i'm thinking about buying some store-bought almond flour, because the almond "flour" i make at home is really more like almond meal (about the texture of very coarse cornmeal) and my little food processor just can't do much better (flax seeds just laugh at it!).

can anyone tell me if the purchased, store-bought almond flour is more powdery in consistency? closer to a say a stone ground flour than a meal? because i don't want to waste the money to get a huge bag of the same stuff i can make for as cheap or cheaper.

TIA!

~paradox

i mean, has anybody here bought/used it?

I have bought it in the past, and was pleased with it -- the texture is quite fine and fluffy. The only real problem I had with it was the inconvenience of having to order it well in advance. Since my heavy-duty food processor does a really nice job, now I just make my own instead. If you're not equipped with a good food processor, I'd definitely order it -- it's about as close to "real" flour as you can make almonds get, and works very well for baked goods. Of course, you may still want to save it for foods where you really need a finer texture, and grind your own for, say, battering fried foods, where a little coarseness doesn't matter so much.

If you cook a lot, you may definitely want to think about getting a nice food processor, though. I like to mess around in the kitchen, and use mine at least four or five times a week. It really is a big help for a lot of low-carb staple foods, since it makes quick work of stuff like shredding zucchini, grating cauliflower for rice, and grating your own cheeses (freshly grated parmesan is so much better than anything you can buy). You might suggest to your DH that it would be a good Christmas present -- there's nothing wrong with giving nice, expensive, sincerely wanted appliances as gifts!

As to the grinding portion of the post....I used my wifes Starbucks higher end coffee grinder recently on flax seeds and it did a beautiful job! The flax muffin recipe I found in the LC Kitchen forum was great! However my wife did a very thorough inspection to make sure I'd properly cleaned her grinder afterwards!!

thanks, guys! i will buy the flour for now, and perhaps consider my christmas present... i think its a great idea. i'm always grumbling about my processor- it sits on my counter all the time right next to my food scale- i must use it almost everyday, sometimes even several times a day- so i need to get one that is both more powerful and as easy to clean as my mini yard-sale version that only has an S-blade. great idea about the coffee grinder- sadly, just tonight i bought a bob's red mill pre-ground flax just tonight (on sale at the grocery store for $1.99 today, woo hoo!). i know its not as fresh, but i use it up pretty quickly, and will keep it in the fridge- but when i run out- look out, braun!

I have some from netrition on the way right noow should be here tuesday!!!!!!!

OK,
I can't believe I'm going to admit that I've watched this, but have you seen the infomercial for the Ulitmate Chopper?

In the infomercial it can turn table sugar into confectioner's sugar and even pulverize concrete! I can only imagine it would make some pretty fine almond or flax meal I think it has a 750 watt engine which is way more than most processors.

Its pretty small (which is good for me cause i have a TINY NYC kitchen if you can call it that) but you can also get a blender attachment for bigger jobs. The cheapest price for the chopper WITH the blender attachment was on the qvc website http://www.qvc.com but you can get the chopper alone on ebay pretty cheap too.

Yes, I am a nerd