February 3, 2011

Buckwheat crepes


Ever since we went on a gluten-free diet at the beginning of this year, I've been trying to figure out how recreate some of our favorite things to eat, but with gluten-free flours. Getting used to the variety of those flours and starches, and knowing what they contribute to each recipe is still a work in progress. I'm still working on finding our favorite bread recipe (something more similar to artisan style bread), but there are a couple of things that I think I've nailed down quite well, and it makes me so happy to know that I can bring some of our kids' (also known as bread addicts) all-time favorites back to the table.

This week I set on a mission to make gluten-free crepes. I was expecting at least half a dozen of semi-successful attempts before I'd come up with a satisfying recipe. Imagine my surprise when I mixed everything together, made the first crepe and all of the sudden found myself in a crepe heaven. They turned out PERFECT. Same smooth and soft texture, same crispiness around the edges, same silence at the table, which means kids are happily devouring their meal and don't want to waste a second on chatting or goofing at the table. Oh, and I finally got to use our home-ground (in VitaMix) buckwheat flour. My only mistake that night? I should've tripled that batch.





Perfect Buckwheat Crepes

makes about 12 10-inch crepes

1 cup buckwheat flour (finely ground, I don't know what store bought flour feels like, ours was very fine)
1 cup white rice flour (again, very fine. we bought ours at Asian market and it feels a lot like starch, but says 'flour' on the package)
1 T tapioca starch

2 eggs
4 T neutral flavored oil
2.5 c milk
1-2 T maple syrup


coconut oil or butter for frying
10" cast iron pan works best

Mix dry ingredients. Wisc together wet ingredients and slowly incorporate them into the flour mix (stand- or hand-mixer works best, even though I prefer to mix by hand most of the time). Let the batter rest for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat up your skillet on medium heat. Once it's hot, add about 1 tsp of oil, spread it around. Pour about 1/3 cup of batter in the pan and quickly spread it around by tilting the pan from side to side. Cook until the edges begin to look crispy (like in the photo above). Flip it over and cook for another 10-15 seconds, depending on how hot your stove is (ours is electric and I'm still not used to it). Make sure to add more butter for each new crepe. (no, real butter/coconut oil does not make you fat)

Serve warm. We love to eat crepes with sour cream, jam, honey or syrup.

Enjoy! And let me know how this recipe worked out for you :)

7 comments:

The Kooky Queen--Rachel said...

Olya!!! Thank you for this!!! Danny and I miss blini sooooooooo much and using rice flour is just NASTY! I can't wait to try these!

The Wizzle said...

Um WOW those look yummy. I can't wait to try them! So you put maple syrup actually IN the crepe batter?

Olya said...

Rachel #1, I hope you can finally enjoy some blini :) I used regular store bought rice flour before and it's just too gritty for me. The stuff from Asian market feels a lot like starch so that helps. I'll be experimenting with using more buckwheat flour in the future, maybe even cutting out rice flour/starch completely. We'll see!

Rachel #2, yes, maple syrup goes in the batter. Not much at all, normally I wouldn't even bother with adding it, but I think without wheat flour crepes taste too 'neutral' so a touch of flavor from maple syrup helps. Any liquid sweetener will do.

tffnyhll said...

Olya,

My sister recently found out that she has sensitivity to wheat, corn and soy. She is having such a hard time finding anything that does not contain these items. I'm excited to share this with her.

Thank you!

Ariana Sullivan said...

Thanks!
I'm always on the lookout for a good crepe recipe. Crepes are one my family's all time favorite foods. We eat them for dessert!

I'm going to give this recipe a try with rice milk. I really hope it works!

If you find any other yummy gluten-free recipes please share!

Jenny said...

Happened upon this post, and so excited to find this recipe! We've been eating raw since the beginning of the year, but gearing up for a serious cheat night with friends next month when we will eat crepes until our faces fall off. Except for being cooked, these work great! Maybe I'll even try sprouting the buckwheat first.

Yuliya said...

hi there just found your blog, I've been gluten free (mostly) for a year now, and one of my favorite gf blogs is http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/ check her out if you don't already read it