Gluten-free flours, my purchases in the United States.

Hello!

Just back from the West Coast, I’m packing a suitcase full of very special flours. I’m bringing some paleo baking mixes made with almond flour, others made with cassava and tapioca, and a couple of cauliflower flour mixes.

This morning I woke up very early and decided to make some breakfast to combat jet lag. As you know, jet lag is a disorder that affects us when we travel across many time zones in a short period of time. Our body has a hard time adapting to our destination time zone and we may experience tiredness, fatigue, lack of concentration, gastric problems, and sleep disturbances. They say it takes one day to adapt to each time zone you crossed, I have passed through 9 so it will take me at least a week.

Another symptom of jet lag is being hungry when you are not supposed to, it is very typical to wake up earlier than usual and feel an unusual hunger, that is what happened to me today, so I did not hesitate to prepare these pancakes with the cauliflower-based baking mix that I bought in California. The truth is that this is the third time I’ve made pancakes in my entire life; it’s not a breakfast I’m crazy about, but this time I was eager to try the new cauliflower-based baking mix from CAULIPOWER. The two previous times I tried making them with ground almonds, coconut, and ground flaxseed, and honestly, I wasn’t successful. The pancakes weren’t fluffy, and although they were edible, the result wasn’t what we understand as a pancake or pancake; it was more like a sweet omelet, so I gave up and stopped trying. Now I know that this mix produces fabulous results and that you can also make them with other gluten-free flours like tapioca, almond, and coconut. (Note! They have to be fine flours, not ground almonds or shredded coconut.) Cauliflower-based flours are not yet available in Spain; it’s just a matter of time before they arrive. In the meantime, I’ve brought back a few bags to test. The truth is that cauliflower-based flour is a truly novel product. It’s not yet sold in stores in California; I had to order it online. What is common to find are frozen pizza doughs made with cauliflower, beets, and carrots, among other vegetables. In Europe there are already several companies that are dedicated to making these frozen pizza doughs, I have located some companies in Italy, Holland and England.

As in Spain this type of products are not yet marketed, it is best to try to make them at home, I am preparing a post on how to make a cauliflower-based pizza dough, it can also be made with carrots, zucchini or beetroot, among other vegetables, there are several methods, I will try to explain the simplest one, stay tuned because it won’t be long before I publish it.

As for the gluten-free pancakes, to prepare them I followed a recipe that the company that markets the flour has published on its website, little by little I will experiment, but for now I have preferred to play it safe and try the product in a recipe that works. Unfortunately you can’t buy it here so I’m leaving the recipe so you can make it with any other flour. A good option if you want it to be gluten-free is to use tapioca flour. You can also mix it with almond or coconut flour. You can replace the cauliflower flour with any other flour, cup for cup. You just have to pay attention to the amount of liquid needed. If you see that the batter is too thick, you should add more. To prepare these pancakes you only need 1 cup of your favorite gluten-free flour, 1 1/2 tablespoons of coconut or birch sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 cup of milk or vegetable drink (I recommend almond), 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence, 1 egg, and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. I used coconut oil. With this recipe you will get some wonderful pancakes as you see in the image, very fluffy and with a delicate vanilla and caramel flavor.

This morning I accompanied them with my homemade sugar-free apple compote and a little butter. You can have them with some red fruits, with freshly cut apple or the fruit of your choice, don’t forget a good tea or coffee, you will love them.