Personally, I think whole wheat sucks. If you are eating that sliced, bagged spongy bread that lasts three weeks, than maybe you are not noticing too much of a difference between the regular white bread and whole wheat bread, but in a nice artisan bread with no sugar, high fructose corn syrup, dough conditioners, preservatives, “gums” and other things that really don’t belong in bread – you really notice the difference in flavour and texture. Don’t even get me started on whole wheat pasta, that stuff is crap. I’m getting all angry thinking about it! I bought a giant box at Costco thinking I was doing my family a favour, needless to say all I did was ruin a meal and waste a box of food! Deep breaths…. Ok, so what’s the purpose behind all this whole grain hoopla? Well, white flour is not exactly nutritious. It’s high in starch and low in nutrients due to it’s processing which removes the germ and bran. This seemed like a great idea at the time thie processing was first invented, because without the germ, the flour would last pretty much forever. Now we know that the bran and germ contain most of the nutrition of the grain and so we are trying to add that back into our diets. But there are btter ways to get nutritious bread than just by using whole wheat flours. Here are some alternatives to whole wheat flour that you can use in my bread recipes. I often star of with 1/3 to 1/2 white flour and substitute in other flours for the rest of the quantity that the recipe calls for. This pretty much guarantees that I’m not going to completely mess up the bread. Then if you like your creation, keep playing, substituting in more of the more nutritious flours, like some of these (not all technically ‘whole grain’ as some aren’t grains at all, but they are all nutritious!):

• Amaranth Flour: Acient grain from the Aztecs. Gluten Free. High in protein and iron and other nutrients.
• Barley Flour: Rich in potassium, sulfur and phosphorus and fiber. Low in gluten. Nutty flavour. Keeps in cupboard up to two months, or up to four in th freezer.

Sulfur?? Yes, sulfur is good for you! It helps your cells rid themselves of toxins and helps in fat digestion and metabolism of carbohydrates.

• Buckwheat Flour: Lots on Vitamin E, calcium and B vitamins. Gluten free.
• Chick Pea Flour: This is becoming easier to find in the regular grocery stores’ Ethnic aisles. Good source of fiber, magnesium, copper, folate and manganese. Gluten free. High protein.
• Corn Flour/Meal: Slightly sweet, high in nutrients, B vitamins, potassium, manganese, phosphorus. Gluten free.
• Kamut Flour: Similar to wheat but more protein and minerals and less fiber. Good for wheat sensitivities. Good source of fiber, thiamin, phosphorus, manganese and selenium.
• Oats: Helps stabilize blood sugar. High in calcium, iodine, phosphorus, iron, vitamin E.
• Potato Flour: Not a grain at all, but worth mentioning. Cooked potato is mashed and dried and ground. Great flavour. High in vitamin C, vitamin B, fiber, protein, and potassium. Gluten free.
• Rice Flour: Made from ground brown rice. High in B vitamins, iron, potassium, calcium, fiber.
• Dark Rye Flour: Strong flavour. High in iron, calcium and zinc, B vitamins and vitamin E.High in the amino acid lysine.
• Spelt Flour: I’ve been using a lot of this flour lately and I just love it! Ancient grain. High fiber, protein, all 8 essential amino acids, B vitamins.

For all you hard core whole-wheaters, here’s a little food for thought:

…whole wheat’s high-fibre can also reduce the nutritional value of the bread because it reduces the time that material spends in the body, allowing less time to extract nutrients, whereas White Flour makes the nutrients now restored to it by law easily accessible to the body’s metabolism.

Wheat bran has a substance that can inhibit the body’s intake of calcium. Half the children in Dublin developed rickets during the Second World War (“The Emergency”, as they called it) when their minimal calcium rations intake combined with whole-wheat bread to cause the rickets in the children.

(Copyright 2010 Practically Edible. All rights reserved and enforced.) Read more of this snippet here :http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/Flour#ixzz0tnLz4m6p

Sources:

http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2008/07/baby-steps-using-alternative-grains.html

http://www.brighthub.com/health/diet-nutrition/articles/49769.aspx

http://www.womenfitness.net/ugly_truths.htm

http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/Flour#ixzz0tnLz4m6p

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/legumes-and-legume-products/4406/2

Do you have a fave flour I didn’t list??