Cakes, cookies and whole grain bread are many people's idea of the ultimate comfort foods. While the standard versions of these foods have a place in a healthy diet, you can enjoy them more often if you incorporate healthy whole grain flour into them. That, however, brings up the problem of substituting whole grain flour for the all purpose flour many recipes call for. While you can use whole wheat flour in place of AP flour, you need to keep a few things in mind.
Protein Content
One key difference between different types of flours is protein content. According to the April 2003 issue of "Cook's Illustrated" magazine, AP flour has 10 to 12 percent protein, while whole wheat flour averages about 14 percent protein. During mixing, wheat proteins bind together to form a stretchy, dense matrix called gluten. Higher protein means more gluten, which means baked goods made with whole grain flour may be more chewy than baked goods made with AP flour.
Grain Structure and Yeast Bread
Another key difference between all purpose flour and whole wheat flour is texture. Run a small amount of each flour between your fingers and you'll notice the whole wheat feels rougher. This is because the wheat bran present in AP flour has sharp, jagged edges. When you make yeast-risen breads with whole grain flour, those edges can cut the gluten strands and impede the rise, so you may need to slightly increase the amount of yeast in your recipe. Increasing yeast by one third is usually enough to ensure a proper rise.
Substitution Guidelines
Because whole grain flour changes the texture of baked goods, the "America's Test Kitchen Companion Cookbook" recommends replacing no more than one third of the AP flour your recipe calls for with whole grain flour. With any more, the texture will suffer. If you'd like to make baked goods with 100 percent whole grain flour, look for recipes designed to use this flour. Healthy cooking cookbooks, not to mention the Internet, abound with these types of recipes.
Other Alternatives
Standard whole grain flour isn't your only option when you're trying to make your baked goods a little healthier. Another option, available in health food stores and larger supermarkets, is whole grain pastry flour. While most whole grain flours are made with hard, high-protein summer wheat, whole grain pastry flour is made from soft, lower-protein winter wheat. Processors also bleach this flour, which not only gives it a lighter hue but helps it absorb moisture more readily. Though your baked goods will still have a slightly rough texture, you can replace some or all of your recipe's AP flour with whole wheat pastry flour.
References
- "Cooks Illustrated"; Protein in Flour; April 2003
- "I'm Just Here for the Food"; Alton Brown; 2002
- "America's Test Kitchen Complete Cookbook"; The Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine; 2010
- "The Sneaky Chef: Hiding Healthy Foods in Kid's Favorite Meals"; 2007
Member Comments