These 16 things to know about coconut flour are very important. 

Why? Because so many of you will be using coconut flour for the upcoming holiday baking season.

Now, to be perfectly clear, I wrote 13 Things to Know About Coconut Flour for Nutiva a few years back already.

This post is an extension and was inspired by the post. Because I still stand by all 13 of those, I’m going to list them again and add more. 

Are you ready to dig in?

16 Things to Know About Coconut Flour

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1. It is rich in protein, fiber and fat.
2. Even though both coconut and almond flour are alternative baking flours, they are not equal substitutes. In other words, if a recipe calls for 1/2 cup almond flour, you can’t assume that 1/2 cup coconut flour will work. 
3. It looks like wheat flour in appearance, but it neither smells, tastes nor acts like wheat flour when baking with it.
4. Coconut flour cannot be substituted at a 1:1 ratio for other flours in recipes (i.e. You cannot swap 1 c. of coconut flour for 1 c. wheat flour.)
5. Coconut flour is highly absorbent, and for this reason you will barely need any coconut flour to successfully produce a recipe.
6. Almost always, coconut flour will require eggs when used in baked goods. Furthermore, coconut flour will require more eggs than the standard flour requires. This is because eggs act as the main binder.
7. To make up for the lack of gluten, recipes will oftentimes add in some sort of additional protein to the mix (hemp protein powder tends to work well).
8. Because it’s so thick, coconut flour works well as a thickener in things like soups and sauces.
9. In addition to more eggs, coconut flour requires additional liquids in general (milk, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, etc.).
10. In order to get the lumps and bumps out of your coconut flour mixture, you’ll need to ensure all ingredients have been properly beaten together. Even better, sift coconut flour before adding to recipes.
11. If you don’t like the taste of coconut, baking with coconut flour might not be your best option unless you plan to pair it with another strong flavor (like cacao, onion, garlic, etc.), since it has a distinct coconut flavor.
12. Coconut flour is very dry. To offset a dry coconut flour recipe, you’ll need to ensure you use plenty of eggs and/or other high-moisture foods like cooked, pureed or mashed fruit and/or vegetables.
13. Coconut flour alone doesn’t work well in recipes where you are trying to achieve a crispy texture (i.e. crispy cookies or crackers).
14. Make sure to store your coconut flour in an airtight container (or even freeze it) since it absorbs moisture, as mentioned above.
15. Coconut flour is high-FODMAP. If you want to know the exact FODMAP information on coconut flour it’s this: at 1 serving (2/3 cup, 100g), coconut flour is high-FODMAP from fructose, sorbitol, and frucatnas. However, my recipe Strawberry Shortcake for One uses 1.5 tablespoons coconut flour, and most people are just fine with that small amount.
16. Coconut flour is 100% gluten free. The only exception is if it’s simply an ingredient in an item vs. the ingredient. i.e. Coconut Flour vs. Coconut Flour Cookies.

Where to Buy Coconut Flour

Coconut flour is everywhere these days. Here are some main sources I get mine from:

1. Nutiva 
2. Anthony’s
3. Thrive Market
4. general bulk bins; other health food stores

Healthier Baking

I’d like to feature more alternative baking items to help with all your baking needs. I snapped these pictures of various baking ingredients. Let me know if you see one that you’d love me to write about.

 

Baking is a blast – especially this time of year!

By the way, coconut flour is used in the following recipes in The Leaky Gut Meal Plan book HERE: Autoimmune Paleo Bread, Perfect Vegan Banana Spoon Bread, Plantain Breakfast Muffins, Salmon Patties, Savory Turmeric Flatbread, and Tomato and Basil No-Dough Pizza.

Xox,
SKH