard red spring, hard red winter, hard white spring | 11-15% | Bread flour (high gluten) |
| Soft red winter, soft white winter, soft white spring | 9-12% | Pasta, cake, biscuit, cracker and pastry flours |
More protein generally means more gluten, which gives bread its structure. Pastry and cakes need less of it, so they stay tender.
Red or white?
Hard red and hard white sit in the same protein range in the Extension's table. If you are moving over from white flour, many bakers find hard white milder. That part comes from common baking advice rather than the Extension's table, so try a small bag first.
Spelt and Kamut
These come up often in milling circles. The sources we found here are sellers, so treat this as vendor opinion. Bread Beckers, which sells grain, says spelt makes soft, moist cookies, muffins and pancakes, and that it can be crumbly in yeast breads. It also favors Kamut for pasta.
We have left out einkorn for now, because we did not find a source we trust for its properties.
What to buy first
If you bake bread, start with a hard wheat. If you bake mostly muffins, cookies and pancakes, add a soft white wheat. Buy small amounts until you know what you like, then buy in bulk.
Once you buy in quantity, read how to store wheat berries.