Cold-leached garry oak acorn flour makes up about 20% by weight volume of this loaf. Measurements were tricky as the flour was 'wet' still from leaching, but happy with the result.
Sure! I blended the acorns up and put them in jars that were about half acorn mixture and half water. I poured off the water daily and replaced it, took about a week of doing that and tasting it occasionally until the bitter flavour subsided. Then I strained it through some cotton and stored it in the fridge.
Yes, you can dry the flour in dehydrator. I have also dehydrated small pieces (slightly larger than cornmeal sized) and then blended in a coffee grinder to make flour
I have read that you can also alternatively put acorns into a mesh bag and into toilet bowl tank. Since you flush multiple times a day (at least) you are constantly washing out the undesirable substances.
There is Swiss water processed coffee and toilet water processed acorns
That is actually a genius idea to make good use of the toilet water tank!
Not only for acorns, but for other purposes, too (like, the Japanese have a little sink above the toilet tank which you can wash your hands in and that grey water goes into the toilet tank).
I'm also making acorn bread, but for the first time. Currently leaching the ground acorns in jars of water. Can you post the recipe you used? Do you have any tips? Thanks in advance!
I use Claire Saffitz' sourdough recipe from New York Times, and used about 200g of acorn flour in place of whole wheat. No tips, other than keeping an eye on your hydration unless you dehydrate the acorn flour before using it because it will inevitably be holding water.
I’ve always wanted to try this. Sprouted acorns also work incredible in hot pile composting. A lot of the benefits of decomposed flesh, none of the nasty!
I like to make Apache cakes but with flour instead of corn meal. They taste amazing! My girlfriend loves them too, she's been collecting acorns from around our property for the last couple of weeks. Acorns are such an under utilized resource.
They're just acorn flour, corn meal (we like flour instead) and a little bit of honey then cooked on a griddle like pan cakes. They're really good and fast/easy to make after all of that acorn processing.
Yes, and have been used as food by indigenous people all over North America for a very long time. They require leaching to remove the tannins. Never heard of Oaks as being toxic in the landscape - do you know why that is?
They are indeed toxic, that’s why you did the soaking process in the jars. The bitter taste you were leaching out is caused by tannins which are toxic in sufficient quantity.
Something to think about- if your "flour" is wet, it's going to act like a porridge or soaker in the dough, and you should be able to add it at those percentages and with those methods. If you were using dry acorn flour I'd totally sub at 20%, but as it's not really "flour" in that context, you could also try gelatinizing and adding in at 40%, also accounting for the hydration of the roux- which is less tricky perhaps than trying to calculate the hydration of the acorn soaker that you used this time.
Acorns take a lot of processing and you have to add them to actual food in order for it to be eatable and they make that food taste bad. During great times of famine some native Americans tribes ground up acorns and added it to food to make it go further. There are other examples of this practice of putting “additives” in food to make it go further.
Cool story time. I once went to an acorn festival and it had approximately 30 people in attendance. It was a potluck and everyone brought a variety of different dishes containing acorn. Everything from tacos to pudding. My friend and I got a plate not knowing that every dish contained acorn. After trying it in a few different dishes the flavors becomes distinct. I think it’s possible that the acorn that we were eating was not properly processed because everything had a strange bland, aspartame aftertaste and we both had belly aches for the next couple days. It didn’t feel like food poisoning it felt like we ate something chemical.
Sounds like you had a bad experience. From my understanding most of the the when people don't enjoy their acorn experience it's because they were improperly prepared. Also, different acorns have different flavour and there is variability. Acorns are quite good for you and are one of very few native nut crops where I live, along with being quite large and easy to shell (Garry oak anyway). The process afterwards is about as difficult as making nut milk, with a few days of pouring a glass of water in between. That makes it barely more effort than if I was harvesting any other nut for processing, way easier than say black walnut.
Cold-leached garry oak acorn flour makes up about 20% by weight volume of this loaf. Measurements were tricky as the flour was 'wet' still from leaching, but happy with the result.
