Experimenting with Almond Flour

[BeeZee]

For Mother's Day, I made a fruit crisp which turned in to a not crisp (more of a cobbler) because I was stupid and mixed the melted butter into the flour/sugar mixture instead of drizzling on top. No matter, it was tasty. The recipe called for one cup of flour, I subbed 1/4c of almond flour for the AP. I plan to do more experimenting with almond flour (for the nutritional profile) in muffins, does it absorb significantly less liquid than wheat flour? I'm using a lot of whole wheat flour rather than white flour, so "lightening" the mix is not a bad thing.

[CatIsHungry]

Substituting with almond flour is sometimes easy - sometimes not ... it’s much fattier, so you’re going to have a lighter, fluffier result - and baking with wheat flour is going to give you a heavier result ...

 

Starting off - I would make a 1/4 cup sub ... and see how your results go from there.

 

A LOT of paleo websites use almond flour recipes (I guess they are supposed to be tried and true?) 

 

I also know if you make any sort of crumb topping (like for coffee cake) - makes a wonderful wonderful crumb topping! Not to mention an incredibly light coffee cake. 

 

You can use it in many things, though - cakes - muffins - quick breads - bread breads - pancakes and it’s delicious.

[BeeZee]

Thank you, I definitely thought it seemed very "fluffy" for flour, I think when I make the muffins in the next day or so, I will sub out 25% of the whole wheat flour. I don't mind the denser muffins (I use a healthy recipe with a lot of mashed banana in the mix, so they are pretty moist) but I think this will only improve them.

[jimb0]

 

On 5/14/2019 at 4:26 PM, CatIsHungry said:

You can use it in many things, though - cakes - muffins - quick breads - bread breads - pancakes and it’s delicious.

 

I find the pancakes an especially good use of these alternative flours; they don't need to rise very high, cook before they collapse, and you never want a tough, glutenous pancake. 

 

When I do cakes and muffins, I usually end up adding some xanthan and extra leavening, but when I tend to nut flours it's usually to the exclusion of wheat entirely. Have you tried coconut flour? It works well, too, and (for me, personally) a little faint coconut flavour makes everything better.

[CatIsHungry]

12 hours ago, BeeZee said:

Thank you, I definitely thought it seemed very "fluffy" for flour, I think when I make the muffins in the next day or so, I will sub out 25% of the whole wheat flour. I don't mind the denser muffins (I use a healthy recipe with a lot of mashed banana in the mix, so they are pretty moist) but I think this will only improve them.

 

Let us know how it works out! Out of curiosity ~ do you blacken (ripen) your bananas in the oven? I do when I make banana bread ~ makes them ripen fast (not a super secret) but they seem extra ~ juicy? and I get a better result than the freezer - I am totally convinced (I have convinced myself) it's the secret to my banana bread ☺️

[CatIsHungry]

1 hour ago, jimb0 said:

 

 

I find the pancakes an especially good use of these alternative flours; they don't need to rise very high, cook before they collapse, and you never want a tough, glutenous pancake. 

 

When I do cakes and muffins, I usually end up adding some xanthan and extra leavening, but when I tend to nut flours it's usually to the exclusion of wheat entirely. Have you tried coconut flour? It works well, too, and (for me, personally) a little faint coconut flavour makes everything better.

 

Ha! Gooey pancakes are bane of breakfast, aren't they? ☺️ I love coconut - oh how I love it - and miss it so! (one of the things I can't eat anymore - the absolute horrors!)

 

I guess about a month ago? I found a recipe on the internet for almond flour / coconut flour pancakes that were actually FLUFFY and STAYED fluffy! I thought they were lying - they were not lying. Pretty basic keto? type recipe - 2/3c Almond Flour and 1/3c Coconut Flour - 3 eggs and 1/2 - 3/4c milk of choice - of course you can add vanilla, cinnamon, etc ... standard stuff - combine dry - combine wet - minimal mix of course - let rest ... I wish I could remember where I found it so I could credit it - hubby and son really enjoyed it - you could add some sugar or sweetener but it was naturally slightly sweet on it's own blah blah blah ... for my regular pancakes - I add about 2tsp of baking soda and let it rest - nice and fluffy! fluffy fluffy! and I know this sounds a little goofy, but I always mix melted butter in with the slightly cold milk when I mix so the butter kind hardens back up- when I cook the pancakes, I end up with nice little pockets of butter *sigh* ... 

