Quinoa Flour’s Bitter & Grassy Taste
Ok, so I have to admit, I have tried time and time again to use quinoa flour and each time I come out completely disappointed! Have you tried quinoa flour only to be disappointed?
- First, I couldn’t stand the grassy smell of quinoa flour and it carried right over into the dish I was making.
- Second, I didn’t have success with cooking with it. It seemed to have a strange texture…strange taste, strange texture that’s 2 strikes.
- Third, it wasn’t easily found in my grocery stores. Yep, the 3 strikes your out certainly applies here!
So I started experimenting to solve all of these 3 strikes and I was super excited when I hit a home run in the quinoa world! (I know, I know…I just love baseball though) 😉
Making Your Own Quinoa Flour
So my first task was making my own quinoa flour. Who knew that it would be so easy to make!
- First, order yourself some organic quinoa.
- Next place your quinoa into a high powered food processor, Vitamix or Blendtec. If you do not have any of these, a coffee/herb grinder works just as well.
- Now just grind until a flour forms. This time will vary depending on which devise you are using to grind.
That’s it! I know so simple right? Now lets move on to roasting the flour. Please do not skip this step! It makes this flour slightly sweet with a touch of sourness, perfect if you ask me!
The Texture of Freshly Ground Quinoa Flour
Check out the picture above of the freshly ground quinoa flour. Kind of reminds me of almond flour with its coarse texture.
The texture will change through the roasting process and this is another key reasons why it is important to roast the quinoa flour.
Once you roast the quinoa flour, it will become a finer flour and will have the consistency of an all purpose flour. It will absorb better when baking and will create more consistent results.
Toasting Quinoa Flour
Roasting quinoa flour really is quite simple. Follow these quick and easy steps and you will have the best quinoa flour you have ever tasted, for real!!
Toasted Quinoa Flour
Prep Time: 5 mins- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: Varies depending how much you make
Prep Time:
Yield:
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 pound quinoa (see instructions above on how to make your own quinoa flour)
- You can also use store bought quinoa flour, but I prefer to freshly grind my flour, it is fresher and the nutrients remain in the flour when freshly ground.
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 220ºF
- Place the freshly ground flour (you can also use store bought quinoa flour) onto a rimmed pan. You do not have to measure, just make sure that it doesn’t reach the thickness of more than 1/4″ deep.
- Roast for 2 1/2 – 3 hours. I know it might seem like a long time, but you don’t have to turn the flour or anything, just pop it in the oven and in 3 hours it is done! How simple is that?
- When you start roasting your quinoa flour, you will have a very earthy, grassy smell throughout the house. The smell will change over the course of the cooking time.
- Remove from oven and allow to completely cool.
- Once cooled, place in an air tight container and store in the freezer.
- Quinoa can quickly become rancid. Just like with any freshly ground or roasted flours, it is best to freeze them so that the flour remain fresh and doesn’t turn rancid.
Notes
See “Equipment Carousel” below to see the equipment that I recommend for this recipe.
Recommended Equipment
Check out this carousel above to see the products that I recommend for this recipe. Just click and hold on the arrow in lower right corner to scroll through. To learn more about the product, just click on the image. Pretty cool, right? 🙂
Now That Smells Good!
You will notice that the house will start to smell sweeter and eventually you will not smell the flour anymore.
When you get to that point, you know your roasted quinoa flour is done!
The Texture of Toasted Quinoa Flour
Take a look at the texture of this toasted quinoa flour. Do you see a change? It is quite a bit finer and resembles the texture of an all purpose flour.
Be sure to allow it to completely cool and then store in an air tight container and store in the freezer. As with any freshly ground flours, it is best to store the flour in the freezer to keep the flour from going rancid.
It will last 6 months in the freezer so feel free to roast a large quantity.
Lets Start Cooking With Quinoa Flour Shall We?
Ok so now that we have this awesome flour, lets start creating some amazing quinoa flour recipes.
Stay tuned, because I have whipped up some pretty amazing recipes using quinoa flour that I can’t wait to share!
Share Your Thought
I am really interested to hear your thoughts on this?
Have you ever roasted a flour before or is this the first time you have heard of this?
Thanks for this. I find it necessary to rinse the quinoa before cooking it. So I rinsed some and put it on a pan to roast and dry out. I will grind it after. I may or may not toast it after it is ground depending how it tastes.