There. I said it. And I'll say it again. I love white flour. For lots of reasons. And, sometimes, I'm left to feel like a very bad person for feeling that way. Or for letting my children consume products containing white flour. And white sugar, for that matter, but for now, I'm talking about white flour...
I really love wheat flour too. We adore wheat bread around here. The grainier the English muffins, the better. I love baking up breads and muffins and bagels using wheat flour... and we gobble them up.
But you know what?
Nothing really takes the place of white flour in my book.
I've tried.
I baked up the cinnamon rolls with wheat flour and, while I'm happy to report that my kids happily scarfed them down (amazing what frosting can do), I thought they had a funky taste and, while, to his credit, he didn't actually complain, I know my husband found them a poor substitution for my usual rolls. If I'm going to fuss with cinnamon rolls, I want them to be delicious. Not just passable.
Ditto on the pizza crust. It didn't work for me. I didn't like the flavor or texture and it ruined the whole experience for me.
I'm sure there are dozen of other recipes I could try, but I'm not really sure I want to... because my white flour recipes are already delicious.
We enjoy whole grains around here and we get a lot of them...
But you know what?
I love white flour.
And I'm going to keep right on using it...
Am I the only one?
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No, you aren't the only one! : ) There are just certain recipes that I prefer white flour. I try hard to make sure we get plenty of whole grains in other ways!
ReplyDeleteNow I know where C gets her feistiness!
ReplyDeleteActually, I keep the whole wheat far from the cinnamon rolls as well. But, I stir in 2 T. quick oats and 2 T. flax seed meal. They are delicious and have a little whole grain that way. Assuages my guilt.
Up until a year ago, I was with you!! But I didn't give up. I make our cinnamon rolls, pancakes, English muffins, bread, pizza crusts, all with wheat flour. If you add orange juice to it, it actually kills some of the wheaty flavor. Our family now loves all I make. I have found recipes that work for us. I had a18 year odl over here when we had pizza and he was telling me about the horrible wheat pizza they have at school. He said,"Pizza is not good with wheat." He was VERY surprised that he was eating wheat pizzs. I waited until he told me how good it was before I told him. Don't feel guilty, but please don't give up. I'm glad I didn't.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. If you're going to put in the time to bake something unhealthy by nature, you might as well go the whole nine yards with it.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of my waiting tables days, when people would order a huge plate of cheddar cheese fries, then ask for lo-cal ranch on the side. You know, to make it healthy.
I love white flour too! As long as I am eating pretty balanced there's no shame in eating any food.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that helps me is I buy King Arthur white whole wheat flour which is ground from white wheat not the hard red wheat, so you don't have the bitterness. It's pretty awesome stuff and I think the protein content is pretty similar to all purpose flour (maybe a little higher.) Another thing you can do in whole wheat recipes is add a couple tablespoons of orange juice to hide some of the bitterness. You won't taste the orange either.
I love white flour, too. And white sugar. And butter. And, oh yeah, chocolate. What can I say? :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you too! I sometimes feel bad and not "with it" because I'm not using the wheat flour and the gluten-free recipes like a lot of other bloggers. But I make what my husband and I like, and that's what matters I think.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that people want to eat healthy, but a lot of that stuff just isn't for me. It's good to know I'm not the only one who feels this way.
I do about a 40/60 mix of wheat and white so I feel healthier but the texture doesn't become weird. I don't really notice a flavor diff when I use all wheat, but the texture is WAY to o dense, so the mix works. Try 25% wheat/75% white for pizza dough then maybe creep up the wheat each time to find a good balance.
ReplyDeletemuffins must be 100% white flour though, so I bet the cinnamon rolls are the same situation.
ha ha to Matt's comment--those are the same folks having diet coke with their 2 pound slice of chocolate cake. I NEED my high fructose corn syrup full dose pepsi! (except now I get caffeine free)
We like it too and I use both equally.
ReplyDeleteI had a preemie in July. He was a 27 weeker and weighed 1 lb 13 oz. he is now 14 lbs. and pure joy.
I love all the opinions on this! And I'm glad I'm not alone!
ReplyDeleteSandra & Anon- Thanks for the OJ tip... I had heard about that, but always feared I'd end up with an orange-y pizza crust... blech!
FishMama- I love sneaking oatmeal in things!
Matt & Heather- I must confess to being the girl who adores fried mozzarella and a diet coke. But I really, truly just prefer diet soda... it's never had anything to do with counting calories.
ArdenLynn- Congrats on your thriving son! Little makes me as happy as preemie success stories! :)