Flour translation for oil-egg-flour-milk-leavening quick bread.

November 24, 2015 10:44 AM

For my office, and for a Thursday food-related gathering, I would like to make one of my go-to quick bread recipes (almond poppyseed bread) but using one or several of these flours: almond; chickpea; lentil; and/or spelt. Is there a web site or flour translator that would help me re-work the recipe successfully?

PS I don't have the exact recipe here (it's on my fridge at home) but can share later. But it's a basic quick bread recipe with lots of vegetable oil plus flour milk egg flavoring and leavening.

posted by ClaudiaCenter to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

The gluten in wheat flour gives bread dough elasticity, which plays a key role in leavening (the bubbles can grow without bursting).

Spelt has gluten in it so it will probably be the easiest to replace wheat with. King Arthur Flour suggests adding 1/4 tsp of xantham gum or guar gum when substituting gluten free flour for a recipe that uses wheat flour, though they also note that this is just a starting point and you'll probably have to adjust it for different recipes.

I don't know how the oil content and textures of these other flours will affect things - I'm sure that too would vary from recipe to recipe.
posted by aubilenon at 11:11 AM on November 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

If you are trying to go gluten free, buy a quality gluten free flour mix, like Bob's Red Mill. Unfortunately, you can't just swap out a flour for a flour. The chickpea and lentil would really give me pause. The most likely one on that list is spelt but, still, you will find that things don't go as you plan and changing a recipe to a specialty flour often takes a lot of experimentation and food know-how.
posted by Foam Pants at 11:13 AM on November 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Here's a link that discusses almond flour to AP conversion. I got that from searching specifically for "convert almond flour to AP flour" (no quotes.) My usual food calculators don't cover the whole range.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:14 AM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I do a ton of gluten-free cooking and if this is your first time get a gluten-free mix (Bob's, King Arthur or Glutino.) They all have xanthan gum in them, to help the flour bind and not be brittle and crumbly. For moisture, I usually add an additional wet ingredient, Greek yogurt, applesauce or banana. I made some gingerbread last night and it was a bit gooey if I'm honest. (probably didn't have enough flour)

I have a number of flours and all my recipes call for a mixture. I try to use about 3, in equal parts, seems to work for me. I like corn starch, potato, rice and amaranth flours.

If you're making something gluten free, just buy one of the many mixes. It's tricky at best and if you want something foolproof, a mix is probably the best way to go.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:22 PM on November 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Cool -- I'll ditch my recipe and go a different route (either a recipe that is specifically gluten free or a mix).
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 12:29 PM on November 24, 2015

Best answer: In a sweet quickbread chickpea and lentil flours are going to taste very beany. Please don't go there.

Spelt is just whole wheat of a slightly different species, and will act like whole wheat. This makes your task easier.

I'd try it as written with 75% spelt and 25% almond flour. It will probably be a bit denser than normal, but if you wait until it is completely cooled before cutting, it should hold together reasonably well.
posted by monopas at 12:30 PM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

And spelt is not gluten free, if that is what you are going for.

If you need gluten free, get a mix. Bob's Red Mill one for one is great. Do not get the regular GF, it has fava bean flour and some people taste that in anything.
posted by monopas at 12:32 PM on November 24, 2015

Response by poster: I was not told "gluten free" but I was told those flours were the ones I could use.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 12:37 PM on November 24, 2015

If those four are the only ones you can use, then a mix isn't going to help. They usually contain potato, tapioca, sorghum, and other things these days. Almond flour is expensive and unless you are going to use it for other things, I wouldn't bother.

In your case what I'd do is go with spelt and use a quickbread recipe written for whole wheat. This one for muffins looks pretty good and the comments suggest that it is forgiving. Here is one in loaf form. They're both lemon, but that is easy to fix. For any recipe, muffins might have a better look than a loaf, though no one really cares if it tastes good!
posted by monopas at 2:03 PM on November 24, 2015

If you're willing to go a different flavor direction, I made this almond flour banana bread once and it was pretty good. (I plan to make it again soon.) My comments on pinterest say "I doubled the cinnamon, used cardamom instead of nutmeg, baked as muffins for about 30 minutes with chocolate chips on top"

Aldi had the best price on almond flour in my town.
posted by belladonna at 2:25 PM on November 24, 2015

Gluten Free Girl goes over different flours and substituting them pretty extensively.
posted by jrobin276 at 2:35 PM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! Experiment tonight -- came out pretty well -- I used 3/4 spelt, 1/4 almond, I subtracted some milk. The only thing is it stuck to the pan. Pretty good taste and texture. Tomorrow night I'll try again.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 9:43 PM on November 24, 2015

I'd forgotten about sticking. Cooking parchment, sometimes with added grease (I like Spectrum's palm oil shortening even if I am going to hell for using palm oil, but any shortening works). Or nonstick foil with added grease. Before my minor wheat allergy kicked in, I used Baker's Joy spray with flour. That stuff is the best. Seriously as in unmolding a perfect bundt from an old full-stick bundt pan. Other "nonstick" sprays just seem to make things worse.

I miss baking. Once you take away both wheat and sugar the fun is pretty limited and mistakes are shockingly expensive.
posted by monopas at 12:53 AM on November 25, 2015 [1 favorite]