1. Sweets Hide the Fiber
Anytime you are baking things like cookies, brownies or any sweet with a higher density, you can easily substitute whole-wheat flour for white flour in the recipe. You may find that the whole wheat has more volume than the white flour, mostly because it absorbs less of the liquid in the mix. If you want to compensate for this, just add a bit more oil or liquid than the recipe calls for. This would only have to be a tablespoon or less depending on the recipe. The resulting sweet baked goods have a heartier texture, and cookies have a crisper crunch. Also, don't forget your getting all that extra fiber in every bite.
2. Compromise With Half
When you substitute whole-wheat flour for white flour, you can experiment with lighter baked goods as well, like cakes and muffins. A half and half replacement of the recommended white flour makes a good compromise in most recipes. The sweetness also seems to compensate for the denser texture of things like cake and can make a wonderful brown coloring of your vanilla cake recipes. Half white flour and half whole wheat flour also works well in bread recipes, especially those breads that require a lighter texture for a fluffier lighter taste. Yeast breads, like nut and cinnamon rolls, benefit from going easier on the wheat flour and compromising a bit of the fiber for more of the taste. Of course heartier breads like oatmeal and herb breads can benefit from going all the way with wheat flour. While you do sacrifice some of the smooth texture that white flour offers in these denser breads, the wheat flour pulls off amazingly well, and it of course makes oatmeal bread even more healthful.
3. Fool Yourself With White Whole-Wheat Flour
There is a little known fact about flour, more than one grain is ground to make it. Flour is made from all sorts of grains and foods, including tapioca, millet, corn, oat, semolina and buckwheat, just to name a few. With the whole grain craze in full swing, mills have started to grind a completely white, unbleached grain of whole-wheat. This white whole-wheat flour has a lighter texture than the traditional whole-wheat flour and is a great substitute for white flour in many recipes. You'll usually find this flour in health food stores and bigger grocery stores, but many smaller neighborhood grocers are starting to carry this healthful alternative as well. If you don't find it in your corner grocery, ask your store manager if he'll start to carry it.
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