Ancient wheat
Emmer (Farro)
Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccon
Tetraploid hulled wheat — Bronze Age staple
In the atlas
If einkorn is the first wheat, emmer is the wheat that built cities. Egyptian bakers raised it into temple loaves; Roman soldiers marched on it. 'Farro' on an Italian menu is usually emmer. The berry is plump, the gluten modest, the flavor a campfire next to modern wheat's candle.
Origin. Fertile Crescent; staple of Egypt and early Rome
Flavor. Roasted malt, brown sugar, faint smoke.
Worth knowing
- True farro in Tuscany is emmer; grocery 'farro' is sometimes spelt.
- Hulled — you buy it dehulled (pearled farro cooks faster, mills paler).
- Makes a rustic loaf that wants steam and a Dutch oven, not a Pullman pan.
- Whole berries are superb as a grain bowl — mill only what you'll bake.
Flours you can make
| Flour | Extraction | Protein | Gluten | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole-grain flour | 100% | 13.2% | 7.8% | Everything the berry holds — bran, germ, and endosperm. Mill 1:1 by weight. Use within days, or freeze. |
| High-extraction (85%) | 85% | 12.9% | 8% | Sift once through a #30–#40 sieve. Keeps most flavor and minerals, slightly stronger dough than 100%. |
| Bolted all-purpose style | 75% | 12.7% | 8.3% | Second sifting (#50–#60). Lighter crumb, longer shelf life, less fiber. Bran left behind is gold in porridge. |
Nutrition / 100 g
- Calories
- 335 kcal
- Protein
- 13.2 g
- Carbs
- 70 g
- Fiber
- 10.6 g
- Fat
- 2.1 g
- Iron
- 4 mg
- Magnesium
- 128 mg
- Zinc
- 3.1 mg
- Thiamin
- 0.38 mg
- Selenium
- 18 µg
Typical whole-grain flour / 100 g.
Sources & USDA linksBuy it retail
- Anson Mills
- Breadtopia
- Azure Standard
- Janie's Mill
- Barton Springs Mill
- Italian farro importers
Availability rotates by harvest. Search the berry name plus “food grade.”
Bakes well as
Mill Emmer (Farro) now
Miller’s desk
Grain to flour
Vital wheat gluten booster
Most bags of vital wheat gluten are 75–80% protein. The booster is added on top of the flour, not swapped in.
Whole-grain flour · Weak gluten
- Whole grain needed
- 505 g
- Flour you’ll get
- 500 g
- Bran left behind
- 0 g
- Protein in that flour
- 66 g · 13.2%
- Natural gluten
- 7.8%
- Add VWG
- None needed
- After VWG
- 13.2% protein · 7.8% gluten
About 2.7 cups of berries → 4.2 cups of whole-grain flour. Whole-grain milling is essentially 1:1 by weight; sifting is where you lose bran.
How to mill it
If the package says 'pearled,' you've lost some bran — adjust fiber expectations.
Medium. Pearled emmer mills finer and paler.
Tempering: Optional.
Everything the berry holds — bran, germ, and endosperm. Mill 1:1 by weight. Use within days, or freeze.
Milling 101 →Next: bake it
Pick a loaf for this flour
13.2% protein after VWG · Emmer (Farro) whole-grain flour. Sandwich loaf, focaccia, sourdough — the kitchen will scale dough, hydration, and times to this mix.
