Gluten-Free Boulangerie

{Ratio Rally} Ratios by the slice

2011-10-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

The cool weather arrived a few days ago as abruptly as the turn of a calendar page. Normally I'd welcome the smell of crisp morning air, watching the leaves turn gorgeous shades of orange, but that day it just felt too soon. Too fleeting. Almost as if I'd been expecting late summer to somehow stretch on indefinitely - as though the hypnotic ebb-and-flow of cicada song and rasping crickets had taken the place of clocks and calendars, placing time on hiatus like one long, lazy afternoon suspended in amber. I found myself daydreaming about that lingering summer, my mind drifting to romanticized images of some idyllic place; closer, probably, to one of Van Gogh's Provençal landscapes than to any actual place I could visit. Images of the late-afternoon sun slanting across golden fields and hilly vineyards and row upon row of lavender...

Yes, I suppose I do daydream quite a bit. My cooking and baking are often expressions of those daydreams - whereas some people may flip through travel books for a brief escape, or look at old photographs of somewhere they're longing to revisit, I'm just as likely to head to the kitchen, inspired by the cuisine of whatever new place has captured my imagination.

Which finally brings me to this month's Ratio Rally. Karen of Cooking Gluten-Free chose pizza dough for this month's theme. I used my dough to make pissaladière, the Provençal equivalent to pizza - partly because of the daydreaming as I explained, but partly just because it's delicious! Well, I suppose that's subjective. I think anchovies are delicious. If you are not fond of anchovies, you can of course choose different toppings - the dough itself is actually free of all major allergens, making it vegan as well. Pizza is an endlessly adaptable recipe, as you can see from everyone's creations in the roundup.

It is also, I think, one of the most difficult things to make gluten-free. It has to be chewy but not crusty. It has to hold up under sauce and toppings without getting soggy or falling apart, but it still needs to be soft, not stiff or dry. And (according to my boyfriend, who grew up eating New York pizza) you must be able to fold a slice without it breaking.

I've finally developed a dough that does all those things.

While the reference ratio in Ruhlman's cookbook, 5 parts flour:3 parts water, did produce a workable dough, the resulting bread was always a bit too stiff no matter what flour blend I used. I was frustrated that I couldn't come up with a flour blend that worked like wheat flour, until a thought occurred to me: what if a 5:3 ratio would not give me the sort of crust I was aiming for, even with wheat flour? What if the bread in that cookbook is not like the bread I was used to? I'd forgotten that the doughs for many traditional and artisan-style yeast breads use a higher hydration than 5:3, where the water amounts to 60% of the flour weight; ciabatta dough, for instance, is usually around 85% hydration. With that in mind I increased the water to a 5:4 ratio and the result was amazing. This dough, at 80% hydration, gives a crust which is pleasantly chewy, will hold up under toppings, and yes, you can even fold it - and the taste is just as excellent as the texture.

Real pizza crust. Without gluten.

Note: This is meant to be baked directly on a baking stone, rather than on parchment. If you don't have a baking stone, or if you don't feel comfortable transferring dough from a pizza peel, shape dough on parchment instead of a pizza peel when instructed.

Pissaladière
This recipe, using a total of 250g flour, makes enough dough for a small pizza. It can easily be doubled.

Sponge:

65g brown rice flour

25g oat flour

15g chickpea flour

10g millet flour

10g potato flour (not starch)

1tsp yeast

150mL warm water

Combine flours and yeast in a large bowl, stir in water, and allow to ferment for 12-16 hours.

Dough:

75g tapioca starch

50g potato starch

1T psyllium husks

3/8 tsp Pomona's citrus pectin (see note on my Ingredients page)

2 1/2 tsp raw sugar

5/8 tsp sea salt

1tsp yeast

All of the sponge

50mL warm water

2 tsp grapeseed oil or other high-heat oil

3/4 tsp double-acting baking powder (set aside)

Method: In a small bowl, combine starches, psyllium, pectin, salt, & sugar. Stir the extra teaspoon of yeast into the sponge. Stir about half of the starch mixture into the sponge, add the warm water, then add the rest of the starch mixture, "kneading" it with a soft spatula. After the dough has come together, knead in the oil by hand. The dough will seem very soft and slack - this is normal. Shape into a ball, cover the bowl, and set aside in a warm place for about an hour.

The dough will be very soft, but not sticky.

Meanwhile, prepare the topping:

1 small yellow onion, sliced very thinly (a mandoline is helpful here)

1 clove of garlic, minced

2-ounce tin anchovies in oil

8-10 olives, cut into halves or quarters (Not the watery black kind from a tin! Use Mediterranean-style olives. I used Castelvetrano Italian olives, which have a rich, almost buttery taste.)

1 bay leaf

1-2T olive oil

Heat the oil in a heavy pan. Add the onions and bay leaf; when the onions have softened slightly, add the garlic and turn heat to low. Let cook for 30 minutes or so over low heat, stirring occasionally - do not let them brown, just get them nice and soft and melty. (Yes, I know onions don't technically melt. But that's really the best way to describe it.)

See? Melty.

Assembling the pissaladière:

Pre-heat your oven, with a baking stone on the middle rack, to 395ºF/200ºC. Knead the dough gently a few times in the bowl and tip it out onto a work surface. Pat it flat, sprinkle the baking powder over the surface, and roll it up as demonstrated here. This ensures even distribution of the baking powder and creates a better texture. Now generously coat a pizza peel or baking sheet with white rice flour, place the dough seam-side down on it, and shape it into a rectangle - pat and stretch the dough until it is almost as thin as pizza dough. Slightly curl up the sides to create an edge crust. (Your crust will be smoother than in the picture if you do this now, rather than forgetting to do it until after you arrange the toppings as I did!) Now, gently attempt to slide the dough around on the pizza peel, to make sure it will slide off easily. If it sticks, gently lift up one corner at a time and push more rice flour underneath.

Scatter the onion-garlic mixture over the surface of the dough. Arrange the anchovies and olive pieces in a decorative pattern on top. If desired, brush the edges with a little olive oil and honey (optional). Let the dough rise for 20 minutes or so, then gently slide it onto the baking stone using your pizza peel or baking sheet (you will have to coax it towards the end of the pizza peel, but it really will slide off smoothly, I promise). Bake for about 30 minutes. It is delicious hot from the oven or after it has cooled.

Check out all of this month's Ratio Rally creations!

{Ratio Rally} Old-Fashioned Doughnuts

2011-09-07T08:30:00.000-04:00

I've been especially excited about this month's Ratio Rally for a few reasons. For one, I have a kitchen again! We moved last month, and not just to a new house or a new city - I mean over 3000 miles. In a car. If you've ever done something like that, you know how topsy-turvy everything gets. And that's not even considering how details like "eating something other than cookies for dinner" seem to suddenly go to the very bottom of your priority list. A proper, sit-down meal seems like a luxury - doubly so when you're dealing with dietary restrictions. And blogging? Forgetaboutit.

You can imagine, then, how excited I was to finally get back to cooking and baking and sharing new recipes. This was the first chance I got to work on a big "project" since leaving our old apartment several weeks ago, and I got to do it in a new kitchen...with windows! And a pantry! In a house! And did I mention the kitchen has windows?! OK, um, I'll calm down now. It's just that after living in stuffy apartments and dorms for the last 4 years, this is a Big Deal.

Anyway...

On top of all that, I was excited for a second, completely separate reason - I have the pleasure of hosting this month's Rally! That also means I got to choose what we'd be making this month, which brings me to reason #3: doughnuts.

These things.

Yeast-raised doughnuts. Cake doughnuts. Fritters. We covered them all this month! How long has it been since you've had a doughnut? A real, fried, melt-in-your-mouth sugary doughnut? It had been a long time for me, that's for sure.

I remember occasionally visiting a certain small doughnut shop when I was much younger, peering into the glass case filled with row upon row of tantalizing treats, all frosted or glazed or covered in sprinkles or maybe even filled with jam. And I could pick out any one I wanted. Now, to put this in context - I didn't eat much "junk food" when I was a kid. There was no sugary cereal on the breakfast table; with the exception of some special occasions, snack foods and desserts were usually low-fat, sugar-free, or both (SnackWells, anyone?). Yet here I was, being encouraged to pick something that had been deep-fried and covered in sugar. A visit to the doughnut shop was a real treat. I always liked the simple ones best: powdered-sugar-covered doughnut holes; buttermilk bars; dense, cake-y chocolate doughnuts. They didn't need to be fancy; I just loved the way powdered sugar would melt ever-so-slightly into the golden, fried surface of the dough, forming a wafer-thin layer of crisp glaze as I bit into the springy cake. So simple, and so delicious.

Yet sometimes simple things are the hardest to get right. You see, there was an extra challenge complicating this month's Ratio Rally: while the book that introduced many of us to the concept of baking by ratio has a reference ratio for fritters, there isn't one for doughnuts (and they are quite different). So many of us wanted to make doughnuts, though, that we set out to find a ratio!

I started by referencing and comparing regular doughnut recipes. After a few rounds of experimentation, adjustments, and more research, the ratio I came up with for both yeast-raised and cake doughnuts was 4 parts flour:1 part liquid:1 part egg. (Unlike some other foods, this ratio differs from wheat-based recipes; I decided not to go into the science of why that is because that would have made this post ridiculously long, but if you really do want to know, tell me in the comments and I will do a follow-up post!)

Old-Fashioned Yeast Doughnuts (And Cake Doughnuts)

As with all ratio recipes which use eggs, start with the weight of your egg(s). To make a dozen doughnuts, I used 2 eggs, which had a combined weight of 100g - that is fairly standard. Since eggs and liquid are each 1 part, that means I need 100g liquid. Flour is 4 parts, so for me that was 400g.

My flour blend was: 100g tapioca starch, 100g potato starch, 80g brown rice flour, 50g millet flour, 40g chickpea flour, 20g buckwheat flour, and 10g potato flour.

You may use a different flour blend as long as you keep the same starch:whole-grain ratio (here, it is half starch and half whole-grain/whole-bean flour).

If you are making a double batch or a half batch, remember to adjust the amounts of your other ingredients accordingly! The following amounts are based on 400g flour.

Method for Yeast Doughnuts:

In a large bowl, blend your flours together and add in
- 40g sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp psyllium husks
- 1/2 tsp Pomona's citrus pectin (see note on my Ingredients page)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 T yeast

In a smaller bowl, beat the eggs and add in
- 100g buttermilk (or mix equal parts milk and yogurt to total 100g)
- 50g melted butter

Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix well and knead until a soft, but not sticky, ball of dough forms. Let rest in bowl for about 20 minutes.

Method for Cake Doughnuts:

Follow the instructions for yeast doughnuts with the following changes:
- omit yeast; instead add 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1 1/2 tsp double-acting baking powder
- decrease salt to 1/2 tsp (because the baking soda adds sodium)

All other ingredients and amounts stay the same. Proceed as directed for yeast doughnuts.

Cooking the Doughnuts:
Tip out the dough onto a surface lightly dusted with tapioca starch. Pat out the dough to a thickness of about half an inch and cut with a round biscuit cutter (or, if you are just making doughnut holes, roll dough into balls approximately 1 1/2 inches in diameter). You can make a traditional doughnut shape by simply poking a hole in the middle of each circle (see picture at top of the page). Repeat until all dough has been shaped.

Now let the doughnuts rest, to rise a little bit. While they are resting, prepare the frying oil:

Heat palm shortening or high-temperature oil (e.g. grapeseed, soybean, or canola oil) in a medium pot or deep-fryer over medium heat - the oil should be at least a couple of inches deep, so the doughnuts do not rest on the bottom of the pot. Keep a thermometer clipped to the pot at all times - oil can very easily overheat if you are not monitoring it closely, and it will retain that heat for a long time.

When the oil reaches 375ºF/190ºC, you are ready to begin! Make sure you have a cooling rack ready.

Using a heat-safe flat spatula, transfer one doughnut into the oil. (I recommend frying just one at first; after that, you can do 3 or 4 at a time if they fit.) I cannot tell you the exact amount of time they will take to cook - this will vary depending on the thickness and how well the oil retains heat. Instead, take a look at the pictures below to see what happens in the first 1-2 minutes:


The one on the left has just been added - it sinks to the bottom.

As it cooks, it soon floats to the top like the other two.

Now all three are browning - time to flip them!

Gently flip the doughnuts so they cook evenly on both sides. It doesn't take long, so watch them closely! When they are evenly brown, use the spatula or tongs to carefully transfer them to a cooling rack, one at a time. Make sure to let the oil come back up to the proper temperature before adding more doughnuts. Continue this process until they are all cooked. While they are still warm, roll them in powdered sugar or cinnamon-sugar, or dip them in a glaze. For the best texture and taste, wait about 3 hours before eating them.

Be sure to check out the links below for all the delicious, creative doughnut and fritter posts in this month's Ratio Rally!

