GF Experiment Diary 2

Photo from dailymail.co.uk

      When we turned the calendar page to October I realized that it was time to re-evaluate the special rules that have been shaping my food choices.  I haven't noticed great changes in the way I feel - which even without a blood test pretty much eliminates Celiac disease - but there were enough subtle improvements that I'm not certain I want to return to "normal" eating habits just yet.  And rather than debate the whole gluten free issue with myself in the public arena of this blog, I decided to instead share with you some of the resources I've found most helpful since this experiment began.  Its the list I wish someone would have handed me when we started.  Although, I don't know if I would have been inclined to value it or give it much credence had I not had to go through the effort of researching it myself.  :)
      Though there have been a lot of web-sites I have browsed in the last two months, only a few stood up to time-tests that allowed them to stick around in my web favorites folder. For example:  The Spunky Coconut has some really great looking recipes, but frankly I can't afford her pantry.  So I moved on to another site.
It would have been extreamly helpful to have found the "Going Gluten Free" and "Gluten Free ABC's" pages over at the Gluten-free Goddess blog when we first started.  Trying to figure out just what we could eat and what was off limits, not to mention all the different ways gluten is snuck into food, was really overwhelming.
I mentioned in the Gingerbread post that I used an all-purpose gluten free flour mix.  The mix I originally started with was from the King Arthur Flour blog, and is pretty simple.  And I quote:

"Whisk together:

6 cups (32 ounces) King Arthur stabilized brown rice flour; 

2 cups (10 3/4 ounces) potato starch; and 

1 cup (4 ounces) tapioca flour or tapioca starch. 

Store airtight at room temperature. Note: You can substitute white rice flour for the brown rice flour if you like; it'll make your baked goods grittier (unless you manage to find a finely ground version)."

      Of course, I didn't have stabilized brown rice flour, so I simply milled some brown rice in my mum's wheat grinder at the finest setting I could choose and used that.  Seemed to work just fine.  (However, it should be noted that, in using mum's wheat grinder, I contaminated my flour with the gluten that was residue from previous grinding sessions.  It might seem like minuscule amounts, but it does count.  Especially for someone who has Celiac.)

      Shauna over at Gluten-free Girl has a nice flour blend guide, too, as well as a definitive explanation of why she doesn't use xantham gum or guar gum in her GF baking.  (I couldn't help going, "Eeewww!" when I read what xantham gum is.)  Who knew that flax and chia seeds were so helpful?  I had sort-of accidentally discovered the chia seed secret when I dumped a spoonful or two of chia seed meal in a batch of pancakes one morning and Sharpi commented on the nice texture that was no longer crumbly and falling apart.   Regardless of where my eating habits go from here, I think I'm going to keep the pancake recipe we've been using lately.  It's just that good.  
      So far one of the things that frustrates me most about trying to make my own gluten-free baked goods is the amount of starches in the all-purpose mixes.  Shauna's mix does have more whole grains in it than the King Arthur version, but it is still more than I would like to use.  Some things, like pancakes and muffins, don't seem to need the lightening starches to achieve success: unfortunately, fussier things like bread do.  I'm still reading about that . . . I have hope that, if only I could master the concept of baking by ratio, I might be able to get the mixes (and subsequently bread) where I wanted them to be.  I'll keep you posted.    That's the beauty of the modern technology called "blogging" . . . . when you get tired of me talking you can move on without hindrance.
So before I quit talking about GF - for now - are there any questions or curiosities you've wondered about as we've been going through this experiment?  Feel free to ask.

Gluten Free Brownies

      If asked what the most epic of failures is - so far - in my Gluten-free cooking experience, I'd have to say it is a toss up between my mum's birthday cake and the bean brownies.  Although, when you come right down to it, the fact that the birthday cake got eaten and the brownies got tossed is pretty definative. 
  If asked what my most appreciated success was, I'd have to say . . . . .  the brownies.  Huh?  Not the Bean Brownies (epic failure), The Brownies.  There's a difference.

      The Bean Brownies were a horrible study in contradiction.  Visually it was a nice brownie.  Unfortunately that is where the 'nice' ended: texturally it was moist, but it tasted incredibly dry.  There are some things that can't be fully explained - this would be one of them.  (By the way, Mrs. B . . . if you want to pass along your recipe for Black Bean Brownies, I'd like to see it.  I'm pretty sure whatever I tried was not what you had in mind when you said they were good.)

