Foray into Gluten-Free Baking

Here are a few things i've made over the past 3 weeks that are gluten-free and mostly a success.

Most importantly is the sandwich bread. I imagine there are other recipes out there that are better, but Bode doesn't mind this bread (he hasn't commented or complained) and it's nice to be able to make friends and family a PB&J and include him with his on GF bread.

Amaranth Bread (from celiac.com)

3 large eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups amaranth flour (i've also used quinoa and Teff flours
1 1/2 cups tapioca starch flour (gives it its nice crusty crust)
1 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup non-fat dry milk powder or almond meal(i use almond meal
2 tsp xanthan gum (acts as gluten--sticks things together i believe
1 tsp salt
2 T flaxseed meal (optional but i use it)
1 1/2 T active dry yeast
4 T sugar (i'd like to try honey or molasses instead but haven't yet)
1 1/4 cups warm water (105-115F)

Bring all refrigerated ingredients to room temperature. Grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine eggs, oil, and lemon juice. In a separate medium bowl, combine flours, almond meal, xanthan gum, salt, flaxseed, yeast and sugar. Pour 1/2 of the warm water into stand mixer and blend with egg mixture. Slowely add dry ingredients and little at a time until completely incorporated. Add remaining water, reserving some water in necessary. Mix batter on high speed for 3 1/2 minutes, then pour into loaf pan. Batter will be thicker than a cake batter and nothing like the consistency of regular bread dough.

Cover bread with foil and place in a cold oven. Set a pan of hot water on a lower shelf underneath the bread. Leave for 10 minutes with oven door closed. Remove bread from oven and place in a warm place in the kitchen (do not uncover). Preheat oven to 400F. Bread will continue to rise as oven preheats.

Uncover bread and bake for 10 minutes to brown the top. Cover bread with foil and continue to bake bread for 35-40 minutes. Turn bread out onto a cooling rack.

I like this bread right out of the oven, but it gets a little dense as the days go on. I slice it really thin for his sandwiches and he still gets his little Cut-n-Seal circle that he so enjoys!

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Next is the pizza crust. It still needs some tweaking, but the taste was good. It was a bit crumbly and more of a deep dish style. I like it thin.

Pizza Crust (from celiac.com)

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat or teff flour
2/3 cup non-fat dry milk or almond meal
3 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
2 T active dry yeast
1 T sugar
1 1/2 cups water or less (105-115F)
3 T olive oil
4 egg whites at room temperature
olive oil for spreading dough

Grease two 13-inch pizza pans, using organic shortening. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flours, milk powder, xanthan gum, salt, yeast, and sugar. In a measuring cup, combine the water and 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add olive oil-water mixture to dry ingredients, then egg whites, mixing well after each addition. Beat on high speed for 4 minutes.

Divide dough into two (or four) equal portions. Place each portion on a prepared pizza pan. Cover your hand with a clean plastic bag. Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil over your hand and one portion of dough. Spread the dough out evenly over the pizza pan, forming a ridge around the edge to contain the pizza toppings. Repeat process for second portion of dough. Let dough rise for about 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 400F. Bake pizza crusts for 7 minutes (until lightly golden) and remove from oven. At this point you can either cool the crusts, wrapping and freezing them for future use, or you can spread tomato sauce on the crust and top with your favorite toppings.

I had to add a lot more flour to make this dough spreadable. I guess i could have just decreased the water but couldn't tell it was too wet until it was too late. I'm going to try a different recipe next time (can't find it right now to post it).
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I was surprised to see that wheat flour is in just about everything that's prepackaged. I've taken for granted the convenience of chicken nuggets and meatball for a quick lunch or dinner for the boys. So i tried my own meatballs.

GF Meatballs (from killthegluten.blogspot.com

lb ground beef (or ground turkey)
1/2 to 1 cup corn meal
2 eggs
about 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

In a large bowl beat the eggs and add uncooked ground beef into bowl. Mix well with hands. Add corn meal to desired consistency, I like it to stick well together. Add seasoning and mix well with hands again.

Roll them into 1 inch balls and place in fry pan lightly greased. I found it best to cook them as if they are triangles, flipping them from one of three sides over and over once browned using tongs. Serve with gf spaghetti and I enjoyed it this week with my homemade tomato sauce.

While i really hated making these (since it requires handling raw meat A LOT), i thought they were really yummy, especially as spaghetti and meatballs.
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A must...Mac and cheese. Bode's been asking for it for awhile now. I tried a prepackaged box i got at Whole Foods and it was nasty. So i adapted a recipe i like from Real Simple's Meals Made Easy and i think it turned out well.

Macaroni and Cheese

1 pound elbow macaroni (i used brown rice shells)

5 T unsalted butter

1/2 cup flour (i used part brown rice flour and part millet flour--i think millet is good when trying to adapt recipes)

6 cups whole milk

3 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar

2 tsp kosher salt

Heat oven to 400F. Cook the pasta according to package directions (i take it off the heat and drain before it gets too soft since it will cook more in the oven). Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat (needs to be a big pan to fit in the 6 cups milk and pasta). Slowly add the flour. Cook, stirring constantly for 3 minutes. Add the milk in a steady stream. Cook for 7 minutes. Add the cheddar and salt. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the drained pasta and toss. Transfer to a buttered casserole.

This recipe calls for bread crumbs. I didn't have any GF ones. I considered french-fried onions but those have wheat flour too. So i just skipped the bread crumbs for his and put FF onions on ours (since i have to split it between two dishes to fit it anyway).

Bake until golden and bubbling around the edges, about 25 minutes.

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Finally, these were delicious. i have a few rolls of this dough in my freezer for emergencies!

GF Chocolate Chip Cookies (from killthegluten.blogspot.com)

1 cup butter, softened
1 & 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 & 1/2 tsp GF vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups white rice flour (i used brown rice flour)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups (11oz bag) GF chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Blend in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in white chips and nuts. Drop by teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

The trick to these is removing them just as they barely start to brown on top, but do the toothpick check before removing to make sure they are fully cooked. It took my oven 12 minutes exactly. They are the most delicious gf baked good I have ever made, taste like normal, soft and fluffy cookies.

These came out really really thin and crispy. As Doug described, like a Pepperidge Farm brussels cookies. I like them thin and crispy, but next time will increase the flour. May be due to our high altitude (7000 feet)?.



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So there you have it for now! I'm still working and tweaking in the kitchen a lot. I talked to my mom about all the grain-grinding, bread-making, in general domestic skills going on here and she laughed and asked if she could take credit. She's always said she failed me in teaching these stereotypically Mormon things!

The kids enjoying their quinoa bread with homemade strawberry freezer jam...