FEBRUARY IS “LET THEM EAT (FOOD STORAGE) CAKE!” MONTH!
As many of you know, I’ve been making a lot of the same food storage changes to the cakes I’ve been showing you. The most common and BEST changes involve beans and whole wheat. Last week I went over how to replace beans for oil or butter but I’ve also received a lot of questions regarding how much whole wheat flour to use and which type (red or white) to use. And…you all know me, my site would cease to be if you didn’t fully understand how to do this to your OWN recipes. Nobody expects you to throw away all of your recipes just to use mine that incorporate food storage, especially me! So let’s go over how to use WHEAT in your recipes!
WHAT TYPE OF WHEAT SHOULD I USE, WHITE OR RED?
Here is the deal with the two types of wheat. Red wheat has a stronger, nuttier flavor. The white wheat has a more delicate flavor that is much easier to disguise. So I would suggest always using the white wheat-especially in baked goods. What is that you say? The red wheat is more nutritious so, why not use it? I thought you might ask that. Red wheat IS more nutritious. And by more nutritious, I mean that it has 2% more protein than the white. HOWEVER, in order to make most anything palatable with 100% red wheat you have to mix it half and half with the all-purpose flour. In that case, you’ve just cut the nutrition by half….or you could just use the 2% less protein white wheat flour and use it 100%. Now, do you think I mean that you ALWAYS have to use 100% wheat in your baking? NO! You use it how your family would like it and I’ll give you some good tips for how to use it successfully and how to know if your recipe is best for 100% whole wheat, half and half or less.
[pinit]
SUBSTITUTING FOR 100% WHOLE WHEAT
There are a lot of recipes that are great for substitution 100% whole wheat. I’d say as a general rule of thumb, if your recipe has two or more of the following ingredients in it-you’re good to go with 100% whole wheat.
- At least equal amounts of brown sugar and white sugar. All brown sugar or more brown sugar than white sugar works even better!
- Strong spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, etc.
- Mashed fruit (non-citrus) or vegetables like bananas, zucchini, pumpkin, etc.
- Nuts-wheat is very complimentary to nuts.
- Oats. Oats already have that hearty feeling and wheat goes great with it!
- Chocolate-Let’s be honest, chocolate covers a myriad of flavors and tastes great!
[pinit]
USING HALF WHOLE WHEAT AND HALF ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR IN YOUR RECIPES
So what to do if you recipe doesn’t have two of the above? Think sugar cookies, white cake, etc. If you’re at all nervous you can always do 1/6 wheat with LITTLE to NO taste difference. If you’re feeling a little daring, you can do half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose. You may be able to taste the wheat a little but it doesn’t mean it’s a bad flavor. Remember, with cooking just because it tastes different doesn’t automatically mean it tastes bad. It just means it tastes different and you if have to decide if you like it better or worse that way.
Help Spread the Word!
I love it when you share my tips and recipes for food storage! Do me a quick favor, if you like what you see please share it on facebook, pinterest, or blog about it! And make sure you link either the word “food storage” or “Everyday Food Storage” back to me. Thanks-it makes all the hard work worth it!
I had no problem using !00% White Wheat (minus a few Tablespoons) and bean puree in all my recipes.
What’s the difference in Soft and Hard White Wheat?
Soft does not store as long as the hard wheat.
Soft wheat has less gluten so it doesn’t rise as well.
I really like soft white pastry wheat for my baking (everything except yeast bread). The flavor is awesome and it makes a very moist, soft product. Also, I think it’s important to add that when you’re milling your own flour, you want to lightly pack it into the measuring cup (like you would brown sugar) because the milling really sifts the flour. Also, when converting a recipe from all-purpose to WW the flour measurement should be 7/8 cup WW for each 1 cup all-purpose.
Also, inwantnto let you know that we LOVE your blog! When you post a new video, it’s like movie night. All my children scramble to the computer to watch :-).
Emily B.
For long term storage, I have hard white wheat for bread and other things made with yeast, like rolls. I also have durum wheat for making pasta. Soft white wheat is ground to make whole wheat pastry flour for desserts and things made with baking soda as a leavening, like pancakes and biscuits.
I’m with Emily on this one. I also love baking with whole wheat pastry
flour–it’s so light, no one suspects it’s whole grain and no need to
add in less healthy white flour. If you do try it, you won’t be sorry.
Whole barley can be ground into flour and makes terrific desserts and
sweet breads –it keeps well, too. Variety is the spice of life and adds
interest and nutritional value to what the family eats.
Anyone else here a fan of Azure Standard? I like to buy these kinds of grains from AS–the organic grains in bulk are less $ than the #10 canned conventional grains from the LDS Cannery! AS also sell buckets and Gamma seal lids, my favorite method of storing in bulk and still being able to access it easily for daily use.
Last, one idea for those who are most concerned with making sure they have a long-term food supply for their family (as in: lasting for 15-20 years) is to store more hard wheat and beans as staples. I simply rotate the other things sooner that may not last as long, like certain grains or oils or unbleached wheat flour, for instance. Easy 🙂
I have to say, my family loves your recipe, Crystal, for cinnamon rolls using the EZ wheat bread recipe. My 9 year old son said it was so yummy he wanted me to make that for his birthday instead of cake. Great recipe!