Has anyone tried making bread using Almond Meal/Almond Flour?

[sase3119]

I do most of my baking using almond flour because of my wheat allergy, but of course they are generally sweet creations.

I have a craving for hot homemade bread with basil pesto, but I only have this and rice flour in the house. I find when I cook with rice flour things come out quite heavy, and I like my bread very light and fluffy.
Has anyone tried using Almond Flour for bread? I worry it would be too sweet tasting. The only recipes I can find either combine it with coconut flour (I'm not a coconut fan) or compare it to banana bread - which makes me think too sweet again.

Hoping someone has had good experience and can refer me somewhere! Or a tried-and-tested fluffy rice flour bread?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Have you tried mixing it with rye flour? or even spelt or kamut flour? Teff flour is another that springs to mind as being gluten free so would be suitable for your wheat allergy.

I haven't personally found almond flour sweet, because almonds are not sweet and almond flour is almond meal which has been dried and then ground. Any sweetness (sweetened almond milk comes to mind) happens afterwards.

But I have only cooked with it mixed in with other flours.

 

[DancingLady]

If you are only allergic to wheat, and not gluten intolerant, try using some other ancient grain flours. The ones mentioned above sound like food options. I'm not familiar with barley as a flour, but it might also be worth looking into as I don't think of barley as all that heavy a grain.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

The ones mentioned above sound like food options

? not sure I follow you.

Spelt is an ancient grain (grown in Britain) which comes as a flour (I am actually cooking some sourdough that is 25% spelt flour as we speak) and kamut is also a flour and an ancient grain (again I have some in my cupboard). Farro, sorghum and millet are also ancient grains. Amaranth is another (gluten free by default) which is similar to teff but IMO nicer. Teff is an Ethiopian grain which is gluten free by default (but only really any good for making flat breads as a result, but there are some great flat breads that can be made with it). Freekah is another and though it is a wheat (as are some of the others) it is harvested green and young and and as a result could be an option - depends on how sensitive you are but I haven't seen it as a flour only as a whole grain which you cook as though it was rice or similar (I have some in my cupboard and a lot of my Iranian cook books call for it, it is actually quite nice). Buckwheat is another option, though its colour is off putting and I have only really had any success with it in flat breads and of course there is always barley flour (which I am sure I have in my cupboard but had forgotten about ).


http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Markets/10-ancient-grains-to-watch-from-kamut-to-quinoa covers a few of the ones I have mentioned. A lot of the ancient grains are wheat strains but are very low 'whatever it is in wheat that is the allergy bit' sorry for the lack of terminology. Modern 'wheat' flour is actually nothing like the old strains of wheat and those who can't tolerate modern wheat are often fine with the ancient strains, so it is worth looking into. This is quite interesting and worth reading. http://authoritynutrition.com/modern-wheat-health-nightmare/ This is on freekah which whilst won't be any use to you as a flour could be of interest in general food cooking http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Ma...cient-grains-to-back-and-telling-a-good-story.

 

[sase3119]

^ I believe DancingLady probably meant to say *good* options haha. I've made the same typo many times.
Unfortunately the modern wheat stuff (while interesting) doesn't apply to my allergies I've looked into it previously and talked to my doctor about it, but apparently the modern wheat problems are generally a digestive problem, whereas I have respiratory reactions and skin reactions also (I don't even want to think about that one class trip to a farm where they grew wheat...)

It's interesting that your baking with almond flour doesn't come out sweet - I've used it in totally savoury dishes with no sweet ingredients as a thickener etc and still had the same result. Maybe it's just something about the almond taste to me personally - I don't have a bag of them on hand to find out Barley definitely sounds like one to try if I can find some, Rye was also mentioned in one of the articles you linked so I might try that one out too.

Looks like it's off to the shops tomorrow!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Ahh - I also suffer from anaphylactic shock but from dairy and the number of times I get told that I am only intolerant to lactose.... so I understand. I am allergic to casein and other proteins found in milk and have even reacted badly to an antihistamine tablet of all things! (tablets contain lactose monohydrate as a tablet filler and sometimes it is contaminated with casein which I react to... not great news because it is a try it and see solution rather than there is an alternative.)

best of luck hunting. Buckwheat noodles are tasty btw if you are ever after a nice pasta alternative.

 

[sase3119]

the number of times I get told that I am only intolerant to lactose....

Oh my God yes. The number of times people even within my family have described me as "Gluten Free" or "Gluten Intolerant" is just insane to me. Why can people not understand that there are other food conditions too?? Especially if i say "I am allergic to wheat" and they change that later to "she can't have gluten" - why do you think it's okay to change my words??
Argh sorry, rant ends here. I just get so frustrated haha, I'm glad someone else gets it!