The Baking Answer Book (3 page)

Q
Can I use whole-wheat flour instead of white flour for more healthful baked goods?

A
The flakes of bran in whole-wheat flour can weaken the protein structure of baked goods, inhibiting their rise and giving them a heavy and dense texture. When adapting a recipe for the first time, it’s best not to substitute more than one-third to one-half of the white flour called for with whole-wheat flour. This way, your product will have the structural benefits provided by white flour along with the nutritional benefits of whole wheat. Increase the proportion of whole-wheat to white flour in later attempts, if you like, seeing how high you can go without compromising the texture of your baked goods.

You may want to make other adjustments when substituting whole-wheat for white flour. Whole-wheat flour absorbs more water than white flour, so you may find that when you substitute whole-wheat flour for white you’ll need to add more liquid, a tablespoonful at a time, until your dough reaches the right consistency.

It’s a matter of taste, but some people add more sweetener to recipes with whole-wheat flour to balance the robust flavor of the flour.

Q
What does “stone-ground” mean?

A
Wheat and other grains such as corn must be milled into flour or meal before they are bagged and shipped
to the market. Stone grinding is an old-fashioned type of milling in which the grain is simply ground between massive stones. The result is 100% whole-grain flour or meal. Whole wheat that is stone-ground contains all of the bran and germ from the ground wheat berries. Most commercial mills today, in contrast, use large metal rollers to grind the grain quickly, stripping out the endosperm and grinding it by itself. The result is white flour.

To make whole-wheat flour, these commercial producers stir the bran back into the flour, but the oily germ, which contains the healthful oils and other nutrients, is left out to increase the flour’s shelf life. (By law, flour labeled “whole wheat” need contain only 95% of the whole-wheat berry.) For the most nutritious and best tasting 100% whole-grain flour and meal, look for “stone-ground” on the label. If you can’t find stone-ground grain locally, you can mail order it (see Resources). You won’t be sorry.

Q
What does “unbleached and unbromated” mean?

A
After wheat is ground into flour, it needs to age before it is ready to be used in baking. Treating newly milled flour with bleaching agents not only gives it a pure white color, but also hurries along the aging process so the flour is ready to sell at an earlier date. Potassium bromate is another additive that hurries along aging. Most bakers now agree that flour aged naturally by exposing it to oxygen in the air rather
than by adding bleach or bromate is preferable for a couple of reasons. First of all, unbleached and unbromated flour tastes better, with no bitter aftertaste that can be left behind by maturing agents. Secondly, potassium bromate is a possibly cancer-causing chemical that is probably harmless in small quantities but nevertheless must carry a warning label in some states and is outlawed in some European countries for its carcinogenic potential. So look for flour that is labeled “unbleached and unbromated” for the best, most healthful results.

Q
What exactly is organic flour and is it worth the extra money?

A
Certified organic flour is milled from pesticide-free grain grown in soil only fertilized by natural substances. Harvested grain is stored without fumigants or irradiation. All of this environmentally sensitive cultivation and handling costs money, but more and more people are willing to pay the price. Many bakers believe that organic flour produces better-tasting baked goods. Others buy organic flour because of the worry that pesticides and other synthetic agents may enter the wheat plants and be retained in flour, presenting a health risk over the course of many years. Still others support organic farming for its gentle impact on our environment.

Q
I’ve seen other types of flour — rye, soy, buckwheat, spelt — at the supermarket and the health food store. How can I incorporate them into my baking? Are any of them a gluten-free alternative to wheat?

A
Aside from being milled from different grains (or seeds or beans in the case of buckwheat and soy), and having distinctly different flavors, these flours are all much lower in gluten than wheat flour. Gluten is a substance formed when certain types of protein in wheat combine with water during mixing or kneading, resulting in long, flexible strands that stretch and then solidify as dough expands in the oven, giving bread its bubbly air pockets. Flours milled from soy and spelt have substantially less gluten than wheat flour, and buckwheat and rye have virtually no gluten at all. This is good news if you have a dietary sensitivity to gluten, but not so good if you want to bake a well-risen, crusty loaf of bread. Gluten is needed in much smaller quantities in baked goods such as cakes, cookies, biscuits, and scones.

If you are interested in incorporating specialty flours into your baking, start with recipes designed with these flours’ properties in mind. When you know how they bake up on their own, you can experiment by substituting a low-or no-gluten flour for some or all of the wheat flour in your favorite recipes. Here is some information to help get you started.

Specialty Flours

Rye flour
is made from ground rye, of course, and is very low in gluten. Baked goods made with rye are tangy
and slightly sour. There is a long tradition in Germany, Austria, and throughout Eastern Europe of baking breads with 100% rye flour, but these heavy, dark, moist breads aren’t the rye breads most Americans are familiar with. We are more likely to eat and bake breads made with no more than 50% rye flour.

Buckwheat flour
is ground from the seeds of a plant related to sorrel and rhubarb. It has a distinctive grayish color and earthy flavor and has no gluten at all. Traditionally used in Russia to make the crepelike blini, it can also be used in combination with wheat flour. Substitute no more than one-third to one-half buckwheat flour for wheat flour in recipes you’d like to modify, so they can gain some of buckwheat’s distinctive flavor without losing structural integrity.

Soy flour
is made from ground dried soybeans and is very high in protein, but not the kind that creates gluten. To bake a higher-protein bread that’s not dense and heavy, substitute no more than 20% to 30% soy flour for wheat flour or risk baking a loaf weighty enough to use as a doorstop.

Spelt
is an ancient grain first cultivated in the Middle East around 5000 BCE. Spelt is similar to wheat, with a comparable flavor, but with a much lower gluten content. Many people who have trouble digesting wheat can tolerate bread and other baked goods made with spelt.

Spelt Brownies

Spelt flour contributes to the tenderness of these low-fat brownies.

MAKES 16 BROWNIES

¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

½ cup spelt flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup packed light brown sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1½ cups (about 13) dried dates, pitted and finely chopped

1.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line an 8-inch square baking pan with heavy-duty foil, making sure the foil is tucked into all the corners and there is at least 1 inch overhanging the top of the pan on all sides. Coat with cooking spray.

2.
Sift the cocoa powder, espresso powder, spelt flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

3.
Combine the sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla in a food processor and pulse several times until almost smooth. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Stir in the cocoa mixture until just incorporated. Stir in the dates.

4.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake the brownies until they are just set in the center, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

5.
Grasping the foil on opposite sides of the pan, lift out the brownies and cut into 16 squares.

Raisin-Rye Muffins

Rye flour gives these muffins an intriguing aroma and a soft, cake like texture.

MAKES 12 MUFFINS

1 cup rye flour

1¼ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

cup packed light brown sugar