The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Walnut flour

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Walnut flour

Hello! Just wanted to show the machine I use to grate nut meats into flour. Same can be used for sunflower seeds, hard bread (crumbs) hard cheese, etc. The nuts are cut and not mashed or pressed so they remain fluffy and dry.

Here in Austria, in many recipes, the addition of nuts (as a flour) and such is done with an electric grater making a very fine and light "flour" not to be confused with chopped nuts or nut butters (what you would get if you milled nuts). Imposible to do on a grating box or by hand. I also use my electric grater to make fluffier bread crumbs. One could come close with a crank grater using the fine hole setting.

When I grind my own, I carefully look over the oil or fat content of a non-Austrian recipe and decide if additional fat is needed, the nuts themselves adding a fair amount of oil.

Here is the Exploded view of the machine.

Electric Grater

Electric Grater

Electric Grater Electric Grater

 Watnut meats in top...

Electric Grater

 ....And out comes the flour Walnut Flour

See the little curls of nut? This is what keeps baked goods from getting heavy or fatty.

 very delicate structure

Grated walnuts very close up

Mini O

 

Comments

KipperCat's picture
KipperCat

I've been wondering about using nut flours in bread as opposed to chopped nuts.  I'd love to see a recipe or two.  Especially around the holidays, it's a shame not to be able to bake with nuts.

wholegrainOH's picture
wholegrainOH

looks very efficient!  I have a small nut/seed grinder that I use, but it's limited to about a cup full of nuts/seeds at a time.  Normally use it to grind flax seed and hemp seed.  Your machine looks far superior!

Alan 

Ramona's picture
Ramona

Today I came across some baked goods at a health food store that have mesquite flour added in the ingredients.  I was told they taste really good.  There is suppose to be a special machine to grind the bean pods to produce this flour.  And only when the bean pods are black and picked from the tree, are they good to use, which I found strange because the trees produce hordes of yellow ones, that fall all over the place and I don't recall seeing any left in trees to turn black. 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

And only when the bean pods are black and picked from the tree, are they good to use,...

Too bad that's all in one sentence.  They should be picked from the tree before they fall to avoid bugs and then allowed to dry and turn black is what I understand.  Sounds interesting.   You going to try it?

 

Ramona's picture
Ramona

No, I am not going to it.  As for the procedure of acquiring the beans, I only know what the lady at the health food store told me. 

bwraith's picture
bwraith

Mini Oven,

Just wanted to visit. 

Also, I am thinking about experimenting with home milling and was intrigued by the brass sieve comment you made somewhere. I found information about brass sieves on the internet, but the source was a lab specializing in geology lab equipment. I'm wondering how long it takes to sift flour by hand using a sieve and what size holes you would use to achieve white flour or high extraction flour, though. I suppose it also depends on how coarse the flour was milled. This is all hypothetical musing at the moment, but I have in mind to get some equipment and start playing early in the new year.

Bill

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Hi there! (My router is down.) I saw sieves today in a specialty store (all in the cooking section), some were brass, some were plastic. My favorites are flat and round like a spring form pan with the mesh stretched across the bottom. The action: dump flour in sieve, one hand shakes the sieve horizontally left and right, the other hand lets the sieve bang into it. Don't forget to put a bowl under the sieve in all the excitement. A kilo of flour takes about one-to-two minutes depending on size of flour granules and size of sieve. Very fast. Try to use dry and keep dry for long life. I have no idea of the sizes available but probably metric.

Today I found a Stainless steel 6 ltr deep bowl to use as a "magic bowl" to fit my pizza pan.

Mini O

Janedo's picture
Janedo

Wow! That would make a mean cake (OK bread, too)! In French cookies we use a lot of nuts and nut powder as well. I made a cake yesterday with pureed almonds and I love adding almond or hazelnut powder to cookies. You machine is great! I'll have to go on a hunt.

Jane 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Made in Western Germany  (that's exactly what it says on the bottom!)

It is a very stable machine, has a few other attatchments too (meat grinder/extruder).  Runs on 180w. Wedding present to my mil.  It is about 50 years old.  Check to see if your mixer has an available attatchment.  It can also stand with the motor pointing straight up like for a blender attatchment.  Have no idea what it cost, I will cry my heart out if it ever stops working. 

Mini O