I have reservations about gluten-free flour mixes, I have since the onset of my gluten-free life. On one hand, I love experimenting with unique flour mixtures; searching for the perfect blend of gluten-free flours, searching for the texture, the taste and the flavour that I crave. On the other hand, sometimes I’m lazy – isn’t everyone?
With the internet at our fingertips, it’s easy to stumble upon multitudes of mixes, sworn to give perfect results, each and every time. I have a few that I like – one of my favourites seems to be a garbanzo-fava bean flour, potato starch and arrowroot mixture that I gleaned from some of Erin McKenna’s recipes.
Prompted by the mouth-watering photos over at Delightfully Gluten Free, I recently tried out Cassandra’s biscuit mix. Although my biscuits were a little tough, I’m fairly confident that was of my own doing; I still have more mix and I plan to try the recipe again soon. Having the pre-made mix on hand, has also given me a chance to make my favourite “bisquick” recipe, a crustless quiche, now conveniently Gluten-Free, mmmm delicious!
But I digress, while on a weekend getaway with my husband a few months ago, I picked up a package of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix and have been waiting for a chance to try it ever since. Last weekend I finally found myself craving a hot breakfast, but also feeling lazy and not up to the task of preparing pancakes from scratch (I usually use Shauna’s Recipe which, at the least requires a little bit of time to allow the batter to settle).
I prepared the pre-mixed pancakes with vigor!
Unfortunately, that was not enough. The pancakes texture, though fluffy, was heavy and crumbly, yet still sticky in my mouth. And despite being low on the ingredient list, I couldn’t escape the cornflour which was evident to both my sense of taste and smell. To say the least, I was disappointed – but that’s not to say I won’t find a way to use up the rest of that mix.
Any suggestions?
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 2:55 am
[…] upon multitudes of mixes, sworn to give perfect results, each and every time…. source: pre-mixed?, Gluten-Free […]
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 6:21 am
If you’ve got a favorite recipe, make up the dry ingredients ahead of time, so all you have to do is pull out a bag or jar, and add the wet ingredients.
My favorite pancake recipe is from “You Won’t Believe It’s Gluten-Free” by Roben Ryberg.
Friday, May 30, 2008 at 6:40 am
Cassandra, in theory its a great idea to pre-mix, but since I use different mixes for so many different things, it becomes difficult to keep track of them all and I’m fearful the bags will begin to ooze out of my cupboard (I’m not all that neat and tidy!!)
amber 🙂
Monday, June 2, 2008 at 12:24 am
I think a mix of sorghum, white teff, millet or amaranth and almond flour is a good – and healthy one. Sorghum is most like wheat flour and slightly sticky, white teff has a similar texture to rye and a sweet malty taste, millet or amaranth give a crisper texture as a counterpoint to the sorghum and teff and almond makes the whole mixture moist, tender and higher in protein.
The thing is to play around until your get a mix that works and then make it up and keep it in the freezer labelled pancake mix.
In my (humble) opinion it’s best to steer clear of all those starches – cornflour, tapioca, potato etc as they will only play havoc with your blood sugar.
x x x