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I would like to understand what type of flour to use for baking items. Just when I think I have all the types of flours covered in my pantry, I find a recipe with another type of flour.

Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Recorded

This event was on May 2, 2023

Join Chef Char Nolan in her virtual office as she welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to ask anything – from cooking techniques to course-specific questions, to how to turn your cooking passion into profit or simply hearing the perspective of a professional chef, Chef Nolan is ready to answer them all.

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Question

Jerri Hulman

I would like to understand what type of flour to use for baking items. Just when I think I have all the types of flours covered in my pantry, I find a recipe with another type of flour. ?

Answer

So last week I met an old friend for lunch and with all the love in my heart my friend thinks I'm a bit of a kook because I'm going now on 14 years of eating a whole food plant-based diet. So I made her some muffins and they were an oatmeal muffin and they had maple syrup in them and a little lemon to you know, help activate the sodium bicarb and I put some dried cranberries in them and they were really delicious and some walnuts on top and let her know I made the mistake of letting her know that they were gluten free because I made from scratch oat flour. So for all of my baking and I would describe my baking as a rather rustic wholesome baking type. My muffins are rustic. My banana bread has a lot of heft to it. I'm not making light beautiful delicate desserts. I'm making Wholesome desserts. So I like oat flour. I think oat flour works really really beautifully. If you know King Arthur has a whole plethora of flowers. And if you go to their website, they have a listing of what flower is good for what but I'm kind of basic in that. I don't want to have 47 bags of flour in my freezer, but I don't mind having a half gallon jug of Oats to make my own oat flour in my Vitamix. So I think you just have to explore a little bit more and find what works best for you. You know, I always like to say to people that if you give Whole Food plant-based a chance, it's kind of like writing a bicycle the better you become at it or like doing yoga the more that you practice yoga the better you become at it.

Links

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/our-products

Char Nolan

Chef Instructor

Char Nolan is a serious crusader for plant-based education, armed with a degree in public health from Philadelphia’s Temple University. She teaches nutrition and plant-based cooking throughout Philadelphia, and in many underserved communities. Char holds a certificate in plant-based nutrition from eCornell and completed Rouxbe’s Plant-Based Professional Certification course in 2015. In 2019, Char completed post-graduate course work in social media marketing at the University of the Arts. When she is not cooking or teaching, she manages social media accounts for several plant-based influencers. Char prides herself on learning everything she knows about cooking from growing up in her grandparents’ Italian restaurant. Her favorite vegetables are Brussels sprouts and kale, of course. Char originally hails from Queens, NY, but has lived in Philadelphia most of her adult life. She is a former Peace Corps Volunteer.