      On the other hand, we have The Brownies, adapted from GlutenFreeGoddess's Dark Chocolate Brownies.  When I mixed up the batter it tasted like brownie batter; when I slid it in the oven, it smelled like brownies.  And they tasted yum . . . just like normal brownies.  I was ecstatic!  And I wanted to share them with you.  But like most things, there were details I wanted to tweak . . . the first time I made them I substituted coconut flour for the almond meal, which worked but we weren't terribly fond of the fiberous texture it added.  And they were too sweet - ridiculously so.  Then again, there are people in this house who would tell you that it is near impossible for me to leave a good thing alone. 
      So I sat down today with my kitchen notebook, the Dark Chocolate Brownie recipe, and the recipe I used to use pre-GF.  (Aside from the flours used, the recipes were very similar.)   And there are a few things that we'll do differently next time . . . .

      Those are some pretty light brownies . . . I think the word I used when I pulled them out of the oven was "blond".  So it is definitely more of a "milk chocolate" brownie than "rich" or "dark".  But they'll do.  For now.    At least now I know the flour combination works, the texture turns out quite well, and the sugar ratio is almost right.

      Say hello to our Cast of Characters!  (Hey, look at that - this time Sugar made it.)  Here we have:

5 oz chocolate chips, which equals a generous 3/4 cup (I should have used baking chocolate - live and learn)

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup coconut oil

(or you can use a full half cup of one or the other)

1 cup sugar (gahh!!)

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup buckwheat flour*

1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

*Before we get too far into this, I should mention that I added a little chia meal to this.  I threw about a tablespoon in my mum's electric coffee grinder, buzzed it a few times . . .

 . . . and threw it in the bottom of the measuring cup before I started to measure out the buckwheat flour.  I figured it would work really well as a binding agent instead of the gums I'm trying to avoid.  Okay - back to the recipe.

     Before we get started, lets preheat our oven to 350 F.  Now the fun part.  :)  Put your chocolate chips and butter/coconut oil in a saucepan and melt over medium heat.

      Get it nice and melty . . . and then exercise some self control and refrain from eating it right out of the pan as is.  Tough, I know, but it will be worth it later.  Once that is done remove it from the heat, and while it is cooling - and you're not sticking your fingers in for just a small taste - measure your dry ingredients into a bowl.  Make a little dip in the center and pour in the whisked eggs and vanilla.

      The instructions say to pour the eggs and chocolate in at the same time, but my chocolate was still a bit warm.  And runny, scrambled chocolate eggs didn't sound appealing.  So I did the eggs first, and then added the chocolate.

(Don't eat it yet, don't eat it yet, don't!) 

 . . . . ahem!  Once you get the chocolate in there, beat the stuff until it is a bit glossy.  Then pour it in your greased pan. 

(I will not eat the batter, I will not eat the batter . . . .)

Now smooth it out nice.  We don't want the Franklin Mountain Range to show up in our oven.  Ahh . . . that's better. 

(Now its okay to lick the spatula . . . if you really want to.  Just don't "find" a batter wrinkle that needs fixing afterwards. )
 

      Slide it into the oven and bake for 32-35 minutes, or until the brownies are set.  And while you're waiting, clean up.  No really - of all the details that go along with cooking, this is the one I am most likely to forget.  Unless my recipe involves half of the mixing-bowls in our cupboard, various measuring utensils and a dozen mixing spoons clean up should only take about five minutes.  So I'm not quite sure why I end up delaying this part . . . . yet another thing I need to work on.

      Once your brownies are done go ahead and sample - although they really are a little easier to cut when they've been given a chance to cool a little.  Oh yum!  (Please don't count all the "taste tests" that are missing from our original photo.)  When we got serious about serving up a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of mint chocolate sauce made it fancy.  Oh sigh . . . . it doesn't get any yummier than that.  Gluten or not. 

Gluten Free Gingerbread

      I've been craving gingerbread for the last couple weeks.  I like gingerbread, but there are so many things I like more that I don't usually crave it.  Blame it on the cooling weather.    I browsed my current list of gluten-free resources, but didn't find anything that struck my fancy - or fit the ingredients that live in my pantry.  Almond flour sounds like a really lovely thing to work with, but its expensive; and I really didn't want to have to grind half a cup of six different flours just to make a snack.  I'm willing (occasionally) to admit it: I'm lazy.  So I grabbed my kitchen notebook - that I should have been recording gluten-free experiments in all along - and decided to try adapt the gingerbread recipe I tried earlier this spring.  Would you like to join me?

