Whole Wheat Pastry: Flour Substitutions.Whole wheat pastry flour has been milled from a soft wheat bran, with a fine texture. The purpose of using a pastry-type flour is ideally to create lighter, fluffier baked goods. Using whole wheat is far healthier than using white flour, which has been stripped of many essential nutrients. Wheat maintains many of the nutrient-dense fibers that are better suited for optimal health.
Allergy Issues
If you're looking to substitute wheat because of allergy issues, you might be able to use spelt flour. Spelt is similar to wheat; it's a sub-species of wheat and contains gluten, so when baking with it, it carries properties similar to those of wheat. For some wheat allergy suffers, though, spelt is suitable for consumption. If you suffer from celiac disease, however, eating spelt is not advisable.
Baking without Wheat
Attempting to bake with alternative flours can be tricky -- primarily because the quality of the wheat, which is responsible for making our favorite baked goods so desirable, is missing. If you're not careful, instead of being light and airy, your pastries might turn out dense and even gritty. Usually, combining alternative flours is optimal, but it takes time to determine which ones function best together -- and success will ultimately come only from trial and error. The flour combination that makes a good brownie might not work for bread baking and vice versa. If you're not up for experimenting, you can always purchase gluten-free baking flour in pre-mixed packages.
Alternative Additions
The key ingredient lacking in pastry dough when using alternative flours is gluten, although some alternative flours contain gluten in small amounts. Gluten acts as a binding agent, holding pastry dough together. Without it, something else needs to be added to promote the familiar, and desired, consistency. For every cup of any gluten-free flour you use, add 1 tsp. of either xanthan gum, guar gum or pre-gel starch. Any of these ingredients can be purchased at a health food store, and supermarkets increasingly carry them as gluten-free baking becomes more mainstream.
Substitutes
Rice flour is a favorable substitute for wheat flour. It's been used by bakers the world over in making gluten-free baked goods. In health food stores, it's not uncommon to find donuts, Swiss rolls and various breads made from rice flour. Other common alternatives include: soy flour, oat flour, quinoa, kamut, amaranth, millet, barley and many more.
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Substitutes:For general baking
whole wheat flour (Replace no more than half of the all-purpose flour with this and add half again as much baking powder plus a bit more liquid to the recipe. Compared to all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour makes baked goods denser and coarser in texture. It provides more fiber but about the same nutrients as enriched all-purpose flour.) OR
self-rising flour (Omit salt and baking powder from recipe. Don't use this in yeast breads or pie crusts.) OR pastry flour (This doesn't work well in cookies.) OR
brown rice flour (This is especially good for those with wheat allergies; replace up to 1/4 of any wheat flour with this. Baked goods made with rice flour tend to be crumbly, so consider substituting a mixture of one part arrowroot or other thickener plus four parts rice flour. Adding more eggs is another way to reduce crumbliness. Since rice flour absorbs more moisture, you may need to add more liquid to recipe.) OR
corn flour (This is a good substitute for those with wheat allergies.) OR
millet flour (This has a more pronounced flavor than all-purpose flour, and it tends to make baked goods coarse and dry. Replace up to 1/5 of any wheat flour with this.) OR
potato flour (Replace up to 1/4 of any wheat flour in a recipe with this. Substitute 5/8 cup potato flour for 1 cup all-purpose flour.) OR
soy flour (This is high in protein, but has a very strong flavor. Replace up to 1/4 of any wheat flour with this, then increase the liquid in the recipe and reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees.) OR
quinoa flour (This is higher in fat than all-purpose flour, so it tends to make baked goods moister. Replace up to 1/2 of the wheat flour in the recipe with this.) OR
non-waxy rice flour (This is good for those with wheat allergies. Replace up to 1/4 of any wheat flour with this. Baked goods made with rice flour tend to be crumbly, so consider substituting a mixture of one part arrowroot or other thickener plus four parts rice flour. Adding more eggs is another way to reduce crumbliness. Since rice flour absorbs more moisture than all-purpose flour, you may need to add more liquid to the recipe or substitute only 7/8 C rice flour for each cup of all-purpose flour.)