Oat flour makes lovely light waffles and pancakes. It adds ‘stretch’ to bread, helps keep cakes moist and makes a good base for pastry.  Oats are wonderfully high in good fats, so they’re filled with nutrients like manganese, molybdenum, phosphorous, copper, biotin, vitamin B1, magnesium and chromium. This makes it important to ensure the flour is fresh, milled at low temperatures and protected from high and light to keep the oils from oxidising. Studies have shown that the beta-glucan fibre in oats may help to lower the risk of heart disease by reducing both total and LDL cholesterol.
 
You can make your own oat flour from fresh rolled oats using a food processor. The high oil content (where all the good nutrients are) makes oats one of the more challenging wholegrain flours to mill. It’s milled on a coarser setting, so use it in recipes where the texture comes into its own and the lovely oaty flavour shines through. Baking with oat flour creates a comforting smell in the kitchen – like a pot of porridge on the stove, a warm winter jersey or a wraparound hug from Nan – so oats are good for your heart in more ways than one!