Healthy flour

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Replies

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    hesn92 wrote: »
    Hmm interesting. You must eat a lot of baked things? I hardly use flour at all, so I don't put a single thought into which flour to get. The cheapest all purpose flour works for me. I buy a bag of flour and it could last me like 2 years lol

    Same here. I almost never bake anymore, mostly just for holidays.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    aokoye wrote: »
    Gosh these days there are other types than plain old white flour, that still taste good. Before switching to low carb, I used a variety of other flours than just the basic all purpose. I like to experiment in the kitchen.

    Whole wheat flour, sometimes mix with some white if starting to get used to.

    Buckwheat, can be used for more than just pancakes, and there is no wheat in it.

    Cake flour really does make cakes very light, like sponge cakes.

    Bread flour, have used a few times.

    Barley flour my least favorite, but there are recipes out there.

    Some of the above have more protein than others, and did not check which might be gluten free if any. I do know there are some flours that are gluten free.

    I'm kind of amused by this because none of these things are new in any sense of the word, save for maybe cake flour. You might be able to get them easier now than you could 30 years ago, but the use of these flours isn't a "these days" sort of phenomenon.

    Cake flour has been around my entire life, and I'm fairly sure for decades before that, and I'm nearing 60.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    In the shops in Australia I've not seen cake flour till recently but it's pretty easy to make up yourself apparently from a mix of a couple of flours. I'm 53 so no things are not the same everywhere. Never heard of it even much till recently and I have worked in the cooking industry too.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    Flour substitutes often add calories. Use regular flour, then add more vegetables for the extra calories you would have spent on substitutes. You get comparable, if not better, nutrient density than almond and coconut flour that way.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Flour substitutes often add calories. Use regular flour, then add more vegetables for the extra calories you would have spent on substitutes. You get comparable, if not better, nutrient density than almond and coconut flour that way.

    Good point. Anthony's Almond Flour has 170 calories per 1/4 cup (28 g) and my wheat all purpose and bread flours have 110 calories per 1/4 cup (30 g).
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,445 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Flour substitutes often add calories. Use regular flour, then add more vegetables for the extra calories you would have spent on substitutes. You get comparable, if not better, nutrient density than almond and coconut flour that way.

    Good point. Anthony's Almond Flour has 170 calories per 1/4 cup (28 g) and my wheat all purpose and bread flours have 110 calories per 1/4 cup (30 g).

    [sarcasm] But it's better for you. It says so right here in the advertisement magazine I got from my local health food store. [/sarcasm]
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited November 2019
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Flour substitutes often add calories. Use regular flour, then add more vegetables for the extra calories you would have spent on substitutes. You get comparable, if not better, nutrient density than almond and coconut flour that way.

    Good point. Anthony's Almond Flour has 170 calories per 1/4 cup (28 g) and my wheat all purpose and bread flours have 110 calories per 1/4 cup (30 g).

    Not to mention that if you're using them for baking, flour substitutes are not used gram for gram because they're denser and don't puff up, so you end up using more of them to get the same volume of the baked thing. A slice of almond flour bread ends up weighing nearly twice as much as a slice of regular bread. If you're on a low calorie diet and care about nutrition, aiming for good nutrient density per calorie is a better strategy than attempting to maximize nutrition per food item.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    mockchoc wrote: »
    In the shops in Australia I've not seen cake flour till recently but it's pretty easy to make up yourself apparently from a mix of a couple of flours. I'm 53 so no things are not the same everywhere. Never heard of it even much till recently and I have worked in the cooking industry too.

    I can't imagine how you could make it yourself from a mix of other flours, since the protein content is lower than all-purpose flour (a.k.a. plain or white flour), bread flour (obviously), and even pastry flour.

    And I agree things aren't the same everywhere, but I wouldn't suggest marmite is "new" just because I never saw it in U.S. shops until 30 or 40 years ago, or that vegemite simply doesn't exist because I've never seen it in a U.S. shop.
  • PAPYRUS3
    PAPYRUS3 Posts: 13,259 Member
    so many...buckwheat/oat/spelt/chickpea/kamut/Amaranth/Teff/millet...all really health-ful and flavorful
  • vivo1972
    vivo1972 Posts: 129 Member
    Try spelt. An ancient wheat grain with more goodies in it than modern wheat strains. It doesn't bloat me which is a bonus :)
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    mockchoc wrote: »
    In the shops in Australia I've not seen cake flour till recently but it's pretty easy to make up yourself apparently from a mix of a couple of flours. I'm 53 so no things are not the same everywhere. Never heard of it even much till recently and I have worked in the cooking industry too.

    I can't imagine how you could make it yourself from a mix of other flours, since the protein content is lower than all-purpose flour (a.k.a. plain or white flour), bread flour (obviously), and even pastry flour.

    And I agree things aren't the same everywhere, but I wouldn't suggest marmite is "new" just because I never saw it in U.S. shops until 30 or 40 years ago, or that vegemite simply doesn't exist because I've never seen it in a U.S. shop.

    https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/cake-flour-substitute/
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    mockchoc wrote: »
    mockchoc wrote: »
    In the shops in Australia I've not seen cake flour till recently but it's pretty easy to make up yourself apparently from a mix of a couple of flours. I'm 53 so no things are not the same everywhere. Never heard of it even much till recently and I have worked in the cooking industry too.

    I can't imagine how you could make it yourself from a mix of other flours, since the protein content is lower than all-purpose flour (a.k.a. plain or white flour), bread flour (obviously), and even pastry flour.

    And I agree things aren't the same everywhere, but I wouldn't suggest marmite is "new" just because I never saw it in U.S. shops until 30 or 40 years ago, or that vegemite simply doesn't exist because I've never seen it in a U.S. shop.

    https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/cake-flour-substitute/

    Cornstarch isn't flour.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    I use unbleached all purpose flour for most of my baking. If a recipe calls for something special, I will use it so I have whole wheat on hand and will buy others as needed. Most of my baking is desserts and bread so all purpose is the general use. It does seem to work better for bread than bleached does but I have not noticed any difference in any of my other baking.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    :) It's called corn flour here.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    mockchoc wrote: »
    :) It's called corn flour here.

    But it's still just the starch (isolated from the rest of the grain), even if you call it corn flour (note that the site you pointed to calls it cornstarch, so apparently created by someone in a part of the world where cornstarch and cornflour, i.e., cornmeal, are different products). :smile:
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    edited November 2019
    ...and who really cares since this discussion is going on too long and not relevant to the original post. It was just one I picked out drop of the hat. The original place I saw it was from a blogger that lives where it's called corn flour. Have a nice week.