We have gone to many a breakfast place trying to accommodate both gluten-free and dairy-free. This is the really wonderful thing about living in Portland, Oregon. We are truly lucky to be living in a place where food allergies and preferences are paid attention to. There is a long way to go though. I'm not sure if I've talked about garbanzo bean flour on here before but a quick note now about it. It isn't something we can stand. It may be the right consistency and it may even perform in a very gluten-floury-way, but the taste is potent and not something I care for (in truth I can't stand it). It also can cause some digestive distress; much like the beans themselves do. A lot of gluten free ready-mixes contain this flour and we automatically do not buy the product when we see it on the ingredient list. It can't even be masked by chocolate. Also, I have found that rice flours can be gritty, as can using too much corn flour, or a corn flour that hasn't been ground finely enough.
Recently, Mike and I went to one of our favorite places to eat breakfast in our neighborhood. They are one of the best for accommodating dairy free, and they have also begun accommodating gluten-free. They are educated on what is and isn't gluten-free, they carry a bread there for toast and sandwiches, and they are now offering gluten-free/dairy-free pancakes. There is no sugarcoating it though; these pancakes were terrible. It was so very disappointing.
One morning I got up and looked up a standard recipe for pancakes in my cookbook bible: The New York Times Cookbook by the late great Craig Claiborne. Then I took my steadily increasing knowledge of gluten-free flours and baking and modified the hell out of the recipe.
I bring you gluten-free / dairy free pancakes that are delicious enough for those of us lucky enough to not have food allergies. Ta Da!
Corn flour - 1/2 cup
Sorghum flour - 1/4 cup
Tapioca flour - 1/4 cup
Xantham gum - 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon
Almond milk - 3/4 cup (give or take - you may need to add a little more at the end to get the right consistency)
1 egg
Pinch salt
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Melted "butter" (Earth Balance) - 3 tbsp
Baking powder - 2 teaspoon
I put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and whisk them with a wire whisk.
I mix the wet ingredients together and then add that to the dry ingredients and use the whisk to mix it together (just until there are no dry lumps). I add extra almond milk as needed if the mixture seems too thick or dry.
Cook as you do normal pancakes.