Britt of GF in the City | Blueberry Fritters

Brooke of B and the Boy! | Apricot Fritters

Caleigh of Gluten Free[k] | Beetroot Fritters

Caneel of Mama Me Gluten Free | Thai Fried Bananas

Charissa of Zest Bakery | Picarones (Sweet Potato & Pumpkin Fritters)
Claire of Gluten Freedom | Chocolate Coconut or Cinnamon-Glazed Vanilla Cake Doughnuts
Gretchen of Kumquat | Peach Cider Doughnuts
Irvin of Eat the Love | Roses & Pearls Vanilla Bean Doughnuts
Jean of Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes | Cinnamon Apple Fritters
Jeanette of Jeanette's Healthy Living | Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts
Jenn of Jenn Cuisine | Mini Raspberry Doughnut Cakes
Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen | Apple Butter Maple Syrup Doughnuts
Mary Fran of Frannycakes | Raspberries and Cream Doughnuts
Mrs. R of Honey From Flinty Rocks | Jelly Doughnuts
Pete & Kelli of No Gluten, No Problem | Jelly Doughnut Holes
Rachel of The Crispy Cook | Chocolate Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze
Silvana of Silvana's Kitchen | Vanilla-Glazed Chocolate Chip Doughnuts
Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl | Glazed Yeast Doughnuts
Tara of A Baking Life | Brioche Doughnuts with Italian Plum Jam
T.R. of No One Likes Crumbley Cookies | Sweet Pepper and Pancetta Fritters

Fresh fettuccine for the Ratio Rally

2011-07-06T12:00:00.000-04:00

Pasta! Like bread, pasta can be found in various forms around the world: from the dozens of Italian shapes and styles, to the tiny couscous of northern Africa, to the chewy hand-pulled noodles eaten throughout Asia, it's the foundation of countless familiar meals. There's something inherently satisfying and comforting about its texture and taste. And much of it (though not all of it!) is made from wheat. A lot of people say it is one of the things they miss most about eating wheat, in fact. Personally, I've been quite satisfied with most of the dry gluten-free pastas I've found; even some that are 100% brown rice can be very good - and I guess that's not entirely surprising, since some traditional Asian noodles are made from rice alone. However, aside from possibly as a component of ravioli or tortellini, I don't think I had ever tasted fresh pasta, the kind made with eggs. Because of that, I chose to dress my pasta simply, so I could really taste it. It would also be delicious with some bright, summery marinara sauce or a hearty ragù (which is traditional with a number of ribbon-cut fresh pastas like fettuccine and tagliatelle)! If you're feeling ambitious, you can even make ravioli. If you need inspiration, have a look at all of this month's Ratio Rally pasta creations, hosted by Jenn of Jenn Cuisine!

Sun-dried tomato, olive oil, garlic, & spices pair wonderfully with fresh pasta

As with last month's Ratio Rally post, you will need to start by weighing your eggs, and that will tell you how much flour you need. First of all, decide how much pasta you want to make. Each serving of pasta requires one egg - my example recipe is for two servings.

For fresh pasta, the ratio of flour:eggs is 3:2 (by weight).

My eggs weighed a total of 110 grams. Since the eggs' weight is 2 parts, I divide that number in two and find that each "part" equals 55 grams. That means that 3 parts = 165 grams; that is the amount of flour I need.

I got the best results using a blend of 60% starchy flours and 40% whole grain flours. You can vary your choice of flours as long as you keep that basic ratio the same.

This was the blend I liked best:

20% (33 g) millet flour
20% (33 g) brown rice flour
20% (33 g) tapioca starch
20% (33 g) potato starch (not potato flour)
20% (33 g) sweet rice flour

The weights given are based on my total weight of 165 g flour - if you want to use this exact flour blend, adjust each amount according to whatever is 20% your total flour weight. You do not need any gums or other binding agents for this recipe! The eggs provide plenty of strength.

You will also need:
Parchment paper or pastry board, rolling pin, sharp metal bench scraper or knife, wire cooling rack to dry the pasta on, olive oil, and plenty of extra tapioca starch for rolling.

Method:
Weigh your eggs into a small bowl and determine how much flour you'll need, as explained above. Weigh your flour into a large bowl and mix in 1/4 tsp salt. Make a small well in the flour and tip the eggs in. Gently begin stirring the eggs to break the yolks, and then stir in larger circles to incorporate the flour. Knead by hand for a few minutes, until the dough is very smooth - expect that it will be sticky at first, though if the dough is still sticky after several minutes of kneading, work in a small amount of additional tapioca starch. Form the dough into a ball and rub the surface with olive oil, and let it rest in the bowl for ~30 minutes (refrigeration optional, but chilling might make the dough easier to work with).

Now, generously flour a pastry board or piece of parchment with tapioca starch, and reserve another piece of parchment to place on top. Divide the dough into smaller balls according to how many servings you are making (in other words, how many eggs you used) - place one ball on your floured work surface, and cover the remaining dough so it doesn't dry out. Pat the dough into a large, flat rectangle and dust the surface generously with more tapioca starch. Place the other piece of parchment on top of it, and roll it as thin as you can get it without tearing. Slice into strips with the bench scraper or knife, wiggling the blade slightly to separate the strips, but do not move them yet.

Separate them just enough that they won't stick together.

Let them dry slightly for ~15 minutes, then carefully slide the blade underneath them and use it to transfer them to a wire cooling rack to dry further. Repeat with remaining dough. Let the strips dry for ~45 minutes before placing them into heavily salted, boiling water.

This allows both sides to dry evenly.

If they do not dry long enough, the texture won't be right and they will taste doughy. If they dry too long, they may break, though it's OK if that does happen because the texture and taste will still be good. Boil for about 2 minutes - this time may vary slightly based on how thick and wide your pasta is, but it will cook very quickly! Drain the pasta, but do not rinse. Toss immediately with whatever sauce or oil you want to use, and enjoy!

Buttermilk biscuits

2011-06-29T19:52:00.000-04:00

When I think of "traditional" bread, my mind usually conjures up images of a glorious, crusty, slow-rising loaf - the sort of bread that's been the primary focus of Gluten-Free Boulangerie since the beginning, in other words. But what about other traditions? Sure, most people here in the US are quite familiar with French- or Italian-style bread, regardless of their heritage. Yet depending on the family or community, that may not be the one that holds a special place on the table - the particular bread that makes a meal seem complete. Anthropologists often refer to it as a "staple starch" - it varies by culture of course, but in so many cuisines there is a distinct bread or other starchy food that is always on the table.

That brings me to what you see on the table above. In a few weeks we'll be moving to the Southeast, and I was spending some time the other day trying to get a good idea of the gluten-free options that will be in the area. Suddenly it occurred to me that it had been years since I'd had a biscuit. No, not this kind of biscuit - I mean the kind that is fluffy and flaky, that's most delicious eaten warm and preferably slathered with butter. And as soon as that image crossed my mind, I was then very aware of just how long it had been; I hadn't had one since well before going gluten-free. And that, I decided, needed to change.

Despite the fact that they're leavened with baking powder, are quick to mix up, and bake in a matter of minutes, when you go back to the concept of the "staple starch," you can see these biscuits have far more in common with the aforementioned crusty bread than the recipe would suggest. Although, to really complete the picture, I'm told I will have to find a good recipe for cornbread!

Basic Buttermilk Biscuits - makes 12-16

100 g tapioca flour
60 g potato starch
40 g white rice flour
25 g sorghum flour
25 g garbanzo bean flour
20 g brown rice flour

2 tsp double-acting baking powder, divided
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 T (15 g) sugar
1 T psyllium husks
1/4 tsp Pomona's citrus pectin (see note on my Ingredients page)

1/4 cup cold butter, Spectrum organic shortening, or a combination (will be a total of ~148-156 g, depending on which kind of fat you use) PLUS 1 T melted butter for brushing

145 mL buttermilk (OR, mix 130 mL milk with 15 mL vinegar)

You will also need:
A large baking sheet, parchment paper, a spatula or wooden spoon, and extra tapioca flour for rolling

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 260ºC/500ºF. If you are making your own "buttermilk," first mix the milk and vinegar as instructed and set it aside. Combine flours, psyllium, pectin, sugar, salt, baking soda, and one teaspoon of the baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter and/or shortening using a pastry blender until it is in small chunks, and then use your fingers to lightly rub it in until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pour in the buttermilk and stir until you have a soft dough.

Place a sheet of parchment on the counter and dust it evenly with tapioca flour. Pat or roll out the dough on the floured paper. The dough will be very soft - flour your hands or rolling pin to prevent sticking. Now, to help make flaky layers: sprinkle about half of the remaining teaspoon of baking powder over the surface and lightly rub to spread it out. Once you've done that, fold the dough rectangle in half - it may help to lift up the edges of the parchment to fold it over. Dust the bare area on the paper with more tapioca flour, pat it into a rectangle again, and sprinkle over the remaining baking powder. Fold it in half just as before.

Now roll or pat the dough to a thickness of 3/4 inch (~2 cm). If you have a proper round biscuit cutter, by all means use it; do not, however, attempt to cut biscuits with something that is dull, such as a glass - your biscuits will not rise well. I used a sharp bench scraper, which is why the biscuits are square. Cut the dough into biscuits and space them out evenly. Slide the baking sheet under the parchment. Brush the tops of the biscuits with the melted butter, and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden.

Flour, eggs, butter: The ratio makes the recipe

2011-06-01T17:41:00.000-04:00

Crisp buttery puffs, with a dusting of sugar

I was so excited when I found out about the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally. As a chemistry major, applying ratios comes naturally; also, I'm always eager to bring science into the kitchen (because I'm a geek like that). Wait, don't leave! This science isn't complicated. In fact, using ratios actually makes baking easier.

You see, when you have a solid ratio for a gluten-free recipe, you don't have to guess when the recipe calls for a flour you don't have/can't find/can't eat - simply substitute an equal weight of a comparable flour, and it will almost always work. (You must do this by weight; that is the only way to ensure you are keeping the same ratio.) There will of course be some differences when you are converting a "normal" recipe to gluten-free - after all, you then have a dough that depends on carbohydrates, rather than gluten proteins, for its properties. In most recipes, the structure is bound by an added carbohydrate, such as xanthan gum, flax meal, or psyllium. Sometimes, though, the flour itself already contains what you need.

That's when your choice of flour can be vital for some recipes, because not all starch is the same. Pâte à choux is one of those recipes. Starch actually is made of two types of molecules: amylose, which is linear, and amylopectin, which is branched. Amylopectin is what you need for good pâte à choux. The starch in sweet rice (also called sticky rice) is all amylopectin. That's why it's sticky.


Can you see why the one on the right gives choux paste more structure? (via ncsu.edu)

Pâte à choux can be converted to gluten-free especially well because even when it's made with wheat flour it is dependent on starch, not gluten, for its structure. The process is unusual - you actually cook the flour in water and fat before forming the dough, which lets the starch strands, which are normally packed together, to swell and form a network.

OK, you're probably wondering why I'm telling you all this about the science of choux paste and how great it is to bake using ratios, rather than just telling you how to make cream puffs.

Well, I wanted to make it clear that it doesn't have to be difficult before I told you these little cream puffs very nearly kicked my butt. Seriously, I almost gave up. I went through over a dozen eggs and nearly a pound of butter before I finally got the puffs you see in the picture (and those still aren't perfect). That was the fifth batch. But I'm not trying to scare you away. Honest.

See, the other great thing about ratios is that more than one ratio can get you to the same basic result - take a look at last month's rally to see how many different ratios can turn into scones! So, below I've included the link to everyone else's choux posts - that's 18 others to choose from. And there are all sorts of things you can make with choux paste besides cream puffs and éclairs; you can use the same base recipe (er, I mean ratio) to make crisp cheese breads called gougères, or even to make a certain kind of gnocchi. So find something that looks good to you.

Larger balls of dough make soft, fluffy puffs.

In the spirit of purely exploring the ratio, I chose to make the most basic form of choux pastry, called chouquettes. They are small, simple unfilled pastries, often eaten as a mid-afternoon treat. My ratio of eggs:flour:water:fat was 4:3:3:2, which is rather different from any reference ratios, but it's what ended up working best to get something that would "puff" properly.

OK, here's what to do. It involves math, but it's not hard, I promise: start by weighing your eggs - this is the variable which determines how much of the other ingredients to use. I used three eggs, which weighed a total of 160g. Since my ratio is 4:3:3:2, dividing that by 4 gave me an amount of 1 part=40g. So, since 40 x 3 = 120, I needed 120g of flour and 120mL of water (1mL of water equals 1g) and since 40 x 2 = 80, I needed 80g of butter.

160:120:120:80 is the same as 4:3:3:2. See? I told you it wasn't hard. If your eggs are a different weight, simply go through the same process with your number.

For flour, I used 60% sweet rice flour (amylopectin, remember?), 20% tapioca flour, and 20% millet flour. (For 120g, that means 72g sweet rice, 24g tapioca, and 24 g millet.) I also added 1/4 tsp of Pomona's citrus pectin to the flour, for good measure.

Method {Note: have a look at the step-by-step photos at Simply Gluten-Free to see what each stage should look like.}

1) Your eggs need to be at room temperature - take them out of the refrigerator at least 1hr before you start baking.

2) Preheat oven to 220ºC/425ºF and set aside a large baking sheet lined with parchment. Then crack the eggs into a small bowl and weigh them, and go through the procedure above to figure out how much flour, water, and butter you'll need. Weigh the flour into a large bowl. Weigh the butter and water in a medium-sized saucepan, and add 1 T(15g) of sugar and 1/2 tsp sea salt to the water.

