Raw Food Recipe Almond Flour
Almond flour is one of the staples used when creating a lot of raw food recipes, and gluten free recipes, especially desserts! But, how do you make it, which one do you use and is there a less expensive alternative to the the packaged type. If you want it to be a lighter color, is that possible?
Since I use a lot of almond flour in my recipes, and there are always questions about it, I thought I would do a comprehensive post on it today. Let’s start with a few basics.
First of all, you want to try to find truly raw almonds. In 2007, a law was passed in the US requiring all almonds to be pasteurized. Unfortunately, this is often done with the use of proplyene oxide which is a toxic substance that was originally used as racing fuel. Other almonds are pasteurized with steam. If you are interested in truly raw almonds, you can find them. We have them in our local coops…imported from Spain. But a quick search on google will provide you with many mail order resources.
That said, almonds are one of the nuts that have enzyme inhibitors to protect them from sprouting before it is time. A 12-24 hour soak in the fridge will release that enzyme and also start the germination process, which activates even more nutrients! I always soak my almonds when I first get them. Out of the grocery bag, into the water then a trip to the dehydrator. Once that is done, I put them in a glass container and store them in the fridge. It is a great habit to get into so you always have almonds ready.
Nutritionally almonds are little power houses! Actually the seed of the almond tree, almonds are full of manganese, vitamin E and magnesium. They are high in monounsaturated fat, the good fat that is associated with a lower risk of heart disease and also decreasing your LDL (the bad) cholesterol. It has even been shown that the healthy fat in almonds may help you lose weight! For a more in-depth nutritional analysis of almonds, click here: Almonds.
Almond Flour
There are a few different ways that you can obtain almond flour. The first is to just put your almonds in the food processor and process until just before they start to hold together. You don’t want to go to far or you will start getting almond butter! If you use almonds that have been soaked and dried, you can actually get a pretty fine flour.
Almond Flour from Soaked, Dehydrated Almonds
Another great way to make almond flour and use up the pulp from your almond milk is to dehydrate the strained pulp and take it for a spin in the food processor or high speed blender.
You start with the pulp from the almond milk and dehydrate it.
Dehydrated pulp from almond milk
Almond Flour!
If you want a light flour, you can slip the skins off of the almonds after you have soaked them. Dehydrate and process in the food processor or high speed blender to get your flour.
You may also like:
Raw Food: Soaking Nuts and Seeds
Almond Flour
Makes 1 cup
Method 1
- 1 cup almonds
1. Place almonds in food processor or high-speed blender and process until a light flour is achieved. You can sift out any chunks and re-process. Make sure you stop before the oils start to release.
Method 2
- almond pulp leftover from making almond milk
1. Dehydrate almond pulp until it is very dry. Pulse in food processor or high-speed blender until chunks are broken up and you have a nice flour.
lily wrote on June 25, 2012
hi, thanks for the tip about making four out of the pulp! i have several containers of the pulp in my freezer and have been wondering what to do with it 🙂 two questions: can you make almond butter out of the pulp if you grind it long enough or is there not enough fat left in it to make butter? and can you use the almond flour to feed sourdough starter? or does it have to be a grain flour? thank you!
demi wrote on May 11, 2012
i wonder about making the almond flour with coffee grinder or blender if one is better.i saw one coffee grinder at amazon krump brand…do u think it is good for grinding almonds to flour????should i chop almonds first ?thanks
Lisa wrote on April 9, 2012
Hi,
I recently started making almond milk and have been putting all the pulp in the freezer. I now have a dehydrator… Can I defrost the pulp in the freezer and then dehydrate? Or is it best to dehydrate first, then freeze?
Thanks!
Susan wrote on April 9, 2012
I usually freeze it until I have enough to dehydrate. Cheers!
Mary wrote on November 25, 2011
I know this is an old post, but it is just what I was looking for. 🙂 I am doing some experiments making Almond Flour, and I also make a lot of Almond Milk. I’ve used my Almond pulp wet in muffins or dehydrated in other recipes. Last week, I used slivered blanched Almonds for a batch of flour and it worked great, but when I tried to make my own with raw almonds, and then blanched almonds, it just wasn’t working. I will dehydrate them and see how that works. 🙂 I am also soaking some almonds right now to try, and I will dehydrate them as well. Thank you so much!
Barbara wrote on September 27, 2011
Hi you are first person I met how to make almond flour its so expensive at the farmers market here in ga.
I am getting my almonds from publix grocery store they are raw will that be ok. my first time making almond flour I am making mediterranean flat bread.
Thanks, Barb
Sarahfae - Addicted to Veggies wrote on September 6, 2011
Hi Susan! Thank you so much for this post. I’m linking to it in tomorrow’s recipe post!
xoxo, S
Tamara wrote on January 13, 2011
I have some of this almond flour from the pulp. It doesn’t have much flavor. I suspect there’s a lot of fat “missing” as well. Maybe carbs too? (gone into the milk). Doesn’t this affect the way this “pulp flour” works in a typical “almond flour” recipe? Do you have to add fat or anything else into the recipe for it to work properly? If so, can you give us a sort of formula for converting almond flour recipes for use with “pulp flour?” Thanks so much!
Susan wrote on January 13, 2011
You don’t need to convert it. It works just fine as it is. In some applications, it is even better because you can get a finer texture.
Sarah wrote on January 7, 2011
Susan,
Is the pulp devoid of any nutrition?
Sarah
Susan wrote on January 7, 2011
At a minimum it would be full of fiber. I can’t imagine that it loses all of the nutrients. That just wouldn’t make sense.
Ashlei wrote on December 27, 2010
I love the idea of using the almond pulp left over from making almond milk.