Experiments with coconut flour

[KookyCat]

I've been doing a bit of experimenting of late with alternatives to flour in various baking projects. There are two reasons for this, the first is I'm going to be involved in a charity bake off in November and I'd like to do some lower carb bakes, some gluten free bakes and whole food bakes (I do like a challenge 😉). The second reason is I'm developing recipes for my uncle, he has terminal cancer and at the moment is struggling with food but can manage to be tempted by a cake, so I'm trying to come up with ways to make cake a bit more nutritionally positive.

So far I've had some luck with coconut flour but it's very very absorbent so everything is a bit too moist. Has anyone used coconut flour? Is there a way to dry it out? I'm considering adding ground flax seed because it's high fibre, mineral rich and dry. Any tips gratefully accepted from the seasoned bakers 🙂

Incidentally I chose coconut flour as a starting point because it's high fibre and low carb, but also bought some soya flour and almond flour (although the almond was quite expensive so I'd probably have to mix it with other flours for it to be cost effective).

 

[Annette]

I've never had any luck with coconut flour. In fact, in the end I chucked out the remainder of the packet. Soya flour does work well provided you don't need a rise (it doesn't), you don't need it to stick together on its own (it makes for quite brittle biscuits) and you don't mind the taste of nuts (it makes everything taste slightly like peanut butter, in my opinion).
If you mix it half and half with normal flour, that gives a bit of rise and a bit of sticking togetherness with a pretty good reduction in carbs.
Makes lovely short biscuits though.

 

[KookyCat]

Thanks Annette, I'm having interesting results with the coconut flour at the moment, the banana bread has been one disaster and one success (although a little eggtastic) but it's so tricky to work with!

 

[HOBIE]

Coconut milk 🙂 Will have to have a look for Coconut flour 😉

 

[AndBreathe]

Have you encountered this site, Kooky?: http://thecoconutmama.com/coconut-flour-recipes/

 

[KookyCat]

Have you encountered this site, Kooky?: http://thecoconutmama.com/coconut-flour-recipes/

No I haven't, thanks for that I've bookmarked and will have a truffle later 🙂. I did manage to make an acceptable banana bread that's quite delicious if topped with almond butter, but a bit "eggy" if eaten on its own, so more development needed!