If you’ve never seen the movie “Stranger than Fiction”, then you might not appreciate this picture…
In this scene, Will Ferrell’s character is giving Maggie Gyllenhaal, a woman he’s auditing (and falling in love with), a bouquet of flours. She owns a bakery, so it makes sense, and it’s adorable. And it made me think…
I want a bouquet of flours!
I don’t want to just live on white and wheat! I’m not a cave man! I want to learn to cook and bake with different types of flour! (unfortunately, not an over dramatization)
Why not start with almond flour? It’s mild and delicious and easy to mix into almost any recipe.
But, as I’ve discovered, it is pretty expensive. A typical one pound bag of almond flour ranges from 8-12 dollars. If you get it cheaper than that, you probably aren’t buying a pound, but just 10 or so ounces.
So here’s a thought, why not make it?
DID YOU KNOW?
- Almond flour is ground up blanched almonds. Blanched means the skins have been removed. (Simple, right?)
- Almond meal is ground up almonds with the skins on. (Even more simple!)
In doing the math, I pay $5/ pound for my flour and $4/ pound when I can get the almonds on sale. That’s anywhere from 3-8 dollars cheaper!
I started making my own almond flour last summer and haven’t turned back! It’s super easy and delicious for my family. You will love it too, trust me!
Here are the basic instructions for making your own Almond Flour or Almond Meal:
ALMOND FLOUR:
Materials Needed:
- Whole raw almonds in skin (get online or at Costco)
- Mixer with a milling blade (I have a ninja)
- Water
- Colander
- pot
Directions:
1. Boil large pot of water. Once water is boiling, pour in as many almonds as you want. Let almonds sit in boiling water for 60 seconds, NO MORE, or almonds will become soft.
2. Drain and rinse with cold water.
3. Pop the skins off by squeezing the almonds.
4. Allow to dry overnight.
5. Grind up as needed for flour, or chop up for salads!
ALMOND MEAL:
Materials needed:
- Whole raw almonds in shell (get online or at Costco)
- Mixer with a milling blade (I have a ninja)
Directions:
- Grind up almonds as needed for meal!
Making your own almond flour is just the beginning. Soon we’ll all have our very own bouquet of flours for baking 🙂
Enjoy!
Lily
May 20, 2015 at 9:06 pm (10 years ago)can you use almond flour in the same way as regular
flour ? Same measure and results ?
Katie Short
May 20, 2015 at 9:25 pm (10 years ago)Great question!
Almond flour works very well for practically all cake and muffin recipes, pancakes and some cookie recipes, too. It can also be used to make “pastry” tart shells for sweet or savory dishes. The only types of dessert which do not lend themselves well to the use of almond flour are yeasted or bread-based recipes.
To convert any regular baked recipes to almond flour, experiment by simply replacing the volume of flour in the recipe with the same volume of almond flour. Use slightly more raising agent than the recipe suggests, allowing for the heavier weight of the almond flour.
Also be sure to butter and line your pans with baking paper to help prevent sticking. After baking, recipes made with almond flour do well to be left a few minutes and loosened carefully with a knife before turning out because the texture is generally more fragile than regular recipes made with flour.
I hope this helps!
Luciana H.
May 21, 2015 at 7:26 am (10 years ago)Very cool! I may try it myself!
Katie Short
May 21, 2015 at 8:29 am (10 years ago)You would love it! I’ll post some of my favorite recipes soon!
John Smith
May 21, 2015 at 8:56 am (10 years ago)Reminds me of snapping string beans with my mother when I was a kid. Good memories.
Katie Short
May 22, 2015 at 7:59 am (10 years ago)It can be memory making… if your toddler is helping! 🙂