Flying Lessons: ‘I’ll just wing it!’

Replacing the ordinary with variety and learning a lot in the process.

Probably one of the most challenging cooking and baking moments in recent times was when I wanted to bake and there was no wheat flour for weeks. A situation I had no experience with. I think my grandmother would have laughed if she had seen me standing in front of the empty shelf* at the little grocery store around the corner. For her generation, empty shelves weren’t so nouveau riche. But I thought to myself – and here Grandma would have been proud again, because she was a smart and brave woman – ‘It can’t be that hard to replace just one of the frills, I’ll just wing it.’

And that’s exactly what I did. Instead of one flour, we now have almost fifteen flours and such at home (only two of which are made from real grain – one regular spelt flour and one whole grain spelt flour). Of course, not only did I replace one of the frills, but I also took the opportunity to learn a bit about baking with low-gluten flours. Because they were always available as no one knew what to make of them, literally.

Like how to use potato flour, rice flour, corn flour, and locust bean gum when working with non-grain flours like amaranth or buckwheat to improve adhesion in baked goods.

And I learned as well that you need to combine different ‘flours’ for certain effects in cooking. For example, you can use potato flour and coconut flour to make a wonderful white gravy base that would have required butter in the past.

We still use some spelt grain flour to make homemade bread and pancakes because we love them like that, but now we know there are many other ways to get the same meal. Just as good.

So these ‘flying lessons’ turned out to give us a lot more wind under our wings – and the freedom to choose which way to go.

*At the time, some people in Berlin thought, they surely should bake all the cakes in the world … and all at once, so to speak ….

Now we know there are many other ways to get the same meal. Just as good.

Side Notes:

• For more information on different flours, see my post [‘Using Up the Flour’].
• The recipe for a white herb sauce is noted in [‘Cheese Approach‘].