Another consideration for gluten free bread

 I miss the simplicity of wheat bread, five common ingredients and you had fail proof bread!  I'm getting pretty good at making decent non-wheat bread but it sure is picky sometimes.  Lately I've been playing with mixing and its effect on the bread.  I found a bread machine at the local thrift store that I decided to devote to my vile machinations (hee hee!) and see what difference it makes to the final product.  I've been mixing by hand with a danish dough whisk and the results have been acceptable, but all the recipes I've surveyed want you to mix the sticky, stiff dough with a heavy duty mixer, which I sold about a week before I discovered I needed one!  So I compared a hand whisked loaf with a bread machine loaf to find that the most obvious difference was rise time.  The bread machine loaf rose much faster but otherwise taste, texture, airiness and final height really wasn't affected.  Then I mixed on loaf in the bread machine for five minutes and the other I let mix for about half an hour.  I then let them both rise and baked them side by side.  The over-mixed loaf actually collapsed and was a rather sorry sight, but I don't know if it was over-mixing or over-rising, maybe both, but the five minute loaf rose beautifully and was the closest thing to bread I've made yet.  So in general, you can get by with a hand mixed loaf (at least with a dough whisk!) but a mixer or bread machine makes things a little nicer, just don't over do it!

A novel ingredient for better gluten-free bread!

 My last post was about another novel ingredient, which made great fake cheese, but sadly after further sampling, it doesn't like me any better than the real thing.  But so far novel ingredient number two is proving to both revolutionary to my gluten free baking and agreeable to my digestive tract.  I finally broke down and bought some 'fun' stuff a while back to experiment in the kitchen with and see what would happen, I actually turned my kitchen into a high school science lab for a little bit, trying 10 mini batches of 'cheese' to see what effect changing the various ingredients had on the final project.  Kappa carrageenan works great but can be hard on a sensitive digestive system, but so far expandex (modified tapioca starch) is gut approved and really improves your gluten free bread results.  I've been using regular tapioca starch for over a year with no issues and had been reading about this product on various gluten free recipe sites but had never tried it, as it was usually paired with whey protein isolate (and I am as sensitive to whey (hence my sad dairy aversion) as I am to wheat) to get seemingly miraculous results.  I did buy some egg white protein powder to try instead but in my trial with that, I really wasn't impressed.  I divided my regular bread recipe into 4 batches, one normal, one with expandex, one with egg protein isolate, and one with both.  There really wasn't a difference between the expandex bread with or without the protein and the protein and normal loaf were indistinguishable, save perhaps slightly drier for the former.

But the expandex looked promising so I have played with the same basic recipe but for various purposes: dinner rolls, French bread, a regular loaf of toasting bread and all were amazing.  I have grown used to smaller, denser, uglier bread in the past year, quite edible and tasty, but still lackluster compared to regular bread.  I can't wait to try it for cinnamon rolls (my original gluten free project, and still only partially successful) and pizza crust (which isn't quite so exciting since I still can't eat cheese, real or otherwise!).  I made a pan of dinner rolls last night, real, soft, fluffy, buttery rolls!  The recipes I have tried previously are either too spongy (too much tapioca starch!) and look more like a popover than a dinner roll or too dense.  I ate half the pan already and besides for being a little ugly (the dough is still a batter) and the size (I know 12 came from 3 cups of flour but they might be from a wheat recipe that made twice the many) I would be hard pressed to tell that they weren't wheat.  I tried to find recipes with expandex in it but most contain dairy, so I pulled out my own favorite recipes and substituted 1/4 c of the modified starch for the same amount of regular.  My sulky loaf bread that would hardly rise above the rim of the pan jumped up like a regular wheat loaf and will require a slit down the middle hence forth lest it crack in an awkward spot!  Comparing slices of my last loaf to the expandex loaf, there is a 35% increase in rise, the air pockets are larger, and it browns much more charmingly.

I love having a 'basic bread' recipe again that I can make everything from a loaf to cinnamon rolls to pizza crust with.  I used to add 1/2 tsp baking powder but I've started leaving that out, not noticing any effect on rise and wondering what it did to taste/texture and now with the expandex I certainly don't need it!  I've also finally started using apple cider vinegar instead of white, only to find it much more mild in flavor which certainly isn't a bad thing!  Somehow I thought adding the expandex would transform my batter into a dough and make it behave more like real bread dough, but nothing has changed in that aspect, you'll still need wet hands to shape it and some sort of mold or container to give it shape and structure (some aluminum foil and a little creativity can go a long way!).  I guess I looked at the final results of the other recipes and thought it changed the entire process and not just the results!  So it is still a sticky, gummy mess but the results are as close to real bread as I may ever get, well worth it!  Here's my basic bread recipe as a starting point for your own kitchen experiments!