3) Heat the butter-water mixture until it is boiling steadily. Now dump in the flour all at once, turn down the heat to medium-low (so it doesn't burn to the pan) and stir forcefully and continuously with a stiff spatula for a minimum of two minutes. This is what will provide the dough's structure; you will see the dough getting stringy and it will become very thick.

4) When it has come together in a smooth, firm ball, dump it back into your large bowl (or the bowl of a mixer, if you have one). If you are lucky enough to have a mixer, just start stirring with the paddle attachment; for the rest of us, continue firmly stirring with the spatula - really stretch out those starch strands, and try to re-incorporate any butter that may have separated - but don't let it cool down. It should still be hot, but make sure you can touch it before going any further.

5) When you can touch it - but it is still quite hot - add one egg and immediately stir to incorporate it completely. You can use an electric beater for this, or do it by hand if you have that kind of endurance. Now, if you've used an electric beater, you'll notice that the dough looks kind of lumpy or curdled. You need to stir it with the spatula to smooth out those lumps - otherwise you will have globs of starch suspended in egg, and that's great if you're making tapioca pudding, but not if you want choux paste. Stir firmly - really churn it - until the dough is smooth. Repeat this process with the other two eggs.

6) Now churn firmly by hand for a few more minutes, stirring it in large circles to keep stretching the dough. When it's a smooth paste, it's ready! It works best if you form the puffs from a piping bag, rather than just putting spoonfuls on the baking sheet. Don't be intimidated by piping - you're not decorating a fancy cake here; if you can squeeze a tube of toothpaste, you can pipe choux paste. If you want crisp, dry puffs, make them slightly bigger than a large egg yolk; for softer, fluffier puffs, make them almost twice that size. Sprinkle sugar or icing sugar on them if desired. Bake at 220ºC/425ºF for the first 10mins, then turn it down to 190ºC/375ºF and bake for another 12-15mins. (For crisper puffs, use the tip of a knife to poke a small hole in the bottom of each one after taking them out of the oven - this allows trapped steam to escape.)

As an aside - if you go through all of this and they don't look like cream puffs, it's OK. They're still yummy. And if your batter is too runny and won't hold its shape, you can bake them in muffin papers or even use the batter for pancakes!

I still have a lot to learn about choux paste, but five batches was more than enough for now - I still have to make a birthday cake. Although maybe with all these puffs, I should have planned for a croquembouche! ;)

This month's Rally was hosted by Erin of The Sensitive Epicure. Here are the links to everyone's creations - go have a look!

Amie of The Healthy Apple | Pate Choux with Creamy Macadamia Icing
Britt of GF in the City | Pâte à Choux
Caleigh of Gluten Free[k] | Savoury Paris-Brest
Caneel of Mama Me Gluten Free | Key Lime Cream Puffs
Charissa of Zest Bakery | Choux Shine: Koshi-an Filled Cream Puffs
Claire of Gluten Freedom | Chocolate Eclairs
Erin of the Sensitive Epicure | Gougères filled with Herbed Goat Cheese Mousse

Gretchen of kumquat | Cheddar Gougères with Dates and Pine Nuts | A Danish Puff
Irvin of Eat The Love | White Cheddar Fennel Gougères stuffed with Porcini & Shallot Goat Cheese
Jenn of Jenn Cuisine | Gruyère & Herbed Gougères
Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen | Cracked Pepper & Cheese Gougères
Meredith of Gluten Free Betty | Gluten Free Churros
Mary Fran of Frannycakes | Marillenknodel with ginger and cardamom sugar & chai cream puffs
Meaghan of The Wicked Good Vegan | Cardamom and Rose Water Cream Puffs (with Rad Whip!)
Pete & Kelli of No Gluten, No Problem | Almond Choux Florentines
Rachel of The Crispy Cook | Cream Puffs Filled with Coffee Cream
Robyn of Chocswirl | Gruyere & Parmesan Gougeres with Sage & Thyme
Sea of Book of Yum | Rose Vanilla Cream Puffs and Vanilla Eclairs
Silvana of Silvana's Kitchen | Gluten-Free Spinach Gnocchi Parm
T.R.of No One Likes Crumbley Cookies | Beignets
Tara of A Baking Life | Parmesan & Black Pepper Gougères | Frangipane Puffs

Sponge cake, to celebrate.

2011-05-17T22:04:00.000-04:00

Celebrate what, exactly? Living gluten-free, of course! Knowing you are gluten-intolerant means knowing you can care for yourself by following a gluten-free diet - and that's definitely a cause for celebration. Hopefully increasing awareness will help the many people with undiagnosed celiac disease find, and celebrate, health as well. As you might already know, May is Celiac Disease Awareness Month. At the beginning of the month, a few ambitious and talented bakers took this opportunity to create the world's largest gluten-free cake. Seriously, it's enormous. It wasn't just for yummy-ness and fun, though. In addition to pointing out that 1 in 133 people have celiac disease, this cake also had an even bigger purpose (pun absolutely intended): bringing attention to the fact that the FDA received an assignment to define gluten-free labelling standards...four years ago. That's right: there are currently no enforceable standards stating what "gluten-free" really means in this country. The European Union, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand all have standards, which means that a product must be tested and proven safe in order to be labelled GF. In the US, on the other hand, there are still a lot of common misconceptions - for instance, people thinking it's OK to say something made with spelt flour is gluten-free. Um, no. Gluten-free is also not the same thing as dairy-free, or vegan, or (*cringe*) fat-free. Yes, I have run into all of those examples personally, absurd as they may sound...I was once sold an allegedly "gluten-free" cupcake at a coffeeshop, which turned out to be very gluten-full - at least it was vegan, though, right?! (...That was sarcasm, in case you couldn't tell.) Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens more often than you would want to know. You can help to stop it from happening again, though - sign the petition or even write your own letter to let the FDA know just how many people need proper gluten-free labelling!

Oh, and in the meantime, have some cake.

This is a light, fluffy, incredibly soft sponge cake. If it weren't for the fact that I made it myself, I honestly wouldn't have believed it's gluten-free. It doesn't take too long to whip up, either, as long as you have a mixer. This is an Italian sponge cake, as opposed to French spongecake or Génoise, because the egg whites are beaten separately from the yolks, and no fat is added other than what comes from the yolks. You can decorate it however you wish - here, I have done some decorative work with a simple buttercream, but the first time I made this cake I used a boiled or "7-minute" meringue-like icing, to which I added a little heavy cream and a spoonful or two of butter so it tasted a little more like frosting and a little less like marshmallow fluff. It was very tasty, just kind of blobby - if you don't care about doing any fancy piping, though, I highly recommend it (there are recipes all over the internet, as well as many variations in the Joy of Cooking).

Italian Sponge Cake with Apricot-Amaretto Glaze

You will need:

- a scale, preferably digital

- a mixer with whisk attachment

- 3 bowls (2 large/medium, 1 small)

- 4-6 ramekins/crème brûlée dishes, if you want miniature layer cakes like the one in my picture OR a 9-inch springform pan, if you just want one flat cake OR 8-10 cupcake papers
- baking parchment, unless using cupcake papers


Simple touches of buttercream complement the apricot glaze nicely. (Plus, it looks pretty.)

- a small sieve or strainer (optional, but it helps)

Ingredients:

25 g tapioca starch
15 g millet flour
10 g chestnut flour
8 g white rice flour
1/8 tsp Pomona's pure citrus pectin
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
3 eggs, at room temperature
100 g sugar, divided

Several spoonfuls apricot jam, mixed with a splash of amaretto or 1/4 tsp almond extract+water to thin to syrupy consistency
1/8 tsp extra almond extract (optional)

Mix flours, pectin, and salt in the small bowl, and set aside. Weigh 50 g sugar into each of the other two bowls. Separate the eggs, putting the whites in one of these bowls and the yolks in the other. If you would like a bit of flavouring in the cake, add the 1/8 tsp almond extract to the yolk bowl. Pre-heat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF, and line your pan or crème brûlée dishes with parchment.

With the whisk attachment on your mixer, whip the egg white-sugar mixture until very stiff (this may take a while, even with a mixer)! Set aside, and whip the egg yolk-sugar mixture until it is thick and creamy pale yellow. Now, gently fold the yolk mixture into the whites. Then, tip 1/3 of the flour into the sieve or strainer, and shake it over the bowl so you have a light dusting of flour on the egg foam. Fold in very gently, and repeat this twice more to incorporate the remaining 2/3 of the flour. This prevents any lumps, which is important because you have to treat the batter delicately. Very carefully spoon the batter into your prepared crème brûlée dishes, pan, or cupcake papers - do not press out the air bubbles - and place in the oven. Immediately lower temperature to 175ºC/350ºF. If you are using a large pan, bake ~ 30 minutes; ramekins and cupcakes need less time, about 18-25 minutes depending on size. Cool completely in the pan.

Once the cakes have cooled, gently remove from pans and peel off parchment. Level them and slice into layers if you wish (not recommended for cupcakes, but if you used crème brûlée dishes, you can make some very cute miniature layer cakes). Now spoon the apricot-amaretto syrup over the top of each cake to glaze (and between layers, if applicable). Decorate as desired - you can frost them, pipe buttercream embellishments, or simply serve them with some lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Have you ever seen food falsely labelled gluten-free? Are you doing anything special this month to raise awareness of celiac disease? Share your stories in the comments!

P.S. - I'm working on some extra-special projects for future yeast bread baking lessons - stay tuned!

Yeast Bread Techniques, Lesson 2: Baguette aux Céréales - A Theme and Variations

2011-04-28T00:48:00.000-04:00

Somewhere in central Paris, perhaps even at this moment, people are lining up outside a certain boulangerie to buy freshly-baked bread. (This applies to many, many bakeries, actually - but there is one in particular that I am thinking of.) Supposedly one can find the best bread by looking for the boulangeries with the longest queues, which seems logical enough; it also very well may be why I happened to end up at this one. You see, generally fresh bread comes out of the oven twice a day, and that is when people start gathering around the bakery doors: first in the morning, and then again in late afternoon before supper. This was mid-day, though, and the small bakery was packed as tightly as a New York subway train at rush hour (though it of course was far more calm and quiet, and smelled much better). I, being rather shorter than everyone clustering near the front counter, didn't get a terribly long look at the array of baked goods. One bread in particular did catch my eye, though - in contrast to the ubiquitous floury, golden baguettes, there were a few long loaves labelled "baguette aux céréales," which were wonderfully brown and flecked with all sorts of seeds and grains. Yum.

With its slightly denser crumb and rich whole-grain flavour, this less-known traditional French bread can be made gluten-free with very satisfying and delicious results! Yet while "gluten-free" seems fairly well-understood in France, gluten-free bread is apparently uncommon. That's unfortunate, because I think this certainly measures up to its gluteny counterpart - go ahead, give it a try! This makes a small loaf; if you want to double the recipe I recommend forming two small loaves rather than one large one.

The recipe I've created is actually a variation on my "Whole Wheatless" bread in the first yeast baking lesson. If you haven't read that lesson, please do that first - it explains some of the techniques you will need to make this bread. If you have made that recipe, you will notice that this looks very similar; some of the proportions are different, though, so read carefully. And without further ado:

Baguette aux Céréales

Step 1: The night before you will bake, combine in a mixing bowl:

1/4 c each brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, & chickpea flour

2 T teff grains (not teff flour)

1 tsp yeast

140 mL water

In a separate small bowl or cup, measure:

2 T millet grains

and add just enough water to cover. Let the flour mixture (called the poolish) and the millet soak for 12-16 hours. (The millet grains need to absorb water, but you want to keep them separate from the yeast for now.)

Step 2: Combine in a bowl and blend well:

1 1/4 c tapioca starch

2 T sweet rice flour

1 T + 1/2 tsp psyllium

1/4 tsp Pomona's pure citrus pectin (see note on my Ingredients page)

3/4 tsp sea salt

2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp yeast

Combine in a small dish:

1 T certified GF rolled oats, such as Bob's Red Mill (set aside additional 2 tsp for crust)

1 tsp flaxseed (set aside additional 1 tsp for crust)

2 tsp sunflower seeds (set aside additional 1 tsp for crust)

1/2 tsp poppyseeds (set aside additional 1 tsp for crust)

You will also need:

Water (up to 80 mL)

2 tsp grapeseed oil or other light oil (plus a little more for brushing crust)

2-3 tsp buckwheat honey or other dark honey (plus a little more for brushing crust)

3/4 tsp double-acting baking powder

Parchment paper, a baguette pan or baking stone, another oven-safe pan or baking dish, & a few ice cubes (those last two items are not absolutely essential, but very helpful. It will make sense in a minute, trust me!)

Step 3: Work the flour mixture from Step 2 into the poolish from Step 1, first with a soft spatula and then knead by hand. You will need up to 80 mL extra water, but add it gradually as you go - remember, you can always add a little more water if you need to, but you can't take water out if you add too much!

Do not be alarmed if the poolish looks like dijon mustard!

Once all the flour is incorporated, knead in the seed/oat mixture from Step 2 and the soaked millet from Step 1, then knead in the 2 tsp grapeseed oil. Cover the bowl and set it in a warm place to allow the dough to double, probably about 2 hours.

The dough will be smooth and somewhat stretchy.

