ISO guidelines for using wheat flour substitutes

I've acquired a stash of "alternative" flours, including a large bag of chickpea flour, brown rice flour, corn flour, and a few others. They were bought for specific recipes, and I'd like to use them up. Can you guys offer guidelines as to how to use them effectively in baking--cookies, quick breads, brownies, tea cakes, etc. In particular, I made these wonderful "crackers" the other day and wonder if I could substitute chickpea flour for all or part of the wheat flour. http://www.marthastewart...

LisaD
  • Posted by: LisaD
  • May 2, 2017
  • 2146 views
  • 7 Comments

7 Comments

LisaD May 3, 2017
Thanks, all. I'm happy to have this list of recipes using chickpea flour and also your thoughts about substituting it for wheat flour. This is such a great community!
 
mstv May 2, 2017
Some Indian dishes use chickpea flour:
https://food52.com/recipes/31062-punjabi-buttermilk-stew-with-spinach-dumplings
https://food52.com/recipes/66894-kadhi-pakora-indian-chickpea-soup-with-sweet-potato-fritter-dumplings
https://food52.com/recipes/41414-vegetable-pakora
 
LisaD May 2, 2017
It's actually why I bought the chickpea flour, Nancy, to make socca. Three moves later, I finally made it. Liked it well enough, but it's a HUGE bag of flour (which I keep in the freezer) and I'm happy to have some other ideas for it.
 
Nancy May 2, 2017
Alas, that idea was "coals to Newcastle."
Hope the crackers or Indian pancakes are to your taste.
 
Nancy May 2, 2017
One general rule I've learned is to replace the wheat flour in a recipe with up to a maximum 1/4 (volume or weight) of an alternate flour. This allows most recipes to still behave as intended (gluten, structure, spread or not) and yet use up some other flour or add some different nutrients/flavor.
For chickpea flour specifically, there's a crackers recipe here:
https://food52.com/recipes/28121-za-atar-spiced-chickpea-crackers-with-maldon-sea-salt
Also, it can be used to make wonderful pancakes, whether French/Italian (called: socca) or Indian (called: besan or pudla). Here are 2 examples, but there are many more available.
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-socca-a-naturally-gluten-free-chickpea-flatbread-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-169513
http://maunikagowardhan.co.uk/cook-in-a-curry/rajasthani-besan-ka-chilla-spiced-indian-pancakes-with-turmeric-chilli-and-fresh-coriander/
 
PieceOfLayerCake May 2, 2017
This has always been my rule. When in doubt, no more than ¼ flour by weight.
 
Lindsay-Jean H. May 2, 2017
We've had quite a few different posts on alternative flours that you might want to check out: https://food52.com/blog/search?q=alternative+flours
 
Recommended by Food52