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Atkins Diet Bulletin Board - Low Carb Cooking Basics: Nut Flours

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Post 1: Naja (December 31st, 2003, 08:14 AM)

Nut flours are an indispensible ingredient for the low carbing cook. They can add body and texture to baked goods such as cakes, muffins, cookies, biscuits and breads for relatively few carbs. Almond flour has only 3 net carbs per ounce, and is probably the most versatile of the nut flours. It performs well in savory breads and muffins as well as in dessert dishes. Ground walnuts tend to be fairly oily as well as strong flavored, and they do well in cakes and pie crusts. One full cup of ground walnuts has 6 net carbs. One ounce of pecans has only one net carb. Like walnuts, pecans have a high oil content. They have a pleasant, nutty flavor that comes through strongly in the dishes they are used in. Pecans do well in some types of breads, muffins and cookies and in many desserts. Hazelnut flour has 2 net carbs per ounce and a strong flavor that is remarkably like cornmeal. Hazelnut flour is very strong tasting so take care not to add too much of it to a recipe. Half hazelnut flour and half soy grits makes an excellent and authentically textured "cornmeal". Or use 1/3 cup hazelnut flour and 2/3 cup Atkins bake mix or other flour substitute. Preparing The Nuts Select already blanched nuts whenever possible. In some cases you may need to blanch the nuts yourself. Walnuts and pecans do not need blanching. Blanching means removing the fibrous outer coating that adheres to the nut and leaving on the the clean, white nut meat. Almonds and hazelnuts benefit from blanching. Basic blanching lessons can be found here: http://www.baking911.com/howto_blanch.htm A darker, coarser flour can be ground from unblanched almonds or hazelnuts. This more fiber-rich flour has a faint bitterness, and it can be used in some types of recipes where you want a denser product. It does well in most bread recipes but not in recipes where you want a lighter texture and a sweeter taste such as cakes. Almonds: Shell almonds and place them in a saucepan. Cover them with water. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and rinse nuts in cold water. Pinch off the almond skins by holding them at one end with your index finger and thumb, and then while pointing them into a bowl, press your fingers together -- be careful because they can shoot across the room! Place blanched nuts on a jelly roll or rimmed pan and dry them out in a 300 degree preheated oven for about 5 - 10 minutes. Don't let them brown. Hazelnuts: Roast nuts on a jelly roll or rimmed pan in a 325 degree preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the smell delicious. Do not let them burn. While hot or cool, briskly rub them in a coarse-textured towel or on the inside of a small mesh strainer to loosen the skins. Separate the nuts from the skins. If some skins are recalcitrant, just leave them. A small amount won't hurt. Hazelnuts are difficult to blanch. If at all possible, find a source of pre-blanched hazelnuts. Grinding Nut Flours You can easily grind your nut flours in a food processor and avoid having to purchase them pre-ground, if you don't mind an extra ingredient in your flour. The trick is to add a few teaspoons of dry powder for each cup of nuts once they have been coarsely ground, and continue running the food processor until the texture is as fine as you want it. I generally use Atkins Bake Mix or a homemade baking mix substitutes. Oat or soy flour would be another good alternative. Be sure that the nuts you place in the food processor are blanched, clean and completely dry with no liquid in the bowl. Nuts may be either raw or roasted, but they should not be salted or otherwise flavored. Flour made from roasted nuts tends to have a stronger, "nuttier" flavor. Flour made from raw nuts will have a blander flavor. The longer the roasting, the more intense the flavor.