Step 4: Once the dough has risen to approximately double, knead in the honey (3 tsp will make the bread just slightly sweet). Now take a look at the dough:

See how the dough is a little crumbly and stiff, sort of like
cookie dough? That means it needs a tiny bit more water.
Add water 1-2 teaspoons at a time, kneading it in well.

After working in a couple of extra teaspoons of water,
the dough is smooth and stretchy again.

Learn to recognise the difference between the smooth dough and the slightly dry dough. Small differences like this can have a big impact on your bread! Now press the dough into a flat rectangle on a piece of parchment, sprinkle with the baking powder, and roll up as demonstrated in the previous lesson. Brush with honey & oil and sprinkle on the extra seeds.

A lot of the seed mixture will end up scattered around,
rather than on, the bread. That's ok...

Just gently press the seeds on top to make sure they stick,
and roll the loaf so more seeds stick to the sides.

Now set the bread in the baguette pan, with the parchment still underneath it. (Trim away any extra parchment.) Use a wet knife to cut a single slit down the length of the loaf. Cover the loaf with plastic wrap and let rise for at least an hour (in the meantime, preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF).

Keep the knife wet for a clean cut.

When the loaf has risen, place a few ice cubes in a small baking dish and place this on the bottom rack of the oven. Let the oven get nice and steamy for 10 minutes before putting the bread in the oven. (The steam helps form a nice crisp crust!)

Put the bread on the middle rack of the oven and immediately turn down the temperature to 205ºC/400ºF. Bake for at least an hour, until the loaf is nicely browned. Let cool for about 3 hours before cutting.

Fresh from the oven!

Gluten-Free Yeast Bread Techniques, Lesson 1: Roll up your sleeves

2011-04-17T01:08:00.000-04:00

In the past few years, gluten-free baked goods have improved immensely both in quality and accessibility. There are even 100% GF bakeries in some cities! And I know that for every person buying gluten-free foods, there are at least as many who are baking at home. I've noticed, though, that despite all the gluten-free cookies, cupcakes, and brownies, good yeast breads are still much harder to find.

At first I assumed people just missed the sweet things more - after all, cafes sell scones and muffins to go with the coffee, not dinner rolls. But as I met more gluten-intolerant people, I noticed something else: many people feel that gluten-free yeast bread is too hard to make. It is more complicated than pancakes, of course, but it really doesn't have to be difficult. At all.

Since bread is what I most enjoy baking, I decided to post a series of lessons on gluten-free yeast bread. If you have felt daunted by the idea of making your own bread, I hope you will give it a try! And even if you bake frequently, I hope some of these lessons will still be helpful.

When I was learning to bake gluten-free, all of the mixes and recipes I found made bread from batter rather than a dough. I missed the "hands-on" aspects of baking: kneading, shaping, stretching the dough. I also missed the simplicity: flour, water, salt, maybe a little sugar or honey or oil. Instead, the GF versions required eggs, and often milk, along with fussy flour blends and gums. I (fortunately) have no problem with milk or eggs; that wasn't the issue. I just wanted bread to feel simple again.

Well, this is that simple bread, made gluten-free. This bread is also one that just about anyone can enjoy: it is free of all the "Top 8" allergens, and is even safe for those of you with sensitivities to potatoes! And did I mention it's delicious?


The taste and texture are nearly indistinguishable from whole-wheat bread. Seriously, look at that crumb! And it's not at all dry or crumbly - just a nice slice of bread.

If you are used to making batter-based bread, this recipe might seem surprising - especially some of the techniques involved. First of all, put away your mixer! This dough is stiff, so you won't need to beat it vigorously like batter (and it is not strong enough to use dough hooks). This is a completely hands-on process; all you need is a bowl or two, a spatula, and a little time. Like many traditional wheat breads, this bread starts out the night before you'll actually be baking it - this starter is often called a sponge, poolish, or preferment. It will give you the complex, yeasty flavours that make bread so yummy.

First, the ingredients for the sponge (poolish):

1/4 c buckwheat flour

1/4 c brown rice flour

1/4 c chickpea flour

2 T teff grains (not flour)

1 tsp yeast

140 mL water

Combine these ingredients in a large-ish bowl, cover, and ferment for 12-16 hours.

Other ingredients, for adding after the fermenting time:

1 c tapioca starch

2 T sweet rice flour

1 T psyllium husks

1/4 tsp Pomona's citrus pectin (see my "Ingredients" page for an explanation)

2 tsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp yeast

3/4 tsp double-acting baking powder

Water - 30-45 mL, as needed

2 tsp grapeseed oil or other light oil - - plus a little more for brushing top crust

2 tsp buckwheat honey** - - plus a little more for brushing crust (Buckwheat honey is a dark, strong honey; it is not like regular clover honey. You can usually find it at a health-food store.)

**If you are vegan, you might try substituting brown rice syrup or molasses for the honey - let me know how it goes!

Method:

After the sponge has fermented for 12-16 hours, whisk together the rest of the dry ingredients except the baking powder, and gradually work the dry mixture into the sponge. Start out with a soft spatula, but once most of the flour is worked in - when it looks like the picture below - you will need to use your hands.


Knead by hand to incorporate all the flour. I know it looks more like cookie dough right now - trust me though, it works!

Sprinkle in a little water as you knead if you cannot get all the flour into the dough. The amount you might need will vary, mostly depending on how well the sponge absorbed its water, so be conservative here - the dough should not be sticky!


Keep kneading...

Soon you will have a smooth, stiff dough.

When the dough looks like this, knead in the grapeseed oil. Cover the dough and allow it to double - about 2 hours.

At the end of that rising period, knead in the honey (and a little more water if necessary). The dough will probably seem a little crumbly when you first touch it; it hasn't dried out, it's just because the network formed by the psyllium and pectin weakened as the dough rested. A few moments of kneading should make it feel cohesive and smooth again. Now press the dough into a flat rectangle on a piece of parchment. This is where the baking powder comes in: sprinkle it over the surface of the rectangle. You will be rolling the dough so the baking powder is on the inside.

My weird, windowless kitchen makes everything look yellow.
No. matter. what. I. do.
...Anyway. Spread the baking powder evenly, like so.

Now, you may be wondering what on earth I'm doing. After all, squashing the dough and then rolling it up is hardly a normal step in breadmaking!

Well, this technique actually serves two purposes in getting a better loaf of gluten-free bread:

1) Rolling up the baking powder in the dough will provide extra leavening. Adding it this late in the recipe means it is still very active when you finally shape the loaf - it will start forming tiny air pockets, helping to keep the bread from being dense! (I will go into this in more detail in an upcoming lesson.)

2) Rather than just squishing the dough into a loaf shape, the rolling method will "align" the crumb - creating a springier slice of bread and a more even crust.

Starting with a short side, roll up
the dough. Just like cinnamon rolls!

Once you have rolled up the dough, gently shape the ends so the spiral does not show. If you are putting the loaf into a pan, lift it in to the pan parchment and all. You can also bake it as a free-form loaf on the parchment if you have a baking stone (place on middle rack of oven). Brush the top of the loaf thoroughly with a mixture of grapeseed oil and honey. Drape a piece of plastic wrap over the loaf and allow it to rise for the final time, about an hour. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF.

After the loaf has risen, place the pan in the oven or carefully slide the loaf with parchment onto the baking stone. (If you are using a glass pan, lower the temperature to about 190ºC/380ºF once you have put the bread in.) Bake for one hour or so, until the top crust is nicely browned and the loaf sounds hollow when you tap the bottom. Let it cool completely before slicing.

Even though it's whole-grain, this bread is very soft and flexible.
It's also especially yummy spread with honey.

Lavender-Lemon Tea Cakes

2011-04-01T01:01:00.000-04:00

There's this local ice cream company that makes a lot of interesting flavours. Sure, they have the usual things like chocolate and vanilla custard, but they also have things like raspberry-honey ice cream and creme fraiche gelato. The other day, a friend brought over a pint of lavender ice cream and I was reminded of just how delightful lavender tastes against such a sweet, creamy background. It also reminded me that I'd had that flavour once before, paired with one of the things that could make it even better - bright, citrusy lemon custard. And while ice cream is delicious any time of year (a fact which has been proven by my boyfriend, who will curl up, shivering, with a pint of Ben & Jerry's in the dead of winter), it doesn't exactly bring spring to mind.

Lemons and lavender, however, do - at least to me, the delicate herbal flavour of lavender and the bright, fresh taste of lemons seem perfect for a sun-filled spring day. I wanted to combine them in something that seemed equally spring-y. Despite the sun, it's still pretty cold here...so it doesn't hurt to have something that goes nicely with a hot cup of tea as well. Somewhere between a scone and a shortbread biscuit, these little tea cakes fit the bill and are sure to bring some sunshine to your table.

Lavender-Lemon Tea Cakes

**(Still only volume measurements for now - getting a new scale soon though!)**

1/2 c brown rice flour

1/2 c white rice flour

1/2 c tapioca starch

3/8 c Expandex modified tapioca

2 T sweet rice flour

1 T millet flour

1 T chestnut flour

2 tsp potato flour (not potato starch)

2 T sugar

1/8 tsp sea salt

1 tsp psyllium husks

3/8 tsp Pomona's pure citrus pectin

1 T double-acting baking powder

6 T (3 oz.) butter, cold

60 mL cream

50 mL milk

3 T light honey

1 medium egg (50 mL) (Can be made without the egg - just increase other liquids slightly)

2 tsp dried food-grade lavender

1 1/2 T lemon zest (about 2 lemons - I used one Meyer lemon and one regular lemon)

50 mL lemon juice

Method:

Mix flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, and psyllium and pectin in a bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan, heat the cream, milk, and honey - do not bring to a boil, but make sure it gets quite hot. Stir the lavender into the hot mixture, cover, and allow to infuse for 30 minutes. (After 30 min, strain the liquid to remove lavender, and chill it.) Meanwhile, zest and juice the lemons.


Lavender buds infusing in the sweet milk mixture

Cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until it is in small pieces, then rub it into the flour using your fingers until the mixture looks like small crumbs. Stir in the zest. Next add in the chilled lavender-milk infusion, the beaten egg (if using), and finally the lemon juice. Blend lightly with a spatula until the dough is uniform and soft. On a baking sheet lined with parchment, roll or pat the dough out to a thickness of ~ 1 inch/2.5 cm. Cut the dough into shapes using a glass or a biscuit cutter.

Brush the tops of the cakes with milk and decorate with extra sugar and lavender buds. Bake at 190ºC/375ºF for approx. 20 minutes, or until the cakes are very lightly browned.

Now pour yourself some tea and enjoy! These are also delicious with honey or some sweetened whipped cream.

Rustic millet & malted buckwheat bread

2011-03-06T19:15:00.000-05:00

Here's a riddle: what's crusty and chewy on the outside, with a soft, open crumb, full of whole grains, and gluten-free?

If you guessed "this bread"...ok, I know that wasn't really a riddle. Honestly, though - it is over 50% whole grain, yet has no eggs or gum. (Go ahead, check the recipe!) It's also really delicious, and keeps for days without getting dry. So go ahead - it's actually quite easy to make! I've been making it for a few months now, and have finally gotten the recipe just right. I gave up on trying to get a really impressive picture of it, and just decided to give you the recipe.

There's really only one problem with this bread: because of the high oat content, it doesn't really brown at all. It's so good that that doesn't matter, though - especially if you make it prettier (and even tastier) by rolling it in seeds before baking. I've just used sesame here, but I think a blend of sesame and poppy seeds would be even better.

I first hinted at this bread in my post about malting buckwheat. If you've never tried malting, I really encourage you to go for it! The seeds do most of the work themselves, you'll just need to tend to them every so often. Within a few days, you'll have nutty, sweet, roasted buckwheat bits that add a really special flavour to bread. (If you don't want to wait that long, you might try substituting whole teff grains or maybe some sort of seeds.)

This recipe uses a piece of equipment not normally used for baking: a blender. That's because the sponge starts with raw grains rather than flour - the resulting larger grain pieces keep the crumb from being too close, which makes bread gummy. It also gives a very nice, rustic texture.

So here's what to do:

The day before you want to bake the bread, combine in a blender:

- 1/4 c whole millet
- 3 T raw buckwheat
- 2 T malted buckwheat
- 1 c gluten-free rolled oats
- 60 mL thin yogurt, such as Trader Joe's European Style (yogurt should be just milk & cultures, no added thickeners)
- 250 mL water or whey

Blend until the mixture reaches a thin porridge consistency (no big chunks!), probably about a minute if you are using a standard kitchen blender. Pour the resulting slurry into a large bowl and stir in:

- 1/2 teaspoon yeast

Cover the bowl tightly and set it in a draft-free place for 12 - 24 hours.

