Skip to content

Top Navigation

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Recipes
  • Cooking 101
  • Eating Smart
  • Healthy Living
  • News

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Email Preferences

Manage Your Subscription

  • All Access Subscribers
  • Magazine Subscribers
  • Cooking Light Diet Subscribers
Login
Logout
SUBSCRIBE
Pin FB

Explore Cooking Light

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 31-Day Healthy Meal Plan

      Our 31-day calendar of meals and tips shows you how to cook more and love it with fun, family-friendly meals that come together quickly and deliciously. Read More
    • Dinner Tonight: Quick and Healthy Menus in 45 Minutes (or Less)

      Hundreds of delicious recipes, paired with simple sides, that can be on your table in 45 minutes or less. Read More
    • Our Favorite Healthy Air Fryer Recipes

      Who ever said that chicken wings, doughnuts, and pizza couldn't be healthy? Read More
  • Recipes

    Recipes

    See All Recipes
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Drinks
    • Recipe Makeovers
    • Quick & Healthy
    • Diabetic
    • Gluten-Free
    • Vegetarian
    • Cooking Light Live
  • Cooking 101

    Cooking 101

    See All Cooking 101
    • Essential Ingredients
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Meet the Chef
    • Cooking Resources
    • Budget Friendly
    • Smart Choices
  • Eating Smart
  • Healthy Living

    Healthy Living

    See All Healthy Living
    • Weight-Loss
    • Health
    • Fitness
    • Home
    • Travel
    • Nutrition 101
  • News

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Email Preferences

Manage Your Subscription

  • All Access Subscribers
  • Magazine Subscribers
  • Cooking Light Diet Subscribers
Login
Logout
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Cooking 101
  3. 4 Tips to Baking with More Whole Grains

4 Tips to Baking with More Whole Grains

January 23, 2015
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Helpful tips for upping your whole-grain game when baking
Start Slideshow

1 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Healthier Baking

Credit: Photo: Brian Woodcock

When making smarter carb swaps in the kitchen, don't get ahead of yourself. Some swaps—like substituting whole-wheat for highly refined, all-purpose white flour—take a little more effort. While it's fine to sub in whole-wheat flour as a thickener in gravies, sauces, and soups or as a coating for oven-fried chicken, baking swaps are a different story.

Whole-grain flour contains germ and bran, which soak up liquid during baking and add weight to the dough (making it harder for it to rise on its own), creating a dense texture if you don't treat it properly.

1 of 5

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

1. Use Less Flour

Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor
If a recipe calls for 1 cup of all-purpose flour, try using ¾ cup whole-grain.

2 of 5

3 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

2. Try More Liquid

Credit: Photo: Dave King /Getty Images
For white whole-wheat flour, add 1 to 3 additional teaspoons liquid per cup of flour. For traditional whole-wheat, add up to 5 teaspoons of water per cup of flour.

3 of 5

Advertisement

4 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

3. Try White Whole-Wheat Flour

Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor

It's made from a different strain of wheat and is lighter than traditional whole-wheat. Its flavor is also milder, making it taste more like the refined flour many of us are used to. But here's the kicker: It has basically the same nutritional value as whole-wheat flour.

Subbing white whole-wheat flour for an equal amount of all-purpose results in a denser biscuit. In our favorite CL recipe, Fluffy Buttermilk Drop Biscuits, which calls for 2 cups flour, we use 1¼ cups all-purpose and ¾ cup white whole-wheat. 

4 of 5

5 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

4. Swap Out Just a Portion of Your Refined Flour with Whole Wheat

You'll reduce the number of carbs and add nutrition, but you'll get a lighter baked good. Of course, sometimes going all in just works; try our 100% Spelt Flour Biscuits.

5 of 5

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 5 Healthier Baking
    2 of 5 1. Use Less Flour
    3 of 5 2. Try More Liquid
    4 of 5 3. Try White Whole-Wheat Flour
    5 of 5 4. Swap Out Just a Portion of Your Refined Flour with Whole Wheat

    Share & More

    Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message
    Cooking Light

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise
    • Content Licensing
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    MeredithCooking Light is part of the Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Cooking Light may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright Cooking Light. All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.cookinglight.com

    View image

    4 Tips to Baking with More Whole Grains
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.