Thursday, November 15, 2012

Gluten Free Flour Blends

I use a bunch of different blends when I cook and bake.  Every gluten free chef creates their own.  Some I like, some I adjust.  For the most part, mine come from Jennifer Cinquepalmi and the Culinary Institute of America.  I'm going to bookmark this post and add the ingredients to the different flour mixes I talk about so you can see how to make them if you need them.  I make a big batch of each one and keep them in gallon ziplocs in the freezer.

Sorghum Flour Mix:
7 cups sweet white sorghum flour
2 cups potato starch
1 cup tapioca starch

CIA Flour Blend #5:
9 oz White Rice Flour
6 oz Tapioca Starch
6 oz Soy Flour
3 oz Whey Powder (I started leaving this out and haven't noticed a difference in my pancakes, but it might be noticeable in other recipes)

Savory Corn Griddle Cakes

I love pinterest.  I have a breakfast board with a ton of pins just waiting to make us happy in the mornings.  Today I made a spinoff of these bacon and corn cakes and OH MY they are so good.  I had to adjust a couple things to make them gluten free and to allow for ingredients I didn't have, et cetera blah blah, but they still turned out really well. (And I did copy most of the directions directly from that other post, so go check out the original too!)   Definitely going in our breakfast rotation.  The daycare kids didn't really like them overall, but they have no sugar.  The pancakes I normally make are pretty sweet, and when you're expecting sugar and you get corn and cayenne pepper instead, I can see how it would throw your wheels off.  I'm excited to make them on the weekend because I think hubby will like them a lot.

The maple syrup is a really necessary piece of this dish- which I normally don't like much and never use.  I keep it on hand for my family though, and since these do have no sugar, I went ahead and used it.  SO GOOD.  The combination of sweet syrupy goodness with the crunchy corn and bacon, and the spicy onion and pepper... nom nom nom....

This recipe made 12 griddle cakes- pretty big ones.  Two hungry grownups and five kids ate and I still have 3 leftover.

Ingredients:
8 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 good sized handful turkey sausage crumbles (because 2 breakfast meats is better than one)
2 cups sorghum flour mix
1 green onion, including chive parts, chopped small
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/3 cup milk
2 large eggs, beaten
2tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
2 cup frozen, canned or fresh corn (I just used a 15 oz can)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
warm maple syrup, for serving

Directions:
1.  In a medium skillet, cook the bacon pieces until they begin to brown and crisp.  Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of the bacon mixture for topping the griddle cakes upon serving- and set it aside.  (or microwave some turkey bacon like I do!)
2. While the bacon is cooking, combine the flour, green onions, baking powder, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Stir in the milk, egg and oil, just until moistened. Stir in the bacon, sausage, corn and cheese. The mixture will be thick. If you'd like the griddle cakes to be slightly thinner, add a little more milk to thin out the batter.
3. Heat and grease a griddle or large skillet. Pour a heaping 1/4-cup of the batter onto the griddle and cook until it is golden brown- 3 to 4 minutes per side. Repeat with the remaining batter.  (I used at least 1/2 cup of batter so they turned out huge, and then cut them in fourths to give to the kids.)
4. Serve stacks of griddle cakes topped with a sprinkle of the reserved bacon/onion and a good dose of warm maple syrup.