Great cheep trick for cutting sodium and flour in recipees

Google is telling me that wheat flour is 455 calories a cup, and oats are 607 calories a cup, so... I'm not sure you're saving calories here.

Yeah, I'm not seeing how it would be fewer calories honestly.
The steel cut oats I eat are 140 for 1/4 cup, and the flour is 114 cals for 1/4 cup... I would just be wasting time grinding oats and eating more calories if I did that.

Pawsforme wrote: »

I don't think ground oatmeal would have significantly less calories than flour. That's keeping in mind that it would likely take significantly more than one cup of whole rolled oats to make one cup of ground.

Yup a cup of whole oats would probably be closer to half a cup when ground.

This has been a common thing in my family forever, but the calories aren't less. Oatmeal is cheap and easy to use in meatloaf and meatballs and, for Celiacs like me, a lifesaver. I am not buying expensive GF bread to turn it into crumbs for anything.

Consider chickpea flour (356 calories/cup, 21g protein) to replace part of the wheat flour (455 cals/cup, 13g protein), or even defatted soy flour (346 cal/cup, 49g protein). (Full fat soy flour would be 366 cals/cup, 29g protein.)

It's been a long time since I've made pizza dough, but I'd try replacing a 1/8 to (maybe?) 1/4 proportion of the wheat flour with one of those to start.

You can also use nearly all whole wheat (vs. all purpose) by replacing 1-2 tablespoons in each cup of whole wheat flour with vital wheat gluten (which has 21g protein/ounce vs. 3g/ounce in all purpose or 4g/ounce in whole wheat). Some health food stores will have vital wheat gluten in bulk so you don't have to buy a lot to try it.

This works because the reason we usually use part white & part whole wheat in things like pizza crust is because white flour has more gluten, and gluten is the stuff that helps the dough get kind of elastic-y when kneaded, and hold the yeast bubbles that make the crust so nice and risen & a bit chewy. If you just increase the gluten by adding it instead, it works out the same.

I've long done the gluten + all whole wheat in pizza crust because I find the whole wheat tastier & more satisfying. (You may find that it takes a little more liquid to get the dough to the right consistency.) And I've replaced part of the wheat with chickpea or soy in other baked goods (like quick breads/muffins), but don't specifically remember doing so in pizza crust. Should work, though.

Yeah, you may have to fiddle with the proportions a bit to get exactly the result you want. But the end product should be good pizza with slightly fewer calories, more protein, and maybe some better micros.

(Calorie & protein data from Self Nutrition Database, http://nutritiondata.self.com/ )

nonoark wrote: »

Thank you for the information, this has been very helpful. I have been trying to find healthier ways to make the foods we like and thought I was on to something. I am glad that I posted as I it has opened my eyes to some things that I was not taking into consideration. Love the idea of chickpea flour. I am not sure I have ever seen it, but will keep my eyes open for it.

I like your oats instead of bread crumbs idea! (And I love your experimental attitude, too!).

You should be able to find chickpea flour in large grocery stores (at least in the US) or health food stores. Soy flour is very easy to find. Look in a section where they have various grains & flours - quite a few stores here have the "Bob's Red Mill" brand of stuff, and will often stock the chickpea flour (they call it garbanzo flour, BTW - same thing).

You can make other interesting things with it, too - like socca (a crepe-like thing) and panella (stuff you can use as a snack or sandwich filling). Socca recipe is included at this link for socca salad , and panella at this recipe link . (You can use less oil to fry, or a different cooking method).

Have fun experimenting with new foods, or new approaches to favorites!