Most people associate flour with wheat, but many other types of ingredients can be used to create flour to suit certain diets, flavor profiles, textures, and more, and one example is nut flour.
If you have never tried nut flour before, you may be curious as to what nut flour is. I did the research, and here is what I discovered!
What Is Nut Flour?
Nut flour refers to any flour made from nuts like almonds and walnuts, which can come in different categories like nut flour, nut meal, and ground-up nuts. Generally, nut flour and nut meal can be used interchangeably, but nut flour is often superior if you want an option similar to regular flour. Moreover, nut flour is an excellent gluten-free flour alternative.
Do you want to learn what types of nuts can be used to make nut flour, how you use nut flour and nut meal, and more? Keep reading!
What Is Considered Nut Flour?
Nut flour is any type of flour made from ground-up nuts since you can grind nuts finely enough to create a flour-like consistency.
Typically, the nut flour can be made from nuts that have been dried or raw, but the nuts have to be ground finely to be considered nut flour.
What Is The Purpose Of Nut Flour?
Generally, the purpose of nut flour is to replace regular flour in most recipes, especially if the person making the recipe wants a gluten-free alternative to flour since most flour contains wheat.
Additionally, some types of nut flour like nut meal are a creative and efficient way of using nuts after making nut milk.
Generally, making nut milk often creates nut pulp, which would otherwise get thrown out unless you use the nut pulp to make nut milk.
What Types Of Nut Flour Are There?
There are generally three categories for nut flour that feature different textures, which include nut flour, ground-up nuts, and nut meal.
Normally, nut flour is made from peeled and blanched nuts that are ground until the nuts are very fine, making the nut flour almost identical to regular flour.
On the other hand, nut meal refers to raw and unpeeled nuts that have been ground, and the nuts may be ground a little less fine compared to nut flour.
Additionally, nut meal is often created from nut pulp since nut pulp is often leftover from making nut milk, allowing you to maximize the use of the nuts.
Plus, ground-up nuts are typically any type of nuts that are ground, but the nuts are often not ground enough to be considered nut meal or nut flour.
More often than not, ground-up nuts are often used as toppings or as an added ingredient for more texture and flavor rather than a replacement for flour.
Moreover, nut flour can be made from any nut or seed that is similar to a nut, such as almonds, macadamias, walnuts, chestnuts, pecans, and more with almond flour being one of the most popular types of nut flour.
What Is Nut Flour Used For?
Nut flour can be used in almost any recipe that calls for regular flour if you want flour that does not contain gluten.
Typically, you can use nut flour in an equal ratio to regular flour if you want to use nut flour instead of wheat-based flour.
However, certain recipes call for nut flour specifically, such as macarons which require almond flour to achieve the perfect taste and texture.
What Nut Flour Should I Use?
Generally, it is not recommended to used regular coarsely ground nuts as a nut flour since ground nuts will not mimic flour well enough in most recipes.
However, you may use nut flour and nut meal in different recipes, and each type will shine better for various purposes.
For instance, nut meal and nut flour can both be used in recipes like cookies and quick bread since they can offer the same consistency as all-purpose flour and bleached flour.
On the other hand, nut flour is a better choice if you want to have a less distinct almond flavor and cake-like textures in your recipes since nut flour have a similar consistency to regular flour.
How Do You Make Nut Flour?
Typically, you will need a strong and high-speed blender to create nut flours to crush the nuts to a fine flour.
Depending on the size of your blender, you can blend 1-2 cups of nuts at a time, but it is recommended to blend 1 cup of nuts at a time to create an even flour.
However, you mustn’t over blend your nuts because the nuts will become creamy, creating nut butter instead of nut flour.
What Can I Substitute For Nut Flour?
If you are not concerned about consuming gluten, you can opt for any wheat flour for most recipes.
For instance, nut flour can easily be replaced with bleached wheat flour if you are making cookies and cakes.
However, you may opt for sunflower seed flour if you want another gluten-free alternative to nut flour since sunflower seed flour can be used in an equal ratio to nut flour.
Plus, sunflower seed flour is great if you want completely nut-free and gluten-free flour since sunflower seeds are not nuts.
Moreover, cornflour is another excellent substitute for nut flour, but you may get a slightly sweeter taste in your recipe if you use cornflour since corn flour is naturally a bit sweet.
Additionally, cornflour is best if you want a replacement for nut flour that will give you light and fluffy results, making corn flour great for recipes like pancakes.
Have a look at our related articles to discover what bleached flour is, what buckwheat flour is, and what baker’s flour is.
Conclusion
Nut flour is any type of nut that has been ground to resemble flour, and nut flour can be considered nut meal or nut flour depending on the preparation.
Generally, nut flour makes a great alternative to flour if you want a gluten-free option and can be used in an equal amount to most flour,
However, other alternatives like sunflower seed flour are other good options if you want a nut-free and gluten-free flour substitute.