Crispy Baked Latkes - Healthy Recipes Blog (2024)

FAQs

What is a substitute for flour in latkes? ›

Arrowroot Flour: this is our alternative to regular flour to make these latkes gluten-free. Tapioca flour would be the substitute here. Seasonings: I like to keep it simple with salt and pepper but feel free to use other seasonings to taste. Oil: I like to use olive oil or avocado oil.

Potato pancakes have a creamy, almost mashed-potato-like center, with a thin, golden, crisp exterior. Latkes, on the other hand, should have a deeply browned crust, with wispy, lacy edges. Latkes also aren't hash browns.

Russet potatoes: Russet potatoes, or baking potatoes, are high in starch and have a dry, mealy texture. This type of potato is best for latkes because the dryness of the potato is partially responsible for that desirable, crispy texture. Yellow onion: Yellow onion adds a savory flavor to the latkes.

When ready to reheat, place in a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes (7 if using a convection oven) until heated through just prior to serving. A convection oven setting will produce a more crispy result.

Baking powder – Baking powder releases carbon dioxide into the batter which will increase volume and also lighten the texture of these latkes. Salt and pepper – I always use about 1 1/2 teaspoons of each, but add as much or little as you desire.

Oat flour

Oat flour is a nutritious wholegrain flour made from rolled oats. Just like regular oats, this flour is bursting with nutrients such as manganese and fibre. Perhaps the most convenient of all the flour substitutes, oat flour can be easily made at home by blitzing whole rolled oats in a high-powered blender.

As far as I can tell from the recipes I found online, my potato latkes are made exactly the same way as the kartoffelpuffer, with almost the same ingredients. Depending on the time of year, sometimes I will add fresh herbs, or matzoh meal instead of flour, but otherwise exactly the same.

Potato latkes are a more recent Ashkenazi invention that gained popularity in Eastern Europe during the mid 1800? s. A series of crop failures in Poland and the Ukraine led to mass planting of potatoes, which were easy and cheap to grow. But before potatoes came on the scene, the latke of choice was cheese.

These potato pancakes (called latkes) are meant to symbolize the miracle of Hanukkah, when the oil of the menorah in the ransacked Second Temple of Jerusalem was able to stay aflame for eight days even though there was only enough oil for one day. The symbolism comes in the form of the oil in which latkes are fried.

Vegetable oil or canola oil is usually best, because of its high smoking point. Latkes were traditionally made with schmaltz, or chicken fat, so if you have access to it, you should certainly add it in, because it does contribute to the flavor.

What is the best vegetable oil for latkes? ›

“Canola oil is the oil I grew up frying my latkes in. It makes for crispy, light latkes with a soft inside. Canola oil can also heat up to a high enough temperature to cook the whole latke through.” Canola gets bonus points because you can reuse it.

When your latkes are perfectly golden and ready to take out of the pan, move them to a 200°F oven. This step will keep the latkes crisp while frying the rest of your batch.

If you don't drain the moisture, they won't crisp as easily and that may be why your potato pancakes are gummy. Feel the Heat. Sufficiently heating oil in the pan prior to placing the patty in the pan is the key to a properly crispy pancake.

Serve latkes warm with sour cream or applesauce. To reheat latkes, place in the air fryer (no need for extra oil) and cook at 300 degrees F for 5 to10 minutes until heated through.

Almond and coconut - This is the best tasting combination - most of the top-rated gluten-free pancake recipes have a blend of almond and coconut flours. They work well together because while almond flour doesn't absorb liquid well, coconut flour does, which leads to lighter, fluffier pancakes that hold together well.

Spelt flour can usually be substituted 1:1 for regular flour in pancakes, waffles, muffins, quick breads, or any baking that involves some kind of chemical leavener (like baking powder).

I thought I had my latke recipe squared away: squeeze out the water from the grated potatoes and fine-grated onion, use potato starch instead of flour as a binder, add egg and lots of salt, and fry in enough hot oil to get crispy exteriors and soft, fluffy interiors. Ta-da: the best latkes.

Wheat flour

Wheat flour is one of the most versatile and widely available alternatives to potato starch. You can use it to make a batter for fried foods. It also works great in baked recipes. You may need to use about twice the amount of wheat flour when using it as a substitute for potato starch.