I know I usually post pictures of some mouth-watering foods, but sometimes information is needed as well. Last week I tried coconut flour by making a pizza crust, and then some coconut chocolate-chip cookies. Both recipes were very delicious, but incredibly hard-to-digest. I am an ex-baker from my wheat-eating days, and I really miss that part of a meal: crusty French bread, fluffy biscuits, chewy and soft cookies warm-from-the-oven. After a couple of days of our tummies grumbling, I decided to research why the coconut flour did not agree with us. Coconut flour contains phytic acid. Researchers have found that if you can reduce the phytic acid in your food, you can improve your iron absorption markedly. Do grains have phytic acid (phytates) and should we care? Generally speaking, grains have high levels of phytic acid, a substance that reduces our absorption of minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, and magnesium. The only way to reduce phytic acids in grains is by soaking it out. You can soak coconut flour before using it, but the results are rather disappointing. Another food used to make gluten-free flour is the humble bean. Garbanzo beans are especially popular, but they also contain high levels of phytic acid. So, what is the answer? There are several commercial gluten-free flour mixes out there. The All Purpose Flour mixes out there are usually made of a combination of sorghum flour, millet flour, sweet rice flour, and potato starch. Sorghum is the grain portion of a variety of grass; Millet is most often associated with bird seed and is a seed from grass; Sweet rice flour is the grain portion of “sticky” rice (yes, like the rice under your Hawaiian food) and is called ‘mochiko’ in Asian specialty stores; Potato starch is exactly what it sounds like – starch extracted from potatoes. So, you can see (if you’re familiar with Paleo eating) that Garbanzo beans are considered legumes and are NOT part of a Paleo lifestyle. Also Sweet rice flour and potato starch will disqualify most All Purpose Baking Flours (at least the gluten-free varieties) from being a Paleo food. So, for me, it is back to no baking! Although I have been buying some pretty delicious gluten-free bread from Whole Foods, I don’t really eat much of it. My daughter loves toast, so that is how our bread will stay – not on my plate!
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 01:59:45 +0000
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