[JeanneCake]

Back up to the ripening bananas in the oven  please... how  long? what temp? does this only work when the bananas are already mostly yellow? half yellow with some green still?  Inquiring minds want to know because this could solve all my "I want banana  cake/bread/whatever and all I have are unripened bananas" problems.....

[CatIsHungry]

5 hours ago, JeanneCake said:

Back up to the ripening bananas in the oven  please... how  long? what temp? does this only work when the bananas are already mostly yellow? half yellow with some green still?  Inquiring minds want to know because this could solve all my "I want banana  cake/bread/whatever and all I have are unripened bananas" problems.....

 

Hi @JeanneCake - Yes! Ripening in the oven solves all of your “I want to make banana bread / cake / something now, darn it” problems! 

 

Here’s what I do -

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F 

I get out a rimmed baking sheet - lay down a sheet of parchment (the bananas can get leaky)  - place X # of bananas (with peel on)  on them - leave a little space between them - inch and a half at least - place in pre-heated oven - wait until skin is black and shiny - take them out - they’re all done! 

 

Timing will depend on how ripe (or not ripe) they are and your oven, of course ...

 

Good very ripe bananas with some  green on them has taken me as long as 45 mins

 

Bananas I bought and left on the tree that have ‘started to turn’ - but aren’t banana bread ready (have some black on them) - have taken as little 15-20 minutes ... 

 

It does work for ripe - unripe - in-between - want “more ripe” - it does bring out more (I don’t know how to say this “banana flavor / sugar / syrup / fructose “ ? - in my opinion it really enhances the flavor of the bread and I end up using less sugar in the recipe. 

 

Hope this helps!  

Cat

 

 

Edited May 19, 2019 by CatIsHungry
Holy crow, I didn’t realize - I talk A LOT :-/ (log)

[BeeZee]

Made banana muffins (with carob chips) today, the recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups flour, I used 1/4c almond flour and the remainder whole wheat. Not sure that it made a huge difference, but they are pretty moist. I will have to try it with the vegan recipe I have also made, it would likely be more noticeable. May bump it up to 3/8 cup almond flour.

 

[teonzo]

On 5/13/2019 at 11:03 PM, BeeZee said:

I plan to do more experimenting with almond flour (for the nutritional profile) in muffins, does it absorb significantly less liquid than wheat flour? I'm using a lot of whole wheat flour rather than white flour, so "lightening" the mix is not a bad thing.

 

It's hard to give a generic answer, since everything depends on the single recipe and how much wheat flour you sub with almond flour.

When a recipe calls for wheat flour then it means it's needed for its properties of building structure: gluten formation and starch gelatinization. Almond flour lacks both, so you can't sub all the wheat flour with almond flour, I would say that a good rule of thumb is never subbing more than 30% (70% wheat flour, 30% almond flour). That depends on the single recipe. When gluten is fundamental, then better not subbing wheat flour. When gluten helps for forming a compact dough (shortcrust, pie crusts and so on) and nothing more, then you can sub a good amount of wheat flour with almond flour, almond flour will act as a "structure breaker" (don't know the English term), this means that crusts will crumble more easily (a nice thing). When gluten is unnecessary but you need starch gelatinization to hold the final structure (muffins, cakes, genoise and so on) then you can sub part of wheat flour with almond flour (not more than 30% or structure will collapse), result will be more tender and moist because there's less gelatinized starch (but you still need it).

 

I would suggest pairing carobs with medjool dates, it's a favourite of mine.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[paulraphael]

Has no one mentioned financiers? I've never made a proper financier, but the batter is just about the most versatile and delicious quickbread concoction there is. Financier batter can be used for anything from petits fours to mini muffins to best non-pound cake pound cake you've ever had. You just need almond flour and egg whites and the usual stuff from your pantry.