How to Make Oat Flour

Recently, I have been making gluten-free flours from scratch, like Almond Flour, and Rice Flour.

What Is Oat Flour?

Oat flour is a type of flour that provides exactly the same benefits as rolled oats. It is one of the healthiest types of flour that exist, much more than wheat flour, because of its low calorie and high fiber content.

Nutritional value

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one-third of a cup (40 grams) of whole grain oat flour contains 160 calories.

It contains 7 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber, making it a healthy choice over all-purpose flour. One-third of a cup of all-purpose flour has only 4.3 grams of protein and about 1 gram of fiber. Oat flour also contains more calcium and iron than both whole wheat and all-purpose flour.

Oat bread

If you’re a baker looking for healthy options, oatmeal should be a staple in your store. You can use it to make pies, cakes and old bread. Famous brands like Bob’s Red Mill recommend replacing 20% of the flour in baked goods with oatmeal to increase nutrition and taste.

Is It Gluten-Free?

Yes, it is. To be clear, celiac people can consume pure uncontaminated oat flour without risk. To do so, they must be sure that the product is certified gluten-free.

Numerous clinical studies show that celiac patients can tolerate moderate amounts of pure oats uncontaminated by other grains such as rye, wheat, or barley (see the latest Health Canada study).

However, because of the way oats are cultivated, it is common for them to be contaminated with gluten from other cereals grown in the vicinity, as well as during storage, production, harvesting, and transportation of the cereal.

Can I substitute Oat Flour For All-purpose Flour?

Sometimes, it can’t be substituted for all-purpose flour. Oats have no gluten, and gluten provides the glue in most baked goods. Gluten is a protein that is necessary for baking. It gives flexibility and elasticity to the bread. In addition, it allows the dough to rise. It is, therefore, preferable to opt for a mixture of several flours to make your bread.

Some recipes work fine along with chia seeds, ground flaxseeds, applesauce being used as egg-replacer in the recipe. However you need to be careful as you experiment, it might be lots of trial and error to get suitable results.

How to make Oat flour?

Ingredients:

Traditional rolled oats.

Tool:

Blender or Food Processor

Steps to follow:

Making oat flour at home is very easy, you only need one ingredient, classic rolled oats. Quick oats can work as well, even though I prefer rolled oats but if that’s what you have, it will work.

As for the tools to process it, the idea is to use a high-speed blender because it is the easiest, most efficient, and comfortable. But, failing that, you can use a classic food processor, regular blender, or a mill. Note that this will take longer to prepare, you might not get such fine flour as when you use a high-speed blender. \You can strain the flour after you blend it, then put back what is left in the strainer and blend again. As a last resort, you can use a coffee grinder, provided you want to make just a little bit of oatmeal, as this is a much slower process than the ones explained above and, in addition, it damages the grinder.

Once you have the oat flakes and the utensil you are going to use, you can start preparing your homemade oat flour. Prepare the amount of flour according to your needs. If you need a cup of flour, for example, it is best to go a little at a time, so the heat from the blender blades doesn’t make the flour clump together at the base. So, put the flakes in the blender container and blend for about 1 minute at maximum power.
As you can see, making gluten-free flour at home is very easy and much more economical than buying already prepared flour. You can use this to make delicious pancakes, cookies, or cakes. And if you want to know other ways to take this food, do not miss our article on how to eat oats.

How Do I Store Oat Flour?

Store your flour in a tightly sealed jar in a dry, dark place. You can keep it for one month in a cupboard and six months in the refrigerator. Use your oat flour as you would your regular flour.

Note that oat flour does not keep as long as flakes. It is therefore recommended not to grind too much oat flour. Ideally, prepare only the amount of flour you need for your recipe.

Be sure to store your flour in a cool, dry place. If you don’t, your flour will spoil more quickly because it doesn’t contain a preservative.

My favorite way to store them is in the refrigerator or freezer for longer storage, up to 6 months.

How Do I Use Oat flour?

Incorporate oat flour in your baked goods.

Oat flour adds a slight sweetness to loaves of bread. When used in your baked goods, it will give them a subtle vanilla flavor and a softer texture.

It is ideal for fruit, vanilla, and cinnamon baked goods. This allows you to make delicious cookies and other dried fruit cookies. Try the famous recipe for Scottish oatcakes, for example.

You can substitute oat flour for wheat flour in your baking recipes. Basically, replace one scoop of whole wheat flour with three-quarters of a scoop of oat flour. For example, if your recipe calls for 1 cup of whole wheat flour, you would only need to incorporate 3/4 cup of oat flour.

Oat flour alone does not allow the dough to rise satisfactorily. For gluten-free vegan bread, you will need to add other gluten-free flours, starches, and binders such as psyllium seeds or xantham gum.

Lighten your baked goods with oat flour.

Oat flour is slightly less dense than wheat flour, which affects the final texture of your baked goods. Whether you’re making dry cookies, muffins, pancakes, or scones, oat flour will make them lighter and fluffier.

To keep your dough from sticking to the work surface when you knead it, sprinkle a little oat flour on top. It will incorporate into your dough without changing the texture or taste. You can also sprinkle oatmeal on your bread dough before putting it in the oven. This will add crunch to the crust.

Breading

When preparing breaded foods, substitute oat flour for wheat flour and proceed as usual.

Recipes With Oat Flour

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