Comments on: How to Use Bean Flours

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:59:35 +0000

I would use bean flour all the time (I even have a Wondermill), but yeah, beans and bean flour give me some issues. I mean, they’re not huge issues, but enough to where I don’t eat them all the time (I might still once in a while, though).

I do have some pretty bad issues if I mix celery salt with bean flour; it cleans me out for several hours. Well, at least I think that was the combination.

By: Andrea Kennedy

Andrea Kennedy — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:34:56 +0000

I have had great success using equal parts brown rice flour and great northern bean flour as a mix to replace all purpose flour in pancakes. Wow! So fluffy and yummy. I grind my own grains in my Nutrimill. We’ve eaten beans for years and I know how dirty they are. The first time I ground the beans I patted them with a damp paper towel and then dried them with a dry paper towel. The next time, I washed, soaked and then dehydrated them in food dehydrator. Then I ground them. They actually smelled beanier than ever, but I couldn’t taste a beany taste at all in the finished product. But I am wondering about digestibility. My mom complained of bad heartburn after eating some pumpkin bread I made with 1/2 spelt and 1/2 bean flour. Has anyone experienced digestive problems from using bean flours?

By: Gabrielle

Gabrielle — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:42:13 +0000

Hello. I just happened upon this site looking for information about using bean flours. Thanks for the comments. About how to make your own, I saw a demonstration on grinding rice and dried beans in a Vita-Mix blender. I have one and am going to try it. There are two containers – one dry – for grinding grains, etc. and one wet – for other blender processes. I only have the wet, but have been told I can use it for grinding as long as I use no more than 2 cups at a time. Hope this helps.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:52:27 +0000

I don’t know if they need to be soaked before they’re dried, but however dry beans usually are, I guess.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:50:25 +0000

Bean flour is ground up, dried beans. They don’t need to be soaked, unless you’re making refried beans or something. Yes, they will thicken immensely when you cook with them. In fact, they thicken so much that you can made a substance kind of like tofu by this means. I would do this more if I had a higher tolerance for beans. You can cut it up into strips after it solidifies, and season and fry it like meat or something. I don’t recommend this bean stuff for deserts, though, as it has a stronger flavor than tofu (and I don’t recommend it unseasoned or unfried, either, unless you find a good way to do it).

By: Arlis

Arlis — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:03:16 +0000

So are bean flours the raw beans ground, or do they need to be soaked, cooked, and dried, and then ground? And if they are the raw bean, do they absorb a lot of water when cooking with them? I am wanting to grind up garbanzo beans and add them to breads etc, to add protein and fiber, but am wondering if I need to cook them first.
Thanks! Great info here!

By: Sherry

Sherry — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:25:36 +0000

Regarding bean flour. I attended a short class where this concept was introduced and I was intrigued. I used my coffee grinder (I don’t drink coffee but I use it to grind nuts, grains like flax, steel cut oats even wheat). I was able to grind red kidney beans in to a fine flour. I cooked it on the stove like a hot cereal, added salt and butter and it was palatable for me. I think Pinto beans might taste even better. Anyway, I just wanted to add my idea to grind beans in a coffee grinder. Its great for small batches, and is inexpensive. Great web site!

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:44:07 +0000

I don’t think a coffee mill will work, but I could be wrong.

I’d recommend getting something like a L’Equip Vitalmill. I have a WonderMill, myself—it works fine, and is great for beans, but it won’t grind amaranth like the Vitalmill will.

By: Enrico

Enrico — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:23:31 +0000

How do you make white bean flour?
Can I get a bag of white dry navy beans and grind them in a coffey mill? Does this work?
I would like to bake “italian peasant bread” and modify it’s glycemic index, but not change its taste or texture.
Has anyone tried this? I would appreciate any guidance.
Thanks

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:01:36 +0000

Ah, I just found the official English names for the noodles I meant in my last comment:
• Cellophane noodles (made with mung beans and/or other things that aren’t grains and thus probably don’t have gluten in them)
• Rice vermicelli (rice noodles / rice sticks)

There are Wikipedia articles for them.