If I used to be compelled to decide on only one gluten-free flour to bake with, it might, with no second’s hesitation, be oat flour. Oat flour is the Phoebe Waller-Bridge of gluten-free flours: simple to like, endlessly adaptable, and subverting previous concepts of what feels attainable.
Industrial oat flour is made by milling oat groats, that are oat berries with their husks eliminated. The result’s a comfortable, powdery flour that bakes up tender and fluffy in every kind of truffles and cookies. Its stable efficiency is because of a dialed-in stability of starch, fats, and protein—starches and fat maintain baked items comfortable and delicate, whereas protein offers construction and resilience.
Oat flour can also be particular in its potential to develop into viscous and faintly sticky. This successfully mimics a number of the properties of gluten, making it an important ingredient within the gluten-free pantry. I really like oat flour for its impartial style and heat aroma, akin to steamed milk and animal crackers. Proof of its inherent palatability lies in the truth that oat flour makes up the majority of many child meals, famously fed to a number of the harshest meals critics on earth.
Oat flour is often out there in most supermarkets. I really like and use Bob’s Pink Mill in a lot of my baking, together with this fudgy chocolate cake, a manifestation of many childhood desires.
Generally you should utilize oat flour by itself, like in these chewy cookies. However in most baking recipes, oat flour must workforce up with one other flour and/or starch. A mix of stickier flours helps stability oats’ starchiness. My favourite mixture is a mix of oat flour, candy or common rice flour, and a few tapioca starch.
Selfmade oat flour works effectively in lots of instances, however I’d warning in opposition to utilizing it as a default. Industrial oat flour is floor from oats that haven’t been processed a lot past eradicating their outer husks and, generally, a lightweight toasting to forestall them from going rancid too shortly.
At residence, you’re more likely to make oat flour with broadly out there rolled oats. Since rolled oats are steamed as a part of their processing, their properties change barely, and the ensuing flour hydrates in a different way from industrial choices. Baked items made with selfmade oat flour are usually a bit of denser. On the subject of delicate sponge or layer truffles, it’s finest to stay with industrial oat flour if the recipe requires it. In treats like cookies, crackers, and flatbreads, the place a brilliant mild texture isn’t the objective, selfmade oat flour is completely effective.
How you can make oat flour
To make oat flour at residence, grind rolled oats in a blender, working in batches of 1–2 cups oats so it doesn’t clog up the machine. Sift your oat flour by means of a fine-mesh sieve earlier than utilizing. Make certain to not use immediate oatmeal which is usually cooked even additional earlier than processing and sometimes incorporates added flavors and sugars, which might throw off your baking makes an attempt.
Put the gOAT to work:
