Modern wheat
Freekeh
Triticum turgidum (roasted green)
Ancient technique, not a separate species
In the atlas
Freekeh is a process: harvest durum (sometimes bread wheat) while the berries are still green, then fire-roast them so the straw burns and the seed survives, smoked and sweet. Legend says a village set its unripe field ablaze to deny an invading army, then discovered the roasted grain was delicious. Mill it and you get a green-gold flour that smells like a campfire bakery.
Origin. Levant — Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt
Flavor. Smoke, green tea, sweet wheat.
Worth knowing
- Contains gluten — it is wheat.
- The smoke is from roasting, not liquid smoke.
- Higher fiber than mature durum because the grain is harvested immature.
- Cracked freekeh is the grocery form; whole roasted berries mill better.
Flours you can make
| Flour | Extraction | Protein | Gluten | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole-grain flour | 100% | 13.5% | 9.5% | Everything the berry holds — bran, germ, and endosperm. Mill 1:1 by weight. Use within days, or freeze. |
| High-extraction (85%) | 85% | 13.2% | 9.8% | Sift once through a #30–#40 sieve. Keeps most flavor and minerals, slightly stronger dough than 100%. |
| Bolted bread-flour style | 75% | 13% | 10.1% | Second sifting (#50–#60). Lighter crumb, longer shelf life, less fiber. Bran left behind is gold in porridge. |
Nutrition / 100 g
- Calories
- 325 kcal
- Protein
- 13.5 g
- Carbs
- 65 g
- Fiber
- 13.3 g
- Fat
- 2.5 g
- Iron
- 4.5 mg
- Magnesium
- 140 mg
- Zinc
- 3.5 mg
- Thiamin
- 0.35 mg
- Selenium
- 40 µg
Typical whole-grain flour / 100 g.
Sources & USDA linksBuy it retail
- Middle Eastern grocers
- Bob's Red Mill (cracked)
- Azure Standard (seasonal)
- Canaan / Palestinian producers
- Whole Foods
Availability rotates by harvest. Search the berry name plus “food grade.”
Bakes well as
Mill Freekeh 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 · Moderate gluten
- Whole grain needed
- 510 g
- Flour you’ll get
- 500 g
- Bran left behind
- 0 g
- Protein in that flour
- 67.5 g · 13.5%
- Natural gluten
- 9.5%
- Add VWG
- None needed
- After VWG
- 13.5% protein · 9.5% gluten
About 3 cups of berries → 4.4 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 you only find cracked, pulse it in a blender rather than a stone mill.
Medium. Cracked freekeh already behaves like coarse meal.
Tempering: No.
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
13.5% protein after VWG · Freekeh whole-grain flour. Sandwich loaf, focaccia, sourdough — the kitchen will scale dough, hydration, and times to this mix.
