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How to use Teff Flour

Cooking and Baking with Teff Flour 

Teff flour is widely known for its versatility, especially in baked goods. Teff has traditionally been used in Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine to make injera, and it can easily be adapted into your diet as well!

 

Taste:

Teff flour is a very fine flour with an earthy, slightly nutty and sweet taste. Both ivory and brown teff flours pair best with chocolate, fruits, nuts, and seeds to create baked goods with a variety of tastes and textures.
Teff flour pairs best with chocolate and nutty, mocha and hazelnut flavours. For this reason, teff seems to naturally work together with cocoa powder.

 

Texture:

Teff, when used to replace up to 25% of the flour called in any recipe, brings a lighter, and tender texture along with its delicious taste!

Made with the whole-grain, teff produces as fine flour that can be gritty when used in large amounts, depending on the recipe. As a gluten-free flour, teff also forms a dense texture when used in larger amounts as well.

Pairing teff with cocoa powder works great to soften teff’s dense texture and works wonderfully to create smooth, and delicious brownies, cakes, and cookies with a sweet chocolate flavor.

 If you’re looking for recipes with more texture, including nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, and oats, will mask the flour’s gritty texture as well.

 

Appearance:

 Our authentic Abyssinica teff comes in two different colours, ivory and brown. Ivory teff flour has a lighter colour and more of a mild flavour than brown teff flour, which has a slightly more pronounced earthy, nutty taste that accompanies its light greyish-brown colour.

The only major difference is their colour.

Both ivory and brown teff flours are exactly the same nutritionally, so you don’t have to worry about missing out on the amazing health benefits that they both provide!

 

Teff’s friends:

The best part about teff flour is the fact that it works great with other flours! Teff’s dark colour and nutty flavour also pair well with gluten-free flours like buckwheat, rice, tapioca, and cassava flours. Teff doesn’t only work great with gluten-free flours, but works great with oats, wheat, barley, and rye flours as well.

 

Teff flour also gives a wonderful boost to other flours that lack in nutrition. This ancient whole-grain is ready to add essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals to any flour in your pantry!

 

Storage:

 Due to the fact that teff flour is made from the whole-grain, it should be kept in a cool and dry place, away from heat, for up to 2 months, refrigerated for 6 months, or kept in a freezer for up to one year. Find out more about storing whole-grains at Whole Grains Council.

 

Applications:

 A general rule of thumb when working with teff flour is to substitute ¼ of the flour called for in any baking recipe (gluten-free or not) with teff. It will not only add a significant amount of nutritional value, but make a light, tender, and flavorful contribution to anything from breads and cakes to cookies and waffles.

 

 *These are our current general recommendations on how much teff you should use to replace standard recipes using all-purpose flour or gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour.

  

Cookies and biscuits:

Teff works wonders for all types of cookies! However, you should use different amounts of teff flour depending on the flavour and type of cookie. For example, chocolate-chip and nut-butter cookies are thick, chewy, and moist with 50-100% teff flour. On the other hand, you’re always safe using 25% teff flour for any cookie recipe, even if you’re not looking for a nutty, chocolatey, or sweet taste from the flour.

Pancakes and Waffles:

Cooking with anywhere from 25% to 100% teff flour is great for pancakes! Teff gives a sweet taste with a fluffy and tender texture, and the pancake colour will only significantly darken if you use more than 50% teff flour.

 

Banana Bread:

Baking with 50% teff flour makes a great tasting banana bread where the nutty flavour of teff and bananas go great together to form a smooth and delicious treat!

 

Brownies:

Teff works great with chocolate, and brownies are a great way to show it! Baking with 100% teff flour gives a deliciously moist and deep chocolate flavour, as teff and cocoa powder complement each other well.

Cakes:

Teff works best chocolate and coffee cakes that are baked with 75-100% teff flour. For a lighter sponge, layer, or pound cake, substituting 25% of the flour with teff will make a tender and moist cake.

 

Muffins:

Baking with 25% teff flour produces muffins that have a moist texture with some mild sweetness from the flour itself. If you are baking muffins with nuts or chocolate, we recommend using 50%-100% teff flour to add a more pronounced taste. Although the muffin will be denser, including nuts, cocoa powder, or chocolate will mask any grittiness from the flour.

 

 

Using higher levels of teff will not work with all recipes, however, as it can produce a dense, dry, and grittier result for two main reasons:

 #1. Higher levels of teff in certain recipes may form drier and dense results because of the fact that teff is a gluten-free grain and should be compensated with more liquids, just like you would in any gluten-free baking recipes.

#2. Higher levels of teff flour in certain recipes may also form a fine, gritty texture in the finished product. This is caused by the fact that teff flour is a whole-grain flour.

But this doesn’t mean that you can’t bake with 50 or even 100% teff flour!

 

There are many recipes that use 50 or 100% teff flour in pancakes, waffles, cookies, and banana breads that are both moist, fluffy, and delicious. You can find these recipes all over the internet, and we’re constantly coming up with more delicious recipes over right here on our website's recipes page!

 

So, now that you know more about cooking and baking with teff flour, come and Rediscover the Lost Grain!