Follow these suggestions when swapping out 1:1 all-purpose for 100% whole wheat flour and you’ll enjoy a better result: For every cup of whole wheat flour called for, add an additional 2 tsp to 1 tbsp of liquid – water, milk, juice, etc. Your email address will not be published. Please use at your own risk. Not only would this add a bad taste to your baked goods but it also has the potential of making you sick. After you mix in the whole wheat flour into your batter, it is a good idea to let it sit and rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes. We’d love to hear from you! Keep in mind that whole-wheat baked goods crumble more easily, too. For tender-textured treats (cookies, cakes, pie crust), use whole-wheat pastry flour in place of up to 50% of the all-purpose. This will work wonderfully for cookies, muffins, cakes and scones. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Then, I have to wait the 10-15 minutes for the oven to pre-heat before I put it in. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, 4 Mistakes That Ruin Stuffing (and How to Fix Them). You will also need to bake it just a bit longer, as heat takes longer to penetrate a dense batter. To make yeast breads 100% whole wheat, add an extra 2 teaspoons liquid per cup of whole wheat flour, … So glad I was able to preserve a memory! All Right Reserved. Differences in the type of wheat used and the quality of the wheat berry itself have a big effect on the flour. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. Whole wheat flour is so nutritious while white flour offers almost no health benefits at all. The wait will allow the bran to soften, which will prevent your kneading action from cutting the gluten fibers which make the bread lighter. We are always looking for fresh content and new ideas. In that case, you might go with something like Hodgson Mill’s Whole Wheat Graham Flour (as is recommended by Cooks’ Illustrated). This tip is particularly useful if you have never baked with whole wheat flour or if you have a recipe in which you want to make a substitution. Many recipes call for a few tablespoons or orange juice, a bit of lemon zest, or apple cider vinegar. As an Amazon Affiliate, we earn commission on qualified purchases. Orange juice is naturally sweet and also acidic. Hi, I’m Sarah. Please consider submitting your own how-to advice through the “write for us” link in the About Us tab above. Once your batter has rested and the whole wheat flour has absorbed some of the moisture from the batter, check and see if it is thicker than normal. A good rule of thumb is to add 2 teaspoons extra liquid for every 1 cup of whole wheat flour. It is important to us that these foods be just as yummy (if not more!) Tip 1: Choose your Flour Carefully. Carrie Williams Howe is an educational leader by day and an aspiring homesteader by night and weekend. It has almost four times more fiber than all-purpose flour and provides more potassium, magnesium and zinc. • Sugar will inhibit gluten formation. You will never miss that boring white flour once you turn to whole wheat- I promise! Whole wheat flour is made without removing the bran and germ, retaining much of the nutritional value of the wheat. If it is, add some more of the liquid that is called for in the recipe (milk, water, juice etc). Happy baking! As we talked about before, whole wheat flours still have the bran and germ attached to the wheat berry. You can’t taste it in the final product, which is sweet and scrumptious! When baking with whole grain, my rule of thumb is always to turn on the oven AFTER I have it in the pan ready to go in. Opting to use whole wheat flour rather than white, bleached, all purpose flour will not only have a large nutritional impact on your baking but it will also change your baked goods dramatically. In the EatingWell Test Kitchen, we bake with whole-wheat flour as much as possible. Some recipes, particularly a pan full of brownies, also benefit from sitting for a while after baking. Additionally, the bran in the whole grain flour has sharp edges that can break apart wheat gluten strands during the kneading process. EatingWell may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Either way, quality is key here, and you’ll want to buy a flour that doesn’t fall apart, taste gummy, or lead to overly gritty results. In addition to letting the batter rest and hydrate, you should also consider adding a little more liquid to your batter. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. If you are making cake, cookies, or even a whole wheat pizza dough you might want something that mimics white flour a bit more. One way to make your choice is to determine how “coarse and flavorful” you want your flour to be, based on the type of thing you are baking. You can definitely use whole wheat flour in place of all purpose flour but it may create a much different end product. However, do not let these small differences deter you away from baking with whole wheat flour. Baking with whole wheat flour is definitely different that using white, all purpose flour. It may help to begin with tried and true, tested recipes such as those found in two of our favorite cookbooks: Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day or King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. I love baking with whole wheat flour. Everything you need for a delicious feast. Also be careful about adding fat to whole wheat. While it does make a great wedding cake, all-purpose flour is also much lower in B-vitamins (which is why they have to “enrich” the flour artificially), lower in fiber (from the bran) and lower in protein. It uses a combination of oat, all purpose, and white whole wheat flour. Whole wheat products have a nuttier, heftier feel to them. Thankfully, these classic treats are simple to transition to whole wheat flour. The primary benefit of whole wheat flour is that it has much more fiber than white flour (thanks to that bran and germ! The views expressed by authors on this site are based on their experiences only; Homestead-How To in no way provides any warranty, expressed or implied, toward the content of these articles. Performance & security by Cloudflare, Please complete the security check to access.