Monday Meet Whole Foods: Wonder Flour!

As part of a new goal for 2012 that I have to try new whole foods and help my kids try new whole foods, I'm going to publish a series called "Monday: Meet Whole Foods!" We'll introduce you and your family to new healthy foods that you can start using in your cooking. I will also list recipes for those types of foods so you can try them. Feel free to comment with your own recipes, if you have them!

So today's WHOLE FOOD is: Wonder Flour!

What's Wonder Flour? 
Wonder Flour was discovered by my Uncle Chef Brad. He is an amazing chef who cooks delicious foods using different types of grains. Wonder Flour is made up of equal parts of the following three grains, ground into flour:

Barley

Brown Rice

Spelt

How do I make it?
Just combine equal parts of the three grains in a large bowl, mix them together then grind the combination through your grain mill. It works great!

Where can I buy it?
Chef Brad has created and packaged WonderFlour™ that is available at these locations or you can order it online.

I have been making wonder flour since Chef Brad told me about it a few years ago and our family loves the flavor. I use it for so many recipes, and it is truly amazing! When he came to visit us a few months ago he brought me a couple of 5 lb. bags of his packaged flour for me to try. At first I must admit that I was a little skeptical. How could the packaged flour really be any better than the homemade variety? But it didn't take long for me to find out. The packaged flour has a wonderful texture that you just can't get by milling your flour at home. With those two 5 lb. bags of flour I've made dozens of cookies, pancakes and pie crust. I've used it to batter chicken and thicken soups. The results have been incredible and we love this amazing product. I love how easy it is to make recipes healthier just by using WonderFlour™ in place of regular white flour (with no need to adjust the amounts). And when you taste the food, you don't feel like you've compromised for health. The taste is amazing. The texture is still preserved. It really is wonderful. Yes, its performance is worthy of it's name!

How do I use it?
I love using this flour in desserts and light breakfast foods. It makes the foods become healthier, but not only that I think they taste better too! To adjust a recipe with wonder flour made at home, use about 1/2 cup of more flour for every 3 cups flour that the recipe calls for. For the packaged WonderFlour™, use it cup for cup in recipes calling for white flour.


How healthy is it?
I used a nutrition calculator to compare 1 Cup of Wonder Flour with 1 Cup of White Flour.  You can see that wonder flour has fewer calories per serving, more potassium, fewer carbohydrates, a LOT more dietary fiber (really good for you!). Of course white flour is enriched so it has some good things in there for you, but you really are missing all the fiber!

Need a Recipe?
Check out some of my recipes to come this week! I hope you enjoy this "wonder"ful new food!