Monday, November 5, 2012

Gluten Free Waffle Recipe Success!

If you have tried to bake soon after transitioning to a gluten free diet, you've likely experienced the heart-dropping disappointment that occurs the moment you taste the fruits of your labor. The less research, preparation, and ingredient-replacing you've done, the bigger the disappointment. In my case, I tried making cookies three time, all with less than edible results. Sadly, it turns out that the box of "all-purpose gluten free flour mix" really can't just be substituted one for one in all your usual recipes as the back of the of brags. (At least, not without the inclusion of guar, and or xantham gums to bind the flours in place of gluten.)

Since then, I've spent a lot of time researching gluten free recipes and cookbooks. After a trip to Whole Foods to stock up on more useful essentials, I felt prepared enough to whip up a batch of waffles based on a recipe I found online. I tweaked it a bit as per usual, and they turned out delicious. (You'll notice I used only half an egg, because I didn't want to waste a big batch in case they didn't come out--well, these come out, so feel free to double the batch and use one whole egg.) Wifey and sister in law both ate them up with butter and syrup... and neither of them are huge fans of breakfast food, so they would not have eaten them if they weren't actually tasty.

This may not be a cake, or even a batch of cookies, but dammit, I'm feeling pretty proud of misself today.

These are not vegan because of the egg, but you could mash 1/4 of a banana in place of the egg, which was always my standby egg sub for any pancake or waffle mix. Anyway, here's the recipe. Enjoy.

Ingredients

1 cup Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten Free Baking Flour
1/4 tsp guar gum
1 1/3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs olive oil
2/3 cup milk or nondairy milk (I was out of both, so I used a couple tablespoons of vegan yogurt mixed with water totaling 2/3 cup)
1/2 beaten large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat your waffle iron on medium setting.
Stir together dry ingredients well.
Whisk wet ingredients together.
Add wet ingredients to dry and whisk together until well combined (do not overbeat).
Let stand for 5 minutes.
Pour batter into waffle iron and cook according to directions.

This made us three and a half tasty waffles, but again, these are delish, so feel free to double for more waffley goodness.