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Whole-wheat flour

What is whole-wheat flour? About the ingredient whole-wheat flour. Including 1,416 recipes with whole-wheat flour, nutrition data, and where to find it.

About

Whole wheat flour is a powdery substance derived by grinding or mashing the wheat's whole grain.

It is used in baking but typically added to other "white" flours to provide nutrients (especially fiber and protein), texture, and body to the finished product.

Whole wheat flour is more nutritious than refined white flour, although in a process called food fortification, some micronutrients are added back to the white flour (required by law in some jurisdictions). Fortified white wheat flour does not, however, contain the macronutrients of the wheat's bran and germ (especially fiber and protein). Whole wheat is a good source ofcalcium, iron, fiber, and other minerals like selenium.

Shelf life

Whole wheat flour has a shorter shelf life than white flour. The higher oil content contained in the bran of the wheat, as the higher oil content leads to rancidity with longer term storage. It is also more expensive, due to its relative unpopularity and the inclusion of the wheat bran and wheat germ, which producers of white flour can sell separately.

To avoid rancidity store your whole grain flour tightly sealed in the freezer.

Typically, whole wheat flour is not the main ingredient of baked goods, as it adds a certain "heaviness" which prevents baked goods from rising as well as white flours.

This adds to the cost per volume of the baked item as it requires more flour to obtain the same volume, due to the fewer and smaller air pockets trapped in the raised goods. Thus, many baked goods advertised as whole wheat are not entirely whole wheat; they may contain some refined white wheat, as long as the majority of the wheat used is whole wheat.

Nevertheless, it is possible to make a high-rising, light loaf of 100% whole wheat bread, so long as one increases the water content of the dough (the bran and germ in whole wheat absorb more water than plain white flour), kneads the dough for a longer period of time to develop the gluten adequately, and allows for a longer rise before shaping the dough.

Some bakers let the dough rise twice before shaping. The addition of fats, such as butter or oil, and milk products (fresh milk, powdered milk, buttermilk, yogurt, etc.) can also greatly assist the rising process.