Coconut Flour: 7 Things You Need To Know About It
All of us are so conventional about using wheat flour for every other recipe that hearing of coconut flour seems very unusual. Coconut flour is a very versatile flour, finely ground from the inner layer of dried coconut. It has a lower glycemic index than traditional flours, and its rich texture and natural sweetness make it great for baking. It is a popular flour to bake with for those who follow any grain-restrictive diets and are very alarmed when it comes to healthy eating. You can look for some of the best coconut flour recipes at McKenzie’s foods here. Here are 7 things that you should know about coconut flour:
- Nutritional:
It is rich in protein, fiber, and fat. Another very good reason for you to start using it for the different desserts.
- Highly absorbent:
Coconut flour is highly absorbent unlike wheat flour or any other flour. Hence, it is barely required in some amount to go about with the process of baking.
- Eggs:
Using coconut flour while baking will require you to use comparatively more eggs than while working with any other flour. This is because it has fewer binding properties. So, it will always require more eggs than usual to have the perfect texture or outcome.
- Thickness:
It can be used as one of the key agents in a lot of gravy foods, because of its thickness. It works very well as a thickening agent in recipes like soups and many more. One of the disadvantages due to this is that along with the eggs, it requires more sorts of liquids like milk or lemon juice in order to maintain the liquidy texture of a recipe.
- Not so favorite ingredient:
If you are not a very big fan of the taste of coconut, you might not like the taste of any recipes using it. It is unless you decide to add on a strong flavor to your dishes like vanilla, garlic, or onion, you need to be sure about the coconut flour usage.
- Crisp:
Coconut flour might not be the best option to use if you are expecting a crispy texture to your recipes like cookies or crackers.
- Storage:
As we already talked about before, coconut flour, due to its absorbent texture, absorbs more texture and hence you need to be very concerned about its storage. Make sure to keep it in an air-tight container or maybe freeze it.
Although coconut flour can be used as a substitute for wheat flour, many recipes must be adjusted to account for its different compositions. Another tip about cooking with coconut flour would be that because it is gluten-free, doughs made with coconut flour need to be mixed longer. Although many coconut products contain high amounts of saturated fats, coconut flour is processed in a way to removes these fats, making it safer to have regularly, another tip for people concerned about their diets and the products they ingest.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
