HOW TO MAKE ALMOND FLOUR AT HOME: COOKING RECIPE, PHOTO

There are a variety of dishes that require almond flour as an ingredient. Such a product is sold far from everywhere, and it is quite expensive. Nevertheless, flour from almond grains may well grind any hostess in her own kitchen. Of course, even in this case, a similar component is not a cheap pleasure, but since it is used to make real culinary masterpieces designed to decorate a festive table, sometimes you can still be pampered.

Application

Almond flour is a purely culinary product. To be even more accurate, it is necessary for the preparation of delicious desserts, and for some dishes absolutely indispensable.

Did you know? The famous French macarons cookies (here we call them macaroni, macaroons, or macaroons) are multi-colored soup rings made from whipped proteins, powdered sugar, and almond flour, pairwise glued together with a cream. Their history begins in the 16th century. According to one of the versions, they were invented by the chef Ekaterina Medici for his august mistress.

In addition to Macarons, almond flour is also present in other world-famous sweets, such as:

marzipan (almond flour mixed with sugar syrup);
frangipan (almond paste or cream, often used as a filling for cakes);
Zhenoise (old Genoese sponge cake, light and airy, prepared using a special technology);
Decuaz (nut biscuit, the basis of the French Esterhazy cake);
meringue (in the Italian version for the preparation of this meringue used almond flour).

Almond powder, added to biscuit or other dough instead of the usual wheat flour, turns it into a real culinary miracle. This product works as a thickener and at the same time provides a unique taste to cookies, sweets and cakes, and based on it you can make various creams, including cream.

Fresh notes start to play fruit salads, if you sprinkle them with almond powder, the same trick can be done with vegetable snacks, puddings, sweet cereals, casseroles. Not so often the product is used in the preparation of sauces, soups and main dishes, but still it happens. Some cooks put almond flour in pies, and also as a thickener and flavoring in various fillings for pancakes or pies.

Varieties

There are two main types of almond flour:

ordinary;
partially fat free.

Did you know? Interestingly, mix almond flour with sugar was originally invented to treat depression and other mental disorders. But when the crop failed in Europe, wheat flour from abundantly fruiting almond trees began to be used to make bread. And during the war for the Spanish inheritance (1701-1714), according to legend, the inhabitants of besieged Barcelona survived the famine thanks to the resourcefulness of the local pastry chef who prepared nutritious bars from the almond and honey stocks remaining in the cellars.

Ordinary flour is prepared by grinding almond kernels, previously subjected to blanching. The second type of product involves a much more complex cooking technology. So, before grinding the almond fruit into flour, some of the oil is preliminarily removed by cold pressing. This flour is valued higher and is much less common. That is, it can safely replace the wheat flour in the dough, it has a smaller fraction and does not emit excess fat.

You can cook not only all the above desserts on skimmed almond flour, but also the most common cheesecakes, pancakes and even homemade noodles (unless, of course, the hostess does not stop the fact that the price of such a component is much higher than that of its wheat counterpart). It turns out very tasty cookies, because the low oil content gives the product a crispness, and the nutty flavor makes it extra spicy.

Read also about the benefits of chickpea flour.

As for the beneficial properties of plain and fat-free almond flour, they differ little from each other, all the vitamins, trace elements and other biologically active substances present in whole grains are stored in both types of flour. At home, of course, you can cook only the usual version of this product.

Did you know? As you know, almonds can be sweet and bitter. Bitter grains contain a higher concentration of amygdalin glycoside, which is a compound of two sugar molecules - benzoldehyde and cyanide, one of the most powerful poisons known to mankind. Nevertheless, amygdalin is a very valuable substance. It is able to selectively kill cancer cells, it is considered an ideal "chemotherapeutic agent" and is classified as vitamin B17.

Unlimited amounts of bitter almonds are dangerous to consume. The lethal dose of these fruits for children is estimated at a dozen, for adults it is about 50 pieces. Therefore, for the preparation of flour, sweet grains are always used, to which for aroma and piquancy it is recommended to add only a few bitter ones (3-5 pieces per 0.5 kg of product).

Almond preparation process

To prepare the powder, whole almond kernels are needed without any impurities. You should also not buy roasted almonds, as the technology of making powder involves proper roasting, so it is better to do it yourself.

