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Heat treating flour is the perfect way to pasteurize flour to use in all of your favorite edible cookie dough recipes! Cooking flour is the safest way to use it in recipes like edible chocolate chip cookie dough. It’s easy to do and only takes about five minutes!

Overhead shot of flour spread out on a baking sheet


Table of Contents

Why Do You Heat Treat Flour?

If you’ve ever made edible raw cookie dough, you might already know that you shouldn’t use eggs, but did you know you shouldn’t use raw flour either? Luckily, there’s an easy way to bake flour, so it’s safe to use in all of your favorite edible raw dough recipes. I’m showing you how to do it!

The process of making flour does not kill bacteria. Usually, this is not a problem because flour in recipes is cooked, whether in cakes, cookies, breading, etc. The heat kills the bacteria, so there isn’t a worry. Raw flour can harbor the same kinds of bacteria, and so it needs to be cooked.

Luckily, it’s super easy to heat treat flour, so it’s safe to use in edible cookie dough recipes, which are one of my favorite things! It takes all the worry away from using raw flour and only takes about five minutes. 

All purpose flour in the bag sitting next to a bowl full of flour

What Do You Need for baking flour?

An oven and a cookie sheet – that’s it! No fancy equipment is needed. It’s so easy there’s no reason not to do it – having the peace of mind that your edible raw dough is safe is worth the extra five minutes it takes to cook the flour first.

How to heat treat flour

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  • Spread the amount of flour you need for your recipe on a cookie sheet.
  • Once the oven is heated, bake the flour for five minutes.
  • Cool it on the sheet before adding it to your recipe. 

Tip: You can bake flour ahead of time. Once it’s cooled, store it in an airtight container so you can use it later.

When you bake flour, the oven’s heat kills the bacteria – it’s a fast process and works! For chocolate chip cookie dough fans, it’s a game-changer – it makes the treat edible and safe.

Now that you know how to cook flour, you need to make some edible raw dough treats to celebrate! Baking flour is a great kitchen hack that is so simple – it’s always better to be safe than sorry!

Flour in a large clear mixing bowl

FAQs

Why do you need heat treated flour?

Flour can harbor bacteria in the package, so if you’re going to make edible cookie dough or anything that uses raw flour, you should bake it to kill the bacteria.

What happens if you eat not heat treated flour?

It’s a gamble, much like eating raw eggs. You could be fine but it could also make you sick.

Is heat treated flour the same as regular flour?

Yes except it’s been pasteurized to kill the bacteria. Baking flour kills anything that could make you sick, which is important if you’re making edible cookie dough or anything with raw flour.

Flour in a large clear mixing bowl

How to Heat Treat Flour Recipe

5 from 2 votes
If you’re worried about making edible cookie dough with raw flour then use baked flour! Learn how to bake flour so it’s heat safe and ready to use in your raw edible recipes. It’s easy to do and just takes 5 minutes!
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Yield 16 servings
Serving Size 1 serving
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Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup (124g) all-purpose flour (or any amount)
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Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread flour on a cookie sheet.
  • Bake flour for 5 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet.
  • Use in desired recipe or store in a canister for future use.

Recipe Notes

Make extra and store in an airtight container, just like you would normal flour.

Recipe Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 28kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 8mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Dorothy Kern

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More Baking 101 Tips

Baked Flour is the key to a safe edible cookie dough. It kills all the bacteria and only takes 5 minutes!



Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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5 from 2 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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3 Comments

  1. Thanks for this good tip. My question is: can you do the same thing with raw cake mix or raw brownie mix?

    Reply

  2. Thanks so much for this important information!
    I have made this recipe before and I have never even thought about how using raw flour could make me sick so I appreciate you posting this.

    Reply