How To Make Chickpea Flour at Home

After writing our post about Chickpea and Carrot Pancakes last week, we received two messages from visitors who were unable to find chickpea flour in their areas.

If you, too, had to give up on that particular recipe, then we have good news for you… it’s actually very easy to make chickpea flour at home (as long, of course, as you can get hold of dried chickpeas – also known as garbanzo beans).

Before you start, though, do make sure that you have looked for chickpea flour under each of its different names…

• gram flour (NOT graham flour)
• garbanzo flour
• besan
• cici flour
• chana flour

And do check for it in ethnic markets or health food stores, where it may be easier to find than in your local grocery store.

Still no luck?

Then here’s how to make chickpea flour at home…

First, decide if you need roasted or unroasted chickpea flour. Most recipes call for unroasted chickpea flour and usually specify if roasted flour is required – however, roasted chickpea flour has a nuttier, more intense flavour and we often use it regardless of what a particular recipe calls for!

To make roasted chickpea flour

1. Take the quantity of dried chickpeas you wish to convert to flour and spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet (note that we said DRIED chickpeas – if you try using boiled or canned chickpeas you will end up with chickpea puree instead of flour!).

2. Place in an oven preheated to 375 deg F (180 deg C) and roast for around 15 mins, by which time the chickpeas should be golden and should have a lovely aroma.

3. Remove from the oven and cool.

4. Transfer the chickpeas, a few ounces at a time, to a food processor or a coffee/spice grinder and process until smooth. If you can’t get the mixture completely smooth, pass it through a fine mesh sieve to remove any larger pieces (but do remember to only process the chickpeas in small amounts, as trying to do too many at once is the most common reason for being left with a grainy mixture rather than a smooth flour!).

To make unroasted chickpea flour

Simply skip straight to step 4 above and blend uncooked chickpeas in your food processor.

Your homemade chickpea flour is now ready for use in your baby food recipes and for the family’s meals!

Wasn’t that easy… and it really IS worth the trouble to make this vitamin and mineral packed flour if you can’t otherwise get hold of it, particularly if wheat flour is unsuitable for your baby.

Do you use chickpea flour when cooking for your baby? Do you have some simple and nutritious recipe ideas using chickpea flour? Please do leave your comments and suggestions below!

Baby food recipes with chickpeas