Everyone was either occupied or out of the house. Now was my chance to do it again. I tiptoed into the kitchen, quietly pulled open the cabinet doors, and silently reached for the coconut flour. I don’t know if it’s because I have easily made over 19,760 pancakes (see 11/26 post) or my proportions have been off, but lately, my pancakes have not satisfied me the way they used to. I was ready to experiment with coconut flour again.
I had not done any new research prior to restarting, but that didn’t stop me. I thought that the pancakes that I envisioned in my head would somehow materialize on my plate. 1 cup coconut flour, 1 1/2 cups almond meal, 3 eggs, 2 tablespoons of the following: maca powder, cacao, vanilla, cinnamon, chia seeds, 1 cup almond milk. Start mixing. 1/2 cup more of almond milk. Stir. Another 1/2 a cup. The batter was like fluffy mud. I put some on the griddle to see if it would hold together. I thought that the third egg and extra 1/2 a cup of almond meal that I has used would do the trick. It didn’t. A 1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour and then another 1/4 cup later, the batter is still the consistency of grainy fluff that won’t stick together on the griddle. At this point I stop measuring and, instead of staying calm or admitting defeat, I just start throwing stuff in. Oats. A little better. More almond milk. Coconut flour soaks up liquid like a sponge. No difference. More oats. Finally, a little olive oil marginally salvaged what was left. With an insanely unhealthy amount of chocolate chips in the hope of masking the remaining disaster, I nonchalantly put the plate of pancakes on the table in front of all who had returned home or stopped what they were doing to gather around the table for brunch. “What’s this?”, my 11 year old asked. “Pancakes”, I snidely responded. “They look disgusting”. I ignored my family and as I watched them eat and listened to them complain, I hoped that the eggs didn’t contain salmonella because the burnt coconut flour pancakes did not seem to be thoroughly cooked through. I ate them to set an example and threw out the rest.
So what’s the secret to using coconut flour and why do I want to learn to bake with it so badly? Coconut flour is a healthy, high fiber, grain free alternative and a great source of manganese. High in lauric acid, coconut oil and flour, provide the body with ready energy. Studies show that coconut oil, high in the medium chain triglyceride, lauric acid, can be used directly for energy instead of being stored as fat. With some research showing medium chain triglyceride’s beneficial effect on cholesterol, coconut flour, is a beneficial supplement to a healthy diet.
And it mocks me as I try to learn to tame and master this beast of a flour. So maybe it’s a deep-seated need for control. Either way, I want to learn how to use it in my kitchen other than baking with it and throwing it out. In my typical, illogical fashion of doing things backwards, I started to research.
One site described coconut flour as “unforgiving”, requiring an inordinate amount of liquid and an unpredictable substitution ratio. Other sites attested to its tricky nature.
Ok, I was not alone. Feeling less inept, I continued to research. As usual, there was conflicting advice regarding the use and storage of coconut flour, but what I found in common across several sites is that 1. you can not substitute grain flour for coconut flour on a one to one ratio (a 1/4 to a 1/3 cup coconut flour for 1 cup grain-based flour is the general rule) and 2. any coconut flour recipe requires a lot, I mean a lot, of eggs (about 6 beaten eggs plus 1 cup liquid for every 1 cup of coconut flour). The other words of advice that I found posted across every site I read was basically not to experiment, but to instead follow well established recipes. Hmmmm. Maybe I should have read that first. I may make the same mistake twice, but I won’t make it a third time. Next weekend, I will turn toward trusted Paleo authority Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple and try what seems to be a basic coconut flour, user friendly, pancake recipe. Stay tuned. In the meantime, I would love any tips on baking with coconut flour. For those eager to test out this recipe before me, here it is:
Coconut Pancakes
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup coconut milk (full fat)
Directions:
Mix these ingredients and let them sit for five minutes. Oil or grease up your pan and heat over medium heat. Pour about a 1/4 cup of batter for each crepe, allowing each side to brown before flipping it.
Until the next batch of pancakes!
Adina Kelman
Holistic Health Coach
www.alifeinbalance.co
a life in balance 