Here’s the recipe: coconut flour naan. The dough worked. I was able to create naan flats, pick them up and have them hang together, plus turn and lift with a spatula. And it tastes good. Oily, yes. We are now on the see-if-it-sticks-to-your-ribs test, meaning are you going to be hungry an hour after eating same. My sense is not. Accurate measure, as pointed out, is really helpful. Use a cup and tsp measure you can shave flat with the back of a knife: this assures there’s no visual trick in the measure.
Into a bowl put 3/4 cup coconut flour, 2 tablespoons psyllium powder, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt.
In a 2-cup measuring cup put 1 1/2 cups ice water. Spoon in coconut oil (it’s a solid) until water level says 2 cups. This means you have 1/2 cup coconut oil. Extract it with a slotted spoon to heat-safe bowl and microwave it: 2 min should be enough to melt it. Fill cup rest of way to 2 cups water and microwave 3 minutes to boiling (depends on your microwave)—
Mix dough with paddle or stout spoon, until it develops rubbery resistance, then shape into a ball and let rise 5 minutes. Lay ball on board, bisect from 6 to 12, bisect again from 10 to 5, and again from two to seven, or thereabouts, which should give you six pie sections. Shape into balls. One by one flatten them like a tortilla, and fry in half a tsp of coconut oil in hot skillet. Give it plenty of time to brown before trying to flip it: when all edges are brown, that’s about time. Serve hot.
You could drizzle a little no-cal pancake syrup, or add butter, or a little sugarfree jam. Or melted butter with garlic if you want to take it another direction.
It gets everything in the kitchen dirty, but the good news is if you have a sink with hot water and Dawn (cuts grease) it will rinse right off and leave very little for the dishwasher. Recipe serves 6. You’d only want one. It’s filling.
We ate 2. I cooked one more and am saving it in the fridge to see if it can reheat tomorrow for breakfast. I’m also saving one ball of dough in the fridge, for tomorrow, to see if it can be held in the fridge; and I’m freezing two dough balls, to see whether this is an option. I’ll let you know.
It tastes a little coconutty, not that much. Sort of like vaguely coconut flavored pancakes. Has a pancake texture.
Thank you for being our beta tester! Around here, coconut oil stays liquid for most of the year, unless you store it in the fridge. I haven’t looked for any of the more exotic flours, since our household is okay with gluten. Also, make sure it sits well in your and Jane’s tum; you don’t want to find out the hard way that it is gastrointestinally contraindicated!
Are apples allowed on the diet? In that case, if you like applesauce, the quick sugarfree microwave version might be nice instead of the sugarfree jam. It gives that fruity taste and the slight acidity helps cut the oiliness. I just peel and core an apple and cut it in chunks, put it in a bowl (nothing else added) and microwave it ’till it’s softened and cooked, then use a fork to press the soft chunks into mush for the most part (I prefer the somewhat chunky compote texture). I spread it on a (breakfast plate size, thin, whole-wheat) pancake and dust a bit of cinnamon over the applesauce, for a warm lunch sometimes. I think it might work well with your coconut naan bread too, without adding extra sugar or artificial sweeteners (only the natural sugars in the apple itself).
I keep a stack of those pancakes in my freezer for when I get sick, and apples are an easy staple to have in the house as well – it’s a good meal for a sore throat and very easy to make in the microwave.
That sounds rather purposeful. I imagine any type of allowable fruit butter would make a good topping. Your pancakes sound rather like what I learned from my Hungarian mom; palacsinta, or crepes, very simple, a little delicate, but tasty.
That sounds rather purposeful. I imagine any type of allowable fruit butter would make a good topping. Your pancakes sound rather like what I learned from my Hungarian mom; palacsinta, or crepes, very simple, a little delicate, but tasty.
Thanks for the recipe testing and review. Good to know that cooking with coconut flour can be productive… with, as the comment was made, recipes designed specifically for the flour.
We were not only not hungry immediately after, we wanted a very light supper, after a 1 pancake each lunch. Filling to the max. And I’m down another pound.
I also tested one I’d refrigerated after cooking: edible. And if you use a very thin drizzle of Smucker’s Sugar Free 8 carbs per 1/4 cup syrup on same, they taste remarkably like coconutty pancakes and a tiny bit of sweet goes a very long way. Possibility for, like, holiday traditional pancake mornings. Practically no carbs.
Also, to avoid the crumbles, I don’t know whether it’s the boiling water or the psyllium additive, if you stir that stuff until it is decidedly rubbery, it tends to stay in a sheet and not crumble. It bakes/fries up a little lighter, pancaky, but it can be flipped.