Now make the dry mixture (sorry, only volume measurements for now - my scale seems to have lost its accuracy)

3/4 c tapioca starch
3/4 c Expandex modified tapioca starch
2 tsp potato flour (not starch)
2 tsp chickpea or other bean flour
3/8 tsp Pomona's pure citrus pectin (this is just pectin - as opposed to standard brands like Ball's etc which contain dextrose or other fillers)
2 T psyllium husks
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp yeast
(optional - 2 tsp sugar)

Blend the dry ingredients thoroughly, then mix into the sponge from yesterday. Knead dough by hand to ensure it is well-dispersed. If dough seems too stiff, sprinkle in a teaspoon or two of water. Re-cover bowl and set in a warmish place for up to 2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Now rub a piece of parchment with olive oil, and pre-heat oven (with baking stone) to 200º C/400º F.
Press dough into a flat rectangle on the parchment paper (as if you were going to make cinnamon rolls, but smaller). Roll the dough up into a narrow loaf shape, with the seam on the bottom, and roll it in plenty of sesame and/or poppy seeds. Cut slashes in the top crust and drape a piece of plastic-wrap over the loaf. Allow it to double in size (about 1 - 1 1/2 hours) and, using a baking peel or baking sheet to transfer, slide it onto the baking stone.

Bake for one hour. Cool for at least an hour before slicing.

P.S. - After this week, I'll be able to post (and create) recipes a lot more often. This is my final week of college! (Which means that...um...I really ought to get back to work on my final project, rather than blogging.) Soon I will also post some tutorials, going over yeasted-bread-baking techniques in more detail.
Until then - Enjoy your bread!

Sweets, Behind the Scenes: A Tour of Theo Chocolate

2011-02-12T16:34:00.000-05:00

With Valentine's Day coming up so soon, I imagine many of us are thinking about chocolate. (Er...more so than usual, I mean.) I recently had the opportunity to tour Theo chocolate in Seattle - in fact, the only organic, fair-trade, bean-to-bar chocolate maker in the United States.

In preparation for this field trip, my class covered a lot of interesting and eye-opening information about chocolate and its production. Some of these things can help you make sure the sweets you may buy are truly sweet in all senses of the word - for you, the environment, and everyone involved in making them.

Interesting fact of the day: Did you know that chocolate is a fermented product? The fruit on the outside of the beans is fermented by yeasts and bacteria, which infuses the bean with compounds that give chocolate its complex, fruity flavour. This process must be carefully monitored, though, to avoid mold growth. (Many companies operate on such a large scale that the fermentation isn't monitored...meaning there is mold in those cheap chocolate bars!) After the fruit has fermented, the beans are dried in the sun. All this is done before the beans can be shipped for roasting. The process is much like coffee roasting, but it smells even better, if you can believe that!

These are the cocoa nibs. They taste sort of fruity and nutty.
Photo: Flickr user La.Catholique (CC Attribution licensed)

We got to taste some freshly-roasted cocoa nibs...

Did I mention that the whole factory smelled delicious??

Some of this aroma was coming from the soon-to-be chocolate as it was conching - the process that evenly distributes cocoa solids and cocoa butter for a smooth texture and full flavour. The heat and hours of mixing also allow acids left over from fermentation to evaporate. Many manufacturers cut this step short, though, and add baking soda or potassium bicarbonate to neutralise the acid (this is what is called Dutch-process or alkalized cocoa). This has the sometimes-desired effect of darkening the chocolate, but adding the alkalizing agent also destroys much of the chocolate's antioxidant benefits! That piece of information is usually not mentioned when dark chocolate is touted as "healthy;" look for chocolate that is not alkalized/Dutch-processed.

Here is the roaster and the machine that removes
shells from the beans. Photo from Theo's website.

We got to sample several of their chocolates throughout the tour, of course. It is possibly the best chocolate I have ever had. And no, they're not paying me to say that! Honestly, this chocolate is amazing. They do make just one bar that isn't gluten-free, but the wheat isn't added until the very end (as in, just before pouring into molds) and they are careful to clean all the equipment thoroughly. They are also one of very few chocolate makers who don't use soy lecithin.

In addition to plain chocolate, Theo also makes
a number of interesting and creative flavoured bars.
The coffee is one of my favourites.

The biggest issue I wanted to mention, though, comes long before the cacao beans are made into chocolate: the concept of Fair Trade. I am ashamed to admit I didn't know that much of the world's cacao, grown in western Africa, is produced through child slavery. (And that is the cacao grown for Hershey's, Nestle, and so on.) After learning that, it was very sobering to consider just how ubiquitous cheap chocolate is - in candy bars, ice cream, and so on - and how many of us buy those things without thinking about where it really came from.

It seems the only sure way to avoid supporting that industry is to choose Fair Trade-certified chocolate. All of the beans used by Theo are Fair Trade, with most of it grown in smallish crops in Central America. Some of the chocolates they make are single-origin, too - this means you can taste the difference between regions, a concept known as terroir. It's the same principle as the regional taste differences in wine and coffee. Part of it is the mineral composition in the soil, and since it is a fermented food, regional differences in microorganisms play a part as well, just as with wine and cheese.

So, when you are choosing some sweets for your sweetie (or for yourself, for that matter!) look for fair-trade certification on the label - for ethical reasons, yes, but due to the production processes it is also likely to be better quality overall. How much sweeter could it be?

By the way, if you live anywhere near Seattle, Theo gives tours daily. (Read: lots of samples included.) If you are in a different part of the country, they distribute through other stores including Whole Foods and some food co-ops, plus you can order from their web site.

Julia Child's Daube de Boeuf (On a Student's Budget)

2011-01-31T23:32:00.000-05:00

It's not often that I'm compelled to post a recipe that's non-baking-related. Partly because this is primarily a baking blog, and partly because unlike baking, when I'm cooking, I don't measure or write things down.

Some people say that's how to be a "real" cook: do everything by taste, smell, appearance. I don't know what I think about that. I mean, where would we be without recipes? I'm not just talking about cookbooks. My mother keeps a small wooden notecard box on top of the kitchen shelf, filled with recipes jotted on tattered slips of paper and clipped from newspapers decades ago. I would imagine many of you have something similar.

And then there are the "recipes" that are really more like an outline. A set of ingredients, in assorted subjective proportions, yet still recognisable as, for instance, chili - despite whatever variations upon the theme may occur. You can make it hot or mild, with or without beans, with beef, with turkey; you have dozens of combinations of spices to choose from, but as long as a certain framework is there, it's unmistakably recognisable as chili.

Despite the resilience of these food frameworks, we still have recipes documenting countless permutations of a given dish. This needs no reason beyond the fact that someone liked it that exact way. But I don't need to tell you that, I suppose.

I've given this recipe much more of a grandiose introduction than I'd intended - especially considering that it is such unpretentious food. There is nothing out-of-the-ordinary about it. The changes I made have, if anything, made it even more modest than the one Julia Child described as a simple country dish. This mostly entailed trimming the expense of ingredients by decreasing the quantity of meat and using canned rather than fresh tomatoes, though I also took a few shortcuts for simplicity's sake. For instance, the original recipe calls for beef stock - I substituted water and it turned out just fine. So, without further ado:

Daube de Boeuf

Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

1 pound/455 grams pastured, grass-fed beef, cut into cubes - look for lean cut for stew
1 can diced tomatoes
2 large carrots, sliced thinly
1/2 large onion and/or shallots, sliced
1 1/4 cups white and/or brown mushrooms, sliced
2 or more slices bacon (I used just 2, from Applegate Farms)
1 cup/235 mL red wine
approx. 1/4 cup/30 g gluten-free flour - I used white rice flour & potato starch
1-2 T olive oil

Black pepper
Thyme
Bay leaves

Method:
Begin by cutting the bacon into pieces about 2 inches/5 cm in length. Bring a small pan of water to a simmer, and put the bacon in it for about 10 minutes. (According to Julia Child, this step is because American bacon is so smoky compared to French, and if you skip this step the whole daube will taste strongly of bacon.) After simmering, dry the bacon with paper towels.

The original recipe recommends
boiled potatoes, risotto,
or noodles to accompany.

- Preheat oven to 163 C/ 325 F.

Meanwhile, dry the pieces of beef with paper towels, then roll them in the flour until evenly coated. Heat the oil in an enamelled Dutch oven, and brown the beef (if it sticks, splash in a little wine). Once this is done, remove the beef or push it off to one side so you can make a layer of vegetables on the bottom. Distribute the beef evenly back over it. Add another layer of vegetables, then tomatoes - continue this pattern until all the vegetables are in.

Distribute the bacon and herbs over top of it, then pour over wine, juice from tomatoes, and enough water to nearly (but not quite) cover the vegetables.

Cover with lid, place in oven, allow to cook for about 3 hours.

Serve with boiled potatoes or crusty bread.

Now, "Bon appetit!"

We wish you a GF Christmas...

2010-12-22T19:56:00.000-05:00

I found out I was gluten-intolerant the day after Christmas. My mother and I had baked so many cookies - as we did every year, to give as gifts. Of course, I'd planned on taking some for myself as well when I went back to my dormitory after Christmas. Instead, I added them to the treats I had already planned to give to all my friends. My stomach was no longer miserable, at least. However, I felt horribly deprived. And after tasting some packaged ~~sponges~~ Tapioca Bread, I remember wondering whether I'd ever be able to eat anything good again. (I guess I was a little melodramatic...)

That was three years ago. Oh, how things have changed!

If this is your first Christmas without gluten, be assured that you don't have to go without delicious holiday treats. And even if you have been gluten-free for years, it can still be helpful to keep some things in mind as you spend the holidays with family and friends who may or may not understand your dietary needs. These are some things I've learned - I hope you'll find them useful too.

1: Baking. There are an amazing number of recipes on the internet - not to mention in cookbooks - for pies, cookies, and so on. Some gluten-free bloggers have even put together collections of holiday recipes (here and here are two great places to start). You can also find flour blends that can be substituted cup-for-cup to convert favourite recipes. If someone else in your family usually bakes the traditional treats, ask if they would try using one of these blends in a recipe or two! My mother converted all our traditional recipes - quite successfully - using a blend of sorghum flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch.

2: Parties. If you are going to a party where you know the hosts personally, make sure to talk to them ahead of time. This way, you can find out if they will be able to accommodate you - and your hosts will be spared the awkwardness of not knowing about your restrictions until you show up, and finding they have nothing you can eat. If you are going to a larger party or potluck, stick to things that are almost certainly safe: fruit & veg trays and things in packages with the label on it are good places to start. Nut mixes and cold-cuts of meat can be iffy. In any case, offer to bring something to the party; this way you know there will be something safe. (Few things are worse than being hungry and surrounded by food you cannot eat!)

3: Alcohol. This is something you may frequently encounter at parties and other gatherings. With eggnog, ask to see the ingredients list - be wary of unidentified "modified food starch" and flavourings. If you are at a bar, stick to fruit-based things (sherry, wine, vermouth, cider) and distilled things (gin, vodka, etc.). Neat fact: distilled liquor, like distilled vinegar, is free of gluten even if it is grain-based. Beware anything with added colours or flavours, though: caramel colour and French vanilla flavouring are just two examples that may be grain-based, and alcohol is not required to show an ingredients list.

4: Travel. It may seem obvious, but bring food with you when you are travelling! Airport restaurants operate with a very small food prep area, so cross-contamination is likely. In-flight snacks usually consist of pretzels or crackers, and even when peanuts are available I have found that the seasoning often includes wheat flour. (True story: on a flight last year, I asked the flight attendant if any of the available snacks were gluten free. She looked puzzled, then responded, "Gluten? Is that, like,...fat-free?" Needless to say, I stuck to my own food!)

Some good, compact GF travel foods: crackers or cookies (homemade or packaged); cereal bars like Enviro-Kids, or energy bars (make sure the label says GF); dried fruit; nuts; cheese; corn tortillas; dry GF cereal/granola. I recently took a whole loaf of homemade bread through airport security with no problem. Also, if you want to bake, make sure to bring some flours with you if you will be staying with relatives.

5: Family. This is probably the hardest one. I really think the holidays are the most difficult time for many gluten-intolerant people, with everyone sharing baked things that are a part of family traditions. I know it will be hard to explain to your grandmothers that you cannot try their Christmas cookies, not even "just a bite."

Many people have still never heard of celiac disease, and those that have may not understand cross-contamination or even what "gluten-free diet" really means. (Someone once asked me if I could eat things made with white flour, because it wasn't "whole" wheat!)

Explain to your friends and family, if you haven't already, why you must stick to a GF diet. Though a number of people do eat gluten-free by choice, for most of us it is non-negotiable. And lastly: please, please do not "cheat" by eating gluten if you know it makes you sick. Your long-term health is more important than a cookie.

Speaking of...

Here is the recipe! Measurements are given in volume rather than weight, because the original wheat recipe gives volume measurements.

Buttery Almond Biscuits

Makes 30 pressed biscuits

1 1/4 C unsalted butter, softened (2 1/2 sticks)
scant 3/4 C granulated sugar

1 cage-free egg

scant 1 C almond flour (or grind almonds in food processor)
5/8 C (1/2 C + 2 T) tapioca starch
3/8 C (6 T) sweet rice flour
2 1/2 T Expandex modified tapioca starch
1/2 C potato starch
1/4 C millet flour
3/4 tsp fruit pectin
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
raw sugar, reserved for decoration (optional)

Method:

Combine all dry ingredients (except sugar) in a bowl. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, then stir in the egg. Gradually add the flour blend, making sure there are no lumps of butter or almond in the dough. The mixture will now be very soft and sticky - it is half butter, after all - so it will work best if you chill it for at least 20 minutes before pressing it into pan.

