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This post is sponsored by Clabber Girl. All opinions provided are my own.
Recently Clabber Girl challenged me to use their baking powder in a series of posts all about biscuits. I kicked off the series testing out butter vs. shortening biscuits and more recently shared a step-by-step post for how to make perfect biscuits with ALL the tips and tricks! Now I’m moving on to testing out the flour, specifically all-purpose flour vs. whole-wheat flour. With the start of a new year and a focus on healthier eating, this seemed like the perfect experiment to see if we can’t make biscuits less indulgent and more of an everyday food.
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In pursuit of the perfect biscuit, flour can be a crucial component. Usually all-purpose flour or Southern-style soft wheat flour is used in biscuits, both of which offer virtually no nutritive benefits. You guys are always asking me about substituting whole wheat flour for all-purpose in my recipes to make them healthier, so I wanted to see if it was possible to make a straight whole wheat swap with biscuits. My fear was they might turn into hockey pucks since whole-wheat flour tends to create more dense breads. My hope was that they would still be delicious and would provide all the fiber and other health benefits of whole grains. Keep reading to find out the results of this little experiment!
Here is the recipe I used to test out the flours; it’s my favorite straightforward basic biscuit recipe.
All-Purpose Flour
Since I’ve only used all-purpose flour in my biscuits, this batch seemed perfectly normal. The all-purpose flour dough came together in a workable, cohesive, slightly shaggy way, making it easy to cut perfect round shapes for the biscuits. The resulting biscuits were beautifully shaped, with tall edges and a golden brown color. The exterior was slightly crunchy and flaky and the interior was soft and fluffy. Yum.
Whole-Wheat Flour
This was the first time I’ve used whole-wheat flour in biscuits and I really had no idea what to expect. I swapped out the same amount of all-purpose flour for standard and easy-to-find whole-wheat flour to get an accurate idea of how whole wheat affects the biscuits. The whole-wheat dough was very stiff and cohesive, making it a dream to work with.
The baked whole-wheat biscuits looked just like the all-purpose flour ones, just darker in color. The texture, however, was definitely different. Where the all-purpose biscuits were light and fluffy, the whole wheat ones were more spongy, dense, and chewy. They also had a distinct nutty flavor. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I would like the whole-wheat biscuits but they were actually quite enjoyable and with a little bit of jam smeared over them they were delicious in their own right!
So what’s the final verdict?
Both were good. However, the all-purpose ones were definitely what you’d expect and crave with a biscuit. If I make whole-wheat biscuits again I may experiment further with using half whole wheat flour, or even white wheat flour, to get closer to that original taste and texture.
Have you ever made whole-wheat biscuits before? What are your favorite tricks for making recipes healthier? Let me know below in the comments below!
This post is sponsored by Clabber Girl. All opinions provided are my own.
Biscuit Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups (9 ounces) all-purpose flour OR whole wheat wheat flour, plus more for dusting
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon Clabber Girl baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold
- 1 cup buttermilk, chilled
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the butter or the shortening and pulse the food processor several times to cut the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal. You can also do this by hand with a pastry blender. The faster you do this the better, you want the fat to remain cold. Stir in the buttermilk until just combined. DO NOT overmix, the dough will be slightly sticky.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and dust the dough with flour. Gently pat the dough out until it’s a 1/2-inch in thickness. Use a 2-inch round biscuit cutter to push straight down through the dough to cut out circles, try not to twist the cutter. Place the biscuits on the baking sheet, spacing 2-inches apart. Reform the scrap dough into 1/2-inch thickness, being sure to work with it as little as possible, before cutting out more circles.
- Bake the biscuits until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.
The absolute best homemade biscuit recipe out there! I even use gf flour and it comes out amazing every time!
That’s so great to hear, Loretta!! So happy that alternative works for you, too 🙂
I made mine, using the directions to a T; subbing regular flour for my all purpose gf flour. They were amazing! Getting ready for batch #4 now. Thx so much for sharing!
So great to hear that!
Often I use Whole Wheat in recipes calling for All-Purpose flour. However, as you noted, you will not get the rise from whole wheat- You Need Some All-Pupose in the mix to acheive a rise. I generally replace 25%-50% whole Wheat with my white All-Purpose. I Love my results- – The Best of Both Worlds.
As with any 100% whole wheat breads, soaking the flour first makes for a lighter and fluffier finished product. of course you have to reverse the process. Add liquid to flour and let stand for several hours or overnight. then add the butter or oil, mix, and finally add the baking powder and softly mix it in. Adding the bp last keeps it from activating too soon.
I just recently used 2 cups of white whole wheat flour for a healthier option. Initially I was skeptical as to how buttermilk biscuits made this way would turn out. However I added an egg and whisked it into the milk, with additional baking powder. They were fantastic! I’m sold!
I use fresh milled prairie gold by wheat Montana. It is a lighter wheat. The biscuits tasted wonderful, but didn’t have that nice fluff. Sounds like I need more baking powder and maybe buttermilk from the responses.
I’m a baker, and pastry chef. My experience has found that when replacing with while wheat flour it is necessary to increase the liquid and butter. Because ww absorbs much more of the liquid from the buttermilk, I increase the bm and had some h2o. My biscuits are fluffier with nice layers
Use whole wheat pasty flour instead of the regular whole wheat flour. The texture of the finished biscuits are nearly indistinguishable from white flour.
They are called Scones hen…..no biscuits.
You need to get some freshly ground whole wheat flour to try. It is world’s better than the store-bought stuff which is basically rancid.
I only have Whole wheat flours in my house. For biscuits I use white whole wheat usually. But yes, they are always a little more dense, but I really like the flavor.
And there’s a HUGE difference in the different brands of whole wheat flours. So far, I am only satisfied with two- King Arthur for the East and Bob’s Redmill here in the West. (delete if giving brand names is inappropriate)