Sun-Flour is a nut-free, almond flour substitute made with soaked, dehydrated and ground sunflower seeds!
UPDATE: I am always learning. This was one of my earliest posts, before I learned that all nut/seed flours should be used in strict moderation and should only rarely be heated. If you frequently use almond flour or other nuts/seeds for baking, please read my post 5 Reasons to Avoid Almond Flour for important information!
Why soak and dehydrate?
Yes, it would be much simpler to just throw some raw sunflower seeds into a coffee grinder and get instant sun-flour. But I always soak and dehydrate any nuts or seeds. Why?
Nuts and seeds are naturally high in enzyme inhibitors, which often causes stomach aches and after consumption. Soaking in salted water activates other enzymes that neutralize these trouble-causing enzyme inhibitors. The seeds then must be dried before they are ground into flour.
You may also use pumpkin seeds or probably even sesame seeds with this technique!
Nut Free? Try This Almond Flour Substitute!
I recently started experimenting with using Sun-Flour in place of almond flour, and the results are delicious! I can’t guarantee that you will have perfect results every time you make this substitution, but it is a great solution for those who have nut allergies. Not only is this almond flour substitute more healthy, because it has been soaked and dehydrated to reduce the enzyme inhibitors that are present in almond flour, but it is more affordable.
How to make Sun-Flour:
Cover sunflower seeds with filtered water and add 1 Tbs. sea salt for about every 2 cups of seeds (you don’t need to be exact). The salt helps destroy the phytic acid.Soak for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Rinse the sunflower seeds in a colander. Spread sunflower seeds onto dehydrator sheets and dehydrate between 105 to 150 degrees until crispy, 12 to 24 hours. Alternatively, dry on baking sheets in a warm oven (no more than 150 degrees) for 12 to 24 hours.
Grind sunflower seeds in a carefully cleaned coffee or spice grinder until fine, about 15 seconds. Grind in batches. This seems like it would be time consuming, but it only takes me about 5 minutes to grind 2 cups of flour! Grind until very fine. It’s okay if it starts to get clumpy, that just means it is finely ground and you can fluff out the clumps with a fork.
You will get approximately 1 cup flour for every cup of sunflower seeds. Store your sun-flour in a jar in the refrigerator or freezer, and use within a few months. Substitute for almond flour in recipes!
Lauren,
The SproutPeople site is excellent for finding soaking and sprouting times for various enzyme-inhibited foods (nuts, seeds, beans, grains, vegetables). They say sunflower seeds only need 30 minutes, and pumpkin seeds as little as 1 hour. This is good info for those in a hurry, or with a spontaneous sweet tooth (assuming people don’t mind using wet seed mash, rather than dehydrated and ground). Visit Sproutpeople to get info on anything you want to soak to remove phytates. http://sproutpeople.org/sunny.html (It’s not my site)
Where did you get your info on adding salt to soaking seeds? I’ve never read that before (I used to be a big sprouter).
Isn’t all baking soda aluminum-free? I thought it was baking POWDER that you had to watch out for.
Thanks for this interesting post about sun-flour; it’s nice to have another option. Have some soaked sunflower seeds dehydrating right now! A note about Omega-6 PUFAs. According to Mark Sisson’s website (www.marksdailyapple.com), 1/4 cup of almonds has 4.36 g Omega-6 PUFAs, while the same amount of sunflower seeds has 12 g – nearly triple that of almonds. (He does not specify if that is for hulled or unhulled seeds.) If I were not allergic, it seems that almonds would be a healthier option for the occasional baked good. (Better yet, coconut flour, as you’ve previously posted!) Blanched almond flour reduces the anti-nutrients to a significant extent. However, you are right to point out the caloric density of these alternative flours. Incidentally, the lowest Omega-6 nut (among those we consume here) is macadamia (0.5 g per 1/4 cup). I’ve tried grinding macadamias with almonds in my food processor for various baking projects, and it’s been wonderful. I substitute about 1/4 macadamias for some of my almond recipes – works great in cookies. Can’t use them 100%, though, due to their oily nature.
Here is the source I use for American grown (very hard to find!) organic raw sunflower seeds:
http://www.livingtreecommunity.com/store2/product.asp?id=228&catid=21
As far as I know they are not contaminated with tree nuts, but you could check.
It’s impressive that you are getting thoughts from this article as well as from our dialogue made at this time.
I recently tried making my own sun flower for mini burger buns before finding this post. We are just starting paleo and the wee ones love bread. Can you use a food processor instead of the coffee grinder? Maybe chill the seeds beforehand would help?
According to Heidi @ lowoxalateinfo.com, the way to not have your sun-flour or sunbutter not turn green is to add lemon juice. Didn’t see in this thread where anyone actually gave a solution to that issue. She has some recipes and explains it there.
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Thanks for this site. So informative. I thought we should watch how much omega 6 I get so confused with so many various what’s healthy and what is not . I am trying to go more with a low carb diet because it made sense for me with metabolic syndrome. I am also sensitive to dairy. I experienced my first diverticitis attack this past year. … Not fun. Anyway any suggestions as to which flours are best for my situation. I was using among flour but your post makes sense plus I was wondering if the high fat content is good for you if you have no gallbladder. I would like to loose 15 lbs. but I agree with you healthy gut first and hopefully belly fat will disolve in the process.
Hi, do you know if I can just soak the sunflower flour instead of dehydrating them first and then turning them into flour? I don’t have a dehydrator and don’t like the idea of having the oven on for 24 hours.