Side story:
When I was in college, I babysat for the two cutest kids on the planet, Daniel and Elizabeth. Daniel was five, and Elizabeth was six. One afternoon, Elizabeth and I were girl-talking at the kitchen table while Daniel ran around the kitchen and living room in circles. She told me a story about how one day, her mom was making them grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, and she was very worried because she had always thought they were called “girl cheese sandwiches.” Since Daniel was a boy, she worried that he really shouldn’t eat it! Luckily, she expressed her fears, and her mom explained. Phew!
I’ve always loved grilled cheese—and in the past, when I ate grains, I would sometimes make fancy grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner with a variety of cheeses and ingredients, then cut them in small triangles so everyone could try all the different types. People always laughed at me for doing that, until they started sampling the sandwiches! For the past few months, I’ve been trying to come up with sandwich alternatives (sans bread), and I won’t lie–lettuce wraps only fill the craving once in a while!
This morning, I was feeling inspired and decided to experiment—and intended to just keep it simple to see what would happen. Worst case scenario, I’d throw it out…and I won’t say that’s never happened before (i.e. it may have happened on Monday).
Coconut Flour Flatbread
In a bowl, I mixed the following together:
1 large egg
1 Tbsp coconut flour
1 Tbsp parmesan cheese (optional)
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp baking powder
2 pinches of sea salt or any herbs you want!*
2 Tbsp any kind of milk**
*you can add fresh herbs too–it’s really good! I often add several dashes of pizza seasoning–it tastes amazing and is really easy! (updated)
**I generally use half and half or heavy cream as the liquid—the bread is fluffiest this way! I also leave out the baking soda and baking powder when I use these liquids (updated)
Stir until there are no lumps. Let it sit for a minute (the batter will get a little fluffier). Melt a tablespoon or two of butter (Ideally, pastured, organic, local!) in the pan, and pour two small sandwich sized “pancakes” into your pan (on just under medium heat). It will only spread just a little bit. When the tops start to bubble just a little and the bottom is brown, flip them both over. Put the cheese and other sandwich contents on one slice, and then put the second flatbread on top with the un-done side up. I recommend buttering the top piece while you wait to flip it. Flip when the bottom is brown, and continue cooking till the cheese is melted and the flatbread is done! This recipe makes 2 sandwich flatbreads. You can double (or more) the recipe. The extras will keep in the fridge for a day or so (you can toast them or heat them back up in the pan… or eat them cold!).
This flatbread is not crunchy like regular bread when made into grilled cheese. It has a great flavor and wonderful bread-y texture. It gets more and more crispy as you add more butter (so I recommend being liberal with it!).
This morning, I made plain grilled cheese, and then for dinner (because I wanted to test the recipe again before I posted it) I made grilled mozzarella and pesto!! Both were great, and I already have a few more combinations brewing in my head (roasted red peppers….swiss cheese…pizza….).
Update: I have made other versions of this bread: Pizza Flavored and “Toast”
I also use this bread as hamburger buns, bruschetta toasts, for breakfast sandwiches, and for regular sandwiches!
I hope you try this sandwich—and if you do, let me know!
I love cheese!
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Oh awesome. Definitely need to try this out the next time my sis comes for a visit!
Never heard of coconut flour. Will google to learn more. Your grill cheese sandwiches look delicious. Great photos.
Mozz and pesto sounds so yummy. I haven’t bought any coconut flour yet, but I have some other gluten free flours. Any thoughts on whether something else would work?
that coconut bread looks way good- like pancakes!
ummm yum! I am definitely going to try that bread!
nice work on the grilled cheese experiment, lisa!! glad you had success…and have more ideas in mind!
grilled cheese TOTALLY brings me back to childhood: it was a lunch or simple supper favourite. “open” or “closed,” as we called them (1 or 2 slices bread). very warming in winter!
enjoy your double yoga today – it’s snowing here now, and yoga sounds like it would be so relaxing and warming!!
First of all, “girl cheese sandwiches” is awesome.
These look great too! That first one make me think “pickle!” The next one with pesto made me drool a little into my keyboard. I just had breakfast and now I’m ready for lunch!
