Sourdough Einkorn Crêpes, dairy free
Are you looking for anti inflammatory, low gluten, dairy free crêpes recipe? Look no further ! This sourdough einkorn almond milk recipe will fit the bill. Not only will the use of your starter improve on digestibility and nutrient uptake. It also has a great, nutty taste ! This is the recipe that the whole family can choose joyfully this Candlemas this Sunday, and Mardi Gras! Bon appétit!
Are you looking for anti inflammatory, low gluten, dairy free crêpes recipe? Look no further ! This sourdough einkorn almond milk recipe will fit the bill. Not only will the use of your starter improve on digestibility and nutrient uptake. It also has a great, nutty taste ! This is the recipe that the whole family can choose joyfully this Candlemas!
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What is Candlemas?
Candlemas used to be the day of the end of Christmas time. In the Catholic faith, this is the feast the Presentation of the Temple. The feast of candles. It falls on January 2nd. These days Christmas ends on the 12th day of Christmas, Epiphany or the Three Kings day. I find that sad. So with my kids we make Christmas last until Candlemas, as me when I grew up. Christmas decoration and the tree stay up until that day, ending with the Nativity scene. My kids get to enjoy Christmas mood for longer, in the colder month of January. And I don’t feel like I’m rushing again like during the whole month of December. December is so exhausting for parents!
In the French tradition, and it lasts until today, on February 2nd, we have an all-crepes dinner. Savory, then sweet crêpes! This is fun, yummy, everyone loves it, and we make memories, just like at Epiphany, when we eat the King’s cake and pick a king and queen. We also have crêpe dinner on Mardi Gras, the eve of the first day of Lent.
Why not use Wheat for my crêpes?
The master word is : inflammation. Here are a few reasons why wheat contributes to high, chronic inflammation and why it’s better to avoid it.
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Gluten sensitivity and Allergies to Grass
Many people these days are gluten sensitive, or have many digestive problems related to wheat. Modern wheat is famous for having been crossed with grass many times. Consequently, people sensitive to grass are often also reacting badly to modern wheat. Allergy is an inflammation issue. Chronic allergies are a sign of chronic inflammation. A good reference on gluten and modern wheat is William Davis’ Wheat Belly
Pesticides
Beside the gluten wheat is grown with the help of countless pesticides, which drives inflammation up as well. Second way to avoid inflammation in your body? Avoid non organic wheat. Meanwhile, even organic wheat use “organic” pesticides, so the inflammation problem does not go away completely. But it’s still better to have organic.
Food Processing Strips wheat from its nutrients
Third reason: the processing of flour. Many flours are bleached ( stripped from their nutrients) and heavily sifted – which empties them from prebiotic fibers, which help digestion. Then they are “enriched” – which usually means that nutrients are put back in, and more added after blanching.
“Enriched” sounds great, but first, you can’t really beat nature’s way of making sure animals and humans take up and digest nutrients from their foods. May be it’s my mistaken opinion, but that’s mine. Moreover, “enriched” is a misleading word where the industry only reintroduces chemical versions on the nutrients originally present in the natural foods. I don’t believe they extract natural ingredients, and reintroduce them as they were. That would be too much work and less industry efficiency. I believe they bleach the flour, therefore destroy nutrients, then reintroduce chemical “equivalent” nutrients. The goal? It is a sort of pasteurization, so you don’t get sick. However, flour becomes this empty dead food, essentially powdered sugar with no nutrient. And what protects you from sickness? Nutrients ! Yes, nutrients may be reinserted at the end of processing, but are they as easily to take up by your body? Doubtful.
The dangerous additive
Many flours are also and bromated. Potassium bromate is usually added to bread flours for rise and elasticity. It is considered cancerous (1) and a dangerous additive (2).
White Wheat Flour is Basically Sugar
Lastly, the processing ensures that only the highest glycemic index part of the wheat berry is present, i.e. the one with the highest glycemic index. This is sugar, which is also contributing to our desire to eat always more, and contributes to sugar highs and crashes, and contributes to insulin resistance (3).