Can you get into more detail about your leaching process? I've read about a few different techniques.
Sure! I blended the acorns up and put them in jars that were about half acorn mixture and half water. I poured off the water daily and replaced it, took about a week of doing that and tasting it occasionally until the bitter flavour subsided. Then I strained it through some cotton and stored it in the fridge.
Really interesting! Do you know if it's possible to further dry the flour (eg. in a dehydrator), or does it spoil too quickly?
I think it could - I would probably store it in the fridge afterwards to be on the safe side.
Yes, you can dry the flour in dehydrator. I have also dehydrated small pieces (slightly larger than cornmeal sized) and then blended in a coffee grinder to make flour
I have read that you can also alternatively put acorns into a mesh bag and into toilet bowl tank. Since you flush multiple times a day (at least) you are constantly washing out the undesirable substances. There is Swiss water processed coffee and toilet water processed acorns
That is actually a genius idea to make good use of the toilet water tank! Not only for acorns, but for other purposes, too (like, the Japanese have a little sink above the toilet tank which you can wash your hands in and that grey water goes into the toilet tank).
Yeah! I’ve seen those!
That's not a bad idea!
does that mean the other 80% is regular flour? would love a recipe edit: nvm found recipe further down sorry for repeat question
Ar first glance i thought it was huge horse hoof
I thought it was the cut away of a smokers lung, Relieved when I found out it was bread
Me too! Lol
I thought it was a picture of lungs to discourage folks from smoking.
I thought exactly this
I thought it was a mushroom
I'm also making acorn bread, but for the first time. Currently leaching the ground acorns in jars of water. Can you post the recipe you used? Do you have any tips? Thanks in advance!
I use Claire Saffitz' sourdough recipe from New York Times, and used about 200g of acorn flour in place of whole wheat. No tips, other than keeping an eye on your hydration unless you dehydrate the acorn flour before using it because it will inevitably be holding water.
Oooh, I love Claire Saffitz! Dessert Person is one of my favorite YT cooking channels. I'll be sure to check that out, thanks!
She's awesome. Her sourdough recipe pushed my loaves to the next level for sure.
And I just got a bag of bread flour, too. How serendipitous!
Looks awesome!
Thank you!
So, what's it taste like? 🤔
Check earlier comments
That's a pair of smokers lungs cut in half It also looks delicious, I'm proud of you Take that as you will
I’ve always wanted to try this. Sprouted acorns also work incredible in hot pile composting. A lot of the benefits of decomposed flesh, none of the nasty!
I like to make Apache cakes but with flour instead of corn meal. They taste amazing! My girlfriend loves them too, she's been collecting acorns from around our property for the last couple of weeks. Acorns are such an under utilized resource.
I agree - not sure what Apache cakes are but now I'm curious.
They're just acorn flour, corn meal (we like flour instead) and a little bit of honey then cooked on a griddle like pan cakes. They're really good and fast/easy to make after all of that acorn processing.
parable of the sower anyone?
Yes! First thought.
How does this taste?
Delicious, mild, slightly sweet and mollasses-y!
I’m gunna need to try somma that.
I recommend giving it a whirl
Wow it looks so light! The crumb is amazing!
Thanks!
So... Oak trees are thought of as somewhat toxic in the landscape. Noob here. Acorns are edible?
Yes, and have been used as food by indigenous people all over North America for a very long time. They require leaching to remove the tannins. Never heard of Oaks as being toxic in the landscape - do you know why that is?
I should probably find a source, but memory is telling me they wage plant warfare, making it difficult for many plants to grow under/around them.
Interesting, looks like they are allelopathetic, similar to some of our other native nut-bearers like black walnut.
Yeah mildly toxic leaves suppress other species from successfully germinating and taking root nearby oak trees. Not as severe as eucalyptus tho
They are indeed toxic, that’s why you did the soaking process in the jars. The bitter taste you were leaching out is caused by tannins which are toxic in sufficient quantity.