Basic Bread Recipe:

1 cup corn starch

3/4 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup expandex modified tapioca starch

1/3 cup each oat flour, millet flour, and brown rice flour

2 tsp xanthin gum

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar (if using honey or brown sugar, add to wet ingredients)

1 tsp instant yeast (combine all dry ingredients in one bowl, whisk together)

1/4 cup oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup warm water (or milk)

2 eggs or 3 egg whites (whip the whites until stiff peaks form in a separate container, add yolks to wet ingredients and mix well)

Using a high power mixer or a danish dough whisk, combine the egg whites, dry, and wet ingredients and mix until fairly smooth and well combined, will be a sticky batter.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit in a warm moist place for 15-20 minutes.  Using a silicon spatula and moistened hands, shape/pour dough into desired container or shape.  Allow to rise until double (keep covered!) and then bake until golden brown and cooked through.  Allow to cool thoroughly on a wire rack, covered in a towel.  Freeze anything you won't use right away and either microwave or toast before serving leftovers.  Can be used for anything from sweet rolls to loaf bread to pizza crust.  Use egg yolks and milk for a richer bread, honey or brown sugar add a nice depth of flavor to sweet breads; add garlic, parmesan or nutritional yeast to savory breads.  Spray container thoroughly with cooking spray before adding batter!  Works well in silicon molds or you can fashion a makeshift shape out of aluminum foil.

Neither flesh nor fowl nor good red herring!

I had come to think finding a decent replacement for dairy cheese was like lassoing a unicorn, I need something that melts, shreds, stretches and browns but my homemade stuff and store bought stuff just isn't cheesish, it is more like sodden tapioca starch morosely littering the top of my would-be pizza and highly unappetizing.  Then I found the secret ingredient: kappa carrageenan, a seaweed derivative that stretches, melts, and shreds no matter what you do to it.  And yes, it will kill you, at least according to a few terrified commentators, but then so will everything else if you read enough food blogs, yet these same people then complain that everything tastes like rocks and it is nothing like a cookie, but a cookie needs fat and sugar and grain to be, well, a cookie.  But making fake cheese is much easier than turning a zucchini into a delectable baked good, come to think of it, catching a unicorn might be easier as well!  So read up on the dangers of this strange ingredient and decide for yourself, but as far as I can tell, everything else you might replace it with is a poor second, you may get a block of something, but it doesn't melt, stretch, or brown, and is in nowise 'cheesish.'  

I actually made 10 batches of 'cheese' yesterday, and you really can't screw it up.  I found recipes using cashews as a base, tofu, and one with straight almond milk.  I used cashews and oats and tried the straight almond milk one.  I varied lemon juice and white vinegar and no acid.  I used vegetable shortening instead of coconut oil and wonder if lard might be a good choice to get a firmer 'cheese?'  I used both water and almond milk.  I even fermented one batch of oats overnight (like a sourdough starter).  And the result?  They all taste about the same and melt and shred and stretch.  Most recipes out there have you pouring boiling water in your blender, which is about as much fun as it sounds, rather mix everything (room temp water!) in your high speed blender (a ninja or bullet work great for small batches like mine!) and then transfer to a sauce pan and heat at medium, stirring constantly until the thing rolls around in a squishy ball before pouring into a bowl to set.  I want it to brown a little more, and according to google, browning in cheese is a reaction between the protein and the sugar, I wonder if I added some protein powder and a little sugar if it would help?  I made cheese sticks with the stuff and a pizza, even my skeptical husband enjoyed the 'cheese' sticks.  I still have work to do to perfect the recipe but it is very versatile and very close to real cheese, at least the closest you can get without real milk!

These aren't the breads you're looking for...

 I found a new website to haunt for gluten free baking, I saw a picture on Pinterest that actually looked like an edible dinner roll and I followed the rabbit down the hole and ended up making four different gluten free recipes yesterday, most turned out rather well, the tortillas were a disaster, sort of.  The website is artofglutenfreebaking.com and a great resource for anyone who wants ideas, new recipes, or a place to start.  I really appreciate that the recommended flours are cheap and widely available, even if I'm not a huge rice flour fan personally, I substituted my own blend of oats, millet, corn, brown rice, and tapioca and it worked well for everything but the tortillas (the fault is mine, not the recipe).  The only time I have successfully made gluten free tortillas was with white rice flour and I didn't use that this time so it is not surprising it didn't turn out, but rather I ended up with something that looked a little like naan, that wonderful Indian flatbread which I gave up on making gluten free as all the recipes seem to call for yogurt and I can't find a good substitute.  They tasted like baking powder and were nowhere near a tortilla, but the kids liked them so they didn't go to waste, and I had an idea.