     Here we have our assembled cast of characters . . . . minus Sugar and Boiling Water.  (Sugar was late that day and Water was too busy working at boiling to grace us for the Cast Photo.)  My kitchen notebook was hosting the party - one page full of the original recipe from The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, and one page ready for all my experimental notes.
  Grease (I opted not to flour) one 9 inch baking pan and we were set to get our two bowls out: one for the dry ingredients and one for the wet.  We'll start with dry, since they are far less complicated.

      Since I'm stubbornly sticking to the whole gluten free theory (which occasionally shows up in my dreams - not good!) I changed the 2 1/2 cups of regular flour for the same amount of an all-purpose gluten free mix.  Which I am waiting for permission to post here so y'all know what that is.  But for now, we'll keep going.  On top of the flour I dumped:

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp powdered ginger

approximately 1/4 tsp fresh grated ginger, just because I could

      Originally the recipe called for 1/2 cup butter.  But we only just restocked that lovely ingredient (there are so many things that just taste better when made with butter) and I was a bit gun-shy of running out again.  So I used 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup coconut oil.  (Shh!!  Don't tell Sharpi or Chickadee!)  That went in the bowl and I moved on to the next ingredient, which was our late Sugar. 
Whoa Nellie!  It calls for a cup??  For that small pan?  Phfff!  Forget that.  One of the on-going debates in my house is neatly labeled "How Much Sugar is Too Much", and the lines that have been drawn in the proverbial sand are deep and immovable.  Sharpi and Chickadee  have what I consider Liberal Views on the subject; they view my opinions with suspicion, especially when I started  griping that milk tasted too sweet and stopped drinking it.  (It was suggested that somebody was pouring sugar into the milk pitcher in an attempt to sabotage the no-sugar rule, but I wasn't the one who said so.)  I'm not completely anti-sugar - yet - but a cup definitely seemed like a ridiculous amount.  So I cut it back to 3/4 cup.  (I would like it known that I wanted to cut that silly cup in half, but I didn't in the interests of diplomatic relations.  Points please!)

      Here we beat that sugar and butter/coconut oil until light and fluffy.  Once that is done we add two eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Next: pour in 3/4 cup molasses . . . feel free to lick the spoon of lingering yummy-ness when you're done. 

      Now, if you looked closely at the cast of characters, you might have noticed an additional ingredient that one doesn't usually associate with Gingerbread.  Unless your mum buys black-strap molasses, like mine does.  Black-strap molasses is pretty strong and would have no trouble covering up the spice in this cake, so I thinned mine with some brown rice syrup (I think the ratio was about 1/4 cup rice syrup and 1/2 cup molasses - I was kind-of making it up as I went).  Once you get the molasses beat into your mixture, very carefully add 3/4 cup of the boiling water.  I would really recommend using a hand whisk to mix that in - an electric mixer has a tendency to spit that hot molasses tainted liquid all around the kitchen . . . . ahem, lets move on, shall we?
      Once you get all that mixed up, you can dump in your bowl of dry ingredients and mix it up until well blended.  This is the part where it would have been really helpful to have someone mixing a batch of normal (read gluten inclusive) batch of this recipe with me.  I knew from previous experience that whole wheat flour absorbs water differently than white flour; and through the gluten free experiment I'm seeing learning that the same rule applies for various whole grains - rice doesn't absorb the same amount of liquid as, say, sorgum or oatmeal.  So when I mixed in my all-purpose gluten-free flour mix the batter was really, really runny.  But I plowed on.  Or poured on, if you prefer.

      Halfway through my pour the little voice inside - aka, the Baker's Conscience - started vigorously waving a little red flag that said, "Too much batter for that pan!"  And I listened.  I've had several baking efforts result in reeking, charred messes in the bottom of our oven because the batter Vesuvius-ed out of its baking tin.  And I have no desire to repeat those epic failures.  So I filled my pan halfway and poured the rest of the batter into paper lined muffin tins.  Which begs the interesting question: the recipe originally specified a 9 inch square pan, and I'm pretty sure round versus square won't make half-the-batter difference.  Did pans have taller sides when The Fanny Farmer Cookbook was originally published?  I digress . . . .

      I slid the pans into an oven preheated at 350 F and sat back to wait.

      The smaller pan sizes meant I had to adjust bake-time, but it seemed to work fairly well.  After about ten minutes in the oven the batter was rising nicely; after fifteen minutes it was starting to look like normal gingerbread.  At 22 minutes, the mini gingerbreads were done: at 27 the cake was done. 

