Thursday, December 30, 2010

Brown rice flax tortilas


Ok, this is a BIG DEAL. We successfully made xantham-gum free, gluten-free tortillas! But, since there's no "glueing agent' you can't toss them around every which way like a regular bread dough, in other words it's very delicate work. But, unlike wheat dough, the more you play with it, the stronger and more malleable it gets :) So if you mess up while rolling, just form it back into a ball and start over. I was reading the ingredients for brown rice pasta and noticed that it included rice bran, so I thought to include it in tortillas and it worked like a charm. Rice bran is known to be one of the most nutrient dense foods on earth and might I add, is ridiculously cheap! I got a 2 pound bag of it for about $2.

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sweet rice flour
1/4 cup rice bran
2 tbsp finely ground flaxseed
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 tbsp agave, or honey

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine warm water and honey/agave in a measuring cup and add to dry mixture. You may need to add more sweet rice flour, use your judgement but also remember that it will absorb flour while rolling.
2. Heat a skillet to medium and add oil, distribute evenly with a spatula or heat-proof pastry brush. When oil is hot, turn down heat to low and wait about 7 minutes until the temperature stabilizes. Also have a plate beside the stove (you'll know why later).
3. Sprinkle sweet rice flour over a clean countertop, wet your hands with some warm water, rip off a small piece of the dough and knead it in your hands until it becomes nice and doughy, then form into a disc, sprinkle some more sweet rice flour on top. Roll as thinly as possible. Using a spatula, lift the dough off of the surface CAREFULLY, while also using your hands, put it in skillet.
4. Cook for 2 minutes or until golden brown on the one side. Using spatula, lift off of skillet and put on empty plate. Add more oil and brush with pastry brush to evenly coat. Put tortilla back in pan this time on the other side. Cook until golden brown or when you think it is sufficiently cooked through.
5. This is important: put cooked tortilla immediately into a large ziploc bag (this allows it to steam and become soft), as you make the tortillas add each one to this ziploc bag and this is how you can store them. The tortillas should stay in the bag for at least a few hours so they can really moisten up. You may notice that one side may be crackly, if you are using this for a wrap, roll with this side facing inside. Makes 8 tortillas.

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