3 posts tagged “flour”
In my quest to bake with unique flours -- as well as to understand them & how they work -- I found the following conversion chart by Alicia King. You can read the whole article (titled "Wheat-Free, Gluten-Free Baking: Flour Conversions and Binding Agents Simplify Recipes") here.
(ALSO: That absolutely lovely sugar and flour shaker image comes from Flickr user *jenny b allsorts)
1 cup of wheat flour equals:
- Amaranth - 1 cup
- Bean Flour - 1 cup
- Corn Flour- 1 cup
- Cornmeal - ¾ cup
- Millet Flour - 1 cup
- Nuts (finely ground- almond, hazel nut)- ½ cup
- Oat Flour - 1 1/3 cup
- Potato Flour - 5/8 cup
- Potato Starch - ¾ cup
- Quinoa Flour - 1 cup
- Rice Flour (White/Brown)- 7/8 cup
- Sorghum Flour - 1 cup
- Soy Flour - ¾ cup
- Sweet Rice Flour - 7/8 cup
- Tapioca Flour/Starch - 1 cup
- Teff Flour - 7/8 cup
This is great info . . . but I still am left wondering how I can best substitute my favorite flour (COCONUT!) in my baking adventures. Does anyone have any tips on this? Lately I've been doing the whole 1-to-1 thing, and I'm not certain it's working out.
Though, through some experimentation, I made these cookies.
I think they are quite good; my husband, however, claims they're chalky? He retracted this comment yesterday evening -- saying that they do have a certain charm to them. Below are the instructions for making a half batch, if you'd just like to try them out, but not totally commit.
HEALTH NUT COOKIES
(note: I used egg in this recipe because I felt it needed a strong binding agent, but feel free to use your favorite substitute.)
What you'll need . . .
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (or just chopped)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (or Earth Balance, just don't add the salt later on)
- 3/4 cup organic Tazo chai mix (or any liquid chai mix)
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts, processed to be a fine powder
- 1/4 cup oats
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
Method . . .
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Put 4 ounces of the chocolate & the butter in a microwave-safe bowl and heat until melty. Stir until smooth.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat chocolate with liquid chai mix on medium speed until well combined (about 3 minutes).
- Add egg. Mix until completely combined.
- Add the flour, processed hazelnuts, oats, and salt, and beat until just incorporated. You may need to add more coconut flour (mixture should be wet, but not soggy). I added about an 1/8 cup.
- Stir in the rest of the chocolate (best if you are using chips) and cranberries.
- Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto a nonstick or well greased cookie sheet.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes (mine finished in 10), rotating the baking sheet halfway through.
Cookies can be kept in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Last night was amazing. I'm so ready for change! Go Obama! Anyway, we had a real American dinner last night: Vegetable Dumplings. I made up for it with some red, white, and blue oatmeal chocolate chippers (a tasty vegan recipe I'll save for another day's posting).
I'm coloring my hair right now, so I need to make this quick.
VEGETABLE DUMPLINGS
For the dough . . .
- 1-1/2 cups organic white flour
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup water
- Pinch of salt
For the filling . . .
- 1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 2-3 cloves minced garlic
- Some onion (if you like)
- And feel free to add mushrooms or whatever else you'd like . . .
- Sesame oil (for frying)
Method . . .
- Shred and cut all ingredients for the filling. Mix together. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine water and flour to make a dough. Adjust water/flour until dough comes out only slightly sticky. Knead for about 5 minutes.
- Take a heaping tablespoon amount of dough (or slightly more) and roll it into a circle about 3 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Set on a clean work surface and roll with a rolling pin.
- Put a spoonful of mixture inside (in the middle), and fold in half -- pressing edges together.
- Continue following these instructions until either the dough or mixture runs out (we had a bit of dough left over).
- Heat sesame oil in a wok or large pan on medium high heat. Coat dumplings in the oiled pan and cook until browned on each side (flip often while on the stove to evenly cook).
- When they're browned . . . add about 1 tablespoon of water to the pan and cover for one minute -- turning down the heat to medium.
- Serve with soy sauce (we added garlic and ginger powder to ours).
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A quick post today -- my husband and I are running around the house cleaning for the in-laws' visit (starting tomorrow). Anyway, I have never, ever eaten crepes. Honestly. So, this morning, I was thinking of making pancakes . . . and then decided to give it a whirl. I found a rather boring recipe online, so I switched it up a bit -- and then created this amazing topping with some random fruit we had around.
And apple cider! That's the best part.
I'll write more another day, but for now, here's the recipe! I doubled it to serve 4 (approx. 3 crepes each).
VEGAN CREPES
What you'll need . . .
- 1 cup regular soy milk
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup melted soy butter
- 2 tablespoons raw sugar
- 4 tablespoons regular molasses (heated up so it's thin, not thick)
- 2 cups wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Method . . .
- In a large bowl, blend (I used my mixer with the whisk attachment) all ingredients together.
- Cover and chill for about an hour (the recipe said 2 hours, but I could only wait 1).
- Heat a large fry pan (whatever you usually make pancakes in -- the diameter of the one I used is 9 inches, so depending on the size of your pan, change the amount you pour in accordingly) over medium-high heat & lightly grease with some extra soy butter.
- Pour approx. 5-6 tablespoons of batter into the pan. I found it was best to use a soup ladle -- and rather than simply pour the batter into the pan, I spread it in a circular motion. NOTE: If you find your batter is thick, add some water a tablespoon at a time. It should be thin . . . and once you have it in the pan, you should be able to swirl the pan around and coat with the stuff. Very technical, right? Hah!
- Cook until golden brown, and then flip (this is the tricky part -- see more notes below) and cook the opposite side.
MIXED BERRY SAUCE
What you'll need . . .
1/2 cup frozen mixed berries
3/4 cup apple cider
1 banana, sliced
2 heaping tablespoons honey
Method . . .
- Heat apple cider in a small saucepan until bubbling.
- Add the frozen mixed berries, heat again until bubbling, then lower heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add banana slices and honey, stir, and heat for approx. 4 minutes.
- Put mixture into a blender and pulse until smooth. It's almost like a hot smoothie. It's light, airy, and a great compliment for crepes!
Alright. I'll admit I'm not the most experience crepe-maker in the world. But I did find a trick to flipping them. Basically, you wait until the batter is bubbling up from the pan -- then you can check to see if the bottom is brown (by lifting an edge a bit). When you get to that point -- and ONLY when you get to that point -- take your flipper and QUICKLY shove it under the crepe. Do this very fast. Just go for it. And then just as quickly FLIP over.
You may find that the crepe doubles over a bit. Very gently pull apart. It takes some patience and a good practice crepe, but you'll get the hang of it.
Today's post is part of VeganMoFo. For more delicious vegan recipes -- including sweets, soups, and other scrumptious things -- keep reading METHOD (subscribe to METHOD's RSS feed). As well, check out the VeganMoFo Flickr group.