How to Make Your Own Almond Meal & Almond Flour

the80srule's Note:

It is often asked by new home chefs, "what is the difference between almond flour and almond meal?" Basically, there's no point in buying expensive commercial almond flour (unless you use it every day due to preference or a wheat allergy/intolerance) if you only need just a little bit for a recipe. I'm not sure what the ratio is; however many almonds you use will yield a little less almond flour, ie, 1 dry cup of almonds = a little less than 1 cup of almond flour; so let's assume it's 1:1.

• Total Time: 15 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 2

Yield: 2.0 cups

• 2 cups whole almonds
• 3 cups water

Directions:

1. For ALMOND FLOUR, you first must blanch the almonds by boiling about 3 cups of water then soaking the almonds in it for 1-2 minutes. Rub the skins off with a dishcloth or squishing the almonds out of the skins by hand.
2. Dry the almonds off or let them air dry-- water will turn those babies into almond butter!
3. You need a really strong food processor blades for grinding and chopping to do this-- but be careful with this step! If the almonds are ground too hard and too consistently, you will end up with almond butter.
4. Thus, the best thing to do is to use the pulse, not consistent run, on the processor until the almonds are ground up but make sure they don't release too much oil. If it looks like that, let the mixture rest for a minute or two before continuing to grind the almonds.
5. Empty the unit's contents into an airtight container. Stir with a fork or small whisk to remove any oil dispersion or lumps.
6. For best storage, keep refridgerated. Why? At room temp, unlike grain flours like regular all-purpose, oat, and barley flours, almond flour quickly absorbs flavors and odors its surrounded by. Almond flour is good for fine applications like cookies, cakes, breads, and as a gluten-free and wheat-free thickening agent.
7. ALMOND MEAL: Follow the same instructions listed above-- except you don't blanch the almonds! Almond meal is better for coarser applications such as breading on tofu and fish, cookie garnish, etc.