Homemade Potato starch is also known as potato flour and it is easy to make and serves as a great substitute to cornstarch, wheat flour (all-purpose flour), or tapioca starch. It is a gluten-free flour that can be used in many food recipes to replace all-purpose flour in the baking of cakes, bread, etc; it is also used as a thickener to thicken soups and sauces. Potato flour can be used for coating of chicken before frying – such as in making popcorn chicken.
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What is Potato starch?
Potato starch or Potato flour is the powder made from Irish potatoes. It looks similar in appearance as sweet potato starch and often used for the same purpose but not as sweet in taste as that of sweet potatoes. Potato flour is can be made at home by blending and extracting the starch from raw potatoes and then turning the starch into a powder. It is an easy process made with just a blender and a strainer.
Uses and benefits
It is used for making noodles; in cooking as a thickener, and in baking as a substitute for cornflour (cornstarch), wheat flour, tapioca flour, or as sweet potato starch substitute.
Potato starch can be used as a coating for frying chicken, fish, or meat such as when making Popcorn chicken.
An important health benefit of potatoes flour is that it contains a unique type of starch known as resistant starch. This type of starch cannot be broken down by the body and therefore, the gut is unable to absorb it fully. This can help with weight loss; resistant starch is a source of nutrients for the beneficial bacteria in the large intestine.
The resistant starch of potato helps control blood sugar and reduces insulin resistance – which is therefore good for diabetes.
How to make Potato starch at Home
- I used fresh organic Yukon gold potatoes. Start by peeling the fresh Irish potatoes and cut them into small cubes for easy blending. White potatoes make a brighter flour.
- Wash them clean and rinse with cold water
- Put in the blender and process into a smooth paste. When making much, you can use the commercial milling machine. You can as well use a grater to grate the potatoes.
- Use cheesecloth and strain the blended Yukon gold potatoes puree
- You can add water and rinse the chaff or remaining paste the second time to make sure there is no more starch in it.
- The chaff can be discarded
- Allow the strained liquid to settle. This allows the starch to sediment to the bottom of the container. It can take about 2 to 4 hours depending on the quantity you have.
- After 2 hours, gently decant or pour out the dark-colored water from the bowl, and leave only the white potato starch at the bottom of the bowl. Sometimes, there is a thin layer of brown-colored water left; you can gently pour clean cold water and rinse just the top of the potato starch and gently pour it out.
- Scoop the thick, starchy, and flaky starch into a drying tray and dry it under the sun, in the oven on low heat or in your dehydrator.
- Once dried, blend into a smooth powder and sieve with a fine strainer
- Your homemade potato starch or flour is ready. You can use it for your baking, thickening of soups, sauces, and also for coating meat or fish for frying.
How long can homemade potato flour last?
When completely dried and stored in an airtight container, it should last for up to 6 months or more.