Baking Advice

[ArcticChicken]

So, I'm looking at making this bread. Problem is, the recipe calls for whole wheat bread flour. I have white bread flour, and I have whole wheat flour.

Does anyone know if I can mix them, or sub the regular bread flour for the whole wheat flour? And how that might alter the recipe?

I'd go out and buy some whole wheat bread flour, but a) I have literally no room for it in my kitchen, and b) I don't know where to get it, it's not at my regular store.

[Bunny the Veggie Slayer]

You do ideally need bread flour. It has a higher level of gluten and starch IIRC than regular flour. It should be available at most decent sized food stores. You could try regular flour, but the texture would be all wrong.

[MaggieTheCat]

I would probably try the white bread flour before the regular wheat flour for that recipe, but I would think either could work. Either way, the flavor and/or texture is obviously going to be a little different. With the white flour, you will have...white bread, as opposed to whole wheat bread. With the (non-bread) wheat flour, I think it will produce a slightly denser loaf that won't rise as much.

Experiment! Try one or the other or a combination! Usually different kinds of flours can be substituted for one another, the end result will just be slightly different. It will not turn out exactly like how the recipe looks but who knows, you may like it better than the original recipe anyway.

[kpzra]

It won't be exactly the same, but it will be fine. I don't have room to keep 4 types of flour on hand either, and my bread turns out fine with regular whole wheat or white flour.

[Food Lady]

You can add vital wheat gluten to whole wheat flour. There should be directions as to how much to add per cup on the package. Two brands I know of are Bob's Red Mill and Arrowhead. If it isn't in the flour aisle, it will be in with the natural foods. A small bag is not a bad investment if you bake bread often. ETA: you want the gluten because it adds protein and makes the texture more palatable. (We all know how whole wheat bread can seem stiff).

[Kittish]

What Food Lady said.

Also, bread tends to be very forgiving, feel free to experiment with mixing the two sorts of flour. If you have enough yeast, you can even try making several loaves, one that's all whole wheat, one that's a blend, and one that's white.

Gluten, when it's worked by kneading, forms these long elastic chains. It's what gives dough that stretchy feeling you look for when you initially make and knead your dough, and provides the structure of the bread when it's baked.

If you really get into bread making, another thing you might consider is starting a sourdough culture, I give the basics of starting it here, on post 10. Just keep in mind that it takes fully two weeks to get the culture mature enough to use.

[ArcticChicken]

You can add vital wheat gluten to whole wheat flour.

I knew that. I swear.

[lordlundar]

You do ideally need bread flour. It has a higher level of protein than regular flour. It should be available at most decent sized food stores. You could try regular flour, but the texture would be all wrong.

Fixed that for accuracy. It's the protein that makes gluten when you work it.

That said, yes you can use All Purpose flour and you can mix the two types, but it won't have as much protein in it as Whole Wheat bread flour which will make it less chewy.