How is Einkorn different than wheat ?
Einkorn is sometimes referred to as the “original wheat”. However, many regions of the world have local – sometimes micro regional – versions of einkorn. Einkorn can have very different colors depending on the nutrients present in the soil. It can be yellow to orange, even purple or black! (Here is a farm that grows black einkorn!)
More Nutritious and Lower in gluten
The most important fact about einkorn is that it is very ancient and that it was not crossed with any grass. Kamut Khorazan, another wheat species, also has this reputation. Therefore einkorn flour they don’t have the shortcomings of white flour. Of course the best is to grind your own flour, if you have a good grinder. I did that for years with a Kitchen Aid grinder and finally invested in a KoMo Classic. Best decision ever ! The flour I grind is just not the same. I still use Jovial All Purpose ( sifted) flour for some of my needs. However, it is less nutritious. My fresh milled einkorn flour contains the whole wheat berry, therefore all nutrients, and is cheaper by the pound. Win win! I get my berries at Azure Standard. More info my favorite sourcing options, check my ingredients sourcing page. Einkorn is also naturally a grain low in gluten content. Why? Because grass increased the gluten contents of wheat while crossing. Original grains are poorer in gluten, therefore provoke less inflammation.
Tastier
I do love the taste of einkorn, it is so much tastier than wheat. To those who prefer neutral taste, that may be an issue. But many people who adopted it never came back.
Want to know more about einkorn? Read that post and enjoy an alternative to pizza.
Using Sourdough to Ferment Crepes
You heard of sourdough bread but not sourdough crepes ? Although fermenting crêpes is becoming more trendy, with the crunchy fermentation trends, growing up in France i knew about resting the dough, letting is rise a few hours, but never heard of fermenting crêpes dough. And French boulangeries never stopped making sourdough bread, it was just more fancy, even if you could find sourdough baguette – made with normal wheat.
Sourdough fermentation does increase digestibility and nutrient uptake. Just as you soak seeds and beans first to improve digestion and nutrient uptakes before cooking, or may soak your nuts and almonds to lower phytates contents before eating them. Phytates are anti nutrients that prevent nutrient uptake in certain foods. Soaking allows the nut or seed to “wake”, come alive, and phytates to dissolve. Soaking your flour for an extended time does that. Adding sourdough adds up bacteria naturally present in that flour originally, and eases nutrient uptake and digestibility. So if your body tends to react to wheat or einkorn, fermenting will help lowering your body reaction, i.e. inflammation, to it. Bonus, your body’s ability to take up the nutrients is like taking a natural food supplement.
Do Sourdough Crêpes taste sour?
No it does not. To be honest, I am not as fond of sourdough bread made with modern wheat than I am of einkorn sourdough bread. Why? Although I don’t typically mind sour, it is much more sour than einkorn’s nutty flavor. Sourdough crêpe do not taste one bit sour. They taste great, feel soft, are slightly thicker than white flour crêpe on account of lower gluten contents. But really, it’s tastes amazing.
Do you ferment dough with eggs in it?
Yes I do, and I never was sick from it. Since American eggs are usually kept in the fridge, I usually rest my crepes in the fridge too. And that does fine.
Do you ferment the final dough or add some ingredients at the end?
I do add salt, coconut oil ( which needs to be fluid in the dough) and orange blossom water just before cooking.
I don’t have fresh milled Einkorn flour. What do I use instead?
You can find all purpose einkorn flour at amazon or at whole foods or health foods and use it with same proportions. For whole einkorn flour you buy, use 1/4 cup LESS flour per cup. Trust your gut, rely in dough thickness just before cooking.
Are you ready to try? Here is the recipe ! Bon appetit!
Easy Dairy Free Sourdough Einkorn Crêpes for Candlemas!
