The Independent, my favourite newspaper, has – sadly – let me down today.
Every Saturday, it provides a 50 Best feature, which is always interesting – how many of the 50 Best Beaches have I visited? Would I wear any of the 50 Best Women’s Coats, and so on. This week it is 50 Best Food Luxuries, and at no.13, it recommends spelt flour, saying “It’s perfect for the gluten-intolerant”.
No! No!
I quote from the Coeliac UK site:
Spelt is an ancient strain of wheat and research indicates that it is toxic to people with coeliac disease. Spelt is not suitable for a gluten-free diet.
And here I thought you could believe everything you read in the newspaper … Do you think they’d be interested in 50 Best Ways to Live Gluten Free? I’d love to have a go at that!
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I’ve written a book summarising what we’ve learnt over 20 years of dealing with the gluten free diet, and it might be just what you’re looking for. It packs the lessons we’ve learned into what I hope is a helpful and straightforward guidebook. It’s available on Amazon, as a paperback or for your Kindle… |
I think it’s scary sometimes how much misinformation we have to fight. I know there are people out there that are allergic to wheat who eat spelt, and I know there are folks who have tummy upset from wheat who eat spelt. Spelt makes a wonderful bread.
I have celiac, full blown. I have never eaten spelt. I will never eat spelt. It’s right there on the big list of no no’s that I was given. Not much research went into that statement in the paper? Was their source the person who stocks the bread aisle? I find they often recommend the spelt bread to folks who can’t eat wheat. (They don’t realize it’s almost the same thing.)
On the bread note, I just wanted to share with you a success I’ve had this week. I’ve been eating Mu Shoo pork from a chinese restaurant near me. They actually store my wheat free soy sauce in their own fridge as if it was a fine wine. However, I can never get pancakes. So I found a recipe for the pancakes on glutenfreeda.com.
They are incredible. Like a crepe. The texture and flavor is awesome. I’ve been using them with the mu shoo, I’ve been nibbling on them alone… I’ve used them as a sandwich wrap. The flavors in them are sesame oil, ginger and green onions.
The other day, I wanted to have a ham sandwich which doesn’t go well with those flavors, so I changed it to olive oil and brown sugar. It was wonderful. You just throw all the ingredients into a blender, blend them, then cook them as crepes. It’s 15min from start to finish, little clean up because you use the blender and one pan.
I thought it might be great for your little one.
Chinese Pancake
Ingredients: (us measurments sorry)
1/2c milk
1/4 c gf flour (I use Carol F’s sorghum mix)
pinch of salt (I use as much as fits in the bowl of my palm)
1 egg lightly beaten (I use extra large)
3/4 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced (used candied here, keeps longer)
1 garlic clove, minced (I used the preminced from the supermarket)
1 scallion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon vegetable oil (I used olive, it’s better for you)
Place the milk, gf flour, salt, egg and sesame oil in a blender and process until smooth. Transfer mixture into a large measuring cup with a pouring lip. The batter should be the consistency of heavy cream. If it’s too thick, add water, about 1 teaspoon at a time, until you get the right consistency. Stir in the ginger, garlic and scallions. (I’m lazy, i put them all in the blender at once, and my blender has a pour spout)
Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. (I needed more oil than recommended. When flipping crepe thin pancakes I’m just not that good)Pour about 2 tablespoons of the batter in the center of the pan then swirl the pan to make a circle about 4 inches in diameter. Cook the pancake over medium high heat until golden borwn. Flip the pancake over and brown the other side. (I made mine about 8 inches yields about 3 pancakes that way) Remove from the pan and keep warm. Repeat the process until all the batter is used up.
I’ve substituted the brown sugar and olive oil for the sesame oil, ginger and scallions, I’ve also toned down the sesame oil by doing 1/4 tsp of sesame oil, 1/2 tsp sesame oil. I haven’t tried making it italian yet by using italian spices and olive oil… Hope you enjoy the recipe. OH…and if you send a letter to the editor of the paper, please share!!!
Laney
Hi Laney – your pancake recipe looks really interesting. I’ve printed it out and will try it soon. If got all the ingredients, so it should be straightforward. Thank you!
I have sent an email to the paper – I’ll let you all know if they respond.