Quinoa Flour: DIY – peace. love. quinoa

Nov 27

Here is the situation: (maybe this happened to you on Thanksgiving) You’re preparing to bake, you know that you have most ingredients on hand like the sugar, vanilla extract, and flour, but you need to run to the grocery for a few things like pecans and pumpkin puree. (follow me?) You get to the store and you begin to question yourself, “DO I have flour at home or did I use it all up….. I can’t remember so I’ll buy another bag…” You get home to find out that you have not one, but two bags of flour on-hand, both bags open, both bags taking up space……

I HATE having open bags of flour and sugar and “stuff” hanging around…. ESPECIALLY when there are duplicates. I just don’t have space for that kind of mess. PLUS, there are different types of flour that can’t be combined. Sigh. The struggle.

I recently learned how to make my own flour, IT’S SO EASY. I learned how to make flour from gluten-free items like oats, quinoa, and nuts which are all ingredients I keep on-hand. In this blog post, I’m going to explain how to make flour from quinoa, but the process is very similar for oats and nuts.

A few things that excite me:
Making quinoa flour is much more cost-effective than buying quinoa flour.
I no longer have to keep bags and bags of flour on-hand, now I can make my own flours, as needed, with the ingredients I already have on-hand.

Quinoa flour is made by grinding quinoa seeds in to a fine powder or flour. It looks and feels like all-purpose flour and can be used in a variety of different baking recipes including muffins, breads, cookies, pies, and crisps, among others. It can also be used in soups, stews, and gravies as a thickening agent or added to smoothies as a protein boost.

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Quinoa Flour: DIY

Author: peace. love. quinoa

Ingredients

• 2 cups organic quinoa
• clean coffee grinder

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Rinse the quinoa through a fine mesh sieve for about 1 minute and then dry the quinoa as much as possible.
3. On an ungreased, rimmed baking sheet, bake the quinoa at 350F for 12-15 minutes until dry, slightly golden and fragrant then cool completely.
4. Put about ¼ cup of the quinoa seeds in to the coffee grinder, and pulse to grind the quinoa. Shake the grinder every few pulses to ensure an even grind.
5. Repeat this process until all of the quinoa is finely ground.

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What you need to know about Quinoa Flour:  

• It is important to rinse your quinoa to remove the naturally occurring chemical, saponin that is found on the external seed coating of the quinoa. Removing the saponin will prevent a bitter taste.
• I prefer to use TruRoots Quinoa because of their organic and sustainable farming initiatives, the beautiful packaging, and I find the flavor and quality of their products superior to others.
• Quinoa has a distinct nutty, earthy flavor which makes it perfect for recipes with bold flavors // think molasses, cocoa, nuts, strong spices, and autumnal flavors.
• Quinoa is naturally gluten-free, high in protein, low carb, and nutritious.
• Unlike many gluten-free flours, you do not need to add xanthin or guar gum to make quinoa “work” in recipes. (win!)
• Be sure to use a clean coffee grinder to make quinoa flour, I would recommend having a coffee grinder just for grinding flours and spices, separate from the grinder you have for coffee. Using a food processor or blender is not effective in making flours. Coffee grinders can be inexpensive to purchase, you can find them for under $20.