As you know, I am a huge whole wheat flour fan. My kitchen can regularly be found with a light blanket of whole wheat flour covering pretty much every surface since I bake with whole wheat flour weekly. In my recipes, I typically list it as whole wheat flour, but I have to come clean and get something off my chest:
it is actually white whole wheat flour.
Am I cheating?
Am I pulling a fast one on you?
Now, would I do that?
Of course not!
First of all, white whole wheat flour is not all-purpose flour thrown into whole wheat flour. It is a flour that is milled from hard white spring wheat. Traditional whole wheat flour is milled from a red wheat.
So, the question is this:
Is there a difference between regular-plain-jane whole wheat flour and white whole wheat flour?
No and yes.
Let's MC Hammer this out:
Similarities:
Both have fantastic nutritional benefits and are power lifters in the food world. One cup of white whole wheat flour and whole wheat flour are virtually identical nutritionally speaking.
Check out their stats:
400-ish calories
2g of Fat
6mg of Sodium
0g of Sugar
15g of Dietary Fiber -- WOWSERS!
16g of Protein
Love it.
If you are concerned about nutrition, it’s a wash either choice you make.
Differences:
Color
White whole wheat is lighter is color, just a very pale brown. Just think, this makes tricking people into eating whole wheat easier than ever! Years ago the Doc asked me to make chocolate chip cookies for his department, and I used white whole wheat flour. All those guys inhaled them, and they were never the wiser. Bwah-ha-ha-ha! Just think what you could pull over on your kids!
Taste
The taste is just a bit more mild than regular whole wheat flour. I've talked to several people and they say they just hate the taste of whole wheat flour. They are typically are referring to regular whole wheat flour. I always suggest this as an alternative for them.
Texture
The texture of white whole wheat flour is typically a bit more fine. Although I am a texture eater BIG TIME, many people aren't. Again, this resembles white flour's texture, thus making it easier to go down for some.
How to use white whole wheat flour:
I substitute it cup for cup for all-purpose flour and for regular whole wheat flour. Even-stevens. Baked goods such as cookies, cakes, bars, breads, pancakes, pizza, etc. turn out fantastic with white whole wheat flour.
Where do you get it?
White whole wheat flour is found in your grocery store in the flour section. Just do a little detective work, and I bet you’ll find it.
If not, you can find it in the Trainer Momma store that is open 24/7.
Now, if you have a grinder
(which I highly recommend), then I suggest finding a supplier that will order you large bags of the stuff. I get two 50 lb. bags about twice a year and it works like a charm for me. I have freshly ground flour at my finger tips and I’m not breaking the bank. Now, should you go dump all your regular whole wheat flour ground from red wheat? OF COURSE NOT! That is good stuff! I have a SIL who uses that exclusively in all her baked items and her family is totally fine with it.
White whole wheat flour is simply another option for you out there who are trying to
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5 comments:
Love it! When we were newlyweds I started (slowely but surely) using more and more whole white wheat flour in my pizza dough and less of the other stuff. My husband likes the whole white wheat flour better even though he is not a whole wheat kind of guy.
I've recently discovered whole white wheat flour and I love it! I've pretty much transferred over to using it in everything instead of all-purpose flour (unless I'm making a cake - haven't gotten that far I guess). I was slightly worried that I was cheating a little with it so thank you for this post! We also just got a wheat grinder so I'm excited to start grinding my own! :)
I love white wheat--I make everything with it! I've got that perpetual white dust in my kitchen, too. But I take it a step further--I have two varieties. Hard white wheat (for bread, etc.) and soft white wheat which is known as whole wheat pastry flour when ground. It makes great muffins and biscuits. Do you know how the nutrition facts compare between soft and hard whole wheat? I think the soft wheat has less protein, but that's all I know.
My friend laughed at me one day when I called and asked if I could borrow some white flour. I had tried making playdough for my co-op preschool kids and it flopped. I'm sure there is a way to use whole wheat flour for that, too, but I didn't have time to experiment. And who cares--the kids weren't supposed to eat it anyway!
very interesting! i am going to look for that the next time i shop! and how cool to have your own store:)
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