Tips for Better Baking with Whole Wheat

Using whole wheat in everyday baking can present a challenge, especially when you're new to using whole grains.  Whole wheat flour follows some entirely different rules than its highly refined cousin, all-purpose flour.  And yet, it's a challenge that many of us wish to accept, whether it's for the health benefits or the advantage of being able to store food for longer periods of time.

And rather than learn those rules by our own experience, it's easier to learn from those who have already been there and done that.

White wheat. So to begin, when buying wheat look for whole white wheat.  While it is lighter in color, this wheat has all the nutritional advantages of red wheat, but it behaves much more like all-purpose flour and has a milder taste. Whole white wheat flour and freshly milled whole red wheat flour have the mildest flavor.

Specific foods.   The first place to begin experimenting with using whole wheat flour is in foods like cookies, quick breads, pancakes, and muffins.  In these recipes, whole wheat flour can be substituted one-to-one for all-purpose flour, without making any other changes.

Yeast breads.  Whole wheat flour may be substituted for half of the all-purpose flour in yeast breads that need to rise without the need for any additional modifications.  Because wheat flour is heavier than white flour and requires more leavening, if adapting a recipe to use entirely whole wheat flour, do one or more of the following:

• use more yeast; or in baking powder-leavened products increase the baking powder by one teaspoon for every three cups of whole wheat flour;
• let it rise longer;
• separate the eggs and beat the whites until stiff, and then fold in right before baking (this also works really well for waffles and cakes);
• use less whole wheat flour than all-purpose, typically 3/4 cup whole wheat flour for every one cup of all-purpose flour; OR add 2 teaspoons of water per cup of whole wheat flour, since whole wheat absorbs more water.

Recipes using baking soda do not need to be adjusted.

For adapting recipes, and your taste buds, that call for all-purpose flour to use whole wheat flour, try some of these ideas:

• Let the batter sit for 15-20 minutes so that the wheat flour can better absorb the water before baking.  
• For a sweeter flavor, especially when working with red wheat, replace 2-3 tablespoons of the water or milk with orange or apple juice.
• Begin with recipes that use bananas, chocolate, or pumpkin.  These adapt particularly well to whole wheat.
• Start by gradually replacing some of the all-purpose flour with wheat flour, increasing the amount of whole wheat flour each time you make that recipe. 

Happy baking!
Links to related posts:
Wheat
Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns
French Bread 

For further reading:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/healthy/articles/tips-for-baking-with-wholegrain-flours
https://wholegrainscouncil.org/blog/2015/04/expert-shares-tips-baking-whole-grains
http://www.cookingmanager.com/tips-baking-wheat/