Make Healthier Recipes with Whole-Grain Flour
Switching out some of the all-purpose flour in your bread, cake, cookie, and other recipes with whole-grain flour is a great way to improve your diet and health without having to change the foods you eat. You don’t even have to make the switch all at once. You could start with one-quarter to one-half of the required amount as whole grain and keep the rest as all-purpose flour. Then the next time you make that same recipe, increase it a little more.
“Whole-grain flours include whole wheat, spelt, quinoa, oats, millet, barley, rye, and buckwheat. Einkorn, an ancient grain, also available as a whole grain, is high in vitamins, minerals, and protein and is more tolerable for people with gluten sensitivity,” explains Rachel Lustgarten, a registered dietitian at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Comprehensive Weight Control Center.
“These flours cannot all be substituted one for one with enriched flour when baking, so substitute just half the amount the recipe calls for,” says Lustgarten.
The Benefits of Whole-Grain Flour
Whole-grain flour contains more fiber, vitamins, and minerals than all-purpose flour. That’s because all‑purpose flour strips out the bran and the germ, leaving only the endosperm, and takes with it about 25 percent of the grain’s nutrients.
“Whole-wheat flours contain antioxidants (disease fighters), protein, fiber, and several vitamins and minerals,” Lustgarten says.
A quarter-cup of whole-grain flour contains 3 to 5 grams (g) of fiber, compared with less than 1 g for all-purpose flour. And, because of its fiber content, whole-grain flour can help keep you satiated longer, so you eat less food. It also can help lower blood pressure, and for people with type 2 diabetes, it can help keep blood sugar levels balanced longer.
Whole-wheat flour contains up to 115 milligrams (mg) of potassium, compared with 40 mg for all-purpose flour. It also contains calcium and traces of B vitamins (riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, folate) and iron. It is sodium-free and sugar-free. All-purpose flour is generally sodium-free, but some brands may have small amounts of sugar from ingredients such as malted barley flour.
Is Bleaching Bad for Our Health?
All-purpose flour has been bleached. Whole-grain flour has not. “All‑purpose flour undergoes a chemical aging process using benzoyl peroxide and chlorine gas,” Lustgarten explains. Bleaching makes the flour softer (so more palatable to eat) and gives it a lighter color. “The amount of chemicals used in the bleaching process has not been shown to be harmful,” she says. However, it’s one more reason to consume healthier grains.
The Last Word
Buy “100 percent” whole-wheat or whole-grain flour as opposed to products that say “made with,” as that could mean just a small amount of whole-wheat flour was added, says Lustgarten.
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