How do I use whole wheat flour?

I've been resisting adding another item to my pantry, but I'm finding some healthy recicpes that call for whole wheat flour.  I'm ready to give it a try.  I don't do a lot of baking, except for the occassional oatmeal cookies.  I use flour more as a thickener, breading, etc.

Can whole wheat flour be used to thicken sauces?

When can whole wheat flour be substitued for all purpose flour?  Is it 1:1, or do you substitute 1/2 of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour?

Under what conditions do you NOT substitute whole wheat flour for all purpose flour? 

Anything else I should know?

Thanks for your tips!

You can use it exactly the same way as white flour. It's best in muffins, bread, etc. and for thickening. I think the only place where I would use white flour instead of ww flour is in a fluffy item, like a cake.

I don't bake often either, but a few weeks I got bit by the baking bug, so I decided to try making cinnamon rolls with ww flour instead of white. Because I've never used it before, I used ww for 3 of my 4 required cups of flour, and used white for one. They turned out really well. It didn't "act" any differently than making them with all white.

I'd love to hear what you try and how it turned out!

Generally, you should expect whole wheat flour to be denser and more coarse than white. But it's much better for you. If you're uncomfortable with a change in texture, taste, or density, use half wheat and half white (they even sell pre-mixed bags of this). I'd just play around with it and see what you get.

Unless the recipe specifically calls for whole wheat flour you will want to substitute it for about 1/3 of the flour called for.  If you have a sifter that will really help blend the two together.

I bought a small bag of whole wheat flour and it sits in front of the cupboard in it's original bag whereas my white flour is in it's hard-to-open-will-last-forever container.  I can sure count on my laziness to keep me healthy!  The result is that I have used wheat flour in almost everything!  Pancakes, cobbler, sauces, as a thickener . . . I haven't had any problems at all.  I like the slightly denser, heartier tasting results - but if appropriate I add cinnamon too so that Josh doesn't notice the slightly brown color.  I use it exactly like I use white flour (same quantity ect.) but I've heard that you can use a little less, or that mixing w/ white gives good results. 

Thanks everyone.  I will add ww flour to this week's grocery list.  Have a good weekend!

Very funny to stumble upon a WW Flour thread tonight. I just made my family homeade pizza with WW Flour instead of all white flour in the dough. Not a complaint in the house, and these are some seriously picky kids, husband included. It was really nice. My youngest liked the "sweet crust" This gives me confidence to do "swapouts" more frequently.

Just stumbled onto this thread and have to comment--I made pizza using ww and it was aweful. We couldn't cut it because it was rock hard! Would definitely mix white with ww. I also take oatmeal and put it in the blender until it is flour. I use this in ALL my recipes that call for white flour. Usually blended with white flour 50/50. MUCH healthier.

That's a great tip about the oatmeal flour carolann.  Thanks!