Heat the oven to 175º C / 350º F. There is no need to grease the pans; the butter in the dough is enough to keep them from sticking. When dough is chilled, dip your fingers in tapioca starch and press it into pans, allowing about 1/2 cm for rising. You may use decorative ones, as above, or simply use round or square tins for sliced shortbread. (The results of the latter actually taste more like shortbread in my opinion...though they're not as pretty.) Prick the tops with a skewer and, if making sliced shortbread, score the dough with a knife.

Bake until edges have turned golden: 13 mins. if using dark pan with individual wells, large tins may take 20 mins. or more. Turn shaped biscuits out whilst warm and sprinkle tops with reserved sugar, or if slicing, sprinkle with sugar and carefully cut slices immediately after removing from oven (do not remove biscuits from tin until cool).

**Note: for best taste and texture - wait several hours before eating.**

The Scientific Method

2010-12-05T19:25:00.000-05:00

I admit it: I am a science geek. Although, most people who know me well are already quite aware of this - and have ~~put up with~~ listened to my ramblings about polymer synthesis or the elegance of a Diels-Alder reaction or the role of proteases in the autoimmune pathogenesis of celiac disease. (There I go again. Oh dear.)

That's why I'm surprised that until recently, I had never heard of the "foodie" movement called molecular gastronomy**. Or, for that matter, even given much thought to molecules when I was in the kitchen. Despite building an academic foundation in chemistry, I kept cooking the way I always had done: by look, taste, and feel, with a generous spoonful of convention. (Convention also frequently borders on superstition; how many of you were taught that salting a pot of water would make it boil at a hotter temperature? Turns out that for this to be true, you would need to add an incredible amount of salt - nowhere near what is used in cooking!)

I just finished my first quarter of formally studying food chemistry, though, and had some revelations about baking. Suddenly understanding why some breads turn out well when just minor changes can make them fail. Realising that I can figure out how to deliberately plan the chemical properties of dough. It's so exciting to come up with a completely new recipe, without figuratively crossing my fingers as I decide how much of each flour to add to the bowl.

Unfortunately I haven't had nearly as many opportunities to apply these things as I would have liked, not to mention time to post any of the things I have made...
I'm one quarter away from finishing college, and I'm interning as a chemistry tutor as well. It's a rigorous combination!

I have had time for a few "science experiments" in the kitchen, though. The stuff in that picture up there, for instance: malted buckwheat. The process of malting activates the seeds' own enzymes to break down large molecules - like starches and proteins - into small ones, including an array of sugars and aromatic compounds. It adds a really wonderful flavour to bread! Very nutty and, well, malty. The process is a bit fussy, but actually it's not difficult. You can find detailed instructions on many home-brewing websites, but the basics are:

- soak the grains for about 36 hours, rinsing and replacing the water every 8 hours or so
- drain them into a strainer / mesh colander
- put them in a cool dark place for a couple of days, again rinsing every 8 hours - until the little rootlike sprouts are about double the length of a grain, and then
- spread them out on a baking sheet and dry them in a low oven.

That's it! Once the grains are dry you can raise the temperature to roast them (just don't put them in a hot oven without drying them first, you don't want to steam/boil them). Now you can grind them up and add to flour!

It's not much of a recipe, but now I have a month-long break before next quarter begins, so I'll post some "real" recipes very soon, I promise. Including a recipe for kneadable bread, with no xanthan or guar gum. I'm serious. Yay science!

**This term has accumulated many meanings in recent years. The original intent, though, is just what the words imply: studying food molecules and their interactions, and applying that knowledge to the way we cook and adjust recipes. A great book is Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking. The author's website has some neat information too.

Austrian Bread Dumplings

2010-09-17T20:58:00.000-04:00

The things you see in this picture are definitely comfort food (translation: composed of butter and carbohydrates). But wait, they have vegetables with them!
...That makes it okay, right??

Oh well. I never said this blog was diet-friendly.

Anyway, as the name implies, these dumplings are made from leftover bread. This can be dry bread or, in this case, bread that was just kind of lackluster in its original form. Considering how quickly GF bread can dry out, it's always good to know that there are other things you can do with it besides french toast!

(As an aside, there's a reason I've ended up with lots of extra bread. I won't say just yet what I've been working on, but I can tell you that soon I will have a very exciting recipe to share!)

Recipes seem to vary widely, but this one seemed most the dumpling meal I'd had in Austria - although there I had it with mushroom gravy. It was very good. However, gravy takes a little more time, and...um...I get impatient when I'm hungry. If you have more patience than me (or are better at planning ahead), I do recommend trying these with some gravy.

In Austria these are called semmel knoedeln, by the way. However, I shall continue to refer to them as dumplings. Because it's easier to say. (I never did get the hang of German.)

So here's what you do:

1) Find some dry bread. Recipes I've found call for something along the lines of a baguette - the bread I used was denser, but I wouldn't recommend using anything really hearty or with lots of seeds in.

2) Chop dry bread into small cubes until you have a total of somewhere around 2 cups (volume is more important than weight in this case). If you'd rather use a food processor, take care not to turn it into crumbs - you want the dumplings to keep some texture.

3) Melt 1/2 T butter in a skillet and lightly brown the bread cubes. Meanwhile, measure out 75-80 grams / about 2/3 - 3/4 cup of a self-raising flour blend.

I used 50 g tapioca flour and 15 g each of rice flour and sorghum flour, with 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp fruit pectin.

4) Combine the toasted crumbs and the flour blend in a bowl and add 1 beaten egg and a few splashes of milk, just enough to form a (just to warn you: somewhat unappetising) soft, doughy mass. I don't give an exact measurement because that will depend on the absorbency of your bread and flour blend. Add salt, pepper, and herbs such as parsley or sage to taste, and allow the mixture to soak for 20-30 minutes.

Dough will look like this.
(It gets better, I promise!)

Meanwhile, sauté an assortment of mushrooms and a sliced shallot in 1/2 T butter (if you plan to serve the dumplings on a plate rather than in soup). You can now either make mushroom gravy to pour over the dumplings, or simply set the mixture aside to serve with the dumplings as above. Next bring a pot of water, broth, or soup to a boil. If using water, a teaspoon of cider vinegar in the water will help the dumplings hold together.

5) Dip your hands in cold water and form a ball with some of the batter. Using a ladle, lower the ball into the boiling liquid. Repeat this until all the dough is in the pot. Keep it at a boil and partly cover. Cooking time will depend on the size of the dumplings, but will be around 10-15 minutes. They will be firm when they are done.

6) If you are serving them in soup, you're done! Serve them up and enjoy!

Otherwise, remove the dumplings to a plate and heat 1 T butter (yes, more butter) in a skillet. If desired, slice the dumplings into 3 or 4 pieces; otherwise, just put the whole dumplings in the pan and fry until lightly browned. Serve with vegetables and gravy, if using.

My Cup of Tea (with biscuits)

2010-09-10T21:46:00.000-04:00

Summer has evidently declared itself to be over, now that the Northwest's signature greyness has crept back into the sky. Usually I have nothing against clouds and rain, not in the least - but right now I'm not ready for them yet. It's just too soon to be sitting here in a sweater, watching the drizzle spatter on the balcony railing.

Still, the sweater is cosy. That is something I do like about fall - staying warm, wearing sweaters and curling up beneath blankets. Comforting.

To tell the truth, I suppose I've been needing something like that for a while now. Over the past few months I've been having to deal with some unexpected health problems. They've left me drained to say the least. Practically everything I want or need to do, even simply keeping up with things, has been hard...even baking leaves me tired. (Not to mention trying to bake something nice enough to post, though I've really missed doing so.) Everything feels exhaustingly difficult.

A dreary day like this, then, basically reminded me to take the time to curl up in my sweater and rest. This is definitely a good day for something comforting.

Right away I knew I needed a big cup of tea...and something to go with it. Something sweet. Something...nobbly. Have you ever had a HobNob? In case you haven't, they are a type of biscuit, sweet and, well, (as the package says) nobbly. I think the word describes the texture perfectly - crisp and crumbly like a biscuit, but with lots of oats as well. (Further posts on biscuits to follow, I'm sure. They're too yummy to only mention once! Also, I do drink a lot of tea.)

So, I set out to replicate them and satisfy my biscuit craving. However, it wasn't like trying to convert a homemade recipe (as, of course, this is a packaged biscuit I was trying to imitate). The result wasn't really what I was aiming for - it wasn't quite a HobNob. But apart from that, it was certainly a biscuit - quite a tasty biscuit at that. So even though it's not what I meant to make, this recipe is just too good to not share.

Crisp Oat Biscuits
Makes 12 - 14

50 g (1/2 c) certified GF oats
15 g (1 1/2 T) teff flour
20 g (1/4 c) chestnut flour
30 g (1/3 c) tapioca flour
10 g (2 tsp) rice bran
75 g (1/2 c) sugar

1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp each of baking soda and baking powder
1/8 tsp pectin (optional, but makes dough easier to handle)

5 1/2 T organic palm shortening, such as Spectrum
30 mL (2 T) cold water

Mix all the dry ingredients together, then cut in the shortening. Rub the shortening into the mixture with your fingers until it resembles a bowl of breadcrumbs. Then sprinkle in the water a little at a time, smashing the dough together each time - it should be just wet enough to hold together, but firm enough that you can roll it out (not wet like batter).

Preheat your oven to 190 C/ 375 F. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet and carefully roll out the dough so it is very thin. (I used the side of a glass, and did not have problems with sticking.) Cut out round shapes with a biscuit cutter or a glass. Gather up the scraps of dough in between the rounds, and roll it out to cut more rounds. Repeat until all the dough is used. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until the biscuits are slightly golden. Remove to a rack to cool.

Whilst waiting for them to cool, make a pot of tea! It is especially nice to dip the biscuits in the tea. Enjoy!

Summer, and Caprese Pizza with Gremolata

2010-08-28T19:13:00.000-04:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been more than two months since I last posted! You know how the saying goes, though: time flies when you're...um...really, really busy. (Okay, so I guess that's not quite how the saying goes...)

It seems in most places summer is at the height of its luxuriance. Where I grew up, this is the time when the air is practically throbbing with the drone of cicadas, and so thick with humidity it feels almost heavy. Those things mark the time of the summer to delight in the simplest things: a perfect peach, for instance, is so lush and delicious, satisfying enough to distract from the heat.

Here, though, it feels almost like summer is still just arriving. The days are sunny, but just warm, not what I'd call hot. We've had several small stretches of heat - some quite intense - but after a week or two it cools back down again. It seems very strange to find that, in the middle of August, the blackberries have just begun to ripen. Lately the morning air has been crisp and smelling of autumn.

Still, I've often been hungry for all the things I associate with this time of the year. Maybe it's learned; maybe it's instinct. A few times these cravings have brought to mind the time I spent in Italy. I suppose I have many fond culinary memories from that summer: just-plucked figs that were as succulent and sweet as honey. Bitter espresso tempered with a touch of tart lemon. The ubiquitous insalata caprese, a vivid combination of fresh mozzarella, tangy sliced tomatoes, and lush green basil leaves, all drizzled with full-bodied olive oil. That meal alone is an examination of simplicity; every flavour clear and distinct, in harmony with the others.

But perhaps most of all I remember the little restaurant in...I regret to say I can't recall which city. I don't frequently dine out when I travel; I have always preferred perusing open-air produce markets, small groceries, and (when I still could) bakeries. But this night I found myself ordering something off a menu - a pizza, to be exact. Pizza, in Italy, is offered at even relatively formal restaurants, and an entire small pizza serves as an entree for one. It is eaten with a fork and knife, and the crust is very thin. It truly showcases each of its ingredients. I remember mine was delicious.

What really shines in my memory about that meal, though, was what followed. Though I hadn't ordered them, I was brought a small dish of strawberries - but not normal garden strawberries. These were raspberry-sized, soft, and velvety red, the quintessence of freshness. The cameriere explained that they were local wild fruits and very special; they could not even be transported outside the region, he said, for they just wouldn't last.

That is one of the things I love most about summer - experiencing something so simple at the very moment it is finest, enjoying it in full. I created this pizza a few weeks ago to showcase some of the freshest flavours I could find - also pairing two classic Italian combinations that are generally not found together, but the result was delicious. The first is the aforementioned caprese salad. The other is gremolata - usually used as a sort of garnish, served with meat dishes. The ingredients, though - fresh parsley, minced garlic, and lemon zest - seemed like the perfect thing to add. It gives it a delightfully unexpected bright note to the flavour overall.

Recipe:

For the dough, use this bread recipe. Halve the dough to serve 2 people, use the whole recipe for a larger pizza. It also works very well to use egg replacer (powdered, such as Ener-G brand) in place of the eggs.

Stretch the dough out flat on a parchment-paper-covered baking stone. Using olive oil to coat, press it very thin with your fingers.

Make the gremolata: mince 1-2 cloves of garlic and 2 T of fresh parsley, and combine with 1 tsp of lemon zest. Cover the mixture with olive oil and spread it across the pizza dough.

Thinly slice 8 ounces of fresh mozzarella and a few Roma or Campari tomatoes into rounds. Layer the cheese and tomato slices to cover the entire pizza, and scatter chopped fresh basil over that.

Place in a cold oven and turn immediately to 400 F / 200 C. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the cheese has just slightly begun to brown.

