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Baking pros like Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Cake Bible and The Pie and Pastry Bible, and Matt Lewis, co-owner of the Baked pastry shops in NYC and Charleston, South Carolina, say that swapping whole-wheat flour for white flour is a bad idea in most baking applications.
Unlike white flour, whole-wheat flour contains wheat bran, which Beranbaum says acts like little knives in your dough. “The bran cuts through the gluten and detracts from the airy texture of the cake or the flaky texture of the pastry, making it dense and pasty and generally undesirable.” Whole-wheat flour will also alter the flavor of your baked goods, leaving them slightly bitter. “I want my cakes to be soft and light and buttery in flavor, not dense and wheaty,” says Beranbaum. “I want my pie crust to be flaky and tender, not cardboardy.”
If you want to beef up your whole-grain consumption, Lewis suggests subbing no more than one-fourth of the white flour that a recipe calls for with whole wheat, and working your way up to a third if it tastes OK. “The white/whole-wheat combo works particularly well in tart crusts and some cookies, but I would refrain from using it in cakes,” he says.
Bread is the best place to use whole-wheat flour, says Beranbaum. She offers the following tips for working whole-wheat flour into your breads:
• You can replace white flour with whole-wheat flour cup for cup. For every cup you exchange, add five teaspoons of water. Add additional flour only when needed while shaping.
• If you are making bread with 100 percent whole-wheat flour, add two teaspoons of vital wheat gluten per cup to create a stronger structure and higher rise. For each teaspoon of wheat gluten you use, add another one and a quarter teaspoons of water.
• If using 100 percent whole-wheat flour, allow the dough to rise in volume by just one and a half times, as opposed to the typical two times.
Replacing equal amounts of all purpose four for whole wheat, do I also add the
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
as directed by the recipe?
Can we use 'Refined wheat flour' as a substitute for 'All-pupose flour' to make biscuits?
Can I substitute whole grain pastry flour with whole wheat pastry flour?
villycarl, you are absolutely right. in the pastry bible i wrote that one can replace 1/3 the volume of all-purpose flour called for me my basic flaky pie crust and achieve equal flakiness and tenderness of pastry flour but with a wheaty flavor.
When it comes to wheat flours, there are three catagories which have not been addressed here.There is Pastry flour, which comes from "Soft" (summer) wheat, and has a lower gluten content. Then there is "all purpose flour, which is a mix of the two, and then there is Bread Flour which is made with "Hard" (or Winter) wheat. whole grain pastry flour is more finely milled than the other varieties,...+READ
When it comes to wheat flours, there are three catagories which have not been addressed here.There is Pastry flour, which comes from "Soft" (summer) wheat, and has a lower gluten content. Then there is "all purpose flour, which is a mix of the two, and then there is Bread Flour which is made with "Hard" (or Winter) wheat. whole grain pastry flour is more finely milled than the other varieties, and make very good pie crusts, muffins and cakes, albeit with a bit more "wheat" flavor. I have been using it for decades and always get tender flaky pie crusts. The problem arises because almost all the whole wheat flour you get in grocery stores is all purpose, not pastry or bread flours. Thy type of flour (pastry, all purpose, bread) can make a very big difference. Try making white flour pie crust with bread flower! Pure cardboard.-COLLAPSE
I've been using whole wheat flour in my coconut cupcake and carrot cupcake recipes since I started baking. They are definitely denser than a regular cupcake, but I flavor them so richly that the density, I feel, works in their favor. I always get requests for my cupcakes whenever I go to a potluck or for someone's birthday. I don't see it as a problem for interesting variations.
I strongly object to superslomo's saying "as such you cannot replace white at 1:1 and have satisfactory results" because I have stated categorically that I have had very satisfactory results with certain cakes when I've replaced 1:1. Perhaps one could say the results won't be the same, but they are quite satisfactory indeed.
There is a different balance of gluten and fiber in whole wheat flour... as such you cannot replace white at 1:1 and have satisfactory results. With the same hydration percentages, whole wheat flour will be denser, and stickier as a final dough.
The best results that I've had have come from preparing a "soak" of whole wheat flour, with part of the liquid from the recipe, and subsequent...+READ
There is a different balance of gluten and fiber in whole wheat flour... as such you cannot replace white at 1:1 and have satisfactory results. With the same hydration percentages, whole wheat flour will be denser, and stickier as a final dough.
The best results that I've had have come from preparing a "soak" of whole wheat flour, with part of the liquid from the recipe, and subsequent combination with other ingredients.
For quick breads, where gluten development is not as big an issue, you should have fewer problems, but expect a different end product, and expect to change the hydration of the dough for similar texture.-COLLAPSE
For most of my baked goods (quick breads, coffee cakes, etc.), I use 1/2 King Arthur white wheat, and half regular white flour. Have had no complaints.
white whole wheat does indeed have a milder flavor but whole wheat is not bitter unless it is rancid. it should be stored in the freezer as once wheat berries are ground the oils in the germ are prone to rancidity.
i agree about whole wheat in stronger flavored cakes. in the cake bible i have a carrot cake where i use half whole wheat by volume!
Using White Whole Wheat flour - made by King Arthur - eliminates the bitter taste. It IS 100% whole wheat, with the same nutritional profile, but is made from a different variety of wheat.
I am always puzzled by the directions to use more water when using whole wheat. The very first time I used (typical, not White) whole wheat in place of a third of the all-purpose flour in a pie crust, I...+READ
Using White Whole Wheat flour - made by King Arthur - eliminates the bitter taste. It IS 100% whole wheat, with the same nutritional profile, but is made from a different variety of wheat.
I am always puzzled by the directions to use more water when using whole wheat. The very first time I used (typical, not White) whole wheat in place of a third of the all-purpose flour in a pie crust, I added the amount of water specified in the original recipe and found the dough was way too wet. I had to add a lot more flour to be able to roll it out. I have never added extra water - just the opposite.-COLLAPSE
So glad this question was asked and answered. I have always been uncertain when swapping one for the other.
I have been upping my use of whole wheat flour in certain cake recipes, generally more dense and stronger flavored ones. I started by replacing a quarter of the flour, went up to half, etc. I now use 100% in my Carrot Cake, Banana Cake, Date Cake, even a Chocolate Cake I make, but would not use it in cakes that are supposed to be very light and airy.
I thought WW was all the rage these days...I'm seein' all sorts of recipies for WW pastry crusts, and cakes...
Eh, I use whole wheat pastry flour in quick breads, muffins, and cookies all the time, substituting it 100% for white flour. Many people are happy with the white whole wheat flour, as well. My mother has been making pie crusts with whole wheat pastry flour for years, yes for sweet pies. They are NOT "cardboardy" and are plenty tender. She gets many compliments on them from people who are not...+READ
Eh, I use whole wheat pastry flour in quick breads, muffins, and cookies all the time, substituting it 100% for white flour. Many people are happy with the white whole wheat flour, as well. My mother has been making pie crusts with whole wheat pastry flour for years, yes for sweet pies. They are NOT "cardboardy" and are plenty tender. She gets many compliments on them from people who are not looking for whole grains.-COLLAPSE
I make whole-wheat crusts all the time, but I make them as a rich YEASTED dough with olive oil, not a short crust. No, I don't think they would work with sweet tarts or pies, which I don't make.