Diary of an ExSloth

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How to Replace White Flour when Baking

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Spoiler alert: Baked goods are my favourite. Kidding. Everyone should know that by now. I’d honestly eat all the baked goods if I could. Unfortunately, too much white flour and refined sugars aren’t exactly good for you, so I’ve had to keep a careful eye on my consumption of baked goods.

7 healthier ways to replace white flour when baking (whole wheat, spelt, oats and mroe) via @ExSloth | ExSloth.com

Luckily, I didn’t bake much before I started eating healthily, so I’ve never actually used white flour or refined sugar in my baked goods. But, since most recipes call for white flour or refined sugar, I’ve spent a lot of time learning which substitutions work and which don’t. I’ve already covered how to replace refined sugar and butter when baking, so today I wanted to share some of the white flour substitutions I use most often.

7 white flour alternatives + tips for substituting flour when baking #healthyeating

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I’ve also put together a printable cheat sheet to help you easily replace white flour when baking on the go. If you’re already a subscriber, check the subscriber-only area, type in the password and you should see the printable there. If you haven’t subscribed or forgot the password, just hit the image below!

5 healthier white flour replacements for baking via @ExSloth | ExSloth.com

I’ll preface this by saying that making substitutions in baking isn’t an exact science. There’s always going to be a level of trial and error involved since different recipes handle substitutions differently. But, I do have some tips that make substituting flour a little easier for me, and I hope they’ll be helpful for you as well.

7 Healthier ways to Replace White Flour when Baking

1. Whole Wheat Flour

This is the most used flour substitution in my baked goods. Whole wheat flour is full of nutrients and flavour and also adds a little extra fibre to your baked goods. But, be prepared for your whole wheat cookies and cakes to be a bit denser, heavier and darker than ones made with white flour.

Substitution Tip: Start by subbing 3/4 cup whole wheat flour for every cup of white flour.

Recipes using whole wheat flour: Vegan Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts, Dairy Free Maple “Buttermilk” Biscuits 

2. Oat Flour (finely ground oats)

Early on in my white flour substitution career (heh) I made the mistake of subbing all white flour for oat flour in a batch of muffins. They weren’t exactly bad, but they were extremely dense and and a strange gummy/soggy texture. Not exactly what I was going for. Now, I tend to replace white flour with a mix of oat and whole wheat flour when I’m making muffins and pancakes.  It gets a little tricky when recipes only call for a cup or less of flour, but I generally replace 1/4 to 1/3 of white flour with oat flour and do a whole wheat flour substitution for the rest.

Substitution Tip: If I wanted to replace 2 cups of white flour, I’d use 1/2 cup oat flour and 1 to 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour.

Recipes using oat flour: Healthier Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Brownie Pancakes

3. Beans

I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical about this one when I first read about it since I haven’t always been a big lover of beans. Plus, there’s the whole ‘danger of undercooked beans’ thing. But both times I’ve tried using beans in place of flour, have resulted in some surprisingly yummy treats. Chickpeas and black beans are the most popular substitutions, but I’ve also tried black eyed peas with great results. Obviously, you should only use black beans when cocoa powder is involved, since the beans will turn your treats brown. But, other than that, this substitution is smooth sailing.

Substitution Tip: Replace 1 cup of white purpose flour with 1 cup of bean puree.

Recipes using beans: Black Eyed Peas Chocolate Chip Blondies, Peanut Butter Black Bean Brownie Cups

4. Buckwheat Flour

Most of my attempts at using buckwheat flour have ended in disaster, however, I’ve come to the conclusion that it was made for pancakes. Like oat flour, buckwheat flour is gluten free so replacing all the white flour in a recipe with buckwheat flour won’t yield the best results. But for some reason, just buckwheat flour pancakes work like magic.

Substitution Tip: Depending on the recipe, if I wanted to replace 2 cups of white flour, I’d use 1/2 to 3/4 cups buckwheat flour and 1 to 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour.

Recipes using buckwheat flour: 6 Ingredient Gluten Free Spinach Crepes, Lentil Pancake Loaf

5. Nut Flours

I’ve only attempted this once with almond flour and it wasn’t exactly the best experience, but I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt until I try it a few more times. Nut flours don’t rise the same way wheat flours do so it isn’t usually recommended to replace all wheat flours with nut flours unless you absolutely have to. But if your can stomach the wheat & gluten, I’d do a similar substitution to the oat flour substitution:

Substitution Tip: 1/4 cup nut flour + 1/2 to 2/3 cups whole wheat flour for every cup of white flour.

Recipes using nut flours: I’ll keep ya posted on my nut flour experiments once I start to use them a little more often!

6. Spelt Flour

I’ve had a wheat sensitivity for as long as I can remember but it was never bad enough for me to give up eating things that contain it (unlike my issues with dairy). That being said, I decided to start experimenting with spelt flour last year because a few naturopaths suggested it as an alternative. I’ve been baking almost exclusively with spelt flour for past year or so and I’ve loved the results. It’s pretty similar to wheat but has a few differences that make it easier to digest, which is always a plus.

