Happy New Year! I started 2012 off with an indulgent breakfast of syrup and butter drenched waffles. Waffles are one GF substitution that I feel almost work better than waffles made with wheat flour. Obviously GF baking requires substituting alternative flours for wheat flour and there are an almost endless variety of non-wheat flours and starches that can be used. The most common for waffle recipes seems to be rice flour.
Rice flour is the main ingredient in Pamela's Baking and Pancake mix which uses a combination of brown rice, white rice and sweet rice flour along with smaller amounts of tapioca and potato starch. It also uses almond meal which appears in the mix and waffles as small brown flecks giving the waffles a whole grain appearance and some added depth of flavor and "mouth feel." This combination of flours seems to give the waffles an extra crispness and lightness while still having a satisfying density to them. It also avoids the slightly bitter flavor that sorghum flour (another commonly used substitution) often gives to baked goods.
The end result are fluffy, crisp, nicely browned, firm but not chewy. They absorb syrup nicely and have a depth of flavor. Overall I recommend this mix for waffles and think you could serve these to non-gf people as whole-wheat flour waffles and get away with it. Next up, I'll try this mix for the pancake recipe.
Pamela's Products
Hi-
ReplyDeleteNoticed your blog linked on BosGuy's. Been doing the GF thing in Boston for 10 years. It gets better. :) The Pamela's mix is also good for making choc chip cookies. Makes really good pancakes too, they come out better with berries in them. Dowd and Roger's cake mix (sold in Whole Foods) makes the best cakes of all the ones I've tried. Tinkyada brand pasta is the most like "real" pasta. Trader Joe's brand pasta is good too. Skip corn pastas - almost all of them turn to mush.
There are a lot of restaurants around here that can do GF, some with menus and some without. Boston is actually better for GF than most cities. Six or 7 of the restaurants in the block around Park Square have GF menus and all do it well, it's like GF heaven. Also have a pretty exhaustive list of GF restaurants in other cities.
Always happy to share more info - good luck!
MMMM waffles. Did Sapphi enjoy them?
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