The Fresh Loaf

News & Information for Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts


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illini89's picture


Hi! i have found a great cupcake recipe that calls for whole wheat pastry flour. Seeing as I live in Berlin Germany, this poses some problems.

1. what is exactly whole wheat pastry flour? Is is the whole wheat version of normal cake flour?

2. I highly doubt that I will find this flour at the store, any substitutions?





sphealey's picture

=== 1. what is exactly whole wheat pastry flour? Is is the whole wheat version of normal cake flour? ===

Whole wheat pastry flour is a finely ground unbleached whole wheat flour made primarily from soft wheats (as opposed to the hard wheats that are the primary component of bread and high gluten flours). Cake flours are almost always fractionated (white) and bleached[1] as well to make them softer and finer. Not sure what the European equivalent is though. If no one here knows you could e-mail King Arthur Flour's customer service and ask them.


[1] A year or so ago I took a King Arthur class and they reported that after 20 years of development they were very close to an unbleached cake flour, but I guess they weren't as close as they thought then ;-(

Thegreenbaker's picture

I would use normal all purpose wholewheat flour and maybe sift it.


KipperCat's picture

Can you get a white pastry flour or cake flour?  If so, I would sub that for about 1/4 to 1/3 of the flour, using regular whole wheat flour for the rest.

Somewhere on TFL, there is a reference to someone's German grandmother going directly to the mill for her flours, and specifying both the grain and the type of milling. I've no idea just where in Germany she was.  Are there any mills in your area that deal directly with the public? 

JERSK's picture

  I don't know, but I've read, that most of the European wheats are soft wheats. With that in mind, your normal whole wheat flour may be close to American whole wheat pastry flour.