When on a low carb or gluten free diet you may still want to bake sweet treats, breads, or other recipes that call for flour. Fortunately there are some alternatives, we find the best of which are nut flours.
If you don’t like the flavours these flour alternatives give your recipes you can hide the taste of almond or coconut flour add some flavourings to mask most of it. In sweet recipes add some cinnamon, or salt and sweetener; while in a savoury recipe you can add strong savoury flavours such as salt, onion powder, garlic.
Best: Carbzone Low Carb Organic Almond Flour 500g
This premium almond flour is ground finely for the closest ‘real’ flour texture and feel. Due to the lack of gluten in nut flour you may need to add extra eggs when baking to mimic the gluten that is found in regular flour.
Good: Linwoods Organic Milled Flaxseed - 850g
This flaxseed meal is high in omega-3 fatty acids and a great flour substitute for muffins and brownies where the texture of the ‘flour’ won’t matter as much. Since the meal is more dense than coconut flour this is not suitable for fluffy, light texture recipes such as breads and airy cupcakes.
Budget: Organic Coconut Flour 1 kg
At around £5 per kilogram, this organic coconut flour is better value than almost anything you will find in the high street or supermarkets. Coconut flour absorbs a lot of water and dries out your recipe, so you may need to add more eggs and water as appropriate, it may take a few tries making recipes with this before you get used to the texture and judging when more wet ingredients need to be added.