Almond Flour/Almond Meal?

[Deus Mortus]

I mostly use almond flour, with or without grated parmesan, as breading for boneless skinless chicken breasts but here is a bread recipe I've made several times:

Three Minute Microwave Bread

After making this bread, I like to brown/toast it in a medium hot non-stick skillet, make a sandwich with ham and cheese, and nuke it again just until the cheese melts. The Best Grilled Ham And Cheese Ever!

Ingredients

1 Tbs butter

1 large egg

2 Tbs almond flour

2 Tbs flax meal

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 pinch Splenda

Procedure

• Melt butter in square "bread slice size" or larger microwavable container.
  
• Beat in egg. Stir together dry ingredients in another bowl and then add to beaten egg and butter.
  
• Mix thoroughly with a fork. Cover with plastic wrap and vent.
  
• Microwave on high for about 1 minute 30 seconds. Microwaves may vary. Check on it. Do not over cook.
  

Source: lowcarbfriends.com

That looks pretty good, however I haven't been able to get my hands on flax meal yet, is there anyway to substitute for it?

I suppose I should also see about importing some splenda, for whatever readon all the sweeteners here in Holland contain carbs.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

You should be able to buy flaxseed, no? Then just mill it in your coffee grinder. Voila, flax meal. And another question: is Stevia (sweetleaf) available in Holland? If so, it's an even better option than splenda....

[kayb]

Robirds, I'm anxious to try that bread as well. Having both flax meal and almond flour on hand, it's on the agenda. Thanks.

[Mjx]

. . . . However in a twist on previous attempts to lose weight, I have decided on a ketosis diet, which means, no carbs at all. . . .

You might want to keep in mind that almonds are a bit over 21% carbohydrate, and half of that is in the form of sugars or starches.

[HungryC]

I can see the crackers working, but I can't wrap my head around a completely flour-free puff pastry. Do post your results, please.

[Deus Mortus]

. . . . However in a twist on previous attempts to lose weight, I have decided on a ketosis diet, which means, no carbs at all. . . .

You might want to keep in mind that almonds are a bit over 21% carbohydrate, and half of that is in the form of sugars or starches.

Well damn, I did not know that, it's better than flour, but I'll have to keep that in mind when I want to stay under 20g of carbs per day. Thanks for that, I totally missed that.

[bmdaniel]

. . . . However in a twist on previous attempts to lose weight, I have decided on a ketosis diet, which means, no carbs at all. . . .

You might want to keep in mind that almonds are a bit over 21% carbohydrate, and half of that is in the form of sugars or starches.

Also keep in mind that the half that is fiber does not affect ketosis and can essentially be ignored for low carb purposes. Every ounce of almonds brings about 3 grams of effective carbs to the party (for whole almonds it's 20-25, obviously for almond meal you will have to do the math per serving in your recipe)

[Deus Mortus]

I can see the crackers working, but I can't wrap my head around a completely flour-free puff pastry. Do post your results, please.

Well the way I see it, almond lacks gluten, which is necessary for chewiness, puff pastry largely lacks this, going more for crisp. It won't be perfect, but it might just be good enough. That said I burned my hand on a scalding pan yesterday, so I won't be baking until the bandages are off.

Also keep in mind that the half that is fiber does not affect ketosis and can essentially be ignored for low carb purposes. Every ounce of almonds brings about 3 grams of effective carbs to the party (for whole almonds it's 20-25, obviously for almond meal you will have to do the math per serving in your recipe)

Is there a place where you can find this info easily? I have found some nutritional data sites, but none tell how much fiber is in the products, if they even have entries about some of the obscurer foods like almond meal.

[bmdaniel]

http://www.netrition.com/bobs_red_mill_almond_flour_page.html#NUTFACTS

Nutrition labels will almost always list total carbs, then below fiber and other. You can subtract the fiber from the total.

[Deus Mortus]

http://www.netrition...e.html#NUTFACTS

Nutrition labels will almost always list total carbs, then below fiber and other. You can subtract the fiber from the total.