Enjoy! (Oh, and by the way...the strawberries were wonderful.)

Some Bread for the Table

2010-06-15T17:46:00.000-04:00

Can you believe this is gluten-free?

Look at the way the surface stretches apart, revealing the soft, porous bread beneath. The crust, dusted with extra flour to really bring out the artisan-loaf appearance, is crisp but not hard. The interior is tender and springy. The flavour itself is understated - at first it may seem even a little bland - but this just makes it perfect to be complemented by some rich farm butter.

This is another bread using the cold oven technique. Thanks to the relatively large amount of yeast, the bread slowly rises as the oven heats. This results in an evenly-baked loaf - it doesn't brown too quickly or leave the inside underdone. There is another part to the method, though, that is unusual for gluten-free bread: it has two risings. This is not for the sake of kneading (as is the case with wheat doughs); rather, it helps the flavour and texture of the bread whilst giving the yeast time to multiply.

As with most wheat-based artisan breads, this bread is best when very fresh. That is no problem though - simply gather a few friends around your table and provide some butter, herbed olive oil, or cheese...this loaf will disappear very quickly! It would also be very good shaped into smaller rolls, which may help it last longer as well.

"Pain de Ménage" (Homemade Bread)

Dry ingredients:

150 g potato starch
35 g white rice flour
25 g garbanzo-fava flour
25 g Expandex modified tapioca starch
15 g buckwheat flour
10 g sweet rice flour

1 tsp each of xanthan and guar gum
1/2 tsp pectin (used for making jam; can be found with canning supplies)
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp Ener-G egg replacer (helps with binding and leavening)

Wet ingredients:

2 eggs, beaten
100 mL warm water: add 1 tsp sugar and 1/2 T yeast
30 mL oil (I used canola)

Method:

Blend all the dry ingredients together with a whisk in a mixing bowl. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water and let it foam for a few minutes. Next add the eggs, yeast mixture, and lastly the oil to the flour mixture, and "knead" with a soft spatula until dough is smooth. If the dough seems too stiff, sprinkle in a little more warm water until it is springy. Now cover the bowl with clingfilm and allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes. This allows the yeast to multiply and develop the flavour of the bread - two things GF bread generally misses out on by having only one rising. (If you want an even more developed yeast flavour, you could try adding an additional rising.) At the end of this time period, squash the dough down and tip it out onto a baking stone covered with a piece of lightly oiled, lightly floured baking parchment. Gently roll the ball of dough in the flour (I used tapioca and potato starch) so it has a visible dusting of flour. Work in some more starch if the dough seems too loose and sticky. Stretch the surface so it is smooth, and tuck any rough edges underneath the loaf. Shape it into an oval, brush it with oil, and dust with a little more flour. Now cut the slits in the top using an oiled knife.

Place the loaf in a cold oven and turn it immediately to 204° C/ 400° F. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes, until the crust is nicely browned and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a rack.

Yes.

2010-05-23T14:56:00.000-04:00

I made the fougasse work this time. And just in time. This weekend is the "Go GF Challenge" - an invitation to non-gluten-intolerant people to try living gluten-free for a weekend, as part of Celiac Awareness Month. And my Love has agreed to take on this feat. (And considering what an avid bread-eater he is, yes, it is a feat.) So I wanted to make something good. Specifically, I wanted to make bread that is good.

And it is.

Is it perfect? Well, no.
Is it a little dry? Yes, but not terribly so.
Will I keep playing with it, and post a revision at some point? Yes, quite probably.

Which brings me to an interesting point, one I've been considering lately.

In trying to replicate traditional breads - a standard that has been set by stretchy, gluten-y dough - I think the true potential of some of my gluten-free baking is being compromised.

Gluten-free dough is wet. Almost always. It is not the sort of thing that holds a shape well. You can turn out a perfectly good, soft loaf of bread, but to get there, you probably had to spread batter into a pan. Wheat bread shapes easily. To replicate that shape with a GF dough (and even to make a dough, not a batter) I've found the finished product often lacks moisture. I'm sacrificing texture to carry on the tradition of appearance.

Alternatively, sometimes I compromise appearance to get a more flavourful flour blend. Sometimes I give up on whatever concept I had in mind, and instead focus on creating something unique. In fact, some of my best results have come from not trying to make any specific thing, like my Honey Sandwich Bread. It will definitely be very good in its own right, but the flavour and appearance won't necessarily resemble any particular type of wheat bread. And in many cases, that's fine.

However, I've written before about my thoughts on traditions. Food traditions. Bread traditions.

This is my dough just before I put it in the oven. It looks, I imagine, much like fougasse in Provence has looked for generations.

It's said that the slits are meant to resemble an ear of wheat, but the design arose more from practicality than pure symbolism: this originally was what bakers would make from leftover dough as their ovens cooled at the end of the day. The slits ensured that even as the oven temperature dropped, the bread would cook all the way through. Eventually it became popular in its own right, and is now a recognisably traditional French loaf.

Here it is freshly baked. Just as it should look.

But I know it could still taste better in some ways. How do I choose, though, between the way the bread of my heritage looks, and how the bread from my memory tastes? I don't think that would be fair, really. To me, the idea of bread - and what it means within a culture - is nearly as important to enjoyment as the taste.

Part of me knows that I am now a part of a different culture - the one of gluten-intolerant people coming together to create (and, of course, share) good food. And the internet is such a wonderful tool for uniting this relatively new community. Yet other parts of me still feel the pull of connection to something older, as if I'm carrying on a story that's been told for generations. Which do I bring to my table? I don't think it's a choice I could make. And honestly, I don't think I have to choose; I believe I can find a balance.

So I keep baking until I find that balance. It will just take time, patience, and a lot of loaves. Many may not be perfect, but they are certainly still good. Good enough to call my own.

So in the meantime...have some bread. Enjoy.

Fougasse with Herbes de Provence

100 g potato starch
50 g tapioca starch
25 g buckwheat flour
20 g sorghum flour
20 g Expandex modified tapioca flour
15 g brown rice flour
10 g chestnut flour
5 g soy flour

3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pectin
1/2 tsp guar gum
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp Herbes de Provence

100 mL (about 6 T) warm water
1 - 1 1/2 tsp honey
1/2 T yeast

Mix the flours, salt, pectin, herbs, and gums in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat the egg and oil together. Add the honey and yeast to the warm water, and let it foam for a few minutes. Meanwhile, work about half the flour into the egg-oil mixture. Next add the yeast-water, followed by the rest of the flour. If the dough is too sticky, work in an additional tablespoon or two of tapioca flour.

Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking stone and set the dough on it. Lightly press out the dough with your hands, stretching it lightly outward as you press, and shaping it into an oval. Make 6-10 diagonal slits with a wet knife, and stretch the slits apart with wet fingers. Make the slits large enough that they will not close as the bread rises (see the picture of the unbaked loaf). Brush all exposed surfaces with olive oil. Set the baking stone in a cold oven and turn it immediately to 210 C/400 F. Bake until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped, about 30 minutes. Allow the bread to cool completely before eating.

Take Two

2010-05-15T16:44:00.000-04:00

French fougasse with Herbs de Provence: sounds just about perfect, no?

Well. It cracked again.

I only seem to have this problem when I try to make flat loaves. Maybe it's a surface area problem - no loaf tin to restrain the sides of the bread as it puffs.

Result: more ugly bread.

This round was a little more chewy, even more flavourful, and had more air pockets than my last attempt. This dough is being very stubborn, though. Now it's a little dry instead of being too wet...yet it still split. But you know what? I am more stubborn. And it's a beautiful sunny spring day here. I'm going to walk to the Co-Op to get some more cage-free eggs, so I can try again.

And hopefully the rain stays away until well after I perfect this bread - it would be delightful to have a picnic. Herbed rustic bread, some cheese, fruit, maybe some wine...oh dear, now I'm going to be daydreaming about France. I think it's this warm sunny weather, making me fanciful - it's usually cool and rainy here!

Anyway, they say the third time's the charm, right? If that's true, I will have a recipe to share very soon!

County Galway Cottage Pie

2010-05-07T18:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, I know this is not bread. Not even remotely. But it does go in the oven, and it is traditional, simple, and most importantly, delicious.

It also comes with a little bit of a story.

In the more rural parts of Ireland, many roads have significant stretches that are not lit at night. At. All. Combine this with the fact that further north along the western coast, all of the road markings change to Gaelic (if the road is even marked). So you may find yourself driving in the dark, across what seems to be - as near as you can tell in the dark - a huge rolling pasture with a single narrow path paved through it. (Well, part of it is paved anyway.) All you have to guide you is the reassurance that you can't have possibly taken a wrong turn, because this was the only road on the map.

So here we were, driving blindly forward towards the tiny, dim glow ahead. After a time we came to the town. (Which, much to our relief, was in fact the town we were trying to get to. This is no small feat when you have passed no signs of civilisation for the past hour!) And as we drove through this town, my mum spotted a restaurant that - surprisingly for such a late hour - appeared to still be open.

The inside of the restaurant was not what I'd anticipated. It was very quiet - there was no traditional session music like there would be in a pub, and there were actually only two other people in the place. It also was not homey or quaint like what I would expect in a small coastal town. I was sceptical, but it was really our only option for hot food. Also it was a seafood restaurant. They had to have something good. I ordered, as the menu called it, "baked cod," or something equally ambiguous.

When it was brought to the table, though, it was not just plain fish. It was a sort of pie, with mash potato on the top. And inside was...cream sauce? With fish? I was now very sceptical. I could not think of a single example where fish plus milk seemed like a good idea. But I took a bite, and my mind was changed completely. It was rich, and warming, and completely delicious. Here in this empty, unwelcoming restaurant, I had discovered a brand new comfort food that tasted like it could have come from a cottage kitchen.

And here is the recipe for you.

Cod Pie

(Note: This recipe makes a serving for one person. Measurements are approximate. Increase recipe for the number of individual pies you wish to make.)

For each pie you will need:

One small glass or ceramic baking dish (holds about a cup of volume)
One small cod fillet
One potato, sliced up but not peeled
Milk
Cream
Butter
Thyme, parsley, salt, and pepper

Method:

Heat the oven to 218 C/ 425 F. Place the potato into a pot, cover with cold salted water, and bring to a boil on high. Boil until tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the cod into small pieces and lay them in the baking dish. Pour a little milk and cream over until the fish is about half-covered - enough to thoroughly moisten and flavour the fish, but make sure it won't bubble over the edge. Add some fresh thyme and parsley, and generous amounts of salt and pepper.

Mash the potato with a knob of butter, a little cream, and milk, and season with salt and pepper. Spread the mash in a layer over the fish. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the potato begins to turn golden. Garnish with freshly snipped scallions, if desired.

Enjoy!

Bread not even a mother could love.

2010-04-24T14:54:00.000-04:00

I woke up early this morning very excited to try the new recipe I'd been formulating. You see, the French bakery-café downtown (I've mentioned it before) does an artisan walnut fougasse. It looks wonderful. I end up staring every time I'm in there. Of course it's not gluten-free, though - so it was time to make my own.

I mixed up the dough. A little wetter than I'm used to, I thought to myself, but I'll just work in some more flour and it will be better. More and more flour later, it was still somewhat too sticky and wet. I gave up and shaped it, deciding I'd see what would happen. Maybe it would work anyway, I thought.

I shaped it into a flat oval and cut the characteristic almond-shaped slits through it. It rose nicely. Putting aside my apprehension about its stickiness, I slid it into the oven. Shortly thereafter, delicious smells began to drift from my kitchen. But when I went to take it out...well.

This is what fougasse is supposed to look like:

(These photos are from BBC Good Food, Wild Yeast Blog, and MyRecipes.com, respectively.)

Aaand...here's what mine looked like:

It was cracked, and lumpy, and the nice holes I'd cut were now undetectable from it swelling back together. I cringed and waited for it to cool. But when I tore off a piece, I discovered that it was good. Really good.

Hmm.

So now I have this very tasty dough that apparently produces very ugly bread. I'm going to reduce the liquid, among other things, and keep working on it until it looks as good as it tastes. I'll share the recipe as soon as I fix it, of course.

Have you ever baked something delicious but ugly? Or maybe you've had an utter disaster in the kitchen? I feel like there's a lot more to go wrong with gluten-free dough. (Once I had bread overflow from the pan, and end up all over the bottom of the oven!) What's your worst baking bungle?

Chelsea Buns with Ginger-Apricot Jam

2010-04-10T18:47:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I promised the recipe for hot cross bun dough, once I perfected it. Well...two attempts later, I still wasn't satisfied. I planned to try again this morning, making simple currant buns as it is no longer Easter. However, considering how many people are averse to raisiny things in bread (my Love included, who kindly samples everything that I bake to see if it compares to the gluten-y version), I thought I would do something different.

These are Chelsea Buns, another British sweet, and there are many variations for the filling. Some do indeed have dried or candied fruit rolled up in them, and many are topped with slivers of blanched almonds. I didn't want mine to be too fussy, though, so they are simply spread with a sweet filling and brushed with sugar glaze.

If you wish to make hot cross buns, make the flour blend below and follow the additional instructions I have added to that post. The blend still isn't perfect - the crumb is too close in my opinion - but these buns are certainly good enough to post. This is probably a recipe base I will keep coming back to and adjusting slightly.

