Quinoa Breakfast Bake & Alternative Flour

In my recent attempts to eat cleaner and less processed I've started making my own flour. What!!?! If you're starting to think that's crazy and way too high maintenance, hold on for a second and keep reading. Not so long ago I felt the same way, and tried to continue baking with healthier flour (such as a whole wheat variety), but what I found is that most flours labeled as multigrain and whole wheat actually have a whole lot of bleached white flour in them too! Part of the reason behind this is gluten, which helps make breads and cakes so fluffy and light. I thought about buying some fancy flours, but found that 1) they were incredibly expensive and 2) many of them were highly processed and bleached as well (I'm guessing in an attempt to make them look like regular flour?). In any case I decided to do some research and start making my own flour. Turns out all it really takes is some grain or nuts or beans... (pick your favourite!) and either a coffee bean grinder or a food processor.

Making flour from grains is insanely easy. I've thus far made flour from rice (both white and brown), nuts (almonds, cashews and coconut - is that even a nut?), quinoa, oats, bran, dried chickpeas...the possibilities are endless!

My tips for making flours:

• Start small! There is no need to empty and entire 10lb bag of rice into your food processor and see how things go! Start with slightly less than the equivalent 
• When making flour use slightly more base than you need in flour. I used 3/4c of quinoa to make just over 1/2 c of quinoa flour. 
• When blending nuts (including coconut), don't over blend, otherwise you will end up with nut butter because of thenhighbfatbcontent of nuts. 
• Since wheat contains gluten using alternative flours means you'll probably need extra baking powder or yeast to help make things rise (if you're substituting in alternative flours for wheat flour in other recipes).

Quinoa Breakfast Bake (makes 1-2 servings)

This recipe can also easily be used as pancakes if cooked in a pan!

1/2c quinoa flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 c apple sauce

1 tbsp agave nectar or honey (optional)

Milk/Soy Milk (more as needed for batter consistency)

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

2) Mix all dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. 

3) In a small bowl whisk eggs and vanilla until frothy.

4) Pour egg mixture into dry ingredients, add remaining ingredients and mix well. If necessary add milk to make batter more watery (batter should be more liquid than cookie dough, but slightly stickier than traditional pancake batter).

5) Pour batter into a small pan or metal bowl, lightly greased with coconut oil. Bake for 12-18 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown and a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted. 

6) Top with fruit or another favourite topping (like Fruit Compote) and enjoy! 

I mixed and baked mine in a metal bowl, which I often do in the mornings to save time and make it an easy and quick breakfast. These can also be made in muffin cups (though they don't really rise so fill the cups quite full). They store in the fridge for about a week and freeze/thaw really well!