Substituting Whole Wheat Flour Instead of White Flour
A frequent question I receive is about replacing white flour in a recipe with whole wheat flour. Here is today’s question from Suri:
I have made your challah (from A Taste of Challah cookbook) many times and it’s delicious. How can I tweak it by making whole wheat using 5 lb bag of whole wheat flour?!?
Whole wheat challahs are so nice, especially if you make part of the dough as rolls that you or family members can use for sandwiches during the week. When I do that, I measure the dough at 100 grams each and them shape rolls with them. This way they are portion controlled.
5lbs of flour is equal to 16-17 cups flour, which is the amount of flour I used in most of my recipes in A Taste of Challah; on purpose since this is the minimum amount of flour necessary according to rov poskim in order to be mafrish challah with a bracha from the dough.
The substitution:
To make whole wheat challahs just substitute whole wheat for the white flour in any recipe you like and add in another 1/4 – 1/2 cup water to the dough also, as whole wheat absorbs more water than white flour does, especially during the first rise of the dough.
