Wholemeal breads and pastries are made using 100 percent wholemeal wheat flour, which is milled from the whole grain including the outer husks. This means that it contains more nutrients than the processed, dehusked white flours, but it also means that wholemeal flour needs to absorb more liquid than white flour to soften the ground husk. This often results in doughs or pastries that are heavier, though they are wholesome and nutritious with good flavor. To avoid this heaviness, your recipe needs to be adjusted accordingly.

Wholemeal pastry is best used as a base for flan cases rather than a top crust, for it does not have the light, short or flaky texture of white flour pastry. To compensate for this, roll wholemeal pastry thinner than pastry made with white flour, and always prebake or bake blind if making a base or pastry case.

For lighter breads and pastries you can use half wholemeal and half white flour. This results in a less heavy-textured bread, which has added crunch from wheat berries, which are whole husked grains of wheat also called wheat kernels.