I'd like to experiment with gluten-free oats to see if this is something I can tolerate. I'd prefer an oat flour to an "oatmeal" as I have a slice of challah twice a week and the rest of the time I'm pretty much grain free. I'd prefer my oat experiment to be in place of my weekly rice bread, not in addition to (I'm on a low carb diet for weight loss, in addition to being unsure of how grain products in general affect my overal health.)

If gluten-free oat flour isn't available, what brands of oats are gluten-free and how hard is it to grind my own flour? Would a coffee grinder work? Would I need to get a new one or is it easy to get coffee residue out of a coffee grinder?

Here are all the manufactureres of gluten-free oats:

Only Oats
Bob's Red Mill
Glutenfreeoats.com
Gifts Of Nature
Creamhill Estates

The only one that offers oat flour is Only Oats. You can make your own oat flour in a blender, coffee gringer or food processor. Just put the oats in and process until finely ground. I don't have a coffee grinder, so maybe someone else can comment on that part of your question.

HTH.

Hi Everyone

We also have gluten-free whole grain oat flour available at Cream Hill Estates. Check out our Store Locator http://www.creamhillestates.com/en_stores.php to find a store near you that carries our flour or order directly from us: Toll Free 1-866-727-3628.

Beth
www.creamhillestates.com

I won't mention what my friend in Or. grinds in her coffee grinder (she has a prescription) to clean the grinder, just grind a tablespoon full or so of rice, and discard the rice which will have picked up all the coffee or, uh, whatever.

Hi Ruthla,
I hear that Bob's Red Mills has just come out with "gluten free" oats. I'm still waiting for it to come to Canada, as Bob Red's products are more widely distributed to main grocers, you'd have a great chance of seeing that brand. . I do love the oatmeal cookies There are supposedly 3 odd companies that offer gluten-free oats.

This link might help you, it provides links to the 3 companies that do the gluten-free Oats. A blender set on "grind" would pulse it down to a flour texture, the oats. Just do the pulse thing, and every once in a while stir it. You could later, shift it with a shifter to try to make it even finer. Just make sure the blender and flour shifter have not be gluttened by other preparations.

http://www.allergicliving.com/columns.asp?copy_id=102

I found the gluten-free oatmeal and bought a package. But now I'm not too sure what to do with it!

I know I can grind the oat flakes into flour with my food processor. What next? Can I use oat flour as a replacement for wheat flour in a bread recipe? Or should I use it to replace rice flour in a recipe, and use it with xanthan gum and cornstarch for the best texture?

Are there any bread recipes calling for oat flour specifically? I'm searching online, and all I'm coming up with are "oat challah" recipes that use a mixture of oatmeal and wheat flour, gluten-free recipes that don't use oats at all, one bakery far away from me that makes a gluten-free oat challah, and my own posts on this board!

Ok, last week I made the oat challah, and it came out really dense, like a "peasant bread"- it was very tasty, especially with butter on it, but it didn't have the light and fluffy texture I was hoping for. I'd started it with soaking yeast, and whole oats in water, then later got out my food processor to make flour to knead into it, and later added honey, eggs, and oil. I only had one packet of yeast in the house, so I wasn't able to add more later in baking when it looked like the dough was too heavy.

I'm trying again now. I think my yeast last week was too weak, or I didn't use enough of it, or I didn't give it enough time to rise, or I punched it down (like I used to do with wheat dough) and it didn't re-rise as I'd expected. I'll treat the dough much more gently this week.

I put the oats through my mini-food processor (the only FP I have) and got course flour, with small and large pieces mixed together. I think I'm going to order real flour in the future, instead of buying the whole oats. Right now I have some oats in a bowl with water, yeast, and honey. I have more yeast in the house that I can add later if needed.