I started a new job recently and this new group participates in a "Friday Breakfast Club." It used to be "Friday Treats" until someone brought in Moonpies (eek!) for breakfast. So now the members of the group alternate days to bring in breakfast that fits within the accceptable items list: bagels. One of my co-workers, Jenn, is very health concious and normally does not partake because Panera bagels are 400+ calories each before the cream cheese. Double eek! So, she found a recipe for lemon raspberry muffins she wanted to make and bring in for the group and wanted to use wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. Since wheat flour is made from all parts of the wheat it provides health benefits that plain old all purpose flour does not. Since baking is a delicate chemical reaction you can't just substitute anything and everything. Items made with wheat flour will generally result in a more dense and "gritty" product than using all purpose flour. Here are a few tips to succesfully substitute wheat flour for all purpose flour:
1. Start Small: Replace 1/3 of a cup of all purpose flour for every cup of flour. So, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of all purpose flour, use 1/3 cup wheat flour and 2/3 cup all purpose flour.
2. Moving Up: Depending on what you are making, you can move up to 1/2 wheat flour and 1/2 all purpose without adverse results or adjusting the remainder of the recipe.
3. Depends on Taste: If you like baked goods that are dense and have texture, replace all of your flour with wheat. All purpose flour yields silky smooth baked goods whereas wheat flour does not.
4. No Over-Mixing: Regardless of what kind of flour you use, don't overmix your batter! Just mix until all the flour is incorporated. Over-mixing creates glutens which result in dense baked goods. Blah!
Healthy eating!
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