I tried it this morning with a little leftover flour blend (equal parts oat flour, tapioca starch, corn starch, millet and brown rice flour) from yesterday and for the first time in years, I got to experience the joy that is naan, or as close to it as someone can get who has never been to India or an Indian restaurant.  I adapted the tortilla recipe to my old wheat flour naan recipe and got something fairly close, and rather tasty too!  The following recipe is still in its primordial phase, feel free to try it, but it is still more an idea than a fact:

Gluten Free Naan:

2 cups flour

1 tsp xanthin gum

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp nutritional yeast

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp instant yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons butter flavored shortening (or real butter)

1 egg

warm water as needed (1/3-1/2 cup or so)

Whisk together dry ingredients, cut in shortening with a fork or pastry blender, then mix in the egg and enough water to make a thick, wet, sticky batter.  Cover and set in a warm moist place for at least 45 minutes and allow to rise.  Heat a cast iron skillet on the stove top over medium high heat until very hot.  With wet hands, separate the dough into 8 balls, keeping covered and moist until ready to cook.  One at a time, flatten each ball into a disk about 1/4 inch thick and transfer to the hot pan, flip after thirty seconds or so and cook on both sides, flipping again as needed to cook through.  Transfer to a towel set on a wire rack and cover.  To make the disks, I sprayed a plate with cooking spray, placed the dough on top and used wet hands to flatten it and then used my hands and a fork to transfer to the pan, respraying with oil after each disk.  Enjoy! 

Stewed Rocks, an ancient recipe for disaster

 Jesus used some of His strongest and most rebuking language not for prostitutes or the soldiers who nailed Him to the cross or swindling tax collectors but rather for the social elite of His day and their strict adherence to nit-picky laws, rules, and traditions.  They were quick to tithe their 'mint and dill and cumin' and to chew out the disciples for not washing their hands or fasting and to decry the horrifying fact that someone's grievous disease or disability had been healed on the Sabbath but neglected the 'weightier' matters of the law, namely to 'love justice, seek mercy, and walk humbly with your God.'  And some things haven't changed all that much, or rather things have cycled back to the senseless asceticism of those days, wherein Men thought a list of rules could save them, but rather made them 'white-washed tombs,' pretty without but inside full of filth and rottenness.  Our morals have atrophied in all things save our menu.

Sadly I've been haunting gluten and dairy free recipe blogs searching for alternatives to old favorites, due to severe dietary sensitivities, I can't consume them anymore.  What fascinates and horrifies me is the comments section.  It is hard enough getting edible results leaving out the wheat, butter, cheese...but the list of dietary sins or no-nos is staggering and I'm left wondering what can I eat?  Just look at your salt container or any random food container in your fridge or cupboard, it lists proudly what it doesn't contain but who cares that my salt is gluten free, I want to know what it does contain!  By that reasoning, jelly beans are healthy because they are fat free, vegan, cholesterol free...and maybe even a vegetable.  I still love the concept of organic Oreos, as if that somehow makes them even remotely healthy!  But everyone in the comments has their own ideas of what you cannot eat: fat, sugar, carbs, starch, animal products, cholesterol, salt, genetically modified, non-organic, grains, tree nuts, coconut, vegetable oils, hydrogenated fats, artificial anything, preservatives...and then they change the recipe and complain it doesn't turn out.  What are we left with but soggy rocks when we won't allow the neighbors to put the wrong things in our stone soup!

And why the moral outrage over a disagreement on food?  I will admit I get a little annoyed with people who choose to eat a certain way and then complain that they miss whatever they are intentionally abstaining from, especially when they are being rude to others about it.  I feel rather embarrassed going out to eat, at potlucks, and friends' houses because there are so few things I can eat 'out' though at home I can make almost anything (except stuffed crust pizza, fake cheese just doesn't right that grievous wrong!).  Then to hear someone making a big deal out of the fact that they can't eat X because it is their fad diet of the month and ruining everyone else's dinner/enjoyment of the event thereby really gets my proverbial goat.  If you want to be a vegan, by all means do so, but don't write scathing reviews on a recipe that heartlessly includes eggs as a necessary ingredient or make your hostess miserable by telling her how horrible she is to not center the entire menu around you and your preferences.  A little kindness, or at least tact, would do far more to improve the world than eliminating X, Y, or Z from our cultural menu.  We do not differ in the least from the Pharisees who were so put out that a crippled man was made to walk on the wrong day of the week.  We hear much about justice nowadays, which in itself is no bad thing, but we cannot have justice without kindness (aka mercy) and humility, but it seems we are still determined to crucify anyone and everyone who disagrees with us, especially over dietary matters, or is so overbold as to tell us that perhaps our feelings and opinions are not the most important thing in the world or beyond it.  Jesus tried to tell us in His day, but even two millennia later, will anybody listen?

Tastes great but yeah...

 So I really wanted ice cream and cake for my birthday, but since dairy and wheat are no-nos I had to get creative.  The cake part was fairly simple at this point in my gluten-free career but I haven't perfected the dairy-free ice cream yet, especially vanilla, fruