Substituting wholemeal flour instead of white flr

Trying to eat more healthy baking treats and had a question. Can one substitute wholemeal flour instead of white flour for any/ most recipes?

I've never had good results doing that. Best to find recipes that actually use wholemeal flour. Cakes don't rise as well and biscuits are more crumbly. Wholemeal flour needs more liquid and the bran and germ it contains are not "flour", if you get my drift so measure for measure you get less "pure flour". Also some baking works better with flour that contains more gluten (called high grade flour) and others better with flour that has less gluten (called standard or pure flour). Wholemeal flour does not come in grades. It is just wholemeal and you take it as it comes.

When analysing recipes that use wholemeal flour you will notice that they are more "down to earth" or "heavier" style products rather than the delicate baking that can be achieved with white flour.

Even with bread, for instance, the loaf is much more dense and heavier. It is harder to make as well because of the effects of bran on gluten formation.

I do this all the time nowadays. After trial and error, I found that ½ and ½ gives the best results. I usually add a little more baking powder and liquid to the amount stated in any recipe.
I use it in pastry with good results. I also use it to make my bread, adding 1T gluten flour to every cup of wholemeal flour used, makes great bread.

I do it all the time too, I substitute anything up to a half with wholemeal flour. And like nauru has said you often need a little more liquid as wholemeal absorbs more.

I have a Cranks recipe book - a vegetarian restaurant started in the 50's/60's and they used wholemeal flour for all their baking including sponges.

Thanks everyone. Will give it a go substituting half and half and adding more liquid to the batter.

That is the way to go. Use recipes that specify wholemeal flour in them.