Hard Red Winter Wheat is the classic bread wheat of the southern Plains, strong enough for a tall loaf and full of deep, nutty whole wheat flavor. Ours is Showdown, a variety bred at Oklahoma State University, grown on a single farm in Allison, Texas, and harvested on its own. It reaches you as whole berries, so you mill it fresh when you’re ready to bake.
Milled fine, it makes a hearty whole wheat flour with a warm color and a rich, slightly earthy flavor. Its gluten builds the structure a yeast loaf needs, so it rises well and holds its shape. This is the flavor most people think of when they think of whole wheat bread. Use it for sandwich loaves, sourdough, rustic boules, rolls, and pizza dough. Cooked whole, the berries stay chewy and nutty in soups, pilafs, and grain salads.
How to Bake with Hard Red Wheat Flour
Fresh whole wheat flour drinks more water than store-bought white flour, so start with a little extra liquid and adjust as you mix. Let the dough rest 20 to 30 minutes after mixing so the bran can soften and the gluten can develop. If the flavor is stronger than you’re used to, blend it half and half with a white bread flour, or try a long, slow sourdough ferment to mellow and round it out.
Hard Red Wheat Berries at a Glance
- Showdown Hard Red Winter Wheat Berries, whole grain.
- 12% gluten-forming protein for dough strength and a good rise.
- Mill into flour for bread, or cook whole for salads, pilafs, and soups.
- 7.5 lb bags are vacuum sealed with a nitrogen flush. The 15 lb size ships as two 7.5 lb bags.
- 2.5 lb size comes in a recycled kraft paper bag with a plant-based PLA liner.
- For the most nutrition and freshness, mill your own flour.
- Non-GMO and glyphosate free.
- Backed by our 100% Satisfaction Money-Back Guarantee.
The Story of Showdown
Hard red winter wheat has been the backbone of the southern Plains for more than a century. It’s planted in the fall, grows through the winter, and comes off the field in early summer, and it’s built the bread of this region for generations. Showdown is a modern chapter in that story. Wheat breeders at Oklahoma State University released it in 2018, and before its release, it was the highest-yielding experimental line their program had seen in more than a decade. About 40% of its pedigree traces to Jagger, one of the most widely grown wheats on the Plains a generation ago.
Showdown was bred for this country, adapted from West Texas to central Kansas, and it held up well through the hard drought of 2022. Farmers noticed. By 2026, it was the second most planted wheat in Oklahoma. Ours grows in Allison, in the eastern Texas Panhandle near the Oklahoma line, right in the heart of the region it was bred for.
Whole Berries for Your Home Mill
This is a single-origin grain, not a blend. You know what it is, you know where it grew, and you decide when it becomes flour. Whole berries keep far longer than flour, and our nitrogen-flushed 7.5 lb bags push out the oxygen insects need. Keep a supply on hand, mill what you need, and bake with flour that’s minutes old instead of flour that sat on a shelf.
- Single Origin: Showdown hard red winter wheat from one farm in Allison, Texas.
- Built for Home Milling: Clean, whole berries ready for your home mill.
Life is short. Make good bread.
Allergen Notice: Contains wheat.