By the way - I have just discovered that baking by weight is So. Much. Easier.
No more need to rinse measuring cups between each flour, or worry about the inconsistent measurements that starches are prone to when the air is humid. If you don't already have a food scale, I absolutely recommend getting one - even a very inexpensive one (like mine) can work well.

P.S. - This recipe is long, but it is very easy to do.

Chelsea Buns

Dry ingredients:

60 g tapioca starch
60 g potato starch
25 g Expandex modified tapioca starch
25 g arrowroot starch
20 g sorghum flour
15 g soy flour
10 g chestnut flour
10 g sweet rice flour

1/4 tsp pectin
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp guar gum
1/4 tsp dough enhancer
1/2 tsp sea salt
55 g sugar

Wet ingredients:

25 mL warm water
2 T canola oil
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten
75 mL warm organic milk

3 tsp dry yeast

Method:

Turn the oven to 200 C. Blend together all dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and allow to foam for 5 minutes. Then mix the wet ingredients into the dry and knead with a flexible spatula until smooth. Lay out a piece of clingfilm and brush it lightly with canola oil. With moist fingers, pat the dough out onto the clingfilm until it is thin.

Spread the dough with the following mixture:

A few teaspoons apricot jam and marmalade
25 g (about 1 T) organic salted butter, melted
2-3 tsp sugar syrup
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger

Starting from one end, roll up the dough so you have a long cylinder. Now use a sharp, wetted knife to slice the roll into nine buns. Place them on a greased baking tray about 2 cm apart - not touching, but close enough that they will touch once they raise. Allow them to raise for about 30 minutes in a warm place (I like to set them on top of the oven). Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the sugar glaze. Combine 2 tsp sugar, 3 tsp water, and a few drops lemon juice in a small microwave-safe dish. Heat on high for 30 seconds or so - you want it to boil thoroughly.

Brush the buns with the glaze immediately after you remove them from the oven, gently pull them apart, and transfer them to a cooling rack. Enjoy whilst still warm!

Hot Cross Buns: An English Easter Treat

2010-04-03T16:24:00.000-04:00

And even more quintessential when enjoyed with a hot cup of tea. These buns are lightly spiced, filled with currants and orange zest, and glazed with sugar syrup to make them sweet and shiny.

And they are pretty, too! They didn't turn out tasting entirely right, so I haven't posted the recipe yet. I've been adapting the recipe based on this one, which is made with wheat. I will share my version after I make a few more adjustments to the flour blend. (Plus, that means I get to bake some more!) I will tell you, though, that this dough is very easy to work with - I was able to shape it into buns using my hands, without it sticking to everything. And you can see in the picture that they did not spread out or flatten as they baked. As you've probably noticed, that is not always easy for a gluten-free dough...I'm excited by the potential that has for a good flour blend!

Happy Easter, and hopefully I will have the recipe for you tomorrow.

Update:
To make, follow the dough recipe and baking instructions for my Chelsea Buns, with the following additions:
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cardamom
2 tsp fresh orange zest
30 g currants

Mix the wet ingredients in with the dry, blend well, and use wet fingers to form the dough into nine buns. Place on a greased baking tray and cut crosses in the top of each bun. Cover loosely with clingfilm and allow to rise.

For the crosses:
Mix 2 T sweet rice flour with about as much water, so it is the consistency of royal icing. Spoon this mixture into a food bag.

Once the buns have risen (about 20-30 minutes), snip a corner off the bag and pipe the paste into the crosses. Bake 20 minutes; brush with sugar glaze (instructions here) immediately after removing from the oven. Transfer to a cooling rack. Enjoy whilst still warm!

Soft Honey Sandwich Bread

2010-03-20T17:40:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to perfect a very specific type of bread for the last few weeks. The kind of artisanal bread that is flakily crusty on the outside but soft beneath, and is light, with lots of airy pockets inside. I've gotten close a few times. Each time I think to myself, I'll just make a few small revisions, and the next batch will be just right. And then I make the next batch, and it's...well...not.

Making the soda bread last weekend made me realise how frustrated I was getting with that elusive artisan French loaf. It was so nice to make something that I just knew was going to turn out well. It also made me remember how much I do enjoy a good sandwich. (Especially with cheese; I love cheese.) A nice, soft, everyday bread seemed just the thing to make. And this turned out so wonderfully!

I haven't actually made a sandwich with it yet though; I've been so excited about it that I've simply ended up eating several slices just plain! It is very satisfying and flavourful, soft and tender and not at all crumbly. The honey gives it a very mild sweetness; I personally find it reminiscent of honey-whole-wheat bread.

I should warn you: this bread has a lot of ingredients to measure, so it takes a little extra time to make. Believe me, it's worth it!

Honey Sandwich Bread

Dry ingredients:

3/4 c tapioca starch

3/4 c potato starch

1/4 c soy flour

1/4 c white rice flour

2 T sorghum flour

2 T teff flour

2 T buckwheat flour

2 T sweet rice flour

2 T "garfava" bean flour (Bob's Red Mill)

5 T Expandex modified tapioca starch

1 T chestnut flour

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp guar gum

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp dough enhancer

1/4 tsp pectin (This is commonly used to "gel" jam. You can find it by the canning supplies in many grocery stores.)

Wet ingredients:

1/4 c canola oil

1 whole egg plus 1 egg white

2 T honey

1 cup warm water with:

1 tsp sugar

3 tsp yeast

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 375° F (350° F if using a glass loaf pan). Mix together the dry ingredients. Dissolve the sugar in the warm water, add the yeast, and let it foam for about five minutes. Add the yeast-water mixture to the dry ingredients. Pour in the oil, honey, and the lightly beaten egg. After you have thoroughly mixed the batter, put it into a well-greased loaf pan. Smooth the loaf with a wet spatula. Brush lightly with milk (optional - helps browning), and sprinkle a handful of GF oats over top of it.

Let the dough rise in a warm place until it has approximately doubled in size - it should be nearly level with the top of the pan.

Bake for ~ 1 hour. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a cooling rack. Allow bread to cool completely before slicing.

Irish Brown Bread

2010-03-15T00:14:00.000-04:00

It's the middle of March, and that means Irish recipes are popping up everywhere - especially soda bread recipes. Most of these are for a mildly sweet, cake-like bread with raisins. However, soda bread in Ireland is not sweet, nor does it have fruit in it (and it certainly does not have green sugar over top of it, as I've seen in some American grocery stores)! Usually, Irish soda bread has a nubbly wholemeal texture, and is plain enough that it goes equally well with tea at breakfast or with a bowl of potato soup for supper.

This bread, known simply as "brown bread," is also ubiquitous in western Ireland. It can be found at the table of nearly any traditional restaurant or bed-and-breakfast. Because many families have their own way of making it, countless recipes for this bread exist - but they all are based on some very simple ingredients: wholemeal flour, oats, and buttermilk.

I created a gluten-free version by comparing a number of (wheaten) brown bread recipes. The result is a nutty, wholesome loaf; the oats give it a nice chewy texture. It's good with butter or jam, or even topped with some Irish cheese. Enjoy!

Irish Brown Bread

3/8 c Buckwheat flour

3/8 c Teff flour

1/4 c Soy flour

1/4 c Oat flour (be sure it's certified gluten-free)

1/4 c Potato starch

1/4 c Tapioca starch

2 T Garbanzo Bean flour

2 T Sorghum flour

2 T White Rice flour

2 T Expandex modified tapioca starch

1/2 c pin-head oats (again, be sure they are certified GF)

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

3/4 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 1/2 tsp guar gum

1/4 tsp dough enhancer (optional)

1 ounce unsalted butter (Kerrygold is best)

1 1/4 c buttermilk

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 400° F/204° C. (If using a glass loaf pan, lower the temperature to 375° F/190° C.)

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour mixture with your fingers. Gradually mix in the buttermilk. The dough will be wet but stiff; beat it until all the ingredients are thoroughly blended.

Spoon the dough into a buttered loaf pan. Smooth the top with a wet spatula. Make 3 - 4 diagonal slashes across the top of the loaf. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until it is lightly browned and the centre is no longer wet. Let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a tea towel. Wrap it up in the tea towel (this keeps the moisture in) and do not cut it until it has completely cooled.

Have Your Crêpes and Eat Them, Too: Two Recipes

2010-02-20T01:36:00.000-05:00

It was a Monday holiday, and the morning after Valentine’s day at that, so I can be forgiven for feeling a little decadent. Chocolate at breakfast: why not? Strawberries? Absolutely. How about strawberry crêpes with fresh cream and a little chocolate sauce? Well. Okay. More than a little decadent.

My fixation with crêpes had begun a few days before, when I’d happened upon a delicious-looking photo of some over at Book of Yum. I instantly was reminded of Paris, where they are made-to-order by street vendors, and handed to you wrapped up in paper. The sweet type make a lovely snack, while the savoury buckwheat ones serve as a complete meal. Both are delicious. I had not had either in over well over two years – not since I still ate wheat. It was due time to try something new.

I couldn’t help but be nervous, though. I’d never made crêpes before – never mind making them gluten-free – and I didn’t know if such a delicate thing would work without wheat to hold it together. Oh, but they did. And they were so soft. So light and tender and lacy, just like they should be.

A few days later I tried the savoury variety, and they turned out at least as well as the sweet ones had. I wish I could show you a picture. The thing is, though, I’m as new to food photography as I am to blogging, and the pictures just don’t do them justice at all. The best I can do for now, I suppose, is give you the recipes and let you see for yourself!

Crêpes Sucreés (Sweet crêpes)

¼ cup sweet rice flour

¼ cup chestnut flour

¼ tsp sea salt

⅛ tsp guar gum

⅛ tsp sugar

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1 ½ T melted butter

Whisk together the flours, salt, sugar, and guar gum. Pour the milk into a 2-cup (or larger) measuring cup, the kind with the lip to pour from. Lightly beat the eggs into the milk to ensure even blending. Pour the liquids into the bowl, whisking constantly, and add the butter. Let batter stand for 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the strawberries.

Slice into a bowl:

1 cup thawed-from-frozen organic strawberries (or use fresh when in season)

Stir in:

¼ tsp real vanilla extract

2 tsp sugar

Allow these to sit while you make the crêpes.

Heat a cast-iron frying pan (or something similar – it must have a handle!) to medium heat. It is not necessary to use oil; the butter in the batter is enough. Once pan is hot, transfer the batter back into the measuring cup – this makes it much easier to pour. Give the batter a quick whisk to make sure everything is still blended.

Now, lift the pan off the burner. Hold it with one hand, and pour a small amount of the batter in with the other. (This should be only enough to coat the pan; they should be very thin.) While the pan is still in the air, quickly swirl it around so the bottom of it is coated. Now set it back down. The crêpes will cook very quickly. As soon as the batter seems to have set, loosen the edges with a fork and flip with a slotted turner to cook the other side. Fill crêpes with strawberries and top with freshly whipped cream.

Crêpes Saleés (Savoury crêpes)

2 T sweet rice flour

2 T chestnut flour

¼ c buckwheat flour

¼ tsp sea salt

⅛ tsp sugar

⅛ tsp guar gum

1 ½ T melted butter

2 eggs

1 cup milk

Follow the same procedures as above for preparing and cooking. Fill with mushrooms, below. For something more substantial, scramble an egg with some cheese and pepper directly onto a crêpe as it finishes cooking, and fold it up.

Champignons (mushrooms)

8 ounces crimini mushrooms

1 – 2 cloves garlic, minced

Splash of white wine

2 T cream

1 T mild white cheese

A little butter

Black pepper, fresh parsley, and fresh thyme to taste

(Dash of sweet rice flour)

Sautee sliced mushrooms in butter and wine until slightly soft. Add garlic and cream over low heat. Melt the cheese into the mixture and add in the herbs and pepper. If necessary, sprinkle in a little sweet rice flour to thicken the cream.

Bread: A Little Manifesto

2010-02-14T22:27:00.000-05:00

"It isn't tradition that assures the survival of bread; it is bread that assures the survival of tradition."

So reads a quote on the wall of a cosy French bakery downtown. I go there just to drink the rich, dark coffee and linger among the aromas given off by hot ovens, those of buttery pastries and warm, crusty loaves. I can't eat any of them, of course, as they are all laden with wheat flour. I must be content to simply smell, to look, and then attempt to coax the palette of flours I can use into a decent recreation of the things I remember. It often takes a lot of coaxing.

Some say that, to be satisfied with gluten-free food, one must learn to appreciate the ingredients for what they are, and stop trying to make them into "the real thing." This is where I must disagree. This is why that quote feels so relevant to me. It isn't just about texture, or taste, or appearance. It's about the way food - bread, in particular - represents so much more than sustenance or even indulgence. It's representative of culture, of tradition. It is universal, iconic, yet intimate. This is why we need bread. We can nourish our bodies with hundreds of delicious, wonderful foods. Yet it is bread that has always brought people together at a table. It is bread that so often represents home and heritage. We don't need to relinquish that simply because we must live without gluten.

Admittedly, it often takes a lot of effort. That's why this blog is here. It's for the recipes I develop, and things I discover, in my quest for good food. Not simply settling for "good, considering it's gluten-free." I mean just plain good. And I'd love for you to join me.