We put Tobia Teff Flour to the test, using it in some everyday bakes and discovering how it holds up when it comes to taste and versatility.
With standard flour in high demand up and down the country, we all need to be creative with our baking ingredients. For this review, we put Tobia Teff Flour to the test, replacing our usual wheat flour in a variety of recipes.
Regular readers might have caught sight of our recent article on what the most popular searches on Google have been. The data was quite surprising and offered a window into the current minds of the British public. For example, searches for ‘baking recipes’ were up by 2500%, and just the word ‘flour’ was up by a whopping 690%. Although the public’s desire to get baking is evident, many have found it difficult to get hold of run-of-the-mill wheat flour.
Although wheat flour is a staple ingredient in the majority of British households, it doesn’t always come with the finest of reputations. What’s the problem with white wheat flour, some of you might be wondering? Well, it can raise the bad cholesterol in your bloodstream, which results in weight gain, mood swings and high blood pressure. Fortunately, there are healthy alternatives, and we need to look no further than Teff flour.
If you’re not familiar with Teff Flour, it is 100% whole grain flour and originated in Eritrea and Ethiopia, where it is a staple cooking ingredient. It is an extremely fine grain, similar in size to a poppy seed and offers a wide range of health benefits. It is also very versatile and can be eaten whole, ground, boiled, or baked. By the sound of things, it seems to be an ideal universal ingredient.
Some of the benefits of Teff flour
- It is Gluten-free and Sugar-free
- It is an excellent source of Protein and is championed by Ethiopia’s long-distance runners
- It is a good source of dietary fibre and contains resistant starch, which helps to manage blood sugar, weight and colon health
- It also contains Magnesium, Vitamin B1, B2, B3 and B6, Zinc, Calcium and Vitamin C
There are probably numerous other health benefits attributed to Teff, but the above should offer enough to highlight the enormous advantages it offers when compared to regular wheat flour.
Now that we’ve had a general overview, allow me to hand over the reins to Natasha to discuss the practical side of using the Tobia Teff Flour.
Knowing very little about Teff, I decided to do some research online. The more I researched, the more I fell in love with this incredible grain.
Having learned about its amazing properties and health benefits, I started looking for recipes and, to my delight, found plenty. Unsurprisingly, I chose the five-star rated suggestions and was literally bursting with excitement to try them.
Tobia Teff Flour Pancakes
To get the ball rolling, I started off with one of our favourites — pancakes. I found a recipe that just used 100% Teff flour. And the result far exceeded my expectations. It’s hard to describe them, but the texture, appearance and flavour of the pancakes were amazing.
They tasted healthy but hadn’t lost any of that moreish pancake flavour. And the best bit was they didn’t bring on the feeling of bloating as white-wheat flour pancakes do.
To experiment further, we decided to mix in some all-purpose wheat flour, changing the mix to 50%-50% wheat and Teff. This achieved probably the most astonishing result of all. The pancakes came out looking even more gorgeous, almost lace-like, beautifully coloured and tasted incredible! Hand on heart, the best ones I’ve ever made!
Tobia Teff Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
Next on the to-do list was Teff flour chunky chocolate chip cookies. After much research, I settled for a simple recipe that also used 100% Teff flour as well as a small amount of butter, sugar and baking powder with the obligatory chocolate chips. Again, we were delighted with the result!
The cookies came out looking great, just like the ones you’d buy in a professional bakery, with a lovely milky cocoa colour, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, resulting in ‘two thumbs up’ from Paul.
Tobia Teff Flour Bread
By now, I was ready for the main event, breadmaking. After some more searching for recipes online, I found one that really took my fancy. It was oatmeal and teff bread. The recipe listed some rather uncomplicated ingredients, along with a few unusual ones, like yoghurt.
With just a spoonful of brown sugar, a variety of seeds, some baking powder and soda and no yeast, it all sounded incredibly healthy.
It was great fun making it, and when the time came to take the bread out of the oven, I was holding my breath in anticipation. Fortunately, I wasn’t disappointed! It was beautiful, and I wouldn’t have grumbled if I’d purchased it from an artisan bakery. But, more importantly, it tasted fantastic, and the texture was really light and fluffy.
Summary: The Tobia Teff Flour far exceeded our expectations. In our experience, super-healthy foods come with a caveat, i.e. they don’t taste as good. We didn’t find this to be true with the Teff Flour.
“I did enjoy my ‘naughty’ home-cooked foods and expected the end results to taste bland and be uninspiring; they were far from this. As good a baker as Natasha is, much of the credit must go to the flour. Add to the overall ‘mix’ the psychological aspect of consuming a food product that is very healthy, and you have an undoubted winner.” – Paul Godbold.
Tobia Teff and the NHS
Tobia is showing their appreciation to all NHS staff by offering a 30% discount on all orders. To claim your discount, send a copy of your NHS ID to [email protected], and Tobia will send you a discount code to use on our website.
For recipes and more information on Tobia Teff Flour, please visit www.tobiateff.co.uk.
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