DIY Oat Flour

DIY Oat Flour… yes, really you can make your own oat flour for real!

Okay so what I’m sharing with you today is so ridiculously simple that I’m almost embarrassed to share it. But I feel it’s my duty to share these super simple tricks that I’ve been using for years that not only saves you money but also, well… let’s face it, it saves you money.  For me that’s a huge bonus in my book! I often use oat flour when I want to mix things up whether it’s in breads, pizza dough, cookies or even breading things. It just a different taste and flavor profile to an element. Now ground oat flour can’t be a straight 1-for-1 swap say with all purpose or bread flour as it is a different protein strength BUT you can use it and replace up to 25% of the flour in your recipe. It adds a great whole grain flavor plus the additional nutrients oats provide. So today I’m sharing with you how to make your own oat flour.  Yeah I’m doing a DIY on you but trust me all you need are 2 things – old fashioned rolled oats and a way to grind them.

Now this ‘recipe’ dare I call it that can be made with regular or gluten free oats.  Make sure when you do want gluten free that you oats actually are GF certified and marked.  Not all oats are as they are made in facilities that are either near products that have gluten in them OR in the same shipping truck as products with gluten in them.

So why oat flour?  Does it really make that big of a difference? In a single word – ABSOLUTELY!  Like you know how some muffins are heavier and dense, like bran or even carrot?   Well oat flour helps lighten them up plus it also adds such amazing flavors. Think about it this way.  When you make oat meal at first the oats are stiff as a board, right?  Unless you’re doing a body building show 9 times out of 10 you don’t eat them raw.  I’ve done it and know of one other.  No I didn’t do a body building show – I was starving and didn’t have time to make real food so I grabbed a handful and threw them in my mouth. Um FYI… don’t ever do this ESPECIALLY when you have no water or liquid around.  It was bad… real bad!  LOL Anyway, when you make oatmeal they start out hard but when you add liquid to them they tend to soften and in time, become light, billowy even.  Well that’s what’s happening inside of your baked goods. So this is why a bran muffin that contains oat flour will not feel like you just ate a lead brick in your stomach 30 minutes later. lol

So why make your own oat flour?  Well if you’re like most folks out there you don’t have it right now in your pantry but I’m pretty sure most of you have a container of oats.   And if you’re like most people if you find a recipe that calls for say this ingredient you’ll either:

A – go out and buy pre-ground oat flour where you’re forced to buy a larger than you’ll ever need container then end up pitching it a year later because you never use it;  or
B – not make the recipe

Both reasons are dumb because:

A – You obviously want to try the recipe otherwise you wouldn’t have pinned it, printed it or drooled a bit; or
B – follow my DIY steps and you can make it whenever you want, as little or as much as you want

Next question (yes I’m in your head) – Do you need special oats?  No, just old fashioned rolled oats or gluten free old fashioned oats.  I haven’t done steel cut so I can’t say yes or no if that would work.

Last question (again I’m in your head and I’m kind of frightened!) – Do I need special equipment?  Eh…kinda. I say kinda only because you may not have a food processor. In that case you can pick up a small one from Amazon (I actually have this one and love it!) for under $35.  It’s a great machine and is perfect for making up to 3 cups of oat flour (which is really a lot at once!).

DIY Oat Flour

• Author: The Kitchen Whisperer

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Ingredients

• 1 1/s cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (regular or gluten free)

Instructions

1. Place the oats into the bowl of your food processor.
2. Plus the oats until they are ground into a powder-like consistency.
3. Stop and stir the oats to ensure that all the oats have been finely ground.
4. Store in an air tight container.

Notes

This makes 1 cup of oat flour

I use my 3 Cup Cuisinart DLC-2A Mini-Prep Plus Food Processor when I want to make a batch of this. It’s the perfect size!

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cup

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