Substitution tip: For best results replace 1 cup of white flour with 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1/2 cup spelt. If you’d prefer to replace all the wheat flour with spelt, make a one to one substitution, but reduce overall liquid by about 25%

Recipes using spelt flour: Vegan Orange Poppy Seed Baked Donuts, Easy Vegan Drop Biscuits

7. Coconut Flour

For the longest time, I refused to bake with coconut flour because it’s just so unpredictable. But there are loads of people who swear by baking with coconut flour so I know it can’t be all bad. The issue with this one is that it’s super absorbent. So attempting to substitute wheat flour with coconut flour ends in disaster more often than not. It’s much easier to start from scratch and develop an entirely new recipe than attempt to convert an existing one. But if you absolutely must make a substitution, I’ve given some pointers below that may be useful.

Substitution tips: Replace 1 cup of wheat flour with 1/4 – 1/3 cup of coconut flour and double or triple the number of eggs (or egg replacement) used.

Recipes using coconut flour: Paleo Vegan Nut Free Brownie Cookies

5 healthier white flour replacements for baking via @ExSloth | ExSloth.com

More baking substitutions:

What about you?

  • Have you ever used these while flour substitutions? 
  • Did they work for you? Or did they end in disaster?
  • Any other tips or white flour substitutions to add?

Share in the comments below!
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Originally published in April 2014

Comments

  1. This is awesome, Giselle! I love how your posts are always so informative and help people in some way or another. 😀 I have lotsssss of experience now with non-white flour, but I’m always learning, failing, crying, succeeding with it all. Hah! Every baked good requires different textures so it gets quite tricky, but that’s keeps it fun, right? 😉 I love to use oats or millet in a lot of my baking.
    ellie @ fit for the soul recently posted…Quinoa Protein Pancakes {gf}

    Reply

      • I am missing where to start a new comment thread, so apologies there. How do these subs work on the stove top? As in sautéeing a sauce? More specifically asking about the wheat and oat flour. Found this article on Pinterest. New follower. Thanks!

        Reply

        • Hi Maggie! The whole wheat and spelt flours should work as straight one to one subs (or a little less in the case of the whole wheat). However, if you have tapioca or arrowroot flour/starch on hand I’d highly recommend those for thickening sauces instead. You can replace every tbsp of flour with 1/2 tbsp arrowroot or 3/4 tbsp tapioca. As for the oat flour, I have no experience using it as a thickener, so I can’t really add assistance there but let me know how it goes if you try it. Either way, I hope this helped!

          Reply

      • I always use whole wheat pastry flour when baking! It’s ground more from the soft wheat berry which contains more carbohydrate, less gluten and protein. This makes for softer, less dense and less “wheaty” tasting baked good! It’s also less absorbent that normal wheat flour. Typically when subbing whole wheat flour for white flour you need more liquid to make the batter or dough the proper consistency. You don’t have to worry about this with whole wheat pity flour! it’s really great and equally nutritious as whole wheat!

        Reply

  13. I have recently baked a little, because I’ve been playing around with using aquafaba (bean brine) as an egg substitute. I wasn’t worried about flour, except I decided to use gluten free (not from need, but I had some rice flour on hand). I also tried a gluten free one to one flour that was a blend of a few different types of flour. It actually worked well, but I have no idea if it’s any healthier than white flour.
    Debbie @ Coach Debbie Runs recently posted…My Plans and Goals for Blogfest and IDEAWorld

    Reply

    • I’ve been looking everywhere for white whole wheat flour with no luck, so I haven’t tried it before. But, from what I’ve read, it’s should work just like whole wheat flour. The only difference would be that your baked goods wouldn’t have the darker tint that usually comes when you’re baking with brown/whole wheat flour. Let me know what you think if you try it!

      Reply

  15. More great info Giselle. I don’t bake often but I’ve gotten pretty good at flour substitutions to make a recipe gluten free. I need to try the chickpea flour. Thanks for sharing with Fitness Friday!
    jill conyers recently posted…Lorna Jane INSPIRED

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  21. I totally agree– buckwheat flour makes the best pancakes! That’s what I use it for most of the time. It’s pretty good in graham crackery type cookies, too– but only if it’s a small proportion of the total flours.

    I’ve had the same experience with oat flour– it absorbs so much more moisture than what flour, so it always gives baked goods a gummy texture. I use it combined with almond or coconut flour and find that helps balance it out.
    Michelle @ Vitamin Sunshine recently posted…Cherry Chocolate Breakfast Cookies (GF, VG)

    Reply

  22. I love this! I really need to try spelt flour. Oat flour is my favorite right now because it gives a chewy and doughy texture to baked goods!

    Reply

  26. I am so thankful for finding this article! However I am wondering which of these substitutes can be used without being cooked/baked and still be safe for eating?

    Reply

  31. I like the idea of replacing white flour, my doctor has told me to cut carbs and almond flour does that but I really want to find something that I can use to bake some old fashion recipes that also reduces carbohydrates. My family recipe for pound cake comes to mind, I’m afraid that whole wheat flour would still have too many carbs. Since I know that all almond flour probably will not work, and there needs to be some kind of gluten to help hold the cake together, would you have any suggestions that I can try.

    Reply

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