{"id":2470408,"date":"2020-12-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/uncategorized\/alternative-flours-gluten-free\/"},"modified":"2022-05-12T14:15:10","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T20:15:10","slug":"alternative-flours-gluten-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/health\/nutrition\/alternative-flours-gluten-free\/","title":{"rendered":"A Curious Eater’s Guide to Alternative Flours"},"content":{"rendered":"

The COVID-19 pandemic boosted interest in many domestic pastimes, but baking came out on\u00a0top. Sourdough starters<\/a> became a kitchen staple, and close-up shots of homemade banana bread had their moment<\/a> on Instagram. Then there was a\u00a0run on baking supplies in the spring\u2014when\u00a0staples\u00a0like wheat and bread flour sold out, many home\u00a0cooks\u00a0turned to alternative flours<\/a>\u00a0like oat and quinoa.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0it can be tricky to stick the landing on your homemade baked goods with\u00a0something like rice or coconut flour. Non-wheat\u00a0options\u00a0have different nutritional profiles than wheat flour, and most don\u2019t contain gluten. That\u2019s a great selling point for anyone on a gluten-free diet, but it has a big impact on texture.\u00a0Gluten<\/a> gives dough its doughiness<\/em>, helping it stretch and rise, trapping air bubbles, and making the finished product chewy and fluffy. Don\u2019t fret\u2014as long as you know how your choice can affect density, texture, and moisture, you can make great things with alternative flours.<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re looking to experiment because of scarcity, a gluten intolerance, or culinary curiosity, here\u2019s a helpful guide\u00a0to the alternative\u00a0flour landscape.<\/p>\n

Oat Flour<\/h2>\n

You can buy oat flour at the store or make it yourself by grinding rolled oats to a fine powder in a food processor or blender.\u00a0Elliott Prag<\/a>, lead chef at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, explains that oat flour\u00a0absorbs more liquid than other flours, which\u00a0makes for drier, denser baked goods. It\u2019s great in pie crusts or granola bars, but you\u2019ll need to add a little extra liquid or fat for moisture. If you\u2019re making bread, cake, or anything that\u2019s supposed to be fluffy, you can\u2019t use only oat flour\u2014the batter or dough won\u2019t rise. But\u00a0if you still want to add\u00a0flavor and a crumbly texture, try\u00a0mixing three parts all-purpose flour with one part oat.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0quarter-cup serving<\/a> of oat flour has a similar nutritional profile to all-purpose flour. It\u2019s mostly carbs\u201422 grams\u2014with four grams of protein and two grams of fat. It also packs in three grams of mostly soluble fiber<\/a>, which gels up when mixed with liquid, slowing digestion and lowering LDL cholesterol<\/a>\u00a0(the bad kind).<\/p>\n

Almond Flour<\/h2>\n

While traditional wheat flour is made up of mostly carbs, almond flour is mostly fat: 15 grams of it in a 170-calorie quarter-cup serving<\/a>. It has fewer\u00a0carbs and more\u00a0protein than traditional flour,\u00a0with\u00a0six grams of each,\u00a0and it\u2019s overall more calorically dense. The high fat content keeps things moist\u00a0but can also weigh things down. Prag recommends doctoring your recipes with ingredients that add rise, like eggs or baking soda, as well as add-ins that can help lend some structure, like bananas. Almond flour is flavorful, making it a great option for a dense, nutty cake <\/a>or a sweet quickbread<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coconut Flour<\/h2>\n

Coconut flour has an even stronger taste than almond, so\u00a0Prag recommends using it in recipes with complementary flavor profiles, like\u00a0pineapple upside-down cake<\/a> or banana bread<\/a>. While its somewhat high fat content\u2014four grams per serving\u2014makes\u00a0for denser baked goods, it\u2019s still mostly carbohyrates. Eighteen\u00a0grams of carbs\u00a0lend sweetness and starch, so you can still\u00a0get a cakey crumb when you bake with coconut flour. Just be ready to experiment with extra leavening agents like\u00a0eggs, baking soda, or baking powder.\u00a0A\u00a0120-calorie quarter-cup serving<\/a>\u00a0has four grams of protein, which adds\u00a0a little bit of chew. One thing to note: all that fat is saturated, which the\u00a0Dietary Guidelines for Americans<\/a> recommend limiting to no more than 10 percent of your total daily calories. That\u2019s about 22 grams for people who eat 2,000 calories per day.<\/p>\n

