Going Nutty with Coconut Flour

It's amazing how life can sometimes just get busy out of nowhere... and then I find myself going almost a week without posting anything!    When I posted the buckwheat coconut pancake recipe, I had planned to post some information about coconut flour on the next day, since I don't have any information on this flour listed in my "gluten-free flours post"...  so much for my plan!

So, finally, here it is, my first experience working with coconut flour:

Coconut Flour

Coconut flour is more coarse than buckwheat or masa harina, closer to that of rice flours.  It has a creamy light yellow color with a sweet fragrance, and a delicious rich coconut flavor..  but not sweet tasting like the flaked coconut we are used to buying at the supermarkets. It also seems to lend a slightly creamy richer texture to the items made with it.

I decided to make pancakes and initially started out using 100% coconut flour.  The package of coconut flour had a couple of recipes on the back, and one used just coconut flour and one used a ratio of 1 part coconut flour to three parts brown rice flour.  I decided to initially try the coconut flour at 100% instead of combining another flour with it, to see how it works on its own.  When I added the liquid to the recipe the coconut flour totally soaked it up and I had to continue adding liquid...  I started out with about 2 1/2 cups coconut flour and about 2-2 1/2 cups of liquid...  I ended up adding about 10 cups liquid!  The coconut flour just kept soaking it up and expanding!  I ended up with almost 3 1/2 qts of batter!!!  Then when I tried to cook the batter in the skillet, the batter just started breaking apart, I couldn't even attempt to get a spatula under any part of it.  I might as well been stirring it, instead of trying to flip anything... It was crazy!

It was then I decided that it needed another flour in it to help with binding in the cooking stage.  I had buckwheat or masa harina to chose from and opted for the buckwheat flour thinking the flavors would meld better.  All in all, I ended up adding about 2 1/2 cups of buckwheat flour to the batter and then, of course, had to add just a little more liquid to the batter.  So, yes, in return ended up with even MORE batter!!  My "stock pot mixing bowl" was full!!  But, at that point, the batter would cook on the skillet and hold together to flip it over without falling apart.

When cooking in a skillet with coconut flour, I found that the batter was very apt to stick even when greasing the pan well...  so this is something to watch out for.  I have not baked with it yet, as I don't have an oven yet to try it out with...  I am assuming that for some baked items you would still have to either grease your pan extremely well, or use silicone mats or parchment paper.  Also in baking with it you might be able to use a higher ratio of coconut flour to other gluten-free flour, but that is for another experiment.

For now, my advice with working with coconut flour at this point would be:

1. Always use 50% or more of another gluten-free flour with the coconut flour.
2. Always plan on increasing your liquids in the recipe by the same amount of coconut flour that you use.  If you are using 1/2 c. of coconut flour, plan on increasing the liquid in that recipe by 1/2 c.
3. Try using an egg substitute powder with any recipe using the coconut flour...(I am going to try this next time) if you have to avoid using eggs.  I have not tried this idea yet, but I think it might help in the area of the heaviness.  I tend to use the flaxseed substitute in everything, but the egg substitute powder might be worth trying in this capacity.  (If you try it, please let me know how it works!!)  If you are able to use eggs, you might have no problem at all with the heaviness.  See my Egg Substitutes post for information on how to sub real eggs for the substitute.

My opinion of coconut flour:

1. I like the flavor and texture that it adds to recipes, but I am a coconut lover to begin with.
2. I like the nutrition quality of this flour.
3. I would highly recommend using this to anyone who likes (and is not allergic to) coconut, espcially keeping in mind the three things above that I learned from using it...

Please feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts on using coconut flour and the experienced you have had with this, as I plan to use it more in other recipes, and would love to learn anything new about this product.

Until Next Time:   Have Fun Experimenting..  Go a little nutty with your coconutty flour!