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
Trader Joe's Latin Style Black Bean Soup
Really not bad. It's a completely smooth soup and the texture was nice in that it felt like I was actually eating something. The sodium content at 520mg/serving is a little high but I almost always end up adding salt to lower sodium products which I suppose defeats the purpose. The soup had a little spice to it from the chipotle and a decent little tang.
Still I felt the need to dress it up a bit. I added just a pinch of hot Mexican chili powder, a grind or two of black pepper, a small squeeze of lime juice and, similar to the picture on the box, I garnished it with a bit of fresh chopped cilantro and a dollop of non-fat plain greek style yogurt. Along with a grilled cheese sandwich made from Trader Joe's sliced jalapeño cheese on Udi's white sandwich bread, it made a very satisfying light GF lunch.
Good Health Natural Foods - Quincy, MA
A very large selection of GF products - frozen, prepared, and ingredients.
