Whole wheat flour baking has been a popular choice recently, as more people are becoming more conscious about their health. Whole wheat flour is better for baking than all-purpose flour.
These tips and tricks will help you bake with whole wheat flour.
Why choose whole wheat flour?
Wheat’s raw form contains three main components: the bran and endosperm. The germ and bran are removed from the grain when it is made into all-purpose flour. These are the most nutritious parts of wheat.
Whole wheat flour does not remove the bran or germ and retains much of its nutritional value. Whole wheat flour has much more fiber than white flour, thanks to the bran and germ. Almost six times as much!
Fiber helps lower blood pressure, aids in weight loss, and maintains a healthy digestive system. Whole wheat flour is rich in vitamins, including folate, many B vitamins, and riboflavin. These vitamins are not found in white flour.
Whole wheat flour is the best choice for health benefits.
Whole wheat flour has many nutritional benefits but also gives foods an excellent taste. Whole wheat flour has a slightly bitter taste that gives foods containing it a comforting, warm flavor.
It can also be used to add color to baked goods. This makes them darker than if they are made with white flour.
Baking with Whole-Wheat Flour: Challenges
You may believe that all-purpose white flour can be substituted with wheat flour if you are using a recipe that calls out for it. They are both flours, right,? Well, not quite.
Whole wheat flour can be used instead of all-purpose flour, but it will produce a different product. Because wheat flour absorbs more liquid than white flour, it can cause baked goods to taste dry.
Whole wheat flour can have a rough texture that some people find difficult to digest. These slight differences should not discourage using whole wheat flour in baking. To make a healthier, delicious baked product, you only need to learn how to handle the flour properly.
How to bake with whole wheat flour
Hydrate the Battery
Mix the whole wheat flour and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes after you have added it to your batter. The batter will become softer and tenderer if it is allowed to rest.
This will ensure that the baked food does not absorb moisture, which can lead to a dry product.
Your batter can be made a day ahead and let the whole wheat flour absorb moisture overnight. This will give your baked goods a texture similar to soft white flour. This recipe does not include any dry baked goods.
Add More Liquid
It would be best if you let the batter rest and hydrate. However, add a little liquid to your batter.
After your batter has been allowed to rest and the whole wheat flour has absorbed some moisture, you can check to see if the batter is thicker than usual. You can add more liquid (milk, water, juice, etc.) if it is more comprehensive than average.
It is a good rule of thumb to add two teaspoons of liquid for every cup of whole wheat flour.
Use a Little Less
You don’t have to add more liquid to your recipe. Instead, you can use less flour to replace all-purpose white flour with whole-grain flour.
Whole wheat flour is heavier and denser than white flour, so you should only use 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour to replace 1 cup of white flour.
This is great for baking cookies, muffins, cakes, and scones. The texture of the baked food will be the same as white flour, but it won’t take as long to bake.
Half and half
To achieve a perfectly textured baked product, it is possible to replace white flour with whole wheat flour by replacing half the white flour.
You can add any whole wheat to your baked goods to increase nutrition. However, you don’t have to use all whole-grain wheat. It’s great to start small with whole wheat flour by replacing half the white flour.
Check the date
As we have already mentioned, whole wheat flours still contain the bran and germ from the wheat berry. These two components make whole wheat so nutritious, but they can also be prone to spoilage.
Whole wheat flour that has yet to be processed is rich in essential oils, which can cause it to become less nutritious over time. It is best to throw out any wheat flour that has gone bad. This can not only make your baked goods taste bad, but also could lead to you becoming ill.
You can soften the taste
Whole wheat flour is only for some. Some people prefer to avoid the rich, nutty taste it gives to baked goods. Some people even consider the flavor bitter.
You can use two tablespoons of orange juice to make whole wheat flour taste more palatable.
Orange juice is naturally sweet but also acidic. Orange juice will make whole wheat flour more digestible by removing the bitter, complex taste. It is always nice to add a citrus flavor to any baked good.
Whole wheat flour baking is definitely different from using all-purpose flour. It is definitely worth it. Whole wheat flour is very nutritious, while white flour has almost no health benefits.
These baking tips can also be used to create delicious, whole-wheat flour products that will melt in your mouth. I guarantee you won’t miss bland white flour if you switch to whole wheat.
