What to Know when Picking Whole Grain Flours for Baking

Epicurious.com

by Jennifer Iserloh, Epicurious

Part of a healthy eating lifestyle involves substituting highly processed foods for healthier options whenever possible-so when it comes to white flour, here are some of the options for baking with whole grain flours.

Stone Ground Stone ground wheat usually comes from red winter wheat and is a coarser ground compared to other types of flour. Its primary use is for breads, but doesn't work well in cakes or cookies as it can be tough.

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Pastry Flour
Pastry flour is a type of wheat flour that comes from spring wheat and is a softer flour compared to stone ground. It works well in cookies, bars, and pies and is a great choice for making over your favorite cookie.

White Whole Wheat Flour White Whole Wheat Flour is milled from a softer form of wheat called "spring white" that is better for tender baked goods. Nothing is added, nothing is taken away during the grinding process and it has a finer texture compared to pastry flour. It's my top pick for delicate cakes

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Oat Flour Great for cakes and muffins, but oat flour is gluten-free which has its cons when it comes to baking-baked goods made with 100 percent oat flour just crumble without the binding power of gluten. If you're shooting for a GF baked good, use certified GF oat flour and add xanthan gum. If you can have gluten add 1/4 wheat flour for every 3/4 cup oat flour. If you don't have oat flour on hand, you can make your own by placing old fashioned oats in a coffee grinder and processing until fine.

Brown Rice Flour
Brown rice flour is milled from whole kernels of brown rice and can be somewhat gritty and sandy in baked goods. As with oat flour, it needs to be combined with a flour that contains gluten-like wheat (spelt and kumat are in the wheat family), barley or rye. If you're a GF-baker, brown rice flour combines well in a 2:1 ratio with potato and millet flour. I certainly don't recommend using it alone.

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