It is believed that everyone loves buckwheat. How else? After all, buckwheat is one of the most valuable and useful cereals, it contains absolutely all amino acids necessary for a person, many vitamins and nutrients. Buckwheat porridge is an obligatory and almost daily occurrence on our table.
And what about those who do not like buckwheat? Despite all its undoubted usefulness and high taste, praised by many?
You can swallow boring porridge with tears in your eyes, simultaneously convincing yourself that with every spoon you become stronger, healthier and more beautiful.
And you can try to cook not traditional porridge, but various dishes and even desserts from buckwheat flour, thereby significantly diversifying your daily diet.
Buckwheat flour can now be bought in almost any supermarket or online.
Buckwheat flour retains all the benefits of buckwheat, but dishes made from it do not have such a banal taste of porridge, but a more delicate, refined, delicate taste and light aroma.
FlOur or floUr?
More than 10,000 years ago, humans began to grind various edible grains and seeds. It turned out by chance that if the dried or heated grains are crushed and water is added to them, the resulting sticky substance can be eaten. And when some primitive muddler dropped a little of this mass on the hot stones around the fireplace, the progenitor of our bread appeared.
Over time, people began to specially grind the grains of various cereals, using first stones, then a stone mortar, in which they pounded the grain. This process was slow, very laborious and even painful. Hence the name – flour.
According to another version, the common Slavic word flour comes from the ancient Indian “macate”, which means “soft”, “crush”.
With an increase in flour consumption, grain graters also change. The stones, between which the grain is rubbed, become more and more, one or two people can no longer cope with them. Even later, a person was able to call upon himself to serve the power of the elements – wind and water. Wind and water mills appeared.
Today, thanks to technological progress, I can not use a grain grater, but simply buy buckwheat flour near me, in the nearest store.
Today, buckwheat flour is obtained in two ways:
From buckwheat grain. Buckwheat grains are cleaned, moistened, then dried at a temperature of 160 – 190 degrees Celsius for 2-3 minutes. After that, the grain is cooled, husked, sorted and crushed until flour is obtained. This method allows you to reduce the duration of the process, increase the yield of the finished product, reduce energy consumption and, accordingly, reduce its cost.
From ready-made cereals. This method is more expensive and time consuming. Ready-made buckwheat is crushed, mixed with malt flour and water, heated, then dried, and the resulting mass is ground into flour. This flour is mainly used as a component for baby or diet food.
You can also use the third, easiest way – buy buckwheat and grind it in a coffee grinder or food processor.
Sort the buckwheat before chopping, rinse several times, and dry in a hot pan.
This method is also ideal if you live in a small village and do not know where to buy buckwheat flour.
So what should you cook?
As mentioned above, you can buy buckwheat flour and prepare a lot of delicious and healthy dishes from it. This includes a variety of pastries – muffins, muffins, pancakes, cookies, even bread, and cereals for adults and young children, pasta, dumplings. But first things first.
Unusual porridge. Try a new kind of buckwheat porridge – made from buckwheat flour. Such porridge can even be given to babies as the first bait.
You need to take one tablespoon of buckwheat flour per 100 milliliters of water or milk, put on fire, bring to a boil, and cook for another 15 minutes over low heat. You cannot salt porridge for babies.
For older children or for adults, you can make such porridge thicker and season it with honey, nuts, dried fruits, or just butter. Believe me, you will rediscover buckwheat porridge.
Buckwheat pancakes. Arrange yourself a French breakfast – bake buckwheat pancakes the way they do in France, in the province of Brittany. There they are called crepes, and they are prepared like this: take 70 grams of buckwheat and 100 grams of wheat flour, 3 eggs, 1 tablespoon of sugar, a pinch of sea salt, half a liter of milk and 3 tablespoons of melted butter. Stir the dough until smooth and let it sit for at least an hour. Bake in a well-heated skillet. The pancakes should be thin, crispy, and darker than regular pancakes. They can be served with any jam, jam, honey, or, as in France, with chocolate syrup or melted butter.
Japanese soba. Compete with the best Japanese chefs – take the risk of making traditional Japanese buckwheat noodles. They say that some masters have been studying this art for years. The fact is that buckwheat flour itself is not contains gluten necessary for the viscosity of the dough. Therefore, wheat flour is added to it.
In Japan, the less wheat flour you add, the cooler you are the cook. The most experienced ones can still knead the dough from buckwheat flour alone.
If you manage to knead such a dough, you can use it not only for making noodles, but also for everyone’s favorite dumplings or dumplings.
Bread and baked goods. For the same reason – the absence of gluten in buckwheat – it is quite difficult to bake bread or buns without adding wheat flour.
Gluten is the dreaded gluten, a protein that almost 1% of the world’s population suffers from intolerance. Gluten is found in many grains such as wheat, barley, rye, and oats. People with celiac disease (this is the name of celiac disease) cannot eat the usual bread, rolls, pasta, in general, all those products that contain these cereals.
Thanks to a product such as buckwheat, you can not deny yourself a nutritious diet, but simply buy buckwheat flour and prepare healthy and safe food from it.
Buckwheat flour is also very fond of vegans – from it they can prepare dishes that do not contain a single gram of animal fat or protein, but which will saturate the body with all the necessary vitamins, vegetable protein and fiber.
You can replace wheat flour with buckwheat for thickening sauces or soups – mashed potatoes.
Be sure to try buying buckwheat flour and making simple and delicious diet breads. There are many recipes on the Internet, choose any and crunch in front of the TV or a good book without harming your figure.
Slimming cocktail. If you want to lose a couple – three extra pounds, prepare this drink: pour 1 tablespoon of buckwheat flour with a glass of kefir, stir, and leave in the refrigerator overnight. Drink in the morning on an empty stomach, 15-20 minutes before breakfast. The cocktail will reduce your appetite, and after 2 weeks you will see the desired plumb line on the scales.
Now that I know so much about the benefits and uses, buckwheat flour will always be with me. I also recommend that you try this excellent alternative to regular buckwheat.