Why is Red Wheat so Prized?
Red Wheat is a high quality making it the choice of Hovis for their quality breads.
To make bread by modern enzyme based methods (known as the “Chorley Wood” process) Wheat needs to be no better quality than normal UK Class 1 (eg Hereward). This bread is, however, not of the highest quality and with bread buyers becoming more discerning, sales of upmarket breads, with more traditional values are increasing at the expense of the more 'industrialised' product. To make a loaf by the more traditional yeast fermentation methods, UK Wheats are insufficiently strong to give a large enough loaf volume.
The New Hovis Advert
Red Wheat adds that strength to flour, allowing large volume loaves to be produced. The strength of Red Wheat is in the protein and the quality of that protein. Red Wheat is a full 3% to 4% higher in protein than UK Wheats. Also the strength and elasticity of the protein (called gluten) is also superior. This means it can trap more gas in bubbles in the bread created by yeast during fermentation and also allow the bubbles to expand further, making the loaf larger. This benefit is especially noted in brown and wholemeal loaves (like Hovis) where the scratchy bran in the flour tends to burst the bubbles, reducing loaf volume, unless Red Wheat is used at substantial levels.