♂ Whole Wheat Flour - Where To Buy?

Pillsbury: Chakki Atta 100% Whole Wheat Flour

Pillsbury is one of the many brand under a reputable flour producer in USA,  General Mills, it is well recognized internationally, you can get this brand in almost every countries on earth. Pillsbury Chakki Fresh Atta was introduced to India in 1998. It was a high-quality, nutritious alternative to the age-old tradition of purchasing grain and having it ground at the local “chakki” or flour mill. Pillsbury Chakki Fresh Atta is 100 percent whole wheat grain atta with fiber.

Before I elaborate more about this brand, let me share with you one brand of whole wheat flour that you might want to avoid in Singapore, at all costs!

I have tried many brands of whole wheat flour, including some India-produced whole wheat flour. But this brand contains live white worms, yes, read.. LIVE MOVING worms at different packets with different batch numbers, I bet the whole production plant is contaminated. And that brand is 'House Brand' by KNP Trading Private Limited. To make things worse, it is readily available at our major supermarkets in Singapore: NTUC and Sheng Siong! Good luck to all the faithful consumers for this brand, if they do not sift their flour, they will never know it.

The best part is the company replied that those are weevils and is 'perfectly common and normal' in whole wheat flour because it is less processed, oh please! Weevil does not look like worms at the first place and that is common only in their package, and not other brands, I do not see a single worm or weevil in my favourite Pillsbury brand. So people, think twice before you buy House Brand brand of whole wheat flour.

 

☼ Tips:
As whole wheat flour is less processed unlike refined white flour, it is still whole grain. Always sift whole wheat flour for traces of 'foreign objects', if you see some grain after you sift, do not be alarmed, those are likely to be the bran. That is perfectly normal, just throw it away.

☼ What do I use whole wheat flour for?

When using such regular whole wheat flour in baking, it will be denser because of the lack of gluten, it is important to add vital wheat gluten to whole wheat yeast bread to improve the texture and elasticity of the dough. I make my own bread but I do not use this flour because 100% whole wheat bread will be very dense. I will do a post soon on the whole wheat bread flour that I use for bread-making and where to buy.

I use this whole wheat flour for making pizza crust, pancake and baking brownie as well as naans and roti for Indian cuisine. For baking such as cake and cookie and pastry, I use this whole wheat pastry flour.

Pillsbury: Gold Atta 100% MP Sharbati

Do not mix up Pillsbury Chakki Atta 100% Whole Wheat Flour with another of their product Gold Atta 100% MP Sharbati. Although both are 100% whole wheat, Gold Atta is more suitable for making indian roti, and not so much for baking or making 100% whole wheat bread because it will be dense.

 

Pillsbury: Chakki Atta 100% Whole Wheat Flour

Where to get this Pillsbury Chakki Atta 100% Whole Wheat Flour?

Compared to Giant, Sheng Siong and various supermarkets, none of them can beat the prices at Mustafa Center. Well I guess it explains because most of the Indians in Singapore go there to buy groceries including whole wheat flour which is heavily used in Indian cuisine. If you are not expecting to use much within a short period of time, do not be tempted to get the 5kg packet for savings, it is better to keep to the packaging of 1 to 2 kg to ensure freshness. After opening, store flour in fridge. Whole wheat flour are less processed and is whole grain, thus it is unlike refined white flour which you can just place in a cool dry place. If you have no space in the fridge, place flour in air-tight container in cool dry spot for maximum 3 months.

Where to buy?
In Singapore
☼
SGD5.90 for 5kg. (Equivalent to SGD1.18 for 1kg)  ☆Best Buy!
SGD2.80 for 2kg.
SGD1.40 for 1kg.

Available at Mustafa Center, Singapore.
Exact location: Level 2, Row 9.

☼ SGD2.00+ for 1kg.
Available at Sheng Siong, Singapore.

Location: Various in Singapore.

☼ Also commonly available at most Indian grocery stores.

☼ Buy this online at Amazon. Some countries will have different packaging for this Pillsbury Whole Wheat Flour, some look like this.
 

Bob's Red Mill: Whole Wheat Flour

And of course, if you have lots of spare cash and is a die-hard fan of Bob's Red Mill, you can get their Whole Wheat flour.



Where to buy?
In Singapore

☼ SGD3.00 for 680g. (Equivalent to SGD4.40 for 1kg)  

Available at Mustafa Center, Singapore

Exact location: Level 2, Row 9-11.

 

☼ About SGD5.00 for 680g.
Available at Cold Storage and Giant Hyper.

 

Online

☼ Get this at Amazon.

☼ Get this at iHerb.

 

So this Pillsbury whole wheat flour (SGD1.40 per kg) is even cheaper than the general refined white flour (usually SGD3 per kg) that we mostly use, and for better health, I do not see the reason why I am keeping any refined white flour in my pantry.

 

Most people hear that refined white flour is bad, but they do not know much about why and how bad they are. Some know that white flour lacks vitamins and minerals which whole grains flour have.  Well, just lacking those vitamins and minerals don't sound that bad bad, right? There are many other poisonous and fattening effect of refined white flour which are not known to public. Bread, cake, all-purpose, wheat and top flour are all refined white flour that is harmful to the body. Most Asians are not receptive to whole grain flour unlike the West, because we are so used to having soft fluffy bread. However, this can also be achieved using whole wheat bread flour.

 

If you are baking, do not use this regular whole wheat flour. Use whole wheat pastry flour (SGD4.60 per kg) instead, click to know more and where to buy. What is the difference? Whole wheat pastry flour is milled from low-protein soft spring wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour is milled from hard red wheat. The softer wheat has a lower protein content than wheat and makes a desirable flour for pastry baking.  

♥ Differences Between Whole Wheat and Refined Wheat/White Flour 

We are all aware that refined white/bread flour are harmful. During the refining process, whole wheat grain are heavily processed that almost all the vitamins, minerals and protein are lost. Even if it is enriched flour, it only adds few vitamins and nothing else.  During the refining process, the endosperm is the only portion of the grain used to make white breads, pastas etc. When the bran and germ are removed, one quarter of the protein content is lost, along with several key nutrients.

Whole wheat grains are power packed with nutrients that are made up of the entire or "whole" grain, including the bran, germ, and endosperm.

Here's a snapshot to let you have a good understanding. To read more about the refined flour, click here.
 

♥ Harmful Effects But Truth of Refined Flour
 • Nutritional loss from whole wheat grains
 • Rise in insulin
 • Glycaemic Index (GI) disorders
 • Inflammation
 • Food cravings
 • Metabolic slowdown
 • Food allergies/Intolerances
 • Acid-alkaline imbalance
 • Fattening
 • Natural insecticide
 

♥ Main Benefits of Whole Grains
 • Stroke risk reduced
 • Type 2 diabetes risk reduced
 • Heart disease risk reduced
 • Better weight maintenance
 • Asthma risk reduced
 • Healthier carotid arteries
 • Inflammatory disease risk reduced
 • Lower risk of colorectal cancer
 • Healthier blood pressure levels
 • Less gum disease and tooth loss


♥ Learning a new cuisine is actually not that challenging, it is the process of understanding & finding the ingredients in your area which is tedious and time-consuming. Thus, I am most willing to share with readers (Singapore, Malaysia and international) where I get the most value-for-money ingredients that are slightly uncommon. See more of the great, affordable & healthy stuff I am always get.

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