My wife routinely uses a 50-50 mix of white whole wheat flour and unbleached all-purpose four when baking muffins and quick breads with excellent results using direct substitution for all-purpose flour. After the cold wave went through yesterday she made some blueberry corn muffins using a corn bread recipe that apparently came from a Fowler's Mill corn meal bag. This recipe uses one cup each of corn meal and wheat flour. The result is a bit sweet and smooth for accompanying an entree but very good for breakfast either plain (possibly with some honey or sorghum syrup to take it over the top) using either a square baking pan or as muffins. The muffins are not as sweet or greasy as most commercial muffins, however. The version with blueberries in the batter is best baked as muffins.
Fowler's Mill does not show any recipes on their web site so I cannot link one from there but am a little reluctant to post what is probably a copyrighted recipe.
White wheat comes in both hard and soft varieties grown with winter and spring seeding, so there are four types although there is not much distinction between winter and spring in the trade or in USDA statistics. For all practical purposes the bran does not have the tannins and phenols that color bran in red wheat and account for the assertive taste and bitterness of red wheat bran.
Historically white wheat dominates Australian production and is a big part of China's production. Most white wheat in the United States was grown in the northwest for export to Asia. Domestic use was largely in many whole wheat breakfast cereals. Hard white wheat was separated as a statistical class in 1990. Production has increased a lot in the last ten years due to increased demand and a USDA incentive program. White wheat can be grown anywhere the same type of red wheat can be grown although it can be a bit touchier in terms of disease and weather sensitivity. The biggest practical problem is keeping type separation on the farm and the marketing channels from grain elevators on. The presence of over one percent red wheat grains in white wheat causes downgrading and marketability problems.
Hard versus soft is a proxy for protein level as wheat protein is much harder than starch. Growing conditions affect the protein level for a variety. Generally speaking, the more moisture the lower the protein level. Planting hard red winter wheat in Illinois produces lower protein than the same type on unirrigated land in Kansas as well as problems in tempering during the milling process. Yield is higher than soft red winter wheat here, but the resulting grain is probably best used for feeding chickens. The eastern part of the United States generally produces soft wheat. Southern-grown soft wheat, both red and white, tend to have lower protein. This wheat is ideal for biscuits and pastry. The soft white wheat tends to have lower protein than the soft red wheat.
White whole wheat flour may or may not be labeled as to hardness and protein level.
King Arthur white whole wheat flour uses hard white spring wheat and has 13% protein. Trader Joe's white whole wheat flour does not say anything about type or protein level on our nearly empty bag.
Trader Joe's carries a whole white wheat sliced bread under their own name. There is added wheat gluten down the label. Whole wheat flour has less protein (and hence gluten) than white flour made from the same grain because the germ and bran effectively dilute the endosperm, which is the gluten source. Compare this bread with Natural Ovens more or less comparable 100% whole grain bread made with hard red wheat flour to get a good comparison of red versus white wheat flavors.
If I have not already overloaded you with information on white wheat, the
Wheat Foods Council and
Whole Grains Council have a lot more material. Another publication aimed at North Dakota farmers probably will produce information
overload.