Important! It is recommended to buy any nuts in a shell. In this form, the product is stored longer, and therefore, the powder from it will turn out better and fragrant. In addition, the hard shell protects the grain from contact with sources of various infections, so that the risk of poisoning is minimized.

If the almond is in the shell, the preparatory activities begin with its removal. The complexity of the process depends on the type of tree. The so-called "paper" or "fragile" almonds are easy to clean with your hands, since its shells are very thin. But there are varieties that need to prick, almost like walnuts. Arming with a small hammer or pliers and splitting the shell, applying force to the side of the fruit (edge). Thus, the almond kernel can be removed from the shell safe and sound.

Kitchenware

To prepare the main ingredient for the future dessert, we need quite a bit:

small saucepan;
pan;
wooden paddle for stirring;
several paper towels;
fine sieve;
grinding device.

In order to get real almond powder, and not just crushed nuts, you need a good and powerful technique. This can be a kitchen processor (combine) or a blender with sharp knives, located as low as possible, otherwise the grain must be shaken all the time. Very good also, if the device is equipped with a pulse mode.

Important! Grind almonds and other nuts can be in a coffee grinder, but most experts still do not recommend it. Such equipment has a strictly defined purpose, and moving away from it can lead to damage to the device. In particular, nuts contain a lot of oil, which then will be difficult to wash off the knives and the axis.

The meat grinder in our case is also not suitable. Some recipes involve chopping nuts with this device, but almond flour for desserts involves a much finer fraction of grinding.

Technological process of cooking

First of all, the almond kernels need to be boiled slightly. We throw the kernels released from the shell into boiling water and leave it there for one minute.
Drain the water. We put the almonds on a horizontal surface so that the fruits cool down a little.
We start cleaning the grains from the dark brown husks covering them. This is done very easily, by gently pressing the hand, the skin is removed from the corelet itself.
Spread the cleaned kernels in a flat dish covered with a paper towel to absorb excess moisture, and then on a clean baking tray.
Place the baking tray with almonds in the oven, heated to a temperature of +70 ° C, for 30 minutes.
In the process of roasting, shake the baking pan 3-4 times or mix the seeds with a wooden spatula in order to achieve the most uniform processing.
Remove the almonds from the oven, let the grains cool down a little and pour them into the prepared bowl of a blender or food processor for grinding.
We start the pulse mode, and in its absence we interrupt the nuclei with stops: after 5-7 seconds of work, we stop the process, after a few seconds we turn on the device again, and so on.
Closely monitor the degree of grinding nuts. Evenly crushed powder, similar to wheat flour, can not be achieved, but if you beat it up for too long, the kernels will begin to give out butter, which we absolutely do not need. Therefore, when a sufficient percentage of the fine fraction appears in the bowl, it is necessary to sift the nuts through a fine sieve.
Larger pieces of nuts, which remained in the sieve, again put in the bowl of the blender and repeat the procedure.
A small amount of coarse-grained material that has not yet become flour can be placed in a separate container and subsequently used to prepare dishes in which almond nuts are present, and not flour (these are various cakes, pastries or muffins).

Important! From 1 kg of uncleaned grains, approximately 800-850 g of finished powder is obtained (7-8% of the weight is the skin, another 10% will remain in the form of a larger fraction, which will not sift through a sieve).

Video: Almond Flour

What to replace

There are dishes in which almond flour plays the role of "first violin". Without the main ingredient, it’s better not to cook them. However, there are other, less stringent recipes where you can try to cheat. For example, the same marzipan, meringue, cookies or creams will have a wonderful taste if, instead of almonds, the same technology is used to grind any nuts, including cheaper ones. So, for the preparation of powder, you can use:

peanut;
walnuts;
hazelnut;
cashew nuts;
pine nuts.

As an even more economical option, you can also try to grind sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, or coconut chips in a blender.

Learn how to grow almonds and how it is useful and harmful.

Almond flour prepared at home, as a rule, is somewhat inferior in its structure and quality than purchased, but in most cases this does not hinder the creation of real works of art based on it. The main thing is not to forget that the best assistant chef is a good mood and love for those for whom you are cooking!