Are you Lactose intolerant and prefer low-gluten ancient grains like Einkorn? You will love these crêpes.
Use your sourdough starter so as to facilitate your crepe's digestibility and nutrients uptake. That is the big advantage of sourdough. This recipes makes fantastic, tasty crêpes, which are not sour for one bit ! They are easy on the stomach, and my kids love them as much as any crêpes I ever made before. The perfect recipe for next week's Candlemas festivities!
Ingredients
First dough ( before fermentation in the fridge)
- 1/2 starter leftover or 1/4 starter fresh and 1/3 c warm water
- 1.5 cup or 350 grams fresh ground einkorn flour with my KoMo grinder
- 2.5 cups unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tbsp sugar ( I sometimes forget it, and that's okay!)
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 eggs
Add after fermentation
- up to 1 more cup of unsweetened almond milk
- 2 to 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- pinch of salt
- 1.5 tsp orange blossom water
Instructions
- The day before ( for breakfast crêpes) or the morning (for evening crêpes dinner): in a large mixing bowl, dilute the starter with warm water.
- Once diluted, add the eggs and beat them. Add the half flour and mix, then 1/2 cup milk and the rest of the flour, and mix until you get a smooth pasty dough. Add the rest of the milk progressively, and mix well to avoid lumps. Mix from the center to the edge, and back to the center to the edge again, to mix in the lumps.
- If you don't succeed at removing the lumps, use an immersion blender ! That can easily happen.- no shame in that. It will gget rid of all lumps.
- Add the sugar and extra virgin olive oil, and mix.
- Cover with a wax wrap ( they are less toxic to your food than saran wrap). Let ferment in the fridge over night.
- In the morning, just before cooking the crêpes: mix the crêpes with a ladel and you will find that the einkorn flour has absorbed the milk and fermented ( bubbles have surfaced are at the top). It probably has gone much thicker than the day before, when the dough would have been perfectly thin enough to cook just then. Add one and a half to 2 full cups of milk. If you add more than 2 cups of milk, add an extra 1 tbsp of coconut oil, as the saturated fat from the oil replaces the saturated fat usually in cow's milk, that keeps the crêpe from drying fast in the pan.
- Heat the crêpe pan on medium low fire. The pan needs to be hot for the first crêpe to succeed ! Don't be too impatient ! Melt the 2 tbsp coconut oil and it will tell you how hot the pan is. Pour the oil in the dough and mix. Add orange blossom water and 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix. It's ready
- Make one full crêpe first on a preheated pan - it has to be hot enough ! If the dough spreads out easy enough with a large soup ladel, and you can spread the whole crêpe or most of it by turning the pan around with your wrists, the crêpe is thick enough. If you have to add too much dough - more than 2 tbsp for example- you need to dilute the dough. You want the dough to be thin enough to be a crêpe (how thin tells a French how well made his crêpes are !), but thick enough not to dry out in the pan.
- Cook the rest of the crêpes.
- For sweet crêpes, use the same amount sugar in the dough. For savory crêpe, use 1/2 the amount recommended.
- Eat with : chocolate and sliced pears, sprinkled with shaved almonds, fruit spreads, sugar and lemon, chocolate spread, maple syrup ... Fried spinach egg nest, ham and cheese, ham mushroom and cheese... let your imagination go!
- Happy Candlemas!
Notes
Equipment
I use an aluminum stone coated pan . Like teflon, these can get toxic as soon as you scratch it. Be careful and get rid of it as soon as it is dammage, or aluminum would leach into your food. I am very satisfied with my stone pan on medium-large sized stove, it works better for einkorn crêpes ( i.e. they don't dry out ) than teflon ( Until recently i still owned a teflon crepe pan).
I have not yet tried cast iron. To be honest I am used to spread the pancake moving the pan around by hand rather than with a wooden spreader. I may just buy that and see what works best, but my kids enjoy "jumping" the crêpe too much to have only cast iron. I would buy this one if I had to do it.
