Almond Flour vs. All-Purpose Flour: A Flour Comparison

Almond flour is made from finely ground, blanched almonds. Unlike all-purpose flour and other milled flours, almond flour is grain-free, gluten-free, and low in carbohydrates, making it an optimal nut flour option for those with dietary restrictions. While you can't use this low-carb ingredient to bake an airy loaf of sourdough bread, almond flour is a popular flour alternative in gluten-free baking and classic dessert recipes like French macarons.

Blanched almond flour is a rich source of calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin E, and monounsaturated fats, which may help lower cholesterol.

Other ground-almond products include almond meal, which has a coarser texture and can be a gluten-free substitute for breadcrumbs, and almond butter, a creamy paste similar to peanut butter. Other gluten-free flours include coconut flour, buckwheat flour, cassava flour, oat flour, and cashew flour.

All-purpose flour is a mild-flavored white flour made from the endosperm of hard and soft wheat varieties. It is rich in grains, carbohydrates, and gluten and has a relatively low protein content (between nine and eleven percent) compared to many other milled flours (like bread flour and whole-wheat flour).

Per its name, all-purpose flour has a wide range of applications. For example, you can use all-purpose flour in nearly any recipe that calls for flour, including layer cakes, chocolate chip cookies, muffins, quick breads, brownies, and pie crusts. Outside of baked goods, all-purpose flour is a popular base for dredging fish and chicken for frying and thickening rich sauces and gravies.

Similar low-protein flours include cake flour, pastry flour, and self-rising flour.

All-purpose flour and almond flour have several key differences in the kitchen:

• Gluten content: A key difference between AP flour and almond flour is the presence of gluten, a family of proteins found in wheat products. While AP flour is rich in gluten, almond flour doesn’t contain any at all. Thus, almond flour is a popular flour substitute for gluten-intolerant bakers who need to omit the proteins from their diets for health reasons.
• Fat content: AP flour is low in fat, so it doesn’t add much moisture to baked goods. Conversely, almond flour has a high-fat content, which adds extra moisture to recipes and may result in heavy, dense, or greasy-feeling baked goods.
• Flavor: AP flour has a mild flavor that typically fades to the background in cake, bread, and cookie recipes, allowing other flavors to shine. By contrast, almond flour has a stronger, nuttier flavor, which can become prominent if you’re not used to baking with the ingredient. If you’re new to the flour alternative, try a few almond-flour recipes before substituting it for AP flour in a favorite recipe.
• Shelf life: During the milling process for AP flour, manufacturers separate two wheat kernel components—bran and germ—from the endosperm, removing oils that encourage spoilage and making it more shelf-stable than other flours. Therefore, AP flour can last six to eight months on the shelf or up to a year in the fridge. On the other hand, almond flour tends to have a much shorter shelf life than regular flour—a few months on the shelf or up to six months in the fridge.

In most recipes, you cannot substitute almond flour for all-purpose flour (or other wheat flours) in a simple cup-for-cup replacement because of its lack of gluten and high-fat content. Gluten is an essential binder in wheat-based baked goods, and low-fat flour is key to avoiding greasy or dense results.

If your recipe calls for all-purpose flour and you want to use a gluten-free substitute, try using a lower amount of almond flour—a ¾ cup for every 1 cup of all-purpose flour—and add a binding agent to act as a glue. (Common gluten-free binders are xanthan gum, guar gum, and psyllium husk). You may need to experiment with ratios several times before you get the perfect combination.

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