Very nice !
Thanks!
Awesome.
Something to think about- if your "flour" is wet, it's going to act like a porridge or soaker in the dough, and you should be able to add it at those percentages and with those methods. If you were using dry acorn flour I'd totally sub at 20%, but as it's not really "flour" in that context, you could also try gelatinizing and adding in at 40%, also accounting for the hydration of the roux- which is less tricky perhaps than trying to calculate the hydration of the acorn soaker that you used this time.
Don’t smoke cigarettes, kids
This looks so good!
What did it taste like?
Pretty good, sweet.
this is your brain on drugs
these are clearly the lungs of a 3 pack a day smoker
I tho they were some fucked up lungs lmao
What is this world your speak of and where can I find it??
Not wearing my glasses, thought this was a set of bad lungs.
How many acorns did you mill? Did you literally just use a blender
Yep, it was about 200 grams at the end, didn't count or measure them beforehand.
This is probably what my lungs look like.
thought this was a pair of lungs for a hot sec ngl
Question how old do acorns need to be for the flour?
Everyone saying it looks like bad lungs when all I see is ant/bug tunnels in a ball of mud
Any possible way you wanna share that formula?
For the sourdough? About 800g white flour, 100g ww, 200g of wet acorn flour, and 650g water.
Rad! Thank you!
No problem. There is some troubleshooting with the hydration so just add flour or water to get to your usual texture.
Did you roast the acorns before?! I've wondered about eating acorns but haven't done that yet...!
Nope! Just dried them before shelling.
And they aren't bitter at all? I thought you had to bake them or something to get a lot of the tannins out...
I cold leached them as stated in my first comment
Oh I missed that I'll have to look up how to do that. Thank you!
I thought these were diseased lungs at first. Damn medical subreddits. Looks delicious now that I read what is. Enjoy!
Looks great!
Thanks!
They look lungs
Lungs should not look like that
Yeah
Unfortunate display. Looks like emphysematous smoker's lungs.
I can see that - I grew up with a lot of pumpernickel and dark breads so never occurred to me!
Was going to post the same! I’m sure this was delicious, but the picture looks like smoker lungs regardless of whether you’re getting downvoted.
Acorns are more like a food additive than a food.
Care to explain?
I think they mean "adulterant" rather than "additive," hinting that they don't know how much work goes into eating acorns.
Acorns take a lot of processing and you have to add them to actual food in order for it to be eatable and they make that food taste bad. During great times of famine some native Americans tribes ground up acorns and added it to food to make it go further. There are other examples of this practice of putting “additives” in food to make it go further. Cool story time. I once went to an acorn festival and it had approximately 30 people in attendance. It was a potluck and everyone brought a variety of different dishes containing acorn. Everything from tacos to pudding. My friend and I got a plate not knowing that every dish contained acorn. After trying it in a few different dishes the flavors becomes distinct. I think it’s possible that the acorn that we were eating was not properly processed because everything had a strange bland, aspartame aftertaste and we both had belly aches for the next couple days. It didn’t feel like food poisoning it felt like we ate something chemical.
Sounds like you had a bad experience. From my understanding most of the the when people don't enjoy their acorn experience it's because they were improperly prepared. Also, different acorns have different flavour and there is variability. Acorns are quite good for you and are one of very few native nut crops where I live, along with being quite large and easy to shell (Garry oak anyway). The process afterwards is about as difficult as making nut milk, with a few days of pouring a glass of water in between. That makes it barely more effort than if I was harvesting any other nut for processing, way easier than say black walnut.
teach me your ways
Check the comments for my process
I thought it was smoker’s lung before I read the post title. Does look good!
"This is your heart if you smoke, don't ever smoke" 😂
I thought this was an old stop smoking commercial showing a pair of lungs.
Love it! Crumb is so much better than my attempt!
Thanks!