Whole wheat flour vs. Whole wheat PASTRY flour

[Carrie W]

A few weeks ago I posted a review about the cranberry choc. chip biscotti that uses whole wheat flour, and noted that my batter was quite a bit more runny than other biscotti recipes that I've made (although they still turned out to be delicious!). Well, I made another batch last night, and noticed that I had grabbed and used my whole wheat pastry flour, NOT the regular whole wheat flour. Since the pastry flour seems so much finer, I'm guessing that this unintentional substitution was the source of my problem.

Do any of you agree? I know that when substituting cake flour for all-purpose, you're supposed to use more than called for in the original recipe. So would this explanation make sense? Thanks!

[chefbec]

Yes, whole wheat flour is denser than whole wheat pastry. I'm sure that's what caused the problem.

[Anne]

Hi Carrie. Pastry flour has less gluten than regular flour. Gluten is necessary for yeast breads to rise but mixing or kneeding gluten tends to toughen pastry and some quick breads. Good yeast bread flours are high in gluten while pastry flours aren't. This makes a big difference in both the texture and how they absorb water.

[Carrie W]

Thanks to both of you!