Chickpea Flour<\/h2>\n

Chickpea flour has traditionally been used in Mediterranean cooking<\/a> to make carb-rich dishes like\u00a0socca<\/a>, a chickpea pancake. These days, people are using it to make all sorts of baked goods\u2014including a mean\u00a0gluten-free pizza crust<\/a>. Its\u00a0high starch content helps bind batters and doughs together, unlike crumbly oat or almond\u00a0flour. With\u00a0120 calories, one gram of fat, 21 grams of carbs, and five grams of protein, a\u00a0quarter-cup serving<\/a> is nearly identical to all-purpose flour in terms of calories and macronutrients, but it\u00a0has the added benefit of five grams of fiber, which is great for digestion and overall health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rice Flour<\/h2>\n

Kimberly Hansan, who wrote an entire cookbook<\/a> about rice flour, explains\u00a0that it has always been a staple in Eastern cultures\u2014it just happens to be booming\u00a0in Western cooking right now thanks to the rise of gluten-free<\/a> diets. Rice flour\u00a0has almost no fat\u00a0and just two grams of protein\u2014about half of what\u2019s in all-purpose flour. It\u2019s high in starch, with 24 grams of carbs per\u00a0quarter-cup serving<\/a>, which means it can bind doughs together and create a chewy texture. While rice flour is traditionally used in dense, flat recipes like scallion pancakes<\/a>\u00a0or noodles, it also works for baking\u00a0since it\u2019s almost flavorless and rises easily. Just be sure to use baking powder or soda to help create and trap air bubbles.<\/p>\n

Quinoa Flour\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Although\u00a0quinoa<\/a> has been a key part of South American cuisine for centuries, the idea of grinding it into a flour didn\u2019t really take hold until gluten-free diets became popular. It has slightly more fat than all-purpose flour\u2014two grams per quarter-cup serving<\/a>\u2014but is otherwise similar, with most of its 105 calories coming from carbs. Prag explains that quinoa flour bakes similarly to oat flour, creating a denser, more crumbly texture. You can try mixing all-purpose and quinoa flour in a three-to-one ratio to\u00a0add nutty flavor to bread without sacrificing\u00a0that squishy, chewy texture. If you\u2019re working with just quinoa flour, opt for something like\u00a0muffins<\/a> or pancakes<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s tricky to get texture, rise, and flavor right with options like oat or quinoa flour. Whether you’re looking to experiment with alternative flours because of scarcity, a gluten intolerance, or culinary curiosity, here’s a helpful guide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79716,"featured_media":2419751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"uuid":"135f31276ecacaec2078d33c06f2158d","footnotes":""},"categories":[2550],"tags":[2619,2749,2967],"byline":[2200],"ad_cat":[],"legacy-category":[],"class_list":["post-2470408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nutrition","tag-culinary","tag-diet","tag-recipes","byline-christine-byrne"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"A Curious Eater’s Guide to Alternative Flours","url":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/health\/nutrition\/alternative-flours-gluten-free\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/health\/nutrition\/alternative-flours-gluten-free\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/14\/alternative-baking-flours_h.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/14\/alternative-baking-flours_h.jpg"},"articleSection":"Nutrition","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"abarronian"}],"creator":["abarronian"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online","logo":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/favicon-194x194-1.png"},"keywords":["culinary","diet","recipes"],"dateCreated":"2020-12-15T00:00:00Z","datePublished":"2020-12-15T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"2022-05-12T20:15:10Z"},"rendered":"