The mozz and pesto combo looks SO good on that bread. I bet it’s a great contrast, love it! So glad you are enjoying eating dairy again.
I love cheese too! When I was growing up there was a running joke that someday I’d open a restaurant that only served grilled cheese. I would eat it all the time as well as order it at restaurants. My parent’s loved the fact that we’d go out to eat and I’d order the 3.99 grilled cheese off the kids menu.
Cute story! 🙂
I’m definitely going to give this a try over the weekend! Can’t wait!
Very cool experiment – looks great! I miss experimenting in the kitchen like that.
I am going to reply to my own question/comment. I used chickpea and brown rice flour and tweaked it a bit, and made a pretty tasty flatbread. I used your idea and made a melt with pesto and mozzarella, but added some tomato. Quite tasty, probably just needs a few tweaks. The batter was very thin, so I basically made a crepe that covered the whole pan. It wasn’t thick enough to stay in separate “pancakes”.
These are so good.
I found my new comfort food.
That sounds like it worked out just fine with the other flours!! I’m adding tomato next time I make the pesto/mozz combo…sounds great!
Thanks for sharing your feedback about it, and it sounds like when you make your tweaks, you’ll have an awesome GF lunch/dinner…breakfast!
YUM! We tried this tonight with a great salad. I added avocado to the roasted red pepper version AND I added dried parsley and oregano that we grew in the garden last summer to the “bread”. It was all delicious. There are so many possibilties for this … the batter mixed up and cooked just as you described. I agree about the use plenty of butter advice – which just makes it taste better. Thanks for the idea. It will be a go-to when time is limited OR we want comfort food that has no grains/gluten added.
coconut flour flatbread? must try this asap!!! the grilled cheese looks so gooey. i would be love to try one with goats cheese. i finally got a big bag of coconut flour so i am experimenting with all your recipes!
You should definitely try this recipe! I just made it again…and it’s so great! I have missed grilled cheese so much 🙂 Today, I used goat cheese and roasted red peppers…Mmmm!
I’m so glad you tried and liked it…and gave it your own twist! I just made some for lunch and added a bit of parmesan cheese to the bread-batter. That was darn good too!
This recipe may be the definition of comfort food! 🙂
I think I heard of a grilled cheese restaurant…maybe it was featured on the food network or something? Anyway…it’s not too late for you to open your restaurant—everyone loves grilled cheese!
Yes, a pickle would be divine with this sammie!
It is kinda like pancakes…just a little bread-ier and denser!
I highly recommend coconut flourit’s very high fiber, so the only thing to be careful of is that it requires a LOT of liquid (eggs). I hope you’ll let me know if you try baking with it!
Yum! I bet this would well with chickpea flour too – don’t you think? I just don’t have any coconut flour right now and this is a fabulous idea!!
I think chickpea flour would be great—it may just require a little less liquid (maybe one egg instead of two…or ditch the eggs altogether and just use the milk? It’d be a good experiment anyway!)…
I may try to make this tonight if I have time!!!
Yeah a mix of half almond meal + half coconut flour is lovely I think 😉 🙂
Just made this for breakfast…I layered them pancake style with a sauce I made from vanilla protein powder, softened cream cheese, and a little almond milk and fresh mangoes and strawberries! Oh my goodness, it was DELICIOUS!! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Thank you so much for telling me that you tried it! It sounds wonderful as a fruity breakfast dish 🙂
If you post about it, let me know, and I’ll link to you and pin it! And holy crap…I just looked at the instagram photo…it’s beautiful!
I’m devouring this as we speak, and oh my goodness is it ever delicious! I made a simple sandwich with sliced tofu, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and laughing cow cheese. It’s purely amazing. I would’ve never even considered buying coconut flour if it weren’t for finding your blog and reading about it. Same with coconut oil, bought it last night and used it today, 1/2 tbsp in my oats, a smidge in the pan to cook the flatbread, and I’m loving it! You’ve introduced me to my new love, thank you!!! 🙂
Thank you so much for letting me know you tried the recipe! I’m thrilled that you enjoyed it!
This really is my favorite thing to make—so versatile, and so delicious… It sounds like you came up with a winning combination of ingredients!! Have a fabulous weekend 🙂
I loved this, thank you! I’ve been eating Paleo-ish for over a year now and my biggest complaint is the lack of bread for sandwiches. These are great and so quick and simple! Hurray!
I’m so glad you like it! It’s one of the best paleo-ish things I’ve made! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Just ate a hamburger on these with guacamole. I added garlic powder to the mix. Very nice! Thanks for posting.
Hi Lissa—thanks so much for the feedback, and I’m so happy you liked it! Garlic powder sounds like a wonderful flavor addition, and I will definitely try it soon!
On Thu 12/04/12 13:28 , “Disqus” sent:
Trying this tomorrow! 🙂
I recommend lots of butter in the pan 🙂
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Aaaahhh!! Thanks soooo much f or this, I’ve been doing low carb for a while and what I miss most is sandwiches, but not a huge fan of the super dense flax bread! yum!
I’m curious if this is real eggy. The problem I’m having with most of these low carb breads is they have the texture of a mushy wet sponge and smell like an overcooked scrambled egg.
Hi Lisa—This bread is not eggy tasting. The coconut flour absorbs so much liquid that it just becomes fluffy —one thing I do for flavoring the bread is to add a Tbsp of grated parmesan cheese and some pizza seasoning. So, if there’s even an essence of egg, it gets covered up with that! Using butter in the pan makes a really nice flavor too (but coconut oil works too–just changes the flavor), and adding things to a sandwich with this bread like strong cheeses and pesto is my fave so far!
When you add the liquid and egg to the flour, stir it well and let it sit for a minute so it will fluff up—the best fluffiest bread I get happens when I use half and half as the liquid. If you try it, I’d love to hear how you like it!
On Wed 20/06/12 23:20 , “Disqus” notifications@disqus.net sent:
Have you tried cooking the bread in coconut oil? The bread sounds great. I need to avoid dairy.
Yes, coconut oil works amazingly well! The reason I use butter is because it adds a little saltiness….but you could easily add some herbs, etc. I’ve found that adding pizza seasoning to the batter is awesome, and I have also added parmesan cheese, which obviously won’t work when you’re dairy free….but you can definitely add stuff to the batter! It doesn’t get “crispy” like a grilled cheese with regular bread does, but I do really like the texture. I hope you’ll let me know if you try it 🙂
On Thu 02/08/12 21:41 , “Disqus” notifications@disqus.net sent:
After two tries (first was a flop due to operator error on my part lol) this was a success!!!! 😀 Yay, thank you bunches for this!
nutrition info?
Hi Brianna, Thanks for letting me know you had success with the flatbread!! It is definitely one of my faves, and I’m so glad you liked it too 🙂 Lisa
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I just tried thos recipe but my batter was very runny. Perhaps because I used coconut milk??? Although that is quite thick compared to regular milk. Any tips?
Hi Carine! It could be….you could reduce the amount of liquid, or trying letting it sit for a few extra minutes so the flour absorbs more liquid. I hope that helps!
Hi! I haven’t figure out the nutrition info… I don’t count that kind of thing, but you could plug the ingredients into a calculator online to find out if you need to! I can tell you that it’s low carb, but high fiber….high fat and moderate protein!
Could these be made with bean flour? I am new to the gluten free, grain free cooking, and I really have no idea. I would love to try making them with the coconut flour, but unfortunately my local store has run out of it. Thanks!
Hi Linnaia,
I think bean flour would work, but you’d definitely have to significantly increase the amount of flour you use. One of the things about coconut flour is that it is SO fibrous that it soaks up tons of liquid (that’s why the flour to egg ratio is like it is)… So I think the idea would work for this recipe, but you’d have to experiment a little with amount of flour. Have you considered ordering coconut flour online? I get it from either Tropical Traditions or Wilderness Family Naturals. It’s great stuff!! Good luck going grain free! It can be overwhelming, but once you try a bunch of things, it’s fun!
On Tue 02/10/12 16:28 , “Disqus” notifications@disqus.net sent: