Quinoa Flour

Quinoa flour is yet another great gluten/wheat-free flour.  Quinoa flour has a slightly nutty taste.  Quinoa itself is high in protein, so the flour is too!  It therefore adds moisture to the final baked good.  Because of this, it is a great flour to use in accompaniment with some of the dryer gluten/wheat-free flours, such as rice flour.  Quinoa flour is also high in fibre. 

Many of people don't like to use a lot of quinoa flour in their baking because they say that it imparts a rather strong somewhat bitter taste taste.  It is true that the flour gives a heavier texture and flavour to baked goods, but this can be overcome by cutting it with starch (if you absolutely must).  It is a better idea to embrace the qualities of quinoa flour and use it in items where a nutty undertone might be desireable, such as a banana loaf, or where any bitterness can be compensated for with other ingredients.  Quinoa flour works extremely well in seed breads, cookies, waffles, and muffins, to name just only a few products it can work well in.  The final product will have a somewhat course, medium-sized crumb.  If overbaked, it will become dry, so be sure to keep your eye on it in the oven.

Quinoa flour can add a bit of chewiness to the final product, so it might not work well as the primary flour in a cake that you want to be light and airy.  If it was the only flour you had on hand, and you wanted a slightly lighter texture, cut the quinoa flour with starch: 1 cup quinoa to 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cup starch flour.

If you want to replace quinoa flour in a recipe, a good choice would be amaranth, buckwheat, or almond flour.  All three would add approximately the same amount of moisture to the recipe as quinoa flour would, as well as imparting a nuttiness to the final product.  The ratio to use when replacing is 1:1.

Given all the nutrition that can be found in these alternative flours, I have to ask myself why on earth would anyone continue to bake with wheat-flours?