substituting some oatmeal for part of the flour in muffin recipe

[kmaha]

I want to add some oatmeal to a recipe for Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins. Does anyone have any idea what the ratio should be in substituting some oatmeal in a recipe that calls for 1 1/2 C flour? Thanks for any input
Katalina

[Emme]

i read somewhere once (wish i could remember where) that you can sub 1/5 of flour in a recipe with ground oatmeal flour. so i agree with starbucksbrew that maybe 1/3 cup would be a good amount.

[Cherylptw]

I add whole oats to my breads, muffins & cakes all the time; I'd do 1/4 cup oats for flour and not grind it up but leave them whole for texture, also do make sure you add extra moisture after mixing up your ingredients if it seems the recipe needs it in the way of sour cream, plain yogurt or a little oil...and unless you are really looking for denser muffins, I would not do 1:1 oats for flour

[waver]

I do the something similar. I replace 1/4 cup flour with 1/3 cup of oatmeal (quick cooking though, so its a little finer) and it works fine. Most muffins and quick bread recipes are pretty forgiving, especially pumpkin ones for some reason. You can probably get away with substituting more, but I'm not sure how high you go.

[BernalKC]

I think you and waver and Emme are right about the proportion.

I also totally agree about using oats and not ground oats or oat flour. I've tried using oat flour on a few recipes -- pancakes, waffles, and scones -- with bad results. My impression is that the wall paper paste aspect of oats comes to the foreground when using oat flour. I find it makes the batter/dough much stickier and starchy. With rolled oats the oat startches are more contained in the oats. I'm surmising that oat flour would be OK in a leavened bread where there is less moisture. But in quick breads and cakes it is a tricky ingredient to use well.

[BernalKC]

If there are rules for this, I'd love to hear them. But I think you'll have to do some experimenting with your recipe. Its not going to be a simple substitution of oatmeal for flour. You need to account for the moisture since the oats are going to absorb a lot. You might find you'll want to partially cook the oats -- the way one does with oatmeal pancakes. Another idea would be to add sme oil to the recipe.

And if you want a total guess, I'd try 1:1 oats:flour. That's what I see in some oat muffin recipes.

[starbucksbrew]

I don't know the ratio, but I would process the oatmeal as finely as possible, not use the whole oats. I would maybe start with 1/3 oatmeal and go from there? I'm sorry if this isn't entirely helpful. I've heard of doing this but I've never done it.

[Val]

Yes, starbucksbrew is right...you need to process it to a powder...blender works very nicely. I believe I've read that you just sub 1:1 for regular flour. But for your first time around, I might do 1/2 cup oat flour & 1 cup regular flour just to see how it works.