Are you wondering what you can prepare with barley flour in the kitchen? We give you ideas and also show you the properties of barley flour.

When it comes to grain cultivation, wheat in particular is at the forefront in Germany. But there are also other types of grain that can be used in many ways – such as barley.

Barley products such as beer, malt coffee or whiskey are particularly common in the trade. But barley can do much more than just be processed into malt – there is also barley flour, for example. We will show you what is special about barley flour and how you can use it in the kitchen.

Properties of barley flour

Barley probably originated in South Asia and has also been cultivated in Europe since the fifth millennium BC. There are two varieties of barley, spring barley and winter barley. The barley that is grown in winter is used in agriculture for animal feed. The barley grown in summer is suitable for food.

In addition to malt production, spring barley can also be ground into barley flour. This special grain flour is characterized by an aromatic, nutty taste.

Nutritional values of barley flour

Barley flour is one of the whole grain flours. This means it still has all the valuable nutrients in it as it is made from the whole barley grain.

Barley flour is also characterized by the fact that it provides a lot of carbohydrates, but at the same time has a low fat content. Barley flour also contains a lot of fiber. In detail, 100 grams of barley have the following nutritional values:

Energy: 320 kcal
Carbohydrates: 64 g
Water: 11g
Dietary fiber: 10 g
Egg White: 10g
Fat: 2g
also traces of vitamins such as B vitamins and minerals such as calcium and potassium

More facts about barley flour

In addition, barley flour has some other interesting properties:

Barley is the grain with the highest content of the dietary fiber beta-glucan. A study involving scientists from the University of Gothenburg, among others, has shown that barley can lower blood sugar. This means that barley is a good type of flour for diabetics. In addition, barley flour supports the intestinal bacteria, which promote digestion.
But the cholesterol level can also be reduced by the beta-glucan, according to a report by the ARD.
Like other cereal flours, barley flour also contains gluten, reports the Apotheken-Umschau. According to the ARD, however, barley flour contains significantly less adhesive and binding proteins than other types of grain. For this reason, barley was not considered suitable for baking for a long time. When baking with barley flour, other types of flour usually have to be added so that the bread dough succeeds and does not fall apart.

Barley flour is suitable for these dishes

Barley flour can be used in different ways in the kitchen. We give you some suggestions here. If you want to bake, you can basically replace about a fifth of the specified amount of flour with barley flour in the recipe. You benefit from the nutty, aromatic taste of the barley flour and its high proportion of B vitamins. The flour is particularly good in the following baking recipes:

For example, you can use barley flour to bake wholemeal bread.
You can also replace a fifth of the specified amount of flour with barley flour for flatbread. You can find simple instructions for a flatbread recipe here: Flatbread recipe: simple instructions for the classic.
You can also use barley flour by modifying our basic pancake recipe and replacing about 50 grams of wheat flour with 50 grams of barley flour.
According to Deutsche Welle (DW), Lithuanian barley rolls are a particular classic from the Baltic States.

But you can’t only eat barley with barley flour: For example, you can also mix the grain in the form of barley flakes with your muesli or use barley barley as an ingredient for barley soups and stews.

Buying tip: You can find barley flour mainly in health food stores or organic shops. If possible, buy barley flour and all other barley products from regional cultivation in order to support local suppliers and avoid long, climate-damaging transport routes. It is also best to look for an organic seal – this way you can be sure that the product does not contain any chemical-synthetic pesticides.