  
   Looks fairly normal . . . . . smells fairly normal.  I think this might have worked.  Wooo-hoo!   

      Taste tests also proved quite satisfactory, though I don't think anyone would have gone so far as to say, "perfect gingerbread - don't do anything different next time."  The texture was very nice - moist and flavorful, but a little too light.  It made for a little crumbling in the 9 inch cake, so I think if I repeat this experiment, I'll add a little chia meal to the flour as a binding agent.  For some reason the minis didn't have the crumby factor, so they were closer to what I wanted.  Though I still would like a denser cake.

      It isn't quite perfect, but it came close.  And it tasted good, which isn't as easy as it sounds in the world of Gluten-Free.  Mmmm . . . that was tasty . . . .
      Any favorite gingerbread tricks or spice combinations you want to share for my next experiment?

Gluten Free Bread

   Now I don't mean to knock gluten free bread - but it is hardly worthy of the title 'bread'. At least the recipe's we tried haven't been.
   We are sharing this recipe with you because it was the best of the ones we sampled and figured if you were interested you could try it out and decide if you liked it yourself. 
   To be fair I thought it made excellent toast, but as sandwich bread it isn't extremely palatable because the texture is quite dry. (If you know what would make it that dry please tell us because it was a good recipe otherwise.)
   The positive points for this recipe are:

1. It isn't as crumbly as the first recipe we tried.

2. It is pretty good fresh out of the oven but becomes dry after that.

3. The recipe has directions for both hand mixing (or bosch) and bread machine.

4. Is also dairy free for those sensitive to dairy products.

Tweaks to the recipe might improve it but we're not familiar enough with gluten free to try adjust proportions.

Delicious Gluten-Free Bread Recipe

This gluten-free bread is tender, fragrant, dairy-free and rice-free, and easily egg-free with proper leavening. Though most gluten-free bread recipes rely on eggs for texture and rise, this recipe is also delicious baked vegan, without eggs (though in all honesty, two whipped egg whites will make it rise higher). I use Ener-G Egg Replacer to make it egg-free.

First- whisk together your dry ingredients and set aside:

1 1/2 cups sorghum flour
1 cup tapioca starch or potato starch (not potato flour!)
1/2 cup millet flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/ 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 packet rapid dry yeast or 2 1/4 teaspoons

You'll need sesame seeds for the top; set aside for later. Or omit.

For the Breadman bread machine:

Pour the liquid ingredients into the bread machine pan first:

1 1/4 cups warm water (at 110 to 115 degrees F) 
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey- or raw agave nectar to keep it vegan
1/2 teaspoon mild rice or white wine cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 4 tablespoons warm water till frothy

Gently pour the mixed dry ingredients on top of the liquid.

Set your bread machine program for 1.5 loaf medium crust. I used the gluten-free cycle on the Breadman; if you don't have a gluten-free cycle, a rapid rise cycle will also work.

Check the dough after a few minutes of kneading- it should be closer to a muffin batter than bread dough, soft, but not cake batter wet. Adjust dry to wet ratio with a tablespoon of flour or warm liquid, as needed. Humidity influences the dough. As does temperature (your bread will rise higher on a hot day).

If you like a crusty loaf (or your past experience results in a gummy center/fallen top) remove the bread from the pan and place it in the oven at 350 degrees F for an additional 10 minutes- keep an eye on it and don't let it get too brown. It should be a light golden color.

Cool the loaf before slicing for best results.

Enjoy fresh from the oven- the first day (as with most gluten-free baked goods) has the best texture and taste.

Freeze leftover bread as slices, wrapped in a paper towel and bagged in freezer bags. Thaw to room temperature.

Baking time:1 hour

Yield: 1 Loaf
Read more: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/02/delicious-gluten-free-bread.html#ixzz1XQ2jpNdk

GF Experiment Diary 1

      Being ten days into the gluten/refined sugar free experiment I'm ready for a rant.  For your sake I'll do my best to hold off.  In the last week and a half we've done some experimenting - some acceptable results, some not so much - and I think if we had researched it at all before we started . . . . well, we would have done our absolute best to talk mom out of it.  Really, the gluten free concept is not that difficult to deal with (except for the lack of really good bread) but to try get good baked goods without using refined sugar is proving near impossible.  There are currently two camps in our house: one that says, "Give back the gluten and we'll live without sugar," and the other that would prefer it the other way 'round.
  In any case, pull up a chair and I'll take you through what has been working and what hasn't.  :)

