Graham Flour

I have been baking for a long time.  I have been using healthier options like whole-wheat flour and unbleached white flour, from the very beginning.  (The linked information is exhaustive but interesting.)  I really love to chose the best ingredients to make nutritious meals for my family. 

Recently, I tried graham flour in place of my usual whole-wheat.  (The link provides a little history on the origins of the flour.)  Much like whole-wheat, graham flour contains all three parts of the wheat grain.

  The parts are the endosperm or the "white" portion of the wheat, the germ and the bran.  If you read the links, you know that whole-wheat flour takes all three parts and grinds them together.  They become the same texture.  The short version of graham flour production is that the bran and the germ are removed and coarsely ground.  Then, they are added back into the endosperm which after processing is finely ground white flour.  This results in a flour that retains a heartier and more course texture.  See...

Let me tell you, it makes a difference!  It creates such a wonderful complexity in the bread. 
Now that I have tried it, I may not ever go back!  Of course I still keep unbleached white flour around. 

So give it a try.  I used it as I would regular whole-wheat flour.  I would love to hear how you like it or don't like it.  Or share with us your favorite ingredient to cook with.  (your checkbook does not count!)

(BTW, I just used my new favorite flour to make an insanely good Cinnamon and Sugar Graham bread.  Yeah, it was great research for this blog.  :)

Blessings!