One of the advantages of the gluten-free movement is our rediscovery, as a culture, of a variety of grains.  While The Homemade Flour Cookbook is not a gluten-free cookbook, it does take advantage of this expansion of our culinary repertoire — and it’s structured in a way that makes it accessible for the gluten-free.

The Homemade Flour Cookbook

The Homemade Flour Cookbook is broken into four major sections, with a smaller section preceding these.  The smaller section at the beginning is general information about grinding grains at home.  This is followed by sections about “Glorious Grains” (the gluten-containing grains), “Gluten-Free Grains” (the gluten-free grains and pseudo-grains), “Lovely Legumes,” and “Nourishing Nuts and Seeds.”

Within each section are a number of sub-sections.  Each grain (or legume, nut, or seed) begins with an introductory description.  This provides some information about what the grain is, its characteristics, how it might be used, and what methods are effective for grinding it into grain.  At the very end of this description is a note of the weight-to-volume measurements of the whole grain and the flour, and how much grain produces how much flour.

This is then followed by two or three recipes featuring the flour.  These include a great deal of variety.  There are breads, pastas, appetizers, desserts, soups, sides, breakfasts, entrees, etc.  As far as I can tell, all of the recipes after the first section are gluten-free.  (Many do contain top-8 allergens, though, so keep that in mind if you’re dealing with multiple food sensitivities.)

The Grains

The book includes all of the following grains, etc.:

Glorious Grains: barley, rye, kamut, emmer, einkorn, spelt, wheat berries (primarily about hard wheat), soft wheat flour, durum wheat flour

Gluten-Free Grains: teff, brown rice, amaranth, millet, quinoa, oats, corn, buckwheat, sorghum, sweet rice (This is the first book I’ve ever seen address sweet rice, which adds a uniquely beneficial “stickiness” to gluten-free baked goods.)

Lovely Legumes: chickpeas, lentils, black beans, fava beans, split peas, white beans

Nourishing Nuts and Seeds: flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans

Aesthetics

This is a really beautiful full-color book, with full-page photos to begin each section and for each recipe.  Although not full-page, there are photographs of each grain and its corresponding flour.  And the recipes look delicious!

The ink smelled a little weird which, of course, is not a deal-breaker, but something you might want to be aware of so it won’t take you by surprise.

This would be a helpful addition to the kitchen library for any cook interested in expanding her (or his) flour repertoire.