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Nut flours are extremely versatile alternative flours. They are easy to get hold of, straightforward to use and help to produce beautifully moist and flavourful cakes. In this guide I'm going to explain the different kinds of nut flours you can buy, how to make nut flours at home and how to use them in gluten-free baking.
Jump to:
- What Classifies A Nut?
- Types Of Nut Flours
- Baking With Nut Flours
- Flour Blend Hack
- Advantages Of Nut Flours
- Disadvantages Of Nut Flours
- Nut Flour Substitutes
- Making Your Own Nut Flour
- How To Store Nut Flours
- Almond Flour
- Pecan Flour
- Walnut Flour
- Hazelnut Flour
- Chestnut Flour
- Pistachio Flour
- Cashew Flour
- Peanut Flour
- Other Uses For Nut Flours
Nut flours are versatile ingredients which can be used in conjunction with wheat flour for added flavour and texture but can also be excellent flour substitutes if you are interested in grain-free and gluten-free baking. They are powerhouse flours, often with a lot of protein and produce bakes which have a great structure and deliciously rich moist texture.
When you are baking gluten-free recipes it helps to split gluten-free flours into groups which have similar properties so you know which flour to choose for which recipe. Nut flours are one of the major gluten-free flour categories and you will see amazing results if you start to include them in your gluten-free breads, cakes, cookies and pastries.
Here we are going to cover the most common types of nut flours from almond flour to hazelnut flour so you can level up your gluten-free baking by making the most of these reliable and delicious flours.
What Classifies A Nut?
A nut is a fruit characterised by having a hard shell that houses a seed or kernel within.
What Nut is Not A Nut?
We are going to include a few flours within this category that technically are not ‘nuts’ but they provide similar roles and most of the time we think of them as nuts anyway. For example, cashew nuts are actually seeds (of the cashew apple) and peanuts are technically legumes but both of these behave similarly so they fall into this same ‘nut flour’ category.
However, we won’t be covering Tiger Nut Flour which is actually ground from the tubers of the tiger nut plant and doesn’t deliver the same kind of results as the other nut flours. And we won’t be covering Coconut Flour as not only is it technically not a nut but a type of fruit known as a drupe, but it is also an anomaly flour and has different properties and behaves differently to the other nuts we are discussing.
Types Of Nut Flours
Not only are there many different types of nuts but there are also 3 different types of nut flours:
1. Nut Meal / Ground Nuts
This is the most basic kind of nut flour. It is made from whole raw nuts with their skin left on. These whole raw nuts are ground to produce a very rustic kind of flour. They have a course texture and can be quite nubbly. The nut meal is often flecked with brown as well because of the retention of the skin.
Nut Meal is closer in texture to finely chopped nuts and is commonly used in recipes where a more rustic and ‘nutty’ texture is desired, like certain breads, muffins, and coatings for meats or fish.
2. Nut Flour
Nut flour is made from whole blanched nuts so the skin is removed. These nuts are ground to produce a softer flour which blends better into recipes.
Nut flour is often used in recipes that require a fine and less noticeable texture, such as cakes, cookies and pancakes.
Do note: In the main UK supermarkets almond flour is sold in small bags labelled ‘ground almonds’ found in the baking aisle. It is made the same way as ground processed blanched almonds with the skin removed. There can be quite a bit of mislabelling going on and confusion surrounding which almond flour to use. For a detailed breakdown of the different types of almond flour specifically then go to >>> Almond Flour VS. Ground Almonds: What’s The Difference?
3. Defatted Nut Flour
This is a much more refined type of nut flour. It is made with ground blanched whole nuts. However, the process is taken one step further by extracting some of the natural oils in the grinding process. As such it is often labelled as ‘partially oiled.’ The final result is a flour which is lighter and looks a lot more powdery than regular nut flour. It can have 20% less fat (this differs across brands) and a much higher protein content per 100g.
Because of this defatted nut flour can lend an excellent structure to baked goods, more elasticity to bread and pastry and a great crisp to cookies.
Defatted nut flour is a more expensive flour because of the extra process involved and can be more difficult to find.
Baking With Nut Flours
Nut flours, meals and ground nuts can pretty much be used interchangeably within recipes although be aware that the texture of your bake will change due to the more rustic nature of the ground meals. For example you will not really want to make your refined macarons with almond meal or your cookies will have a more rustic texture. However, you will have to adjust the recipe for defatted or partially oiled nut flours as they have less oil / moisture.
Nut flours are best used in a flour blend with another flour for a more balanced result. If you are trying to convert a wheat-based cake recipe into a gluten-free alternative then I wouldn’t typically recommend using only a nut flour in straight substitution as nut flours are prone to clumping and can be quite rich and dense.
One of the most common ways I use nut flour is to combine it with an all-purpose gluten-free flour:
- The Nut Flour will give the cake moisture and structure.
- The Gluten-Free Flour will lighten the results and make the finished cake a little more fluffy. It will also help with binding since most blends contain starchy flours which are excellent binders.
