Coconut flour
Coconut flour is a gluten free “flour” that is essentially dried coconut in powdered form. It is made from the coconut solids that are left over after the meat been used to produce coconut milk. The solids are ground into a very fine, flour-like powder. The flour is popular for gluten free and low-carb baking, since it is low in carbohydrates and very high in fiber.
Coconut flour does have a coconut scent and will impart a coconut flavor to baked goods, especially baked goods that don’t include any other strongly flavored ingredients, such as spices or cocoa powder. This can be a bonus for coconut fans, but might be a negative for people who don’t particularly like the flavor of coconut.
Unlike some gluten free flours, coconut flour is not easy to substitute into regular recipes that don’t already use it. This is because it absorbs a tremendous amount of liquid, so you will find that a 1:1 substitution for flour will be far too dry. Most coconut flour recipes recommend using at least an equivalent amount of liquid to the amount of coconut flour. Coconut flour recipes also typically use far more eggs than similar standard recipes. So, if you want to incorporate it into your baking, you may want to start with working small amounts – 10-20% – of coconut flour into other recipes to get a feel for it, and plan to experiment a little bit to get a feel for the flour and to get the results you want.
