There are superheroes in my pantry. You know the ones: high powered bread flourUniversal the whole purposefragrant rye … they deserve the capes, titles and accolades they get. But there is also an unsung hero. One that kicks in at just the right moment with bran goodness for cookies, a soft touch for sponges and whole grain depth for crispbread. I'm talking about my favorite flour that no one knows about: wholemeal Irish flour.
Photography by Danielle Sykes; Food styling by Liz Neily
What is Irish style flour?
Our Irish Style Flour, also known as Irish Whole Wheat Flour, is a soft whole wheat, bran flour, grown in the USA, perfect for traditional Irish baked goods (and much, much more). Similar to wholemeal pastry flour, wholemeal Irish flour contains all the bran, endosperm and germ of the wheat grain. But it's more coarsely ground, with large chunks of bran that bring texture, beauty and flavor to everything it touches.
Wholemeal Irish flour is milled from lower-protein soft winter wheat and contains less of the firming elasticity found in all-purpose flour, bread flour and other wheat flours (which are made from hard winter wheat with higher protein). Elasticity—the rubber-band strength in the dough that enables baking, helps the pizza stretch thin, and keeps our pita from bursting—is key to a few things (achieving the open texture of hearth bread, for one). But we don't need a lot of it for the soft, luscious qualities we love scones, biscuitsAND soda bread – which, of course, are the baked goods where Irish wholemeal really shines.
John Sherman
How to bake with Irish style flour
If you are experimenting with Irish-style flour for the first time, our Irish Soda Bread it's a great place to start. Soda bread – with its finely textured, crunchy crumb, cookie crust and wheat flavor – showcases the wonderful characteristics of Irish Style Flour, utilizing every bit of its manufactured crumb and aromatic bran particles. We have added a little to our recipe bread flour for a slightly longer and lighter version of soda bread; sliced and slathered with plenty of butter, it might be the cheapest ticket you can find to the Emerald Isle. Or, to mix things up, we have heartier versions of the classic: ours Rye soda bread Spreads whole rye flour and maple syrup or, for a loaf of bread the beginning of sourdoughOUR Sourdough Soda Bread it will keep you energized beyond breakfast.
Food photography and styling by Liz Neily
But wholemeal Irish flour isn't just good for soda bread – ours is Brack tea it is also an excellent roaster. With brewed black tea for moisture and a blend of dried fruit for natural sweetness and complexity, the tea box, a dark cereal breakfast cake, is perfect when made with wholemeal Irish flour. With its characteristic softness and depth of flavor, the flour brings enough body to match the dark flavors of this bread.
Or maybe something sweeter is your pot of gold – ours Irish cream scones with buttery fries and Irish cream liqueur glaze sure to sweeten even the grayest early spring afternoon. Here, as with the tea slab, we are exploiting the soft texture and nuanced flavor of whole grains. And you can keep the Irish party going well into the evening with a side Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls putting together a pot of potato soup. Irish-style flour, when paired with a little all-purpose flour for strength, is the perfect ingredient for richly flavored rolls.
Martin Philip
What about recipes that don't specifically call for wholemeal Irish flour? from banana bread THE burger bun and even baguettes, you can substitute some Irish-style flour to bring depth of flavor and color to more neutral recipes. For a good starting point, look for recipes that already include some whole wheat flour and start there. Then, branching out, look for places where the softness and flavor of some whole grains would be a good fit. Knowing that wholemeal flour is a “soft” flour, it's a good idea to keep the amounts low (substituting about 20% to 25% of the recipe's flour with Irish-style flour, by weight) to ensure that dry bread still has the strength it needs to rise and quick bread does not sink during baking.
Whether you're doing a classic Irish Soda Breadlooking for new favorites like Brack teaor improvising with exciting substitutions, give this wholemeal Irish flour a shot. You may find yourself with a new hero in the pantry.
Cover picture (Irish Soda Bread) and food styling by Liz Neily.
