Oat vs All Purpose Flour

Rahala64

I’ve been making my own oat flour at home (literally just oats and a food processor) due to a shortage of white flour in stores. It doesn’t cook the same but it doesn’t really bother me, so I am considering just using oat flour from now on. Does anyone know if it’s healthier than white flour? Thanks!

mmapags

Look up the nutritional data for both and see for yourself.

kimny72

Healthier how? It will have the same nutritional value as the oats you used to make it.

If it's better or worse for you will depend on your total diet - what nutrients or macros you need more or less of, what your goals are, how much of it are you eating.

A quick Google of "white flour nutrition" should pull up a typical USDA nutrition box for comparison.

AnnPT77

For general use, I think the big issue will be its lower gluten.

Simplifying: When wheat flour is wetted, then stirred or kneaded, gluten (a protein) develops a sort of elasticity. When you bake the item, the elastic quality creates almost like tiny balloons for expanding gases (typically from the leavening, i.e., baking powder, yeast, sometimes even just whipped-up eggs). That makes your baked good rise, and be lighter. If you decide you want to use oat flour for nutritional reasons**, you could consider adding a small amount of vital wheat gluten as a sustitute for part of the oat flour, to improve rising qualities. Otherwise, your baked products will tend to be noticeably heavier and denser.

** Personally, I don't think the nutritional difference is all that meaningful, especially if comparing whole-grain wheat flour to oat flour, and in the quantity consumed in a reasonable serving of baked goods, but YMMV. As an aside, I'm not saying whole grain wheat flour is dramatically better nutritionally than white wheat flour, because IMO it isn't. (It also matters whether the flour is enriched, i.e., micronutrients added back). Whole grain wheat flour has a little more fiber, a little more protein, compared to white flour.

janejellyroll

AnnPT77 wrote: »

For general use, I think the big issue will be its lower gluten.

Simplifying: When wheat flour is wetted, then stirred or kneaded, gluten (a protein) develops a sort of elasticity. When you bake the item, the elastic quality creates almost like tiny balloons for expanding gases (typically from the leavening, i.e., baking powder, yeast, sometimes even just whipped-up eggs). That makes your baked good rise, and be lighter. If you decide you want to use oat flour for nutritional reasons**, you could consider adding a small amount of vital wheat gluten as a sustitute for part of the oat flour, to improve rising qualities. Otherwise, your baked products will tend to be noticeably heavier and denser.

** Personally, I don't think the nutritional difference is all that meaningful, especially if comparing whole-grain wheat flour to oat flour, and in the quantity consumed in a reasonable serving of baked goods, but YMMV. As an aside, I'm not saying whole grain wheat flour is dramatically better nutritionally than white wheat flour, because IMO it isn't. (It also matters whether the flour is enriched, i.e., micronutrients added back). Whole grain wheat flour has a little more fiber, a little more protein, compared to white flour.

Exactly. When replacing wheat flour with oat flour, the difference in baking is going to be way more relevant (for me) than the nutritional difference.