Flaked wheat vs wheat malt

What are the differences, why should I use one over the other. And while we're at it, torrified wheat also, what is that?

Malted wheat, as the name suggests, is a fully modified, malted grain. Flaked wheat is not malted, therefore requires extra effort to extract it's potential sugar content, which will be lower than malted wheat. Flaked wheat is traditional in Belgian witbier and lambics, it contains more starch and higher levels of protein than malted wheat. It adds more mouthfeel than malted wheat and has a different taste, which is noticeable when used in larger quantities. If the grain bill consists of more than 25% flaked wheat you should consider a cereal mash, or precooking the wheat in order to gelatinize it so you can extract more sugars out of it. The addion of 6-row can aid conversion since the barley contains a higher percentage of enzymes than 2-row.
Torrified wheat is unmalted wheat that has been heated very quickly to get the kernel to puff up, kind of like popcorn. Torrified wheat adds a different flavor to the beer and the grain is gelatinized so you don't have to cook it. I have not used this grain so I don't have any experience with it. However, I have used malted and flaked wheat, I use flaked in smaller percentages for body, complexity and a starch (lambics need starch). I use malted for wheat beers in percentages of up to 70% of the grain bill, it tastes lighter, more delicate and less "grainy" than unmalted, plus it doesn't make the beer very heavy on the body.

awesome, just what I was looking for.

Everything Iordz said except for one comment. Flaked wheat is unmalted wheat and does contain starch. However, if done correctly, it is moistened and then flaked between hot rollers. This is suppose to gelatinize the starch so you don't need the cereal cook stage. You should be able to add it to your mash along with your barley malt and get conversion. Iordz, from you comments it appears this has not been the case, correct?

Dr Malt

From what I have read, because of raw wheat's low gelatinizing temperature, you don't need to cereal mash it before adding to wort mash.

Recycling this post...

I'm working up a Witbier to brew this weekend, using some ingredients I already have.

I don't have my Beer Alchemy application here at work, so I'm going from memory here:

3 lbs. Wheat Malt
1 lb. Flaked Wheat (I've had this in the inventory for a couple months now, wanted to use it)
6 lbs. 2 Row Malt

And finally, I'm thinking of doing a lb. of oats, as suggested in JZ's Brewing Classics book, and I understand if I use regular old rolled quick oats I should be fine, comments?

Hops are going to be ala Avery's White Rascal, I'm using 1 oz of Czech Saaz at 60 min.

1 oz fresh orange zest - added around last 10 min
.75 oz Coriander seed, lightly crushed also around last 10 min.

I would also add that malting increases the protein content of cereals. As noted above steam flaked grains are gelatinized and should behave similarly to torrified grains. A double mash process can also increase the B-glucan content of your wort. Unmalted, unflaked wheat is the traditional wheat used in many Belgian beers.