All-purpose flour is the most suited and used flour for baking purposes. The gluten content in it makes it perfect to get the desired result, be it taste-wise, texture-wise or appearance-wise. That being said, people are on the look out for flour substitutions for a variety of reasons. Be it for health reasons, allergies, unavailability, etc.
Flour substitution is not as easy as simply using any other flour instead of all-purpose flour in a given recipe. Even though it gives a good taste, texture and look, the nutritional value is almost nil except for the vitamins and minerals which are mandatorily added these days to enrich it. Even then it is just plain starch without any fiber content, which is one of the essential nutrients for our bodies.
So many bakers are moving towards incorporating all kinds of whole grain flours while baking. Whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, oat flour, barley flour, quinoa flour, millet flour, etc just to name a few. But the only problem is these flours usually don't work out exactly like all-purpose flour because it's whole grain and the difference in the gluten quantity in such flours and also because of the high fiber content.
Treats baked using whole grain flours generally tend to be on the heavier side, don't rise as much as it's white counterpart and the taste might also need some time to get used to. But once you start baking with whole grain flours regularly you will crave for that more and more and wouldn't even go back to baking with regular white flour. The recipe might need some minor changes to be incorporated to get better results, like increasing the baking powder/baking soda a little bit, not over mixing the batter thereby over working the gluten which will end up in hard, dense and heavy baked treat, etc.
To start with one might try substituting ⅓rd or ½ a portion of all-purpose flour with the whole grain flour of your choice. See how it works out and then from there move on to increase the quantity of the whole grain flour. Pretty soon you will end up baking with it 100%. That's where I'm now. Whole wheat pastry flour especially is a boon for people like me; those who want to bake healthy. This works in all types of baked treats, be it eggless cakes and cupcakes, eggless cookies, eggless muffins, eggless scones etc. Because it is milled from soft whole wheat the gluten content is not as high as regular whole wheat flour making it perfect for all treats.
Other whole grain flours don't work exactly like whole wheat pastry flour so may not be suitable for all types of recipes. Quinoa flour, oat flour, barley flour etc maybe partly used in a recipe in combination with either all-purpose flour or whole-wheat pastry flour. These flours might especially be suited for cookies, scones and sometimes in muffins too.
Some other examples of flour substitution:
1 cup sifted all purpose white flour, Substitute:
- ¼ cup soy flour plus ¾ cup white flour
- ⅓ cup wheat germ plus ⅔ cup white flour
- ⅓ cup whole wheat flour plus ⅔ cup white flour
- ¾ cup coarse cornmeal
- ¾ cup rice flour
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1.5 cups oat flour
Note
These substitutions may require additional leavening, so add 2.5 teaspoons baking powder per cup of flour to compensate. These alternatives to white flour will result in a heavier yeast bread product.
Gluten-free baking is yet another ball game altogether. At least it is not as difficult as it was even a decade ago. Thanks to the wide spread awareness of the Celiac disease in specific and gluten intolerance in general. These days it's not at all difficult to locate gluten-free flours.
Some of those are amaranth flour, coconut flour, almond flour etc. But the drawback is all-purpose flour can't be simply replaced by these flours. Recipes have to be tweaked to get decent results. Even ready to use gluten free mix is easily available these days. Gluten-free baking along with egg-free is when it gets really complicated.
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Vina G Pathak says
I'm excited to try the zucchini bread recipe.
GRACIIEIEIEIE says
this really help my cat. he wants to become veagen. can you do substitutes foe eggs and butter?
Madhuram says
Check this page for Egg substitutes chart.
Shelli Davis says
My son has recently been diagnosed with an allergy to wheat & egg whites. I bake a lot and would like to use my old recipes. I need a wheat free flour to use & can I just use egg yolks?
Madhuram says
You can try gluten-free all-purpose baking mixes like the ones from Bob Red's Mill and many other brands. It should work. I'm not sure about baking with egg yolks because I haven't done it.
Kathy says
I am making an egg free and butter free cake, it calls for all purpose flour, I would like to use coconut flour, how do I go about that???
Madhuram says
Sorry Kathy, you cannot substitute coconut flour for all-purpose flour. Coconut flour being gluten-free, it won't work without eggs. Gluten-free all-purpose baking mix might work in place of all-purpose flour because that mix has xanathan gum and other leavening agents pre-mixed.
Gloria Gaston says
what type of flour would you recommend for frying foods without the white flour(all purpose)? I would like to come off white flour.
Madhuram says
Have you tried chickpea flour? That works well in some recipes.
Diana Stadmiller says
What is your opinion on Almond flour for baking?
Madhuram says
Almond flour is gluten-free so baking with it and also egg free is very tricky and might not result as expected. I haven't tried it so far.
Leroy says
All those are still types of flour. What if I have no flour of Any type?
Madhuram says
Baking flourless and eggless is very tricky.
Madi says
What if you don't have those?
Lala says
Ok. I’m impressed and kind of overwhelm with all this great info. So is whole wheat gluten-free? And if not how do I replace 2 cups and 1/4 of that flour to bake whole wheat bread. What to use instead 1 cup all purpose flour? In the same mix. And finally if I want to use oats flour, how much I need to use with how much of xanthan gum?
Madhuram says
Whole wheat is not gluten-free. Do you want to bake gluten-free or whole wheat bread? Baking gluten-free and egg free is pretty challenging. The proportion etc has to be tried to figure out what works and what doesn't.
emiline anitruck says
Hi! I was wondering That do you know how to make flour ?