Real Food Pantry

Flours

Just as there are many interesting and healthful alternatives to plain white sugar, there are also many flours worth exploring beyond the white all-purpose product that has become the default for bakers and cooks. At their core, flours are simply processed foods derived from whole grains and cereals. The degree to which these grains are milled or refined determines the nutritional content of the final product. Most traditional flours are highly processed and retain little of their original nutritional content. By learning to experiment with some alternative flours, you can enjoy making baked goods that taste delicious (in fact, you might come to prefer some of the heartier flavors of whole grains), while also sneaking in additional nutrients.

All-purpose gluten-free baking flour is becoming more widely available as the demand for gluten-free foods continues to rise. This baking flour tends to include a combination of garbanzo bean flour, tapioca flour, white sorghum flour, potato starch, and fava bean flour, which allows it to act in a very similar way to traditional all-purpose flour. All-purpose gluten-free baking flour is more savory than sweet in flavor and often leaves a subtle aftertaste. It works well in my gluten-free Coconut-Lime Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting (page 243). I use other gluten-free flours, too, such as tapioca and brown rice flours in my Gluten- and Soy-Free Waffles (page 52), and garbanzo-fava flour in my Sesame-Shiitake Tofu Frittata (page 34).

Barley flour is a fine powder made by grinding whole barley grain. It has a sweet, nutty flavor, and it’s high in fiber, too. Along with many other flours, barley flour can be used to replace the wheat flour in baked goods for a more interesting taste and texture. I’ve found that barley flour and wheat flour are interchangeable in my recipes for Date Bars (page 247) and Almond-Jam Thumbprint Cookies (page 231).

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