Almond flour is the main ingredient in may Keto recipes like Cakes, Pizza crusts, Cutlets, Chapati. Why you ask? Because Almond flour has the least amount of net carbs(10g net carbs per cup) among all the other flours so it one of the best flours to use on Keto.
You can buy Almond flour from the store or you can make it at home. Store bought one can be expensive but a bit finer than home-made since it is milled by special machines. But nutrition wise, both have the same amount of net carbs.
I find it easier to make it at home and store it. I have made Cakes and Pizza crusts with it without any issues. Unless you have any special recipe which needs ultra fine almond flour, you can easily use home-made version for all your recipes.
There are two ways you can make Almond flour, you can make it with blanched Almonds which gives you whiter flour or make it with regular, un-blanched Almonds if you don't really care about the color of the flour.
Blanching the Almonds:
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For blanching almonds, transfer almonds into a bowl and pour boiling water enough to cover all the almonds. Soak the almonds for 30-40 mins. After that, you can easily peel off the Almond's skin. You need to dry the peeled Almonds well, may take 24-48 hours depending on the weather.
Your blanched Almonds are now ready.
Procedure:
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The keys to making fine Almond flour:
Grind small quantity at a time
Grind in bursts of 1 second
Stir the sides frequently in the grinder
Do not let the flour clump or it start turning into nut butter
In a large mixer jar, take small quantity of Almonds. Cover with the lid and pulse in bursts of 1 second. After every 3-4 pulses, open the jar and stir the almonds, especially the flour stuck on the sides. Do this till you have a fine mixture. Stop if the flour starts to clump together.
Transfer mixture to a sieve with fine holes and sieve it through as much as you can.
Put the rest of flour from the sieve into jar and grind again, strain it in the sieve again.
Repeat till you can. Your Fine Almond flour is ready for use.
Transfer the remaining coarse mixture into sieve with thicker holes and strain it through to make Coarse Almond flour.
You will be left with only a tiny amount of Almond bits which can be used as bread crumbs.
