Snickerdoodles & Bread with Bean Flour

I have taken a couple of recipes and tweaked them to incorporate bean flour without much sacrifice of taste or texture.
Disclaimer: I don't think there's anything wrong with wheat flour, I'm just trying to incorporate more fiber and beans into my family's diet.
I took my Better Homes & Garden's book to look up some cookie recipes hoping to find one I could switch out some bean flour and white flour. I landed on Snickerdoodles, partly because I hadn't made them in awhile, but also because I thought with the cream of tarter, it might cover up the bean flour twang. I ground up what I had handy- red and pinto beans. I'm sure a great northern white bean would be more suitable. I may try that next time.

Snickerdoodles (in BHG cookbook: p. 117)

½ c marg

½ c olive oil

2 c sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 ½ c white flour

1 c whole wheat flour

½ c bean flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp cream of tartar

4 T sugar + 2 tsp cinnamon (*)

Directions: In mixing bowl, mix oils, sugar, eggs & vanilla. Beat on high speed for 30-45 seconds. Add whole wheat and bean flours, cream of tartar and baking soda. Mix well. Add white flour and beat until smooth.

Refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375 F. Then roll dough into 1” balls and roll these balls into cinnamon/sugar mixture (*). Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-11 min or til edges are golden. Cool cookies on wire rack. Makes 5-6 dozen.

Note: My changes were to double the recipe and then changed oil to ½ olive oil, ½ c marg + flour (not only white)

Although I have quite a few good bread recipes, I looked up an easy bread recipe that I could tweak a little.  I came up with this:

Amish White Bread (makes 2  9x5 loaves)

2 c warm water (110 F)                         

2/3 c white sugar

1 ½ T active dry yeast                          

1 ½ tsp salt

¼ c veg oil       (4T)

6 c bread flour

Directions

1.     In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.

2.     Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

3.     Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.

4.     Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

My tweaks - did ingredients for 3 loaves using 3 ¾ c whole wheat flour, ¾ c bean flour + 4 ½ c white flour. Needed to rise a little longer to get to double (although the cold day probably caused that). Very fluffy and tasty. Might need a little more salt.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/amish-white-bread/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=bean%20flour&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page

Using beans

I am trying to use more beans in our diet. It has been challenging since many in my family do not like any kind of tomato based product. I've gone to a class to learn about sprouting beans and have done that a few times, just adding the sprouted beans (1/2 c or so) to the regular bean recipe. The family has not noticed a change.
Today, I'm trying to substitute bean flour in a recipe.
I went to http://beprepared.com/article.asp?ai=70 for some background info on how to use bean flour. Then I found a couple recipes I thought I could try.
I went to Allrecipes.com and am doing the Amish White Bread - substituting 1/2 c. of bean flour for 1/2 c. of the white (there's 6 c. of flour all together).
Then I'm going to try a non-tomato based chili found on the same website. It's called White Bean Chicken Breast Chili. I'll let you know how it goes.