  I tried to adapt our recipe for Aussie Bits to  gluten free today, even though it would be safe to assume my oats have been contaminated with wheat.  (Common scenario, apparently.  Who knew?)  I made half a batch, just in case.  Result: not quite what they should have been.  I left the brown sugar out and increased the honey a little (not enough); I left out the dried fruit because a few people in my family find it unappealing, so I used a handful of chopped nuts instead; I substituted sorgum flour for the wheat flour (not bad, taste-wise and there wasn't the grit that goes with rice flour); I took a cue from other recipes I'd seen online and added an egg to aid the binding process.  They didn't look bad, but they were kind-of bland and really crumbly.  It made me want to crumble them up, dry them out in a low oven and pour milk over the crispy bits for breakfast tomorrow.  :)

  Last week we tried two different variations on gluten free cake for mom's birthday, which I won't bother including a link for.  Both were adapted to fit the processed sugar free rule; one was sweetened with honey, the other with rice syrup.   I was not impressed.  Could be my irritating prefectionistic tendency, but I consider the experiment a failure.  Sure it was edible, but it wasn't a good edible.  The honey version was sweet, and though it didn't rise like it should have, the dense texture wasn't offensive.  The brown rice syrup version was gummy, bland and lacked any attempt at impressive personality.  Oh - and for the record: don't bother trying to sweeten whipping cream with liquid stevia.  It doesn't taste nice.  :P
 
  We've been using the basic sandwich bread recipe, also from King Arthur Flour, with mixed opinions.  It isn't amazing, but it will do - until we can find something better.  It makes decent toast if you pop it down twice and watch so it doesn't burn; but as far as "I feel like a good, simple piece of chewy crusted bread spread with some nice butter" moments, it sort of misses the mark.  Although, I do have to admit I felt a little better today when I bought a loaf of commercial gluten-free bread - Sharpi spit it out.  No really, it was that BAD.  Can any one say, "tasteless sawdust the consistency of sand"?  I really really hope the gluten free pasta isn't a repeat of the commercial bread thing.

  It isn't all bad.  We've found a coconut 'candy' recipe that mom really likes.  And our pizza crust for supper was surprisingly nice.  It was a bit more thin, crispy style than I usually like, but I wasn't going to complain.  I was eating pizza for goodness sake!  (Tomato sauce, bacon, caramelized onions, fresh basil and just enough cheese.  Mmmm, yummy!  I wish we had left-overs . . .)  My only "not impressed" moment was when I tried to lift the slices off the pan.  For as much olive oil as I poured on the pan, that thing should not have stuck at all.  I should have taken pictures for y'all, but we were so hungry by the time it came out of the oven there was no time for pictures.  Hmm . . . a re-creation might be in order.  :)


 

Support please!

      Being the age of technology, its a pretty safe bet that I could spout a few sentences about computer maintenance, defraging, battling viruses and malware and y'all would know what I was talking about.  (Even if I don't.)  Its pretty easy to pull up a program, select a few options and have a laptop that is supposed to be de-bugged.  I sometimes wish our physical bodies worked that way . . . . .
  We could really use some moral support - and a good dose of healthy advice.  Not only is today Day Three of being new bloggers, it is also Day Three of the new eating plan my mum has us on.  We all have health glitches (for lack of a better word) that we are trying to work through, and mum thought it would be a good idea to change our diet in an effort to help our bodies heal.  So for the month of August we are going gluten and refined sugar free.  On the one hand, the practical side of me agrees that this is a good thing.  I was tested for celiac last fall, which came up negative, but since then there have been signs that my body might work better if I gave up gluten for a while.  That sort of a diet change would be really hard for me to stick with because it would involve maintaining two menus (and pantries, more or less) for one family.  So I am a little excited about this.
  But on the other hand . . . . we're going nuts!  I like to bake - baking without refined sugar seems almost impossible (on Day Three).  We love our Italian heritage, and I'm pretty sure if you broke down our DNA enough, you'd find its make-up was primarily gluten. :)  To say that we really enjoy good bread and pasta is a huge understatement.  I finally have the ingredients I need to start experimenting with gluten free bread.  Being a self-confessed bread snob and a fan of the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes book, I'm a little skeptical gluten free is going make muster.  (I'm trying really hard not to write it off as a failure before I even try it.)
Anybody out there have experience with gluten free cooking?  What are your favorite books/web-sites for ideas and good recipes?  How do you manage eating out when you travel?  Any advice you could pass along would be greatly appreciated! 
Thank you!
 
(on behalf of all of us :)