You will notice in a lot of my recipes that an ingredient called "Vital Wheat Gluten" will be called for. There are a lot of people not understanding what this is, so I am going to explain here what it is and why it is important to use in all of your baking where 100% whole wheat is used. Gone are the days of having to use 1/2 wheat flour mixed with 1/2 white flour!
In order to make flour have any kind of shelf life, it has to be stripped of all oils, because these will go rancid in a matter of a few days to a week. When making white flour, the outer two layers of the wheat berry are stripped away, which removes all nutrients that the berry has and will only leave you with the starchy middle (or endosperm) of the grain. You are left with a nutrient depleted starch - that raises when baked really well. You won't have any nutritive value, but you will have light fluffy bread.
Now switch to whole-wheat. We have all had that hockey puck of a sandwich made from 100% whole-wheat that crumbled all over the place when you took a bite. Whole-wheat is much more dense and has WAY less starch in it, but man is it good for you! If only you could have the best of both worlds.
Ta-Da! That is where our wheat gluten comes in. Wheat gluten is strictly the protein portion of wheat. Wheat flour dough is basically washed and rinsed until nothing is left but the gluten. Gluten is what gives your dough it's elasticity and light fluffy shape. The nice thing about the gluten as well is, it packs an extra protein punch without any added starch.
It doesn't take a lot of extra gluten for your recipes to come out light and fluffy. I usually use about 1 Tb. of gluten per 1-1 1/2 cups whole wheat and I use it in everything: breads, biscuits, pancakes, waffles - well, anything calling for flour. I only use white flour a couple of times a year, when making cookies. Hey, it's a cookie. It's not going to be good for you anyway, so I just go for it and use white flour and full on butter!
Try it next time a recipe calls for 1/2 whole-wheat flour and 1/2 white flour. Use the whole amount in wheat flour and add your wheat gluten. It will turn out perfect, and a whole lot better for you.
picture taken by The Vegan Cookbook Aficionado
