Application Guide

millet as a “crunchy munchy” addition to other grains and seeds in a dough
that bakes up into firm, chewy textured bread. Millet combines well with the
flavors of all flours, but is especially nice with wild and domestic rices, corn-
meals, oats, rye, and whole wheat.
Oats
Rolled oats are the most familiar cereal grain on the market. Whole groats
are hulled, steamed, and flattened into flakes. They may be ground into oat
flour with a food processor or into a coarse meal suitable for breadmaking.
The mild, nutty flavor and moist, nubby texture of oats is a favorite in
breads, with the recipes often calling for spices, honey, nuts, and dried fruits.
Use a small proportion (1 cup of rolled oats to 2 cups of wheat flour at most
and a 1-to-5 ratio for oat flour). Oats combine well with the flavors of gra-
ham, whole wheat, rye, wild rice, and millet.
Potato Flour
Potato flour is ground from cooked, dried, starchy potatoes. Used mostly as a
thickener, it is great for dusting loaves and makes moist doughs in lieu of
adding cooked mashed potatoes to the dough. It is a premium food for the
yeast, as the yeast thrives on the starch. Use a scant 1 cup of potato flour to 5
cups of wheat flour at most, since potato flour tends to be heavy. It is not the
same as potato starch flour, which is used extensively in Jewish baking for
sponge cakes and dinner rolls. Potato flour is also different from dehydrated
instant potato flakes.
Quinoa
Quinoa (prounounced “keen-wa”) is really the fruit of a plant rather than a
grass, and has the highest protein content of any grain (about 17 percent). It
has been grown in the Andes Mountains of South America for about three
thousand years. It can be used like rice or millet. Before it is used, whole
quinoa must be thoroughly rinsed because it is coated with saponin, a resin-
like substance with a bitter, soapy taste that protects the grains from insects.
Rinse and drain the quinoa about 5 times with cold running water. The more
rinsing it undergoes, the milder the flavor of the cooked grain will be. When
cooked, the disc-shaped sesame-like grains become translucent. Quinoa is
used cooked in breads in the same manner as rice. There is also quinoa flour,
but it is hard to find outside of health food stores. Do not confuse quinoa
with amaranth, also from South America.
Rice and Rice Flour
There are thousands of varieties of rice, each with its own distinct flavor,
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