Has anybody substituted chestnut flour instead of GF flour or other flour in cakes?

[urbangirl]

I have brought some chestnut flour back from Italy and wondered what to use it for. I made a cherry clafoutis which was okay but not wonderful - need to use up the rest. Recipes I have found are for sweet things but I wondered if I could use it instead of flour? I saw a recipe for orange cake today on twitter and thought it might be okay to substitute the flour. Any comments or recipes would be great!

[Hidden]

Hi Urban girl, I hope that you enjoyed your holiday in Italy, I've never used chestnut flour but here's an interesting recipe site with a couple of crepe recipes using chestnut flour:

17recipes.com/basic-chestnu...

I like the sound of the bacon and egg crepe for breakfast too...

[urbangirl in reply to Hidden]

Wow Jerry thanks for this. I didn't know you could use chestnut flour for savoury recipes. Will probably have a go at these over the weekend. BTW Italy was wonderful ... lovely place - lovely people!

[DartmoorGuerrilla]

I can imagine it would be a good thickener in casseroles and gravies for rich meats such as duck or lamb. Or as a coating when frying fish. Or instead of flour in a boiled fruit cake.

Have fun experimenting!

[myrab]

Phil Vickery's Coeliac recipe book out that, has a mixes for bake using different flours Chestnut included ,

I have been very impressed using it for pastry.

[urbangirl in reply to myrab]

Myrab is this in his baking book? I have his general one so will probably try to get a baking one. Thank you!

[myrab in reply to urbangirl]

Yes ,it is his baking book, there should be flour mixes in the other one too.

It is called Seriously Good Baking, he does have two baking books the just says Gluten Free Baking I think it is a paperbake.

[Apricot]

Yes, I also brought some back from Italy a couple of years ago. Wonderful. Bought it up in the mountains...an hour on the fast train south of Bologna...and then 30 mins up a winding road into a mountainous area...literally 40 shades of gold and reds...as it was September. The local fair was on..with two huge true mountain men cooking chestnuts on what I can best describe as a huge dustbin lid..6 foot across...on an open fire on the town square. Far better than chestnuts eaten here in UK. The apple juice..the raw immature red liquid..was served hot...Balsamic vinegar in the making. Glorious cheeses...icecreams, pancakes, ...oh yes I ate my way around it...(before my diabetic days...)

What I found worked better was to use it half and half with my favourite gluten free white flour. It gives a nutty flavour..and is good in pastry for savoury recipes. For cakes...add a little more raising agent than you would do normally.

Further supplies will be on my list for forthcoming visit.....

[urbangirl in reply to Apricot]

Apricot - sounds so lovely! Italy is wonderful I can't wait to go back! My problem is I can't eat GF flour so I would have to just use chestnut flour. I use potato flour and rice flour. think I read somewhere that these flours, along with chestnut, need to be used up quite quickly. So if this is the case I want to use up the chestnut flour asap.

[Apricot in reply to urbangirl]

Depends on the components of the gluten free flour. Some have rice/maize/potato..in different ratios. Wouldn't use all chestnut flour..it will be too heavy....

[Jacks]

I saw Raymond Blanc use chestnut flour in a gluten free bread so I had a go at processing chestnuts ... (yawn!). Maybe that recipe is around somewhere online.

[urbangirl in reply to Jacks]

Thanks Jacks - did an unsuccessful search for Raymond but int he process I came across recipe for chestnut cake from someone else. So I have made this cake this afternoon - very successful cake but as Apricot suggests it is a bit heavy and needs icing - trying to decide what goes with chestnuts - maybe plain chocolate.