Making coconut flour?

[omini]

I have a fresh coconut, does anyone know if it's possible to make coconut flour from this? If I shred it up, dry it in the oven and then process it maybe?

It's so difficult to find low carb products in Spain. They sell very tiny packages of coconut flakes for cake decoration, but they cost like 4€ and it wouldn't be enough to make anything. So, I'm like no thanks. I also can't find almond flour although I did find soy flour in the health food store. I'd rather not touch soy though. I am having a lot of success using flax meal for different kinds of breads. I made a dill and onion one the other day that was pretty good.

Any other types of flours I can search for?

[IslandGirl]

Technically, coconut flour is made from defatted (preferably cold press, like making olive or any nut oil) coconut, which is then dried low and slow and ground very very fine.

A passable substitute is made by grinding dried unsweetened coconut, it's more a "coconut powder" as in Indian and South Asian cooking/stores.

Taking it (either one, actually) all the way from fresh coconut might be a bit tricky and laborious, and really, an awful lot of work...and not much worth it in my experience. Not regularly but only occasionally do I use the coconut products.

Almond flour, as sold in North America, is supposed to be the defatted product (any nut "flour" is) -- but actually what is solid as almond flour is almost always finely ground almonds, or almond meal. Usually found in baking or bulk supply. European cake recipes often use ground almonds so I would recommend looking for that instead, and it's likely to cost you less, too, than any imported "almond flour" product. I just buy the bulk ground almonds right next to the whole and flaked almonds in the baking section. For some recipes, I will grind it a bit finer in the food processor. Got to be lots of great almonds in Spain!

Can do with any nuts, pretty much. I have hazelnut "flour" (use interchangeably with the almond "flour", like in a pound cake). That's nice to bake with.

Try looking for real foods (like the almonds) that happen to be low carb, rather than looking for low carb food products and you will find more stuff that works for eating and cooking...

:wave:

[omini]

Thanks, IslandGirl! I'll definitely have to look at nuts. Almonds are almost prohibitively expensive, so using them for meal seems kind of like a sacrilege, but it might be nice for a special occasion.

I like your tip about looking for foods naturally low carb. I find myself trying to be creative because those type of products are practically non-existent here anyway.

I ground up my coconut and it's in the oven right now drying out. I decided to dry it anyway, because it wasn't the best coconut to eat raw in the first place. We'll see how it goes. I figure if it won't work for flour, I can still use it for other stuff.

[omini]

Ok, the experiment didn't turn out. I dried the coconut in the oven for a few hours and then tried processing it again. It ended up getting creamy like peanut butter, which I suppose is for the high fat content.

Even though it didn't turn out how I wanted, I do have to say that it's way delicious. I'm totally going to spread it on a piece of celery for breakfast tomorrow. Yum!

[IslandGirl]

Mmmmmmmmmmm, toasted coconut nut butter!


Don't you just love experimenting?

:wave:

[omini]

Don't you just love experimenting?

Oh, so much. It's one of my favorite things about this WOL. Forces me to be creative. :)