Droppin' Loaves: A Bread Blog

Using coconut flour

Posted: 2010 Jun 28 (Mon) 14:29 UTC

Using coconut flour

I had some time yesterday to make up a bread recipe using coconut flour. I couldn't find anything I liked online. Everything I found was for cookies, cake, muffins, pancakes, and biscuits. I wanted to make bread.

Sources say coconut flour is high in fiber and protein but gluten-free. This is a challenge for bread. Many recipes include eggs, which I suppose is done to get the same fluffiness that gluten allows for. The package of flour I bought says I can replace up to 20% of the wheat flour in my recipe with coconut flour, so I worked out a ratio that seemed plausible, a mix of whole wheat, spelt, all-purpose, and coconut (1.2 : 2 : 2 : 1.3). I only wanted to bake a tiny loaf, so I only used small amounts.

During baking, it smelled really promising. The kitchen filled with coconut. I baked at 400°F for about 35 minutes. I noticed it was still soft/wet in the middle, so I lowered the temperature to 375°F for another 10 minutes or so. I took the little loaf out when the crust was turning dark brown.

It's not the worst thing in the world. Fresh out of the oven, the crust looked really good. But slicing it and eating it... it just has the consistency of a drop biscuit. And no coconut flavor. It's not fluffy, though it is light.

I'm not really sure where it went wrong yet. Maybe I made too small an amount: it's harder to make adjustments and to mix and form the dough. I added more water at the end because it seemed to dry. (Coconut flour, they say, soaks up a lot of water.) I also maybe rushed it: I didn't let the dough rise long enough. I could have let it sit in the fridge overnight. Maybe I should have less whole wheat so that more of the coconut flavor could stand out. I could try just all-purpose, spelt, and coconut. I don't want to try adding egg until all other options are tried, but that might be interesting.

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