How and why to make & bake with cannabis flour (plus a bonus recipe!)

Unlike infused butter and oil, cannabis flour involves cooking with and consuming the whole plant. We don’t use the stems, but we use all the leaves and buds. A good bang for your buck. Of course, you don’t have to use leaves if bud is all you have. Just note that bud-only cannabis flour is a little bit more potent.

The technique here is the easiest, quickest way to make it, and the canna-flour keeps for months and months, at the minimum, in a tightly sealed jar kept cool and out of the sunlight. Not only is it a fiber boost and loaded with great nutrients and medicine, it’s a super simple preparation.

The only downside might be the taste—if you have an aversion to cannabis flavor, this might not be the method for you. That said, with the right amount of sugar and spice you can mask the taste pretty completely. I made French toast last week with crumbs from granola, coconut shreds and canna-flour. Superb.

You’ll need:

• 7 grams of cannabis
• Food processor or coffee grinder
• Sifter

Yield: ¼ cup

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Step by step instructions are provided below but you can also follow along with this video.

Make the canna-flour

(Photo by Bruce Wolf)

1. Place cannabis on a rimmed baking sheet in a 240°F oven for 45 minutes to activate the THC (decarboxylate). Allow to cool.
2. Transfer cooled cannabis to a food processor or a clean coffee grinder. Process the cannabis until it becomes a very fine powder.
3. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark, dry place until ready to use. Use within 3 months for optimal freshness.

Use the canna-flour

(Photo by Bruce Wolf)

To use, replace up to ¼ (25%) of the flour the recipes calls for with your cannabis flour. Sift the regular flour and cannabis flour together right before using in your recipe to blend the two together. Sifting together is very important for consistent dosing throughout your baked goods.

Pro tips

• When cooking with canna-flour, do not exceed temperatures of 340°F
• Since the plant has a strong flavor, you may need to increase the other strong flavors in your dish to balance out the taste
• 7 grams of cannabis at 15% THC will yield about 100 servings of 10mg THC

Recipe for marijuana-infused zucchini bread

If you have a garden and plant zucchini, you’re probably starting to wonder what the heck to do with it. There is just so much sautéed zucchini a person can eat.

Time to embrace infused zucchini bread. This is a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Much greater.

In this recipe, the cannaflour replaces a ½ cup of regular flour. There is no weed taste (we ramped up the vanilla, ginger, and cloves) and before the cannabis kicks in you would never know you were indulging. Of course, always alert your guests to your special ingredient! ALWAYS.

If you want a more potent bread, use more canna-flour. This method is the way to go with all of your favorite, pretty simple, very delicious, sweet breads.

This recipe begs the question of why we eat zucchini any other way. I like zucchini, but I love this bread!

This has been my go to since I lived in Vermont a billion years ago. I infused it back then, too. Full of late summer and fall spice, it’s perfect with a cup of chai or a London Fog. With a schmear of cream cheese or fresh ricotta, it’s an amazing breakfast or dessert. With ricotta I like the tiniest drizzle of the best honey I have in the house.

(Photo by Bruce Wolf)

Serves 12

You’ll need:

• Baking spray
• 2 ½ cups flour
• ½ cup canna-flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• ½ teaspoon clove
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup canola oil
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups grated zucchini

Preheat oven to 340°

1. Spray a 9” x 5” loaf pan with the baking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine all of the dry ingredients. Set aside.
3. In another bowl combine the oil with the eggs and vanilla.
4. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until there is no trace of flour. Don’t over mix.
5. Add grated zucchini to the mixture and combine.
6. Bake loaf pan until a cake tester inserted in the middle of loaf comes out clean, about 55-65 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing.

Smoke it, eat it, rub it on your muscles.