Using Whole Wheat Flour

If you are just starting to incorporate whole wheat flour into your baking, here are a few tips that may help.  I’ve mentioned before that I much prefer using flour ground from hard white winter wheat.  Its flavor is much milder and it works well in so many recipes.  However, red wheat flour is great too.  My family eats it better if I do half red wheat flour and half standard white flour though.  Wheat flour is heavier than white and needs more leavening in recipes.  In yeast breads, use more yeast and/or let it rise longer.  In recipes raised by baking powder, increase baking powder by 1 tsp. for each 3 cups of whole wheat flour.  Recipes using baking soda don’t need to be adjusted.  In recipes using eggs, separate the eggs and beat the whites until they are stiff.   Then fold in the whites just before baking.  For extra lightness an extra egg white can be added.  This works really well for waffles and cakes.

Once you start using whole wheat flour, you’ll find that you can work it into most of your familiar recipes to boost your family’s nutrition…and if you do it a bit at a time, they won’t even notice the change!  Before you know it, you’ll have them trying brown rice!  Baby steps…