January 14, 2024 - 12:08pm
Substitute ?
I am having a difficult time finding King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour in my town or even on Amazon. Can anyone tell me if it's possible to make White Whole Wheat flour out of Whole Wheat ? Thanks.
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I am having a difficult time finding King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour in my town or even on Amazon. Can anyone tell me if it's possible to make White Whole Wheat flour out of Whole Wheat ? Thanks.
Yes, as long as you have white whole wheat berries. Most whole wheat flour is made with red wheat berries. You can't make white whole wheat flour from red berries. If you have a grain mill, you can buy white wheat berries (either hard or soft) and grind your own flour. If you don't have a mill, well......
Why not buy the flour directly from King Arthur? Good luck. Jim
Maybe you could use this table from "The Rye Baker" and some high school algebra to blend your own white whole wheat from whole white and AP or bread flour.
I think you are asking can you buy flours at a store that you can blend to make White Whole Wheat - if so, the answer is not really. White whole wheat is made from white wheat berries, which in addition to being a different color than red berries, don't have the same taste as red berries. When you buy "regular" whole wheat flour - like KA, AFAIK, that is made from red wheat berries and so will have a strong flavor - sometimes described as grassy or earthy. White Whole wheat does not have that flavor and is much more neutral. If you have a mill, yes, you can mill white berries - you want hard white berries if you are making bread, soft white if you are making muffins.
I'm sure your palate is better than mine. I'm not sure that I could distinguish bread made from red or white wheat flour.
Virtually all substitutions in cooking as well as baking may get you close to a reasonable facsimile of the original, perhaps indistinguishable by many people, but not an identical result.
A workaround, or a hack as the kids say, to get a lower ash/fiber or lower gluten flour would be to blend the high ash (ie high fiber high extraction flour), or a high gluten flour with AP to get a reasonable facsimile of white whole wheat or bread flour.
My personal taste favors high fiber for health reasons, and I have limited freezer/cabinet space, so I don't stock or use white whole wheat or light rye. YMMV
It's a common misconception, but 'White Whole Wheat' is not a reduced bran-product, nor is it a mix of refined flour and whole wheat flour, nor is it lower in fiber than 'regular' red whole wheat. It is not equivalent to 'light' rye, which is a refined rye flour with the bran removed.
White Whole Wheat isn't white because it is refined. On the contrary, it is 100% whole wheat flour that was milled from a wheat variety that is less pigmented. The lack of pigmentation is accompanied by a milder flavor. White Whole Wheat is also not 'bread flour' as that term typically means refined high-protein/hard flour.
Soft White Whole Wheat flour is milled from Soft White Wheat berries. Hard White Whole Wheat flour is milled from Hard White Wheat berries, usually Hard White Spring Wheat.
White Whole Wheat flour has the texture and baking properties and nutritional properties of regular whole wheat flour from red wheat berries. The only difference is the appearance and the milder flavor. I personally think the freshness is the flour is a lot more important than the color when it comes to whether the product tastes good. But appearance is a thing. It seems many people like to use White Whole Wheat flour to add whole wheat to a recipe without altering the appearance. It won't look like 'brown' flour was used.
To answer the OP's question, some places to look for mail order specialty flour are King Arthur Flour website, the Breadtopia website, Central Milling website and Pleasant Hill Grain website. And on Amazon of course, though the quality and freshness of flour from Amazon is a crapshoot. Remember that once milled, whole wheat flour starts staling/going rancid quickly. It's a good idea to buy it from a reputable seller and store it in the fridge or freezer. Or get a grain mill and mill it fresh right before using it.
Thanks for the clarification. My personal tastes leans toward more distinct flavors, so I won't be looking for white whole wheat flour or light rye. YMMV
Thank you all for your comments, it's appreciated. I will probably just have to order it online if needed, although of course it costs more for the weight.
Walmart shows a number of white whole wheat products, including King Arthur's. Whether they are actually in stock in your store is another matter, of course. Maybe you could order them to be delivered to your local store.