Cooking with Bean Flours
byadmin
Since our blog on grinding grains with the Wonder Mill Junior, I have been thinking about all the different legumes that can be used for flour. Storing whole beans is as easy as storing whole wheat and can be used as flour. Whole beans store much longer than ground flour.
Today, bean flours are used primarily by people that need to be gluten free, so we don’t hear much about them. We have a friend that has celiac disease, so we try to cook things for her that is gluten free. When I looked for gluten free items in the store, I almost fainted, the price for cookies, bread and several others items I checked were really expensive.
Since bean flour can be used for people with gluten problems or merely for a change in taste, we have included a bean flour biscuit recipe. In the future we will post one for tortilla wraps as soon as I get a chance to try it.
Bean Flour Biscuits
- 2 cups bean flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter soft (not melted)
- ¾ cup skim milk
Mix dry ingredients. Add butter; mix til blended. Add milk, stir well, you may need more flour to be able to handle the dough. Roll out until about ¼ inch thick and cut with an upside glass, doughnut cutter or just form them by hand.
Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 12-15 minutes in a 450 oven.
Bean flour can be used for baking, thickener and for dips. You can also use for a filling for a dairy-free lasagna filling.
Here is a list of some of the bean flours.
- Black Beans
- Fava Beans
- Garbanzo Beans
- Green Pea Flour
- Soy Flour
- White Beans
- Cranberry Beans
- Canario Beans (they are creamed colored)
You can make flour from all of these beans just by grinding them with a good quality hand crank mill. Check and make sure your mill will grind beans without being damaged. Beans that are so old that they will not soften when cooked can be ground into flour and still used. As always we would like to hear your comments and questions.