Did you know that you can actually get flour made out of a variety of root crops that you usually end up using as pie fillings, jams, and simply boiling? Yes, there are quite a few root crops that can actually be used as a substitute for wheat flour. These include taro, cassava, sweet potato, and ube.
If you cannot find these kinds of flours in supermarkets or even in your favorite baking products store, you can always make these kinds of flour yourself. All you need are the tubers you want to use as flour, a drier or dehydrator, and a grinder or food processor.
To create these tuber or root crop flours, you simply need to peel these root crops, cut them in 2 millimeter thick discs, and dehydrate or dry these under the sun until they resemble chips in both dryness and crispness. Once these are thoroughly dried out, you can store these in ziplock bags as dry chips and grind these when you need the flour, or you can grind these ahead of time and store in an airtight flour bin or jar.
Before using any of your store bought or home-made tuber flour, be sure to sift it twice to remove any coarse and large particles. You can grind these large pieces again if you want to.
To ensure that your flour does not go bad, and that you always end up using the right flour for your baking needs, always place these in airtight containers that you store in a cool, dry place and label these containers with the kind of flour these are carrying. You should also put in the date when you made or purchased this flour, and use it six months to a year after such a date.
Baking with root crops does not necessarily mean that you bake with flour made with these tubers. You can also bake items using fresh versions of these crops, and integrate them into your usual batter or dough. Examples of tubers that have found themselves being baked into cakes and such include carrots (carrot cake), sweet potato, cassava, and ginger (yes, this is a root crop).
If you cannot get your children to eat their vegetables, the easiest way to do this is to add them to such treats like cupcakes, brownies, cookies, and the like. You can easily sneak in good nutrition by adding these root crops, and other vegetables for that matter, into your yummy baked goodies.
