Here is to day two gluten free!

So yesterday I remade our usual breakfast cereal to be gluten free.  The only changes I had to make were to up the amount of almond meal I use, sub coconut flour for a portion of the wheat flour I usually use, and instead of wheat bran I used oat bran. 

Here is the recipe. 

1/3-cup coconut flour

1-cup bran (oat bran)

1 1/3 cup almond meal

1 tbsp chia seed

1 cup toasted coconut flakes (not sweetened)

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp sea salt

½ tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp coconut sugar

1 1/3 cup water (or half water half milk)

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, add the water, milk and vanilla and stir to make a moist thick batter.  You’ll need about four large pieces of parchment paper and one sheet of plastic wrap.  Place one sheet of parchment on the counter and spoon ¼ of the mixture onto the paper.  Cover the slurry with plastic wrap and use a rolling pin to flatten the mixture until it is very thin, nearly transparent.  Remove the plastic wrap and save for the next batch.  

Place the parchment containing your paper thin cereal spread on a cookie sheet and put it into a 300-degree oven.   Bake for five minutes until the cereal sheet has the appearance of a large leathery bran flake, which may be getting crisp at the edges.  It should be dehydrated enough that when it has cooled for a few minutes you can easily rip off sections, like a fruit roll-up, and it easily peels off the paper.  Once peeled from the parchment backing, tear the large flake into irregular bite sized pieces and return to the parchment paper covered cookie sheet and put back into the oven, gently stirring the flakes around every five or so minutes until all pieces are crisp and lightly browned. 

You’ll repeat the process until all of the dough is used up.  I do this assembly line fashion; roll out the mixture, put it in the oven, roll out the next portion so there are now two cookie sheets in the oven.  When the third batch is ready to go in, the first batch is ready to come out.  When the fourth batch is ready to bake, the second batch is cooked enough to be torn up.  Using this method, I only dirty the original mixing bowl and two cookie sheets, equaling less clean up in the end.  It also has trimmed the time spent on this endeavor.  The first time I tried this recipe, it took me two hours from start to finish.  Do not be discouraged by a relatively slow first attempt.  With some experience and practice, it now only takes me about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, depending on how focused I am on the task.  The mixing and rolling of the dough will take your full attention, but once the giant flakes are torn into tiny ones, you can multitask.  Clean the kitchen, start some laundry, or read a book in between stirring the flakes.  Once the flakes are crisp and toasty, let them sit on the cookie sheets and cool completely.  Then store them in an airtight container or canister to enjoy for breakfast throughout the week. 

This size batch will last my husband and I for about five days with each of us having a ½ cup serving each morning.  I have doubled this recipe when we’ve had guests from out of town and it still worked nicely.  The flakes will stay fresh for a week in a container on the countertop.  We’ve never been able to keep a batch around longer than that to test its ability to keep, because we eat it up so fast.  I usually bake a batch on Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon depending on our schedule for the weekend and that gets us through those busy weekday breakfasts. 

So that’s what we’ll be having for breakfast this week with some raw milk and fresh blueberries and raspberries.  Lunch today was leftover eggplant from last night.  Dinner was zucchini noodles with ricotta cheese and tomato sauce with sautéed mushrooms and a piece of grilled wild salmon.  Here is to day two gluten free!