Bread Wheat

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is the common wheat behind most of the flour on store shelves, and it makes up the vast majority of wheat grown worldwide. It's a hexaploid wheat, meaning it carries six sets of chromosomes, and it arose thousands of years ago when a cultivated tetraploid wheat crossed with a wild goatgrass. That extra set of genes is a big part of why its gluten is so elastic and good at trapping gas, which is what lets you build a tall, open loaf. Hard, soft, red, white, winter, and spring wheats are all classes of this one species.

By Henry Hunter · Updated October 1, 2026

Henry's notes from the bench

• When a recipe just says 'flour,' it means flour from bread wheat. Spelt, einkorn, and durum are wheat too, but they're different species and they behave differently in the bowl, so don't swap them one for one without adjusting.