Gluten Free Crêpes

I have been perfecting my gluten-free crêpe recipe for a few months now and I have finally landed on a very good one! These don’t have the coarse texture that gluten-free crêpes usually have, they are slightly chewy too which I really like and they have an innate sweetness even without the addition of sugar. Although I usually try to avoid the addition of unnecessary fats, I think it is the Olive Oil in this batter that helps emulsify the grainy ‘flours’. In my humble opinion, these crêpes can easily pass as their gluten-containing cousins, although, JT did comment that they weren’t quite as sturdy as a regular crêpe.

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Makes 2 crêpes

Ingredients:

• 40 mL egg white (about 2 large egg whites)
• 80 mL (about 2.5 oz) soda water
• 35 g (about 1/4 cup) gluten-free flour mixture (see below)
• 15 mL (1 tbsp) EVOO

Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in the container of your immersion blender and blend for about 1-2 minutes. Set aside for about 3-5 minutes.
2. Heat a large non-stick pan to medium hot (do not spray with oil or add oil to the pan, the batter sticks better this way). Pour half of the mixture into the pan and quickly roll around to cover the entire bottom of the pan, without going up the sides. Cook until golden and most of the batter has set on the top side.
3. Carefully lift the crêpe and turn it to cook the other side until golden. Repeat for second crêpe.
4. Keep warm by covering.

Gluten Free Flour Mix

Ingredients:

• 6 parts brown rice flour
• 3 parts yellow corn flour (not meal)
• 1 part white corn flour (not meal)

Directions:

• Mix well and use as required.

These crêpes have a very similar texture and mouthfeel as glutenated crèpes.

Notes:

• These crêpes have a tendency to dry out and turn crisp very easily, so keep an eye on them whilst cooking.
• The crêpe will start out the size of the pan but will shrink due to the high water content.
• My Mom always used soda water in her crêpe, saying that it made them lighter and thinner but you could substitute milk like a traditional crêpe batter, note that they will be thicker.
• I changed the gluten free flour mixture because I was out of tapioca flour and to be honest, I liked the way this version worked in this recipe.
• I used the T-Fal Induction Non-Stick 30cm frying pan and although I am normally not a non-stick lover, this material is not surface coated, it is all the way through which makes me feel it is safer to use than traditional top coated non-stick pans. I have tried my cast iron pans but find them a bit heavy to twirl around to spread the batter evenly.
• Crêpes are great for desserts or mains, we used these to wrap pulled pork with a mustard béchamel. Because we are still trying to eat healthily, I omitted the sugar and ketchup from the BBQ sauce and used apple preserves and about 15 mL (one tablespoon) of maple syrup to sweeten. The béchamel was a rice-flour based sauce with a splash of milk and loosened with chicken stock.

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