Wholemeal flour

[lafrancaise]

Can wholemeal flour be a substitute for white flour in any recipe, or should some white flour be added?

Thank you for any replies

[aurelia]

I have a pizza recipe that asks for wholemeal self-raising flour for the majority and white self-raising flour for a tiny portion. I always made it this way but recently I have omitted the white self-raising flour and just used the wholemeal, and it tastes just as good and cooks as well

[waimarie]

Hi lafrancaise, Most recipes I have seen where wholemeal flour is used invariably have a proportion of strong white flour included. When I make a granary loaf for example I use half granary flour and half strong white flour I'm not 100% sure just why this is although it may be to do with the finished texture of the product, wholemeal possibly being coarser. I would imagine also the quantity of water absorbed may differ. Aurelia has said

[waimarie]

Sorry about that, finger trouble. Aurelia seems to have used 100% wholemeal successfuly so I suppose much of the fun in cooking comes from experimenting.

[RoadAtlas]

It depends on what you are making. For example, I find pastry made entirely of wholemeal flour quite different to handle than the white flour pastry (wholemeal becomes very "flaky" but it does give a lovely nutty taste to a quiche). So for pastry you may prefer to incude some white flour to make it easier to handle. Bread will obviously taste different and you may well need more yeast in a 100% wholemeal loaf. I find cheese sauce far more "filling" and substantial if made with wholemeal flour. For savoury scones I like a 50:50 mix of flours. I use a very strong white bread flour for pizza bases, as I find wholemeal flour too strong a flavour for a delicate cheese like mozzarella.