Flour Blend Hack
The best hack if your all-purpose gluten-free flour produces dry or crumbly cakes is to replace some of the gluten-free flour with a nut flour.
The following is a useful ratio:
100% all-purpose wheat flour : 50% nut flour + 50% all-purpose gluten-free flour
This also is highly successful if you want to convert a wheat flour cake recipe to a gluten-free version. Just use the above ratio. This works most successfully with almond flour which has a very high protein content so is a reliable choice. Do bear in mind the flavour that will imparted, depending on which flour you use.
Advantages Of Nut Flours
Grain Free. Nuts are not derived from grains so are suitable if you are following a grain free diet.
High Protein. Nuts are rich in protein can be used in baked goods for nutritional reasons. However, protein also provides great structure and stability to baked goods meaning your cakes and breads will actually stay together when you slice them.
Moist Dense Crumb. Nuts contain oils and these oils provide great moisture and ‘stickiness’ in your bake. These helps keeps your breads and cakes moist. If your cakes often suffer from dryness then adding a little almond flour into the flour mix will help solve that problem.
Flavour. Most nut choices have a great flavour which they will infuse your recipe with. Almonds go well with most flavours which is why they are used so much but hazelnuts are delicious with chocolate, walnuts go well with coffee so your bakes will have a rich more complex flavour (more on this below).
Disadvantages Of Nut Flours
The major disadvantages of nuts flours are:
Cost. Nuts are a more expensive product than some other gluten-free flours and as such the flours can be pricier. One solution to buying expensive nut flours is to make your own (see below). Some nuts / nut flours are more expensive than others. Some of the cheapest nuts are peanuts and almonds but cost can fluctuate depending on where you live.
Allergies. Nuts are one of the major allergens and it is so important if you are gluten-free baking that you flag up whenever you are using nuts in your recipes.
Nut Flour Substitutes
Because of these disadvantages there are substitutions you could choose if you need to swap out the nut flour.
Most of the time the almond flour will have been chosen because its high protein content which gives bakes a good structure and texture.
Starchy flours have a good moisture and binding properties but can often be too sticky to really swap 1:1 successfully and many wholegrains just cannot compete with this protein content and so will produce a drier more crumbly result.
However, legume flours like chickpea flour (gram/garbanzo/besan) or soy flour have similarly high protein levels can often be a good substitution. However, the legume flours often impart a more beany flavour so you will also want to bear this in mind.
Often a nut flour like hazelnut flour or walnut flour will have been chosen for flavour so in these instances a substitution just won’t give the same result.
Making Your Own Nut Flour
If you don’t bake with nut flours very often then I suggest making your nut flour on a cake by cake basis as due to the high protein content nut flours go rancid pretty quickly so it’s not an ingredient you want hanging around if you use them infrequently. You can make either nut flour or nut meal (ground nuts) at home very easily. The process is the same for both kinds as long as you start with the right kind of nut.
Nut flour. Use blanched (skinless) whole nuts. You’ll recognise these nuts as they will be skinless and will be labelled ‘blanched.’
Nut meal (ground nuts). Use raw whole nuts. You’ll recognise these nuts as they will still have their skins on.
How To Make Homemade Nut Flour
It’s an easy three step process which you can achieve either using a food processor (quite successful), high speed blender (successful), or an electric grain mill (the best result). Your flour will vary in texture and size of grind depending on which piece of equipment you use.
- Weigh out your whole nuts to the correct amount of flour you require. Handily whole nuts weigh an equal amount to ground nuts.
- Place the whole nuts in a food processor (blender or mill) and switch on.
- Grind the nuts in 10 second bursts, scraping down and into the corners of the food processor each time. You want the nuts to be the consistency of tiny rubble.
Expert Tips
- Different nuts take a longer time to grind to the correct consistency.
- Nuts release their oils very quickly when you start to grind them. Watch to make sure the nuts are not clumping together. If they are then you are taking them too far as they are starting to release too much of their natural oils. Oily nuts will give too much moisture to your cake and cause it to sink in the oven.
- Use freshly purchased nuts. Older nuts break down quicker.
- Pulse the nuts in 10 second bursts.
- Only work in batches of 150g nuts at a time so you can control the grinding process.
- If you would like a finer ground nut flour then add in a couple of tablespoons of the sugar from your cake recipe along with the nuts. This will help absorb some of the oils.
- It’s worth noting that the nuts are often cheaper in the home baking section of the supermarket than the snack section.
How To Store Nut Flours
Nuts do go rancid quite quickly. A way to prolong the life of your nut flour is to store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-6 months. Or even better you can freeze which will prolong its life for up to 1 year.
Almond Flour
Almond flour (sold as 'ground almonds' in UK supermarkets) is traditionally found in recipes for macarons, friands, frangipane, bakewell tart and polenta cakes. To make sure you know which almond flour you are choosing then check against this article The Difference Between The Almond Flours.
