Barley flour: features, benefits, recipes

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

For a long time, only wheat flour could be found on the shelves of our stores, but today you can buy a product from a wide variety of grains everywhere. So barley flour, so revered in antiquity, has returned to our table. Why is it useful and what delicious can be cooked from it?

Differences in barley flour

Barley is one of the oldest crops, which was known in ancient Korea and Egypt, where flour was made from grain and porridge was cooked. The Bible also talks about grain, and all thanks to the fact that barley is unpretentious and can grow in such arid lands as, for example, Palestine. Yes, and in Russia this product was known. By the way, the gingerbread man is not only a fairy-tale character, but also a traditional pastry made from barley flour. They also made oatmeal from it and oatmeal.

Barley flour is grayish-white. It itself has no taste and smell, however, it gives the finished product a characteristic tart taste due to the large amount of fiber. Also flour can be of two types:

• Whole - almost whole grain flour with lots of bran.
• Seeded - more "clean"flour without grain hulls.

Useful properties

In the ranking of useful products for humans, compiled by scientists, barley is in second place. It helps in lowering "bad" cholesterol due to the high content of beta-glucan. In addition, it is a source of vitamins A, B, PP, as well as iron, potassium, sodium and other trace elements that barley flour is rich in. The beneficial properties of the product also depend on the presence of bran (and therefore a large amount of fiber), which have a great effect on the digestive tract.

Features of preparation and storage

Barley flour pancakes are excellent, but also good for thickening sauces. It gives a special softness to pastries, but for making bread it is better to mix it with wheat - barley forms too little gluten, so it does not make bread very attractive.

Barley flour is a perishable product, so do not leave the pack open for a long time, but rather pour the product into a glass or metal jar with a tightly closed lid. If you are going to use flour infrequently, then store the jar not in a cupboard, but in a cool place, such as a refrigerator.

Barley flour: recipes from it

If you bought a pack of barley flour and don't know what to make from it, feel free to start with baking, for example, with the legendary koloboks.

Barley koloboks are prepared like this. To youyou will need:

• 2, 5 cups barley flour;
• half a glass of water;
• half a cup of sour cream;
• 200 grams of butter;
• tablespoon of sugar;
• a teaspoon of s alt;
• sesame for rolling.

Sift the flour into a bowl, add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix everything well with a whisk. Pour in water, put sour cream and butter (it should be melted). Mix everything with a spatula, and then knead the dough with your hands until smooth and uniform. Let the dough lie down for a bit, and then, pinching off pieces, roll up koloboks the size of a chicken egg with your hands. Roll the finished koloboks in sesame seeds and bake on low heat (no more than 170 degrees) for about 40 minutes. Be careful not to burn the sesame seeds. You should end up with crunchy fragrant breads that are perfect for breakfast or a glass of milk.

But barley flour will also be useful for sweet pastries. It will come in handy when making, for example, cookies.

Crispy cookies are prepared as follows:

• glass of barley flour;
• a glass of wheat flour;
• 100 grams of butter;
• 3 heaping tablespoons of sugar;
• a teaspoon of soda;
• 2 eggs.

Soft butter, eggs and sugar mix well and beat with a mixer. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and fold into the butter-egg mixture. Knead into a smooth stiff dough. If needed, add more wheat flour. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 5 mm and cut outcookie cutter. Bake at 160 degrees for 30 minutes, but be careful not to burn.

And of course, where without soft, fragrant and he althy barley bread. Try steaming it. Prepare for her in advance:

• 200 grams barley flour;
• 250 grams of water;
• tablespoon of m alt syrup.

Mix everything and leave in a warm place for a day. Then prepare the dough with the dough and the following ingredients:

• 500ml warm water;
• 300 grams of barley flour;
• 500 grams of wheat flour;
• tablespoon of s alt.

First add water to the dough, mix everything, then add a mixture of different flour and s alt, kneading the dough. It will come out moist and slightly runny. Leave it to lie down for half an hour, and then spread it on a surface dusted with flour and divide it into two parts. So you get two loaves or rolls. Put the dough in the form and leave for 2 hours. You need to bake in a mold at a temperature of 200 degrees with steam (just throw a few ice cubes on the bottom of the oven) for 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 175 degrees and cook without steam for 50 minutes, and turn on the blower in the oven, if any. This will make the crust crispy. When the bread is baked, cool it under a towel to keep the crust from softening.