Classic Pound Cake with Fresh-Milled Sonora Wheat

Adapted from Grains In Small Places' Pound Cake with Fresh Milled Flour

When you home-mill our Regenerative Organic Certified® Sonora wheat berries fresh, something magical happens. This heritage soft white wheat—with its naturally lower gluten structure—creates the most tender, delicate crumb you can imagine. That's why it's so important that you use the right wheat berry for the correct bake. Soft white wheats, like Sonora, are perfect for pastry, and hard red & white wheats have a stronger gluten structure for bread (you can add sonora as an inclusion to your hard wheat sourdoughs, though!).

For this adaptation, we swapped vinegar for fresh lemon juice and used our pure Oatman Farms Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract. The result? A pound cake so light it's almost sponge-like.

Why Sonora Wheat for Pastries?

Sonora wheat berries are our go-to for any pastry made with fresh-milled flour. This 300-year-old heritage variety has a lower gluten-forming protein structure that creates tender, buttery baked goods instead of the dense, heavy texture sometimes associated with whole wheat pastries. When you mill Sonora wheat berries fresh at home, you get all the nutrition of the whole grain with a delicate crumb that rivals any white flour cake. You won't believe that your pastries are 100% whole grain! 

Our Pound Cake Variation:

We followed the beautiful method from Grains In Small Places (find the complete recipe and instructions here) with these changes:

• 2 cups fresh-milled Oatman Farms Sonora wheat flour milled from our regenerative organic Sonora wheat berries. (we used 100% Sonora, though the original uses a soft white wheat/Kamut blend)
• Fresh lemon juice instead of vinegar (mixed with milk for homemade buttermilk)
• Oatman Farms pure vanilla extract
• Line your 9×5" loaf pan with parchment paper—here's the trick: scrunch the parchment into a ball first, then press it into the pan for a snug fit with the edges overlapping the sides. This makes lifting the cake out effortless.

The Results:

The acidity from lemon juice tenderizes the crumb beautifully while adding a bright, subtle citrus note. The cake bakes up incredibly light. It's remarkably tender while still delivering all the wholesome nutrition of regenerative, stone-ground wheat...just another reason to love how Sonora performs! 

Serve it plain to appreciate the buttery, delicate wheat flavor, or save this recipe to make on repeat when spring and summer fruits start popping up at your farmers' markets.

For the complete recipe with detailed measurements and step-by-step instructions, visit Grains In Small Places. Thank you to Grains In Small Places for this wonderful recipe that showcases our fresh-milled regenerative organic wheat berries so beautifully!