almond flour versus GL flour

scrowley · Post by **scrowley** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 2:23 pm

i have a question, i purchased a SCD book that uses almond flour for everything,i only have my big 50lb bag of GF all purpose flour.
i would like to make some of these recipes but how do i convert them to the all purpose from the almond flour.
they dont use any xanthan gum?
thanks alot.

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 8:11 pm

I use a lot of almond flour and have found that I don't need to use xanthan gum with it. Even my tortillas (1/2 almond flour, 1/2 corn flour) are quite flexible without the xanthan gum.

It's very expensive, if you use the blanched flour, which has the skins removed. A 16 oz. bag of Bob's Red Mill almond flour costs around $11.99. Almond flour is very low in carbohydrates compared to grain flour, which is usually pretty high in carbs. It is ideal for a low-carbohydrate diet.

I make my own almond milk after soaking the almonds and then blanching and removing the skins. I dehydrate the leftover pulp and turn it into flour by putting it in the blender. It makes a wonderful, light flour. It costs virtually nothing because it is a side product. You can buy a 3 lb. bag of almonds at Sam's Club or Costco for $9.67 or so. The bag makes 4 batches of 64 ounces of milk and about 8 cups of flour. The recipe is in Dee's Kitchen.

You can also buy a much cheaper almond flour from Trader Joe's for a little over $4 a lb. - I haven't bought it for a while, so I'm not sure about the exact price. Their flour has been ground with the skins.

how do i convert them to the all purpose from the almond flour

I make muffins, pancakes, waffles and tortillas using almond flour as one of the flours. I am intolerant to eggs, so I can't use them as a binder. The almond flour works very well in each of the recipes. I have had to change the flours I use many times over the past four years. Each time I have followed this substitution formula: I always substitute a high protein flour with another high protein flour. I substitute a starch flour with another starch flour. For example, I substituted quinoa flour with almond flour (both high protein). I have substituted arrowroot for tapioca flour, and cornstarch for potato starch (both starch flours). Then I adjust the amount of liquid so the consistency is acceptable. I've made mistakes with the liquid, but I learn from them and still eat the product, if it's edible.

I don't bake other products anymore, such as bread, brownies, cookies, cakes, etc. primarily because I am intolerant to most of the main ingredients: eggs, butter/margarine, rice flour and chocolate, so I can't tell you how almond flour works with them. You could probably experiment using a 2:1 ratio of GF flour mix to almond flour. I would start by making muffins. They're very easy and you don't waste a lot of flour if they fail. I make 6-8 muffins in a batch and I use silicone cups so they are easily removed.

Gloria

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 8:14 pm

Gloria, how long does it take to remove the skins on the almonds? I have considered blanching them, but the thought of spending a great deal of time skinning them has turned me off.

You are correct on the price of almond flour at TJ's. It is $3.99 here, which with tax would make it just over $4.00.

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 8:28 pm

Removing the skins is the easiest part, IMHO. I cover them with water and heat to near boiling. Then I rinse them with cool water. The skins slip right off. I've even had my 6-year old granddaughter help me peel them. It takes less than 5 minutes. I soak them for at least 8 hours before blanching them. The almonds begin to sprout slightly and that seems to make them sweeter. I've read that it changes the enzymes.

Gloria

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 11:34 pm

Thanks, Gloria! I will be trying this.

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:17 am

Elana of Elana's Pantry recommends several brands of almond flour:

http://www.elanaspantry.com/why-almond-flour/

She does some serious baking, and though I don't, I appreciate the thinking she's put into this - very helpful!

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 9:28 am

I like Elana, and I am planning on trying some of her recipes. I "thought" I was allergic to almonds, at least the skins, but apparently I am not. Apples with almond butter are a favorite snack. Almond flour is expensive, so my miserly self is pleased with any way to make it for less money. I have only used Bob's Red Mill and Trader Joe's almond meal, so I was intrigued at how Elana does not like Bob's. Now if someone could come up with an less expensive source for coconut flour, I'd be in tall clover.

Deb · Post by **Deb** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:36 pm

Marliss, I was up in northern MN and stopped at this place http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com ... -flour.php. It was more of a shipping facility than a retail outlet but I got a big tub of coconut oil and coconut flour from them at what I thought were pretty decent prices. I'm not sure how high the shipping costs are though. I made some pumpkins muffins this morning substituting coconut flour for the almond flour (DD's allergic and they were coming up to help me process all the produce I bought yesterday). The recipe called for 1 1/2 c almond flour but I only used 1/2 c of the coconut flour. It really absorbs the moisture. They turned out pretty good.

scrowley · Post by **scrowley** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 10:58 pm

thanks or the advice.
I still havent gotten around to it,
my 2 kids keep my busy so instead ate a huge bagle today an feel like crap tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thank god for entocort that is all i have to say, not looking forward to going off of it.

scrowley · Post by **scrowley** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:23 pm

I am wondering do I have to make sure the almond/tapioca etc flour is gluten free or do we assume it is?
I called a company who makes it in large bags GUISTOS and they told me its not gluten free the almond flour as its put on the same equipment as regualr flours and they make alot of flours in the west coast.
also potato flour etc...

Post by **tex** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 8:20 am

Flour milling equipment is extremely difficult to clean, unless the operators completely disassemble it each time they change products, and thoroughly wash it, and they're not very likely to do that. Most production lines are blown off with air, on a regular basis, but when they change products, they simply switch products, discard the first output that comes through, and when the output "looks good", they begin bagging it. Whether or not your particular bag of flour is GF depends on how lucky you were when you bought it.

There may be exceptions, but as far as I can tell, most do as I described.

Tex

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 9:33 am

Probably the safest way to minimize potential gluten in flours is to mill the grains/seeds yourself. When I was still eating amaranth, rice, millet, buckwheat and quinoa, I would grind them in my grain mill. It's easier to see if there is an unusual kernel or seed before you put it in the mill.

I buy white corn flour already milled and am considering buying the kernels and milling it myself. I found a place in Utah that sells them.

Tex, do dried white corn kernels have a low enough moisture content that they won't gum up a home grain mill? My mill has steel blades.

Gloria

Post by **tex** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:27 am

If the corn is dry enough for safe storage, which should be the case, if it's sold as number 1 white corn, (IOW, food grade white corn), or number 2 corn, (feed grade), it should mill nicely. Normally, corn shouldn't gum up a mill unless it's way above safe storage moisture levels, such as 30% moisture or higher. Food grade corn should always be below 14% moisture, (that's a USDA standard).

The pericarp on corn is quite hard, (especially on food grade corn), so it's not easy to grind, but your mill should be able to handle it. Most corn meal or flour millers use a sifting process to remove the grits, (the endosperm), from the ground product, so that the end product will not be so coarse. I'm sure you realize that with a steel mill, you'll need to make multiple passes, to get fine meal or flour.

Tex

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 6:13 pm

Thanks, Tex. An Indian store in town sells a small bag of it. I might try milling it before I spring for a larger bag. It costs the same for the flour as it does for the whole corn, though.

Gloria

Post by **tex** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 6:47 pm

If we still processed food corn, I'd send you a 50 lb. bag, but the weather has been so uncooperative, the last few years, that we couldn't raise food grade corn these days, if we wanted to. We used to grow and process several million pounds of it every year, and about a third of it was white corn.

Tex