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How to swap white flour with whole grain flour in recipes
Published 25 days ago • 5 min read
How to swap white flour with whole grain flour in recipes
I started baking whole grain bread in 2009. There wasn’t a whole lot of information out there back then. At first I diligently followed a recipe that was mostly white flour, with around 40% whole wheat flour, and made some OK bread, but after I while I wanted to get rid of the white flour completely.
I quickly learned that replacing white flour with whole grain flour 1:1 does not yield great bread. Whole grain flours need more hydration, and need to be handled differently to white flour breads.
Covering a 100% whole wheat boule with more home milled whole wheat flour
Understanding the difference between whole grain flours and white flour
Grains consist of three parts – the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. The bran is the coating around the grain, the germ is the ‘seed’ within the grain, and the endosperm is the calories for the seed to eat before it grows roots. Refined flour, such as plain flour, all-purpose flour, bread flour, or unbleached white flour, is whole grain flour with both the bran and the germ removed.
The germ is the most perishable element in whole grain flours, so you may find that many supermarket whole grain flours are not true whole grain flours, but are essentially white flour with some bran added back in. For the best flavour and nutrition in whole grain breads, it’s worth seeking out stoneground flour, milled as freshly as possible.
Adjusting hydration for whole grain baking
Refined flours need less water than whole grain flours, so you can’t simply replace whole grain with refined flours and vice versa.
You can adapt your favourite refined flour baking recipes to use 100% whole grain flours by adding water. Use around 10g to 15g more water for every 100g of flour (or around a tablespoon water per cup of flour), so that the hydration percentage ends up being around 10% to 15% higher.
Handling dough differently
The pieces of bran in whole grain flour can act like tiny knives cutting up the gluten that you want to develop. For best results with whole grain sourdough, first mix your ingredients until just combined, then leave to rest for at least ten minutes before strengthening.
Alternatively, you can add an autolyse to the start of the recipe, which is a technique I’ll discuss another time.
Once the dough has rested, it’s best to take a no-knead stretch and fold approach to strengthening the dough. I’ve shared this technique here.
Differences in fermentation
100% whole grain doughs don’t rise as high as white flour doughs, and the bubbles won’t be as large. To assess fermentation, you’ll need to look for cues other than rise height. Get used to smelling your dough throughout the fermentation process – at first it will smell like raw flour, and later on it will develop the smells of sourdough bacteria and yeasts. Poke at your dough while it ferments and feel the resistance of it against your finger. At first it won’t feel like it has any air in it, later on it will feel soft and pillowy. Observe the size of the dough when it first starts fermenting, and then you may notice when it has grown significantly.
Differences in shaping
Whole grain doughs do not stretch as much as white flour doughs and need to be handled a little more gently when shaping. The key to learning to shape well is to really observe the dough, and learn by feel when you have applied enough tension. Getting the right amount of tension in the surface of a loaf is best done by feel rather than following exact instructions. I often shape my breads in midair, gently rocking the dough to and fro as I create surface tension a little at a time on each side. It’s best to be slow and gradual with this, to avoid tearing the dough
If you do end up tearing your dough during shaping, it’s not the end of the world. It will still taste great, it just won’t look as perfect.
Differences in baking
In my last email I wrote about scoring bread to direct the bursting effects of oven spring. 100% whole grain doughs do not spring up quite as much as white flour doughs, so scoring is not as important. Oven spring can still be important though, so do your best to provide your bread with steam and you’ll be rewarded with better rises and crusts.
If you test the internal temperature of your bread to assess whether it’s baked enough (I don’t do this), whole grain breads need to be baked to a higher temperature than white flour breads.
Instead of sticking a thermometer in my bread, these are the things I look for to tell whether a whole grain bread is baked or not:
• Your loaf will feel firm when pressed in the middle. If you’ve baked at close to 233ºC (451ºF), the crust may give a satisfying crackle, if you’ve baked it at a lower temperature, it should feel substantial, not doughy – if in doubt, bake it more!
• The sides of the loaf will appear golden or brown, depending on the loaf and temperature.
• Any scores or fissures in the loaf will be starting to get some colour.
• For loaf pans, the edges of the loaf will have started to pull away from the sides of the pan, or will pull away easily if you put a thin wooden spatula in.
• For dutch oven loaves, shake the dutch oven. The loaf should slide around if it’s ready.
• For all loaves, as a final test, you can flip the loaf over and knock on the bottom: does it sound hollow, like knocking on a door? Or is it more of a damp thud? If in doubt, bake it more.
Differences in cooling
Whole grain breads need time to cure, to allow the crumb to fully set. If you cut into a whole grain loaf too early, the texture can be gummy, and many people associate this texture with whole grain breads, but it doesn’t have to be that way! The guminess is caused by a type of carbohydrate called pentosans, which rye is particularly high in. With breads containing high amounts of rye, you will ideally want to cure the loaf for 24 hours before slicing. Whole wheat loaves are generally fine to cure for around 4 hours. To cure a loaf, just leave it to sit for the curing time without cutting it or breaking it. I leave mine on a cooling rack, but if you prefer a softer crust, you can wrap it in a tea towel instead.
Differences in storing
Those same pentosans that create a gummy crust in bread cut into too soon actually help whole grain bread to stay fresh for longer. Whole grain breads keep for longer than white flour breads. Adding a dash of rye to your loaves will also help them keep for longer too. Breads with scalded flour or fats added will also keep for longer. I’ll be discussing scalded flour techniques in a future email.
May your loaves be nourishing and tasty. Floury regards,
Kate
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Weekly sourdough recipes and tips from an experienced baker and homesteader, with a focus on 100% whole grains. Subscribe today to get a free eBook of sourdough discard recipes.
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