Typically if I’m ever craving pancakes (which is pretty rare given the science of gluten-free baking was the new frontier back in the late 2000s) I’ll head over to Plow for their fantastic almond pancakes and deliciously fried smashed potatoes. I mean deeeeeeeeelish.
Since I’ve started to dive into the world of gluten-free baking I have been pleasantly surprised by the results!
This recipe from ATK’s book was fantastic and my family raved about them. In fact, they were shocked this was gluten-free at all and loved the subtle taste of the buckwheat.
These pancakes were not flat but were fluffy and slightly dense, just the way I like my foods.. dense. 🙂
So, how IS the baking going you ask? Well, if I were to do it all over again I’d start my shopping list by going straight to Costco. Get the butter, eggs, maple syrup, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and honey at Costco. I was pleasantly surprised they had organic versions of the above staple ingredients and some ingredients were even local! Score! Wish I had come to Costco first which would have saved a few trips plus a few $$. After you hit up Costco I’d head over to Whole Foods to stock up on the other grass-fed, organic items such as yogurt, cream cheese, milk, etc.
In the meantime, most gluten-free flour blends will require a version of ground white rice flour, brown rice flour, teff, gluten-free oat flour, sourghum flour, etc. If you don’t already have a membership to Thrive, you can save a few bucks by paying the annual membership fee and ordering a few bags of each ingredient in the blend. So far I’ve seen at least a $1+ savings on each item compared to Whole Foods prices.
I have to say baking is incredibly fun and it’s gratifying to see the end results. If I failed on a recipe, which I totally did with the chocolate chip cookies, I’d go through the process of elimination to try and figure out what went wrong and what I should modify in the next round to get the perfect chocolate chip cookies out of the oven 😉
Oh, and if you’re wondering what went wrong with the chocolate chip cookies I discovered that instead of resting the dough for 30 minutes I extended the rest time for another 90 minutes totaling 2 hours. Perhaps it’s the humidity of the NW, but I’ve noticed in general all ATK recipes require more resting time and slightly less baking time (anywhere from 5-15 minutes). Again, could be humidity + differences in oven temps.
Last but not least, I have finally found my limit when it comes to tasting all these goodies! Yesterday evening I was craving a simple baked chicken with veggies and then this morning I found myself wanting to go back to my green smoothie routine.
Guess after years of good habits your body knows that even if it’s gluten-free it’s still processed in some way and wants food to be in whole form. The body knows best.