After I was a child, my French Canadian grandparents typically made one thing referred to as ployes. Ployes are skinny, crepe-like pancakes fashionable in northern Maine and Quebec. You’ll be able to unfold them with butter, roll them up, and revel in them as a facet to only about any meal. They’re scrumptious with stew or soup, although I used to be at all times content material consuming them on their very own with butter and just a little sugar.
I keep in mind ployes having a singular taste. It was this pleasantly nutty style not like anything I knew. Some years later, once I acquired into cooking, I realized that what provides ployes that distinct taste is buckwheat flour. Though you’ll find it in most grocery shops nowadays (and even mixes for making ployes), buckwheat flour just isn’t extremely fashionable.
I’ve a few concepts why. Buckwheat flour isn’t really a grain. It comes from a fruit much like wild rhubarb. Which on one hand makes it a fantastic choice for gluten free of us, on the opposite, the dearth of gluten means it doesn’t behave fairly like common flour. And whereas I benefit from the style of buckwheat, by itself the flavour could be a bit overwhelming.
That’s why I believe buckwheat flour is greatest when utilized in mixture with different flours. Even ployes are usually not fully made with buckwheat flour alone. As an alternative, you possibly can substitute as much as half of the flour in lots of recipes with buckwheat flour if you wish to add some complexity of taste. I counsel beginning out with much less at first and seeing how a lot you prefer it.
Whereas you’ll find buckwheat flour in ployes or their Russian counterpart, blini, you’ll additionally discover it in occasional pancake and waffle recipes, in addition to Japanese soba noodles.
Fast breads and muffins are place to experiment with utilizing buckwheat flour. The batters are forgiving and straightforward to play with with out a lot danger of failure. You’ll be able to consider utilizing buckwheat flour as you’d complete wheat flour. It’s a pleasant addition and good for changing a part of white flour in a recipe.
I mixed nutty buckwheat flour with the candy caramel flavors of ripe bananas to make a strong breakfast muffin. It’s not too candy and that’s simply how I prefer it. Too typically muffins are primarily cupcakes with out the frosting. As an alternative, it is a muffin you would possibly discover much like a bran or morning glory muffin. You understand, a kind of muffins that feels nearly wholesome.
A couple of ideas earlier than you get baking. First, be sure to’re bananas are utterly if not overly, ripe. They need to be noticed and on the gentle facet. The riper the bananas, the sweeter the muffins. You’ll be able to stir in ½ cup chopped walnuts into the batter or save them as a topping. Or go away them out altogether. If inclined, you may also add in ½ cup of raisins, cranberries or chocolate chips.
Take observe that the muffins begin off in a 425 diploma oven after which proceed baking after 5 minutes at 350 levels. Beginning off at a better temperature helps the muffins to rise and obtain that ultimate dome form.
Buckwheat
Banana Muffins
makes 12 muffins
1 ¾ cup flour
¾ cup buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
¾ cup buttermilk or yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup mashed ripe banana (2-3 bananas)
½ cup chopped walnuts (elective)
course sugar (elective)
Preheat the oven to 425 levels. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray.
In a big bowl, whisk collectively the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon till mixed. In a second bowl, whisk the brown sugar and eggs till clean. Add within the oil and buttermilk and persevering with whisking till integrated. Utilizing a spatula, stir within the vanilla, and banana.
Fold the moist components into the dry till simply mixed. It’s high quality if the batter remains to be lumpy, that’s the way it must be. Spoon the batter into the ready muffin tin. Sprinkle on some walnuts or course sugar.
Place the tin within the oven on a center rack and bake for five minutes. Decrease the oven temperature to 350 levels and bake one other 12-Quarter-hour or till a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clear. Take away from the oven and funky for five minutes earlier than transferring the muffins to a cooling rack to chill utterly.
