Flour Power

The road to hellishly bad food is often paved with good intentions. Take brown-rice sushi. Sure, it’s healthy, but the whole-grain flavor mercilessly bullies the fish — if blindfolded, it would be hard to say you were eating anything more than a mouthful of cold brown rice.Most whole-grain baked goods are similarly damned. I’d rather skip breakfast than eat a whole-wheat Danish from a health-conscious bakery. But since white flour has been pushed into the same Axis of Evil as fettuccine Alfredo and potato chips, what’s a passionate baker to do?You’d think that question would make a company like King Arthur Flour hot under the collar. But the company refuses to give up on “sinful” baked goods. It has just tried to reform them. Its new book, “King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking” (Countryman Press, 544 pages, $35), offers more than 400 almost entirely whole-grain versions of sweet and savory treats.The King Arthur Flour company is well known for its high-quality flours, and gained even more prestige a few years ago when it published the award-winning “King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion.” Now, the company has invested its considerable baking know-how in the service of the newest diet trend, devising recipes for whole-grain baked goods that don’t resemble doorstops. That’s a tricky task, since there’s no reliable rule of thumb of substituting whole-grain flour for white flour.Flipping through the book, it’s hard not to have a skeptical first reaction. Can they really pull off whole-grain caramel eclairs? And making croissants from scratch is tricky and tiresome enough without having to worry about the temperamental whole-wheat flour dough. But the authors (and the sheer girth of the book) inspire confidence. The King Arthur Flour bakers claim to have tested plenty of flour combinations for each recipe — they don’t simply rely on whole-wheat flour to substitute for all-purpose. There’s barley flour in the buttery pear tart, spelt flour in the herbed popovers, and cornmeal in the lemon pound cake.“King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking” also includes plenty of clever strategies for taming the flavor and texture of these flours. Whole-wheat pie crusts include orange juice rather than water to balance the assertive flavor of the grain. Cakes incorporate some white bread flour to add texture-building gluten. And some doughs get an overnight rest to soften the gritty bran.That’s not to say they’re ashamed of the flavor of whole grains. “Since many of these desserts have roots in the days before white flour was commonly available, it seems natural to return to whole grains, especially corn, barley, and whole wheat. The authors clearly relish the flavor possibilities of the whole wheat crust: “The added flavor serves as yet another element in the crust’s complexity, putting it head and shoulders above a blander white-flour crust.” They discover unexpected flavors that work well with whole grains, like citrus, nuts, and chocolate.Their apple walnut coffee cake was heads and shoulders above any whole-grain treat I’ve tried. On first taste, I could clearly discern the flavor of whole wheat, but it soon blended harmoniously with the walnuts and cinnamon. Texture-wise, it was a triumph — delightfully fluffy with a moist crumb.These whole-grain recipes are blessedly free of the additives, stabilizers, and soy flours so often used in packaged whole-grain products on supermarket shelves. And it’s great to have some guidance in using the new-fangled, healthier flours out there, like white whole-wheat flour and whole-wheat pastry flour. But there are a couple of significant snags. All the recipes in the book were tested using King Arthur Flour only, so the authors warn, “If you use another brand, watch carefully when adding the liquid; different grinds result in different flour-to-liquid ratios.”And of course, even though the recipes here are whole grain, they’re not necessarily health food. Butter and sugar are still present in abundance — there are 19 grams of fat in that slice of apple walnut coffee cake. But it’s silly to force a reasonably wholesome dish to become too healthy. Call it the Lesson of the Brown Rice Sushi.Apple-Walnut Coffee CakeAdapted from “King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking.”For the cake:2 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat1/2 (2 1/8 ounces) unbleached bread flour2 teaspoons baking powder1 teaspoon baking soda1 teaspoon salt1 1/2 cups peeled, diced tart apples (2 medium)1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar3 large eggs1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract1/4 cup boiled cider or apple juice concentrate1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) chopped walnutsFor the glaze:1/2 cup (2 ounces) confectioners’ sugar2 tablespoons (1 ounce) heavy cream1 tablespoon boiled cider or apple juice concentrate1. Preheat the oven to 350º F. Lightly grease a 10-inch tube pan.2. To make the cake, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Toss the diced apples with the lemon juice and cinnamon.3. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla and boiled cider (or apple juice concentrate). Mix in half the dry ingredients, stirring until incorporated. Mix in the sour cream and the remaining dry ingredients. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl once more to make sure everything is evenly combined, then stir in the apples and walnuts. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.4. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake just begins to pull away from the outside edge of the pan, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a rack for 15 to 20 minutes, before turning the cake out of the pan onto a serving plate. Cook the cake completely before glazing.5. To make the glaze, whisk together the ingredients until smooth. Spread the glaze over the top of the cooled cake.Makes one 10-inch tube cake, 16 to 20 servings.

Flour Power

Flour Power

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