Announcing a Nutty Addition to Our Gluten-Free Line
We’re always looking for ways to expand our line of gluten-free products. After some hunting (and quite a few requests from our customers), we’ve manages to add a high-quality product that we think you’ll just love: chestnut flour.
Our chestnut flour is imported from Italy, where it’s commonly used in cakes, breads and pastas. It has a sweet, nutty flavor that pairs particularly well with chocolate, nuts, honey and sweet winter squash.
Chestnut flour is a fantastic substitute for wheat-based flour in many different recipes. It will make dough a bit gummier and less flexible than it would be normally, so depending on the item you’re making it may be better to use 25 to 50 percent chestnut flour and round out the recipe with gluten-free all-purpose baking flour. Experiment with your favorite recipes until you find the flour combination that produces the tastiest result.
Chestnut flour does make marvelously fluffy gluten-free pancakes and crepes all on its own, and most recipes are quite simple. In fact, in Italy it’s fairly common to find these dishes made with chestnut flour instead of a wheat alternative. Mario Batali has a recipe for chestnut-flour crepes that we’re particularly fond of.
To make these easy crepes, start by measuring 1 cup of chestnut flour into a mixing bowl. Beat in two large eggs, one at a time, then add 1-1/4 cups of water. Whisk the batter until it’s free of lumps and let it stand and thicken for 15 minutes.
Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat and brush its surface with olive oil or melted butter. Ladle 2 tbsp. of crepe batter into the skillet, rolling the pan to distribute the batter in an even circle. Let the crepe cook for about one minute (until it curls up around the edges), then flip it over and cook it for an additional 30 seconds before removing it from the skillet.
Chef Batali suggests that you serve these scrumptious crepes with a mixture of honey and ricotta cheese, but we think there are hundreds of fantastic toppings for them! Try fresh berries, whipped cream, melted chocolate or even ham and cheese.
Have you ever cooked with chestnut flour? What are some of your favorite recipes? We’d love to hear all about them!
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