You can usually replace the white flour with whole grain flour for up to 1/2 of the specified amount with little change from the original texture/raising. Add gluten, usually 1½ to 2 tablespoons per cup of whole grain flour. Yes, one must experiment a bit, but that's mostly to get the texture and lightness you prefer. BTW, gluten is best if kept frozen, because its shelf-life is extremely short. Just measure the frozen gluten powder right into the measured whole grain flour, stir and it will be thawed before the yeast needs it. If one uses molasses or honey instead of sugar, then the amount of liquid added should be adjusted downwards, to about ¾ of the equal amount. That means that if one changes ¼ cup white granulated sugar to ¼c [which is 4 tblsp] honey and the recipe calls for 1 cup water, remove 1 tablespoon of water from the cup. (That sounds worse to read than it is to do!). Brown sugar is white sugar with molasses added, so it is somewhat wetter than white but not as wet as honey... I find it easier to toss in an extra teaspoon of flour for each tablespoon of brown sugar. OR one can use ¼ less honey than the specified amount of sugar. That can get a bit tricky because the yeast needs "X" amount of sugar in order to rise properly and lessening the specified amount of sweetening can cause the bread to be dense/heavy. I don't really recommend it, but you may find it fun to play around. Are you doing everything by hand, or are you using a bread machine?

I use a LOT of freshly milled spelt. It bakes up differently than sprouted spelt flour. Some things to note, there is less gluten, and a different type of gluten, in spelt than what you are used to with wheat. Gluten absorbs moisture, so less gluten, less absorption of hydration to begin with. Sprouted spelt flour is usually much dryer because of the process of drying it after sprouting. Wholegrain (freshly-milled) sprout flour has a fairly good amount of moisture in it - around 10-15%. The lack of moisture from processing may contribute to some of the crumbling. So use a little less sprouted spelt flour, or increase the hydration by a little. Try using some sprouted spelt recipes and see if you get better results. (See link below.) -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Summers Sprouted Flour Company

Personally, I wouldn't make quick breads of any kind with King Arthur White Wheat Flour because it's too high in protein/gluten to get really good results - whole wheat pastry flour would be a better choice, as Terri pointed out. The increase in gluten is probably the cause of the texture changes you experienced. Making quick breads is all about keeping gluten-development to a minimum. This includes the type of flour used and the amount of mixing. When substituting whole wheat flour for all-purpose in a recipe, you may benefit from reducing (as in leaving it out completely) the amount of whole wheat flour by 1 or 2 tablespoons per cup to compensate for the higher gluten. Because the KA whole wheat flour has more gluten, as well as bran in it, both will absorb more hydration than all-purpose flour would and can alter the texture. It's easier to reduce the amount of flour, rather than increase the hydration. When using KA White Wheat Flour it would be even more important to keep mixing to a bare minimum so you don't over-develop the gluten in the flour (which is higher than all-purpose). I mill my own flour and use the same wheat (13.1% protein) as they use for King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour. I purchase it from the local stone mill that mills King Arthur White Whole Wheat for this region. I normally mill SOFT white wheat (Bob's Red Mill) for quick breads because it has a much lower protein/gluten content; OR use a 3:1 mixture of hard white wheat and spelt to lower the amount of protein/gluten. I made crumb cake muffins yesterday, and as another option to reduce the gluten I used 3/4 hard white wheat and 1/4 high-maize resistant starch (to reduce the gluten, lower the glycemic impact and increase the fiber), and the muffins were very light and tender. The original recipe called for all-purpose flour. Good luck with your new trials. What a great recipe to have to "work on" (LOL)! -Grainlady

White whole-wheat (also called whole wheat pastry flour) will yield a softer bread and still have the fiber. The vital wheat gluten is a must. Here is David's (Lakeguy) recipe which I have saved but have yet to make (still no oven, but soon!). It looks great. Struan Bread Makes 1 large loaf or 2 small loaves Soaker 3 tablespoons polenta 3 tablespoons rolled oats 2 tablespoons wheat bran 1/4 cup water Dough 3 cups unbleached bread flour 3 tablespoons brown sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon instant yeast 3 tablespoons cooked brown rice 1 1/2 tablespoons honey 1/2 cup buttermilk 3/4 cup water topping 1 tablespoon poppy seeds Mix together the ingredients for the soaker. Cover and allow to soak for at least half an hour or as long as overnight. In a larger bowl, combine the dry ingredients, then stir in wet ingredients and soaker. Add more flour or water until the dough can be formed into a ball that is tacky but not sticky. Place the ball of dough on a clean work surface and knead it for 10 to 12 minutes, then return it to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to ferment until doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, degas it gently, and split it for two loaves or shape it as is for one. Place the loaves in greased bread pans, spritz or sprinkle water on top, and sprinkle a handful of poppy seeds on top. Cover the pans loosely with plastic and allow the loaves to rise until doubled in size again, approximately 90 minutes. Bake these loaves at 350 for 40 to 60 minutes, until the internal temperature is around 190 degrees. When ready the loaves will be quite brown on top and will make a hollow thud when tapped on the bottom. Nothing like homemade bread...I love it! David