Thanks, that helps!

[Max101]

Anyone ever make their own almond flour before? Do you just grind up almonds?  And that is your flour?  Or do you have to add other items to it?

[andiesenji]

I dry the solids remaining from making almond milk, grind it as fine as possible and use it for baking.  It absorbs quite a bit of liquid so you may have to add a bit more when using it in recipes.

 

Try using it in pancakes to test. 

 

 

I have a Soyabella  that I use for making nut milks and have made my own hazelnut flour, cashew, sunflower seed and pumpkin seed meal. 

I've also used it for making coconut milk and coconut flour.

Edited March 15, 2014 by andiesenji (log)

[Martin Fisher]

When I want almond flour I just grind the almonds.....blanched or unblanched....no other fussing.

It's best to repeatedly grind and sift so it doesn't turn to butter.

[Edward J]

You can process in a food processor, but it tends to get oily very fast.  You can usually cut the almonds 50/50 with powdered sugar and process that way with acceptable results, or sub flour for powdered sugar, but you will never get it as fine as the big-boy bakeries do.

 

"It used to be".... that every bakery prior to the late '80's in Europe had a roller.  What this is, is two marble rollers rolling in opposite directions and a hopper ontop of the rollers.  Almonds or whatever is put in the hopper and the gap between the rollers adjusted to finer and finer sizes.  The result is superfine pure almond or nut flour without any trace of oily-ness.

[andiesenji]

My experience has been that whole almonds are too greasy - I don't like the results in some baked goods - the flour or meal from the solids after much of the fat has been expressed in the "milk" production is much better for my purposes.

 

After I process it, I spread it on a tray, cover it with a screen and dry it in the dehydrator - sometimes in the oven on a very low setting.  It cakes as it dries and has to be broken up so it dries evenly.

[Martin Fisher]

I use a KRUPS electric coffee grinder.

Repeated grinding and sifting keeps it from getting oily.

 

Sort of like this....

[DianaM]

 

After I process it, I spread it on a tray, cover it with a screen and dry it in the dehydrator - sometimes in the oven on a very low setting.  It cakes as it dries and has to be broken up so it dries evenly.

Thank you for posting this, andiesenji! I have been wondering what to do with the leftover solids after making almond milk. (But I make mine by hand, just squeezing the liquid through a tea strainer, since I usually make little of it.)

How long do you dry the solids usually? My oven has a "dehydrate" function, I could try that. But if that doesn't work, what oven temp do you recommend?

[andiesenji]

Thank you for posting this, andiesenji! I have been wondering what to do with the leftover solids after making almond milk. (But I make mine by hand, just squeezing the liquid through a tea strainer, since I usually make little of it.)

How long do you dry the solids usually? My oven has a "dehydrate" function, I could try that. But if that doesn't work, what oven temp do you recommend?

I dry it until it feels dry and breaks up easily.  I put it in a container and into the freezer until ready to use so it does not become rancid.

 

When drying it in the oven, I set it for 140 degrees F.

[Franci]

In my experience, the best almond flour I could make at home was using the fine shredding disk from my bosch mixer. Very fine and not oily, definitely better than with the coffee grinder.  Now I have a magimix and I don't think it will handle this same task just as well it's fine disk. So, it really depends from the machine to machine.

As for me, I tried to reuse the almond meal after making almond milk but I don't like it.

[paulraphael]

I've done it a lot for making financier batter.

 

Either whole or slivered almonds, it doesn't matter. I like to toast them lightly in a skillet, and then grind them as fine as possible in whirley-blade coffee or spice grinder.

 

I always have to do it twice. After the first grind, I pass through a regular coarse-mesh kitchen strainer, which stops all the larger chunks. These go back for a second grinding. After straining a second time, the volume of big chunks is usually too small to worry about. Just toss them.

 

This has worked fine in every recipe I've tried. Just be aware that the flour will be nowhere near as fine as commercially milled almond flour. So far this has not added a coarse texture to the finished product, in my experience.