October 25, 2023 - 1:05pm
Store bought KA whole wheat vs. 50 lb bags
I've been baking with King Arthur whole wheat flour that I get in 50 lb bags for about 6 years now. My normal supplier made mistakes with my order so I didn't get any when I needed it. I went to Kroger and bought 5 lb bags of King Arthur whole wheat and it seems quite different than what I'd become accustomed to. Mainly it was ground much finer and seemed much lighter colorwise. What accounts for this? I would have expected them both to be the same product.
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Could you have bought KA White Whole Wheat without realizing it? That would be lighter in color, though I don't know about the fineness. I've reached for the white ww sack several times before I realized it wasn't the usual red variety.
No, definitely not. Here's the bag:
Yup, no doubt about it.
You could contact KA and ask about it. They seem to have been very responsive in the past. Try their customer service page.
According to KA's website (Bakery & Food Service Products | King Arthur Baking), the protein content of their 50 lb. bag of whole wheat flour is 14%. The protein content of the 5 lb. bag is 13.2%. So there is a difference between the two. Don't know if that accounts for your observation, though,
Petek, it seems that 14% total protein includes 0.8% non-gluten forming protein found in bran and germ. Whereas on their 5lb bag it says on top that it contains 13.2% gluten forming protein, i.e. bran protein excluded.
Are you sure that KAB reports different protein values for its flours? I would think the how the specs are reported would be the same.
They clearly state for their 50lb. bags of whole wheat flour that it is 14.0% protein
And they clearly state on the 5lb package's nutritional label "4 g protein per 30g flour" (about 13.3% total per 100g flour), and 13.2% "gluten forming protein" in two places, not 4.2g protein per 30g which would be 14% total protein per 100g flour.
I am almost certain that these are not two differently milled flours, or different cultivars of non organic wheat, but who knows since they sell two whole red wheat flours, one is organic and another is not. We do not know how those wheats that they are milled from differ, even if their total protein is the same.
And they clearly state on the 5lb package's nutritional label "4 g protein per 30g flour" (about 13.3% total per 100g flour)
Those numbers on the nutritional labels are rounded off to the nearest whole number, so one shouldn't be too picky about the exact values. "4g" could be anywhere from 3.5 to 4.5 grams.
I agree. That is very common.
There are two problems, though. One is that some numbers on their nutritional label are rounded to the nearest whole number of grams and milligrams while others - to the first decimal.
Another is that the whole thread started with the observation of different coarseness of WWF in 5lb and 50lb bags. 5lb contents being finely milled. Whereas their website states that 50lb bags of WWF contain finely milled whole grain wheat flour.
I emailed the following to KA:
I have a question about two of your whole wheat flours. The information on the 5 pound bag (#305050) states that the protein content is 13.2% "GLUTEN FORMING". The description of the 50 pound bag (#14050) states that the protein content is 14%. Is the protein content of these two flours the same? Is there any difference between the two flours? Are they milled the same? Thank you for your attention to this question.
I'll post their reply.
There was a recent blog post on KAB about gluten-forming protein percentage. I posed a similar question to yours in the comments with the additional query of how the gluten-forming protein content is determined. I've wondered what test method they use.
Some years back, there was a statement from a King Arthur rep that KA used contract mills, so there will be some variation in its flours.
Here's KA's reply to my query:
"Thanks for contacting us here at King Arthur Baking Company.
These are very similar flours, and we expect that they will bake up very similarly. However, they are milled in different facilities and from different batches of wheat, so they are not identical. The 50 # bag is slightly higher in protein, but they will be ground to the same particle size."
I took pictures of the two flours which you can find in my Google Drive. The lighter, more uniform one came out of the 5 lb bag and the other one came out of the 50 lb bag I picked up today.