Some brands have a more pronounced almond taste but the subtle flavour of almonds can be paired with almond any other flavour.
Flavour Pairings: stone fruits, berries, lemon, orange, vanilla, pear, apples, pomegranate, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, tahini, honey, rose, ricotta, thyme
Pecan Flour
Wonderful in autumn baking. Pecans can be very oily so watch this one if you are blending yourself. Plus pecans have a much lower protein content than other nut flours so you won’t get the same stability in the structure of your bakes. You can buy defatted pecan flour though from specialist stores which gives a much more stable result.
Flavour Pairings: apples, pears, coffee, caramel, bananas, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, chocolate, sultanas, dates, maple, pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, star anise, nutmeg, vanilla
Walnut Flour
Walnuts can be a little bitter so use this nut flour sparingly. Beautiful in brownies or financiers where only a little flour is needed in the recipe.
Flavour Pairings: apples, coffee, carrots, banana, chocolate, dates, squash, sweet potatoes, maple, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, goats cheese, cheddar, stilton.
Hazelnut Flour
This is a particularly distinctive flour with a rich buttery taste. It has a lower protein content though than some of the other nut flours so bakes will have a slightly weaker structure. It’s popular in the Italian cake Torta Di Nocciole which hails from the Piedmont region and is made with toasted and ground hazelnuts.
Flavour Pairings: chocolate, coffee, fig, blueberries, blackberries, pear, apricot, orange, cranberries, squash, beetroot, dates, maple, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla, tea, honey, goats cheese, ricotta.
Chestnut Flour
This is a soft gentle flour which is just perfect for winter baking as it pairs so well with Christmassy flavours. It has a much lower protein content though than some of the other nut flours so bakes will have a slightly weaker structure and it will need to be paired with a starchy flour or a flour higher in protein to help stabilise the bake and create a more balanced result.
Flavour Pairings: apples, oranges, caramel, chocolate, coffee, pear, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cranberries, cherries, sage, squash, sweet potatoes
Pistachio Flour
Unmistakably green and vibrant flour. A very rich savoury flour which can hold up to the sweetness of white chocolate and the intensity of rose. Lovely in middle-eastern bakes.
Also goes with: cardamom, rose, cherries, orange, apricots, lemons, chocolate, cranberries, tahini, pomegranate, rhubarb, raspberries, squash, honey.
Cashew Flour
Cashew flour has a mild slightly sweet flavour which goes well with so many other flavours. Cashew flour is a much softer flour than almond flour so it will produce bakes with a softer more delicate crumb.
Flavour Pairings: vanilla, chocolate, citrus, coconut, berries, spices, maple.
Peanut Flour
As you can imagine peanut flour has a distinctive peanut flavour. Other flours like almond or cashew can be used more neutrally in recipes but if you want to use peanut flour then it is best to use in recipes in which you desire a strong peanut flavour. It has the highest amount of protein of all the nut flours so its bakes are incredibly stable. Of course you must be wary of those who suffer with peanut allergies when you bake with this flour.
Flavour Pairings: chocolate, banana, honey, coconut, cinnamon, jelly or jam, chilli.
Of course, there are many other nuts out there which you can happily turn into flour, the above are just the ones I find the most useful in my baking.
Other Uses For Nut Flours
- Added to pancakes, like these Banana and Walnut Pancakes for texture, taste and extra protein.
- A delicious substitute for breadcrumbs in meatloaves or meatballs like in these Gluten-Free Meatballs.
- Thickener and flavour enhancer in curries.
- Finely milled almond flour is particularly excellent as a coating in these Best Gluten-Free Chicken Schnitzel
- To make a gluten-free cheesecake base grind your chosen nuts up with butter, sugar and some gluten-free flour then press into a springform cake tin and refrigerate to achieve a tasty base to rival digestive biscuits.
- Nut flours are also brilliant in crumble or streusel toppings to add crunch and flavour.
Deborah Stiles says
Thank you so much. As I can not have almonds I will try to substitute pistachio flour for it, in your Madiera cake.
Prayers it will work. If not it will become cake pops.
Georgina Hartley says
Let me know how you get on with that substitution. You can try my Madeira Cake recipe also with my homemade gluten-free flour blend as a replacement for both the generic gluten free flour and the almonds.
Mike Maloney says
Hi Georgina, Thanks for an interesting article. I'm looking for ideas on creating nut flours as toppings for yogurts to add extra protein, and maybe in some kinds of baking (kinder on the teeth than whole nuts!). Your article has made me think a bit wider about the possibilities, as well as providing some very helpful practical guides. Thasnk you. Mike
Georgina Hartley says
You are very welcome Mike!!
Just Jo says
Another wonderful article Georgina. I'm walking home from the park and am reading it on my phone as I'd been eagerly awaiting g this second instalment and got excited when the email pinged in lol!
Georgina says
Thank you Jo!! I'm really enjoying writing this series and can't wait to publish the next one!