Mr. IBS Chemist here. It’s the psyllium. It’s easy to discover its health benefits and it contains soluble fiber, but that’s only the barest hint of what it’s doing in your recipe.
Psyllium’s soluble fiber is an “arabinoxylan”, one of the main components of soluble and insoluble dietary fibers. Arabinoxylans are “hemicelluloses”. It’s a polysaccharide very like starch, only longer chains, yet not so long as cellulose. That’s what binds your pancakes. One might compare it to Gum Arabic. (Structurally, think of it as the “fiberglass” in the other ingredients you’re using as “resins”.)
I put a teaspoonful of golden flax seeds in my morning oatmeal, primarily for their ~25% fiber, though their omega-3’s are also good.
I may have coconut milk on hand. If not, it’s going on the list. I have no shaved coconut or any of the like on hand. Each time I’ve read the comments, I end up wanting coconut something, and I’m not so choosy if it’s diet-friendly or not. Hah.
I will have to wait until the next trip to the store. But coconut milk and coconut shavings, and likely a pudding or pie or (mumble) ice cream are going to be on the list. OK, yeah, probably only coconut milk and shavings, pieces. The next trip will cover for Thanksgiving, after all.
Drat the power of suggestion! hahaha, you all are fantastic.
Also on the list will be mince pie filling and a pie crust, top and bottom. I haven’t found pre-made mince pies the last several years. Don’t know why. — For international readers, what I mean is minced fruit preserves, typically applies, pears, I think oranges, others, in what is, or used to be, one of the traditional holiday pies in America. There is a brand called Nonesuch (yes, literally, that’s the name) of minced fruit just for doing this from scratch. Pour in a pie crust, seal the top and bottom crusts, make the decorate air vents, bake the pie. Simple. And tasty and old-fashioned.
The prospect of that and some coconut concoction sounds really heavenly.
Probably will buy a turkey for the savings this year, cook and freeze. Not sure if I’ll make homemade, from-scratch stuffing this year. I may try something for a change.
I have canned cranberry sauce, and my local store has decided that’s too much to stock, unless you buy from their deli. So I bought online. Humbug.
Those, a couple of veggies, something, and maybe wassail, and I should be set for Thanksgiving, with leftovers frozen for as-needed.
I will likely do ham for Christmas.
Somewhere in there, I want fish. Havne’t bought fish in a month. Really will enjoy it. (I do have canned tuna, but I want fresh too.)
So…yeah. — All apologies if I’ve just driven everyone’s diet resolutions off the map. Very sorry. My budget is such that these are as likely wish-list items as anything, but I will have a good Thanksgiving and Christmas. Being as careful as I can. (I’m telling myself. Think I’m being good. We’ll see.)
You can add everything but the water and store and use it like bisquick, I should think. The baking powder and salt are activated by the contact with liquids. The boiling water will partially cook the dough before the frying. It should be worth you while to make and measure the dry ingredients ahead of time, so that you can dip out enough from a large batch to make just what you need for however many people you are feeding.
Mama’s biscuit recipe: Take enough flour, salt and baking powder for however many people you are feeding. Rub in enough grease to make the texture right. Stir in milk until the dough is the proper consistency. Knead lightly. Shape into biscuit sized lumps and put in a hot oven until golden brown.
It’s in the doing that you learn how…
Years ago, I asked my Aunt Anneliese for the recipe for her holiday herring salad, one of those ethnic dishes that came over from the Old Country; it was never written down, and I learned by watching her make it. AFAIK, I’m the only one remaining in the family who knows the recipe, unless there’s someone who stayed behind in Germany who also knows it.
Good ideas. Tommie, I love your mama’s recipe…
@Tommie, your recipe reminds me of my Nan’s recipe for shoo fly pie. When My mother wrote the recipe down for me I realized it was a very good thing that I had watched my mother make it or I would not have known what to do. The final instruction was, “Bake until done.” No temp :LOL:
The naan sounds good, but I lave a low tolerance for coconut so I am still looking for a low carb flour. Ideas welcome!
I’d think that any of the nut flours would do, as long as you had something gelatinous like the psyllium powder to add elasticity. Really, though, I’d want to experiment with various things.
Another possibility to consider is flax seed bread.
Flax seed flour is very low in carbohydrates, with about 1.5g of digestible carbs per 100g of flour. It also has plenty of protein and fat, including omega-3, and is said to be good for digestion and to have other health benefits.
Flax seed bread is also very easy to bake, and you end up a bread that holds together well, and is very filling.
Here’s one recipe, there are plenty of others:
No Carb Flax Seed Bread