Cook wanted!
 

I returned from Gotland ( Sweden) with the recipe for the seed crispbread we were served for breakfast. Surprisingly I have manged to buy all the seeds needed but can't find maize flour. I can easily buy cornflour ( which is the finest ground of all flours here ) rice flour and wheat flour which is what I use in everyday cooking.
What can I use as an alternative?
The search function turns up American websites which talk about things I can't get ( and also maggots!)- don't ask!
I am in the U.K. but not in a city and so my choices are limited.
Thanks

Cornflour is made from maize. I suppose that is what you need. Try a small batch and see how it goes.

Corn flour is maize flour (corn meal), ground ultra fine. Texture will be a bit different, but corn flour (or finely ground corn meal) should both work.

Fine polenta would probably also work.

If corn flour is too fine, try stone ground or whole grain corn flour, that should be in healthfood stores and a good big grocery store. Otherwise, I live in an area with a lot of Hispanics so we have special ethnic grocery stores, but even in the main grocery store you can buy the type of corn flour used for corn tortillas (Maseca is the brand). I haven't used it but wonder if that might be a more coarser grind? Probably the health food store might be more available, I would imagine they have something like that where you live.
http://www.mimaseca.com/en/productos...a-corn-flour/1

I feel a bit stupid having read that cornflour is made from maize! I had never questioned what the "corn" was in cornflour!I am surprised though because the cornflour I buy is used for "fine" purposes( I can't think how else to express it)- for example thickening sauces and gravies. The crispbreads were substantial and packed with seeds so that you would think that they needed something heavy to bind them together.
As for polenta- well the only time I've seen polenta locally (in Tesco's) it is ready mixed and in a solid block.
I'm not sure that I'll be able to get corn flour- I don't know of anyone or anywhere that makes flour tortillas around here.
I'll try the cornflour- scheduled for Thursday this week! If it works it will go nicely with cheese and the crab apple and chilli jelly I've been making this afternoon!
Thank you all- I'll report back

Are you using cornflour bought in the UK on the cooking aisle? Like this? http://www.waitrose.com/shop/HeaderS...h=None&search=

If so, that's the equivalent of US cornstarch, made for thickening sauces etc. It's not the same as US cornflour, which is course and grainy.

I've seen polenta in waitrose, if that helps.

Yes that's the cornflour I'm referring to. As it happens I live a mile from the first Waitrose on an island!I only ever go there for things I can't get anywhere else- Amaretti,coconut milk and Frangelico although I think that they've stopped selling this.Clearly not enough locals appreciating the thought of having a bottle shaped like a monk on the shelf in the kitchen!
I'll try there tomorrow.
Thanks!

No worries! As an American expat living in the UK I've spent the last 6 years trying to find American ingredients in English grocery stores. It's hard enough when the same item has two different names; coriander and cilantro or aubergine and eggplant but when one item has the same name as a completely different item it's complicated. Don't get me started on cuts of meat!


http://www.waitrose.com/shop/HeaderS...h=None&search=

Here's the waitrose polenta. Good luck with your baking!

I think what you want is cornmeal, not cornflower (which is just a thickening agent).

Try Holland & Barrett - I think this is what you want

http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pag...11&prodid=3702

Just read through several websites and definitions. In British and Australian recipes, corn starch (the thickener) is often referred to as corn flour. In the rest of the world, corn flour is finely ground corn meal, or even whole grain corn meal and is used for baking, bread making, etc. Since you are making bread, my guess is you want some kind of corn meal, certainly not corn starch. If the "corn flour" you have is smooth and white and feels a bit slippery, it is probably corn starch. If it is at all grainy, it is corn meal - which will work.

This morning we wondered whether the word is correctly translated as maizeflour although that is what the person said it was. The word is "maizenmjol" with an umlaut over the "o". My husband suggested that as it ends in "ol" that perhaps it was maize oil( but I thought "ol" was beer!). However I don't think that it is, firstly because it was translated for me as maizeflour and secondly the ingredients are in two groups - solids and liquids and this one comes in the solid group. (The liquids are "2dl vatten and 0.4dl rapsolja").

"mjöl" is Swedish for "meal" - or in other words, "flour". "Vatten" is water, "Rapsolja" is rapeseed oil. The latter could be replaced with groundnut oil. Happy baking!

Sorry, should have added that "mjöl" in this instance would certainly refer to cornmeal rather than the British cornflour.

<i>"Rapsolja" is rapeseed oil. The latter could be replaced with groundnut oil.</i>

Any vegetable oil would probably be OK.

Well we may have a Waitrose on this island but they don't have polenta!
I'm having to think obliquely about this now because I suspect I may not find what I need . I'm wondering whether I could use wholemeal flour? I need something strong enough to bind a lot of different sized seeds with a lot of liquid.
I'm going to set out the recipe here and would welcome your views .I'm also appending this in Swedish for those of you who can speak it and have been kind enough to pile in thus far. Maybe I'm wrong about the strength of flour I need but I'd love to hear from others who have to think outside the box in culinary terms.

Stenungens Halsoknacke
1 dl solsofro (sunflower seeds)
1 dl pumpafro (pumpkin seeds)
1 dl sesamfro (guess!)
1 dl linfro (linseeds)
2 dl maizenamjol(maizeflour)
Ev. lite salt

2 dl vatten (water)
0.4dl rapsolja

Flingsalt

I might as well complete it as they were excellent and if you can find the maizenamjol there's no reason you can't try it

Blanda de torra ingredienserna
Mix all ingredients
Koka upp vatten och olja
Cook the water and oil
Blanda ihop och smeta ut pa en plat
Mix it all together and plate
Stro over flingsalt eftr tycke och smak
Sprinkle with flingsalt(didn't get the translation for this)and press down
Stall i ugnen pa 150 grader i ca 1 timme
Cook at 150 for an hour

Flingsalt translates to salt flakes but I prefer the idea of Swedish people just flinging salt everywhere.

I would use the heartiest flour you can find, cross your fingers and hope for the best. It probably won't have the exact same texture but it's worth a shot. Good luck!

O.K. I have just managed to buy polenta (although there is no mention of how fine it is but it looks like sand) and maize meal which looks like custard powder.
Thursday is the day. I'l probably mix the two.
I'll keep you posted.

It worked really well and I have now made a second batch. Compliments all around
I mixed equal quantities of the maize meal and polenta and it provided a quantity of about 15" by 15". I just broke it into pieces when it had cooled.
I realise that I now have a number of recipes from my travels which are always a talking point when I serve them.
Thank you all very much indeed.