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Rice Flannel Cakes
Prepare the cakes the same as flannel cakes, but using same quantity of rice flour instead of the other.
A one-line variation that depends entirely on a recipe printed elsewhere in the book. Since the base formula is not on this page, the useful work here is knowing how rice flour changes the batter and the griddle.
- What flannel cakes areFlannel cakes are thin, soft griddle cakes, usually leavened with yeast and a beaten-egg batter left to rise, sometimes with beaten whites folded in at the end. The name refers to the texture, not an ingredient; expect something closer to a crumpet-tender pancake than a modern stack cake.
- Substitution is by volume, not weightSubstitution is by measure -- "Same quantity" most likely means the same cup or spoon measure, though books of this period sometimes measured flour by weight; only the base recipe would settle it. Rice flour is heavier than wheat flour for the same volume, so the batter is likely to come out thicker; thin it with a little more milk until it pours in a ribbon.
- No gluten means no structureRice flour cannot form a gluten network, so yeast has nothing to hold onto and the cakes will not puff and stretch the way the wheat version does. Chemical leavening or folded-in egg whites will do more of the lifting.
- Let the batter standRice flour hydrates slowly and a freshly mixed batter tastes gritty. Twenty to thirty minutes of rest, or an overnight stay in the refrigerator, softens the starch and makes a noticeably smoother cake.
- Griddle heatAim for a medium griddle, around 350-375F, where a drop of water skitters rather than vanishes instantly; this is modern guidance, not the book's. Rice-flour batter browns less readily and more unevenly than wheat, and it wants a slightly longer, gentler cook so the centre sets.
- Handle them onceThese cakes are fragile until fully set. Wait until the surface is dull and the edges look dry before turning, and turn only once; a second flip tears them.
- Rice flour, not sweet rice flourUse plain white rice flour. Glutinous or sweet rice flour, sold for mochi, is a different starch and will give a chewy, gummy cake.
Flannel cakes were a common feature of American hotel and boarding-house breakfasts in the nineteenth century, one of a family of griddle cakes that included buckwheat cakes, often made from a batter set the night before and cooked to order in the morning. The name is usually explained as descriptive of the cakes' softness, though that reading is traditional rather than documented. Rice flour appears as a variation for economy and for delicacy, and rice flour was used in American home cooking of the period, particularly in the Carolinas and Louisiana. A one-line cross-reference like this one is common in the compendious cookbooks of the era, which used variations to stretch a small number of base formulas.