This year the Latke Crew baked 720 (gluten free) latkes for the Hanukkah party! Thanks and “yasher koach” to the entire hardworking Latke Crew: Charlie and Alan Breslin, Adrienne Shulman and Michael Sag. A number of people asked me for my recipe, so here it is:
John’s Baked, Gluten Free Latkes.
Home Recipe Version
Makes 20 Latkes
I developed this recipe for use at Shomrei for the annual Hanukkah party. The event has grown quite a bit in the last few years and we now make over 600 Latkes for the party! It’s a real killer to pan fry that number of latkes so after a lot of trial and error I came up with this baked version. The recipe also uses frozen shredded potatoes. These have just the right dryness and are already slightly par-cooked.
Gluten Free.
I didn’t set out to make them gluten free. It just so happened in my experiments that using potato starch as a binder instead of flour gave them a lighter more potato like feel. So voilá! Gluten free! A word about the ovens
This recipe was developed for industrial convection ovens, ovens with fans inside to circulate the hot air. It should work easily in a home convection oven. I haven’t tried this recipe in a conventional oven. (one without circulation fans). In such an oven they may not get as golden and crispy a shell. And the bake time may be longer.
The result should be golden brown latkes which are not too oily, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Ingredients
- 24 oz Frozen Shredded Potatoes (Shredded Hash Browns, uncooked). Thawed, plain, no flavoring, nothing but potatoes.
- 4 Eggs
- ½ Cup of Potato Starch
- ½ Cup of Grated Yellow Onion, drained. (approx 2-3 onions, see directions)
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- Corn or Vegetable Oil for pan
Directions
Preheat convection oven to 425º F. Convection fan(s) set to high.
Place frozen shredded potatoes on baking sheet, set aside, let come fully to room temperature.
Peel onions and grate with a large cheese grater or food processor. Place in colander and let the liquid drain away. It’s important that the onions fully drain otherwise the mix will have too much liquid.
In large bowl, beat the eggs, Then combine all ingredients (except oil) until well mixed.
Prepare baking sheet(s) which have a side or lip with oil. Pour enough oil to cover the pan to a depth of approx ⅛ of an inch.
Use a standard ice cream scooper (or something similar) to portion latkes on the pan. For consistent done-ness all the Latkes should be as close to the same size as possible.
Flatten the scooped latkes if necessary. (should be flat)
Bake for 12-16 minutes. The time will depend on your oven. You’ll know it’s time when the outer fringes of the latkes at the bottom (in the oil) are golden brown.
Remove the pan, flip the latkes, spin the pan 180 degrees and return to the oven for 3-5 minutes.
When done remove the latkes to draining rack and immediately salt to taste.
If you are doing multiple batches, you can reuse the oil, but make sure to strain out an left-behind crispy bits in the oil. Otherwise these will turn black and give the oil a bitter taste.
Download the recipe here:
John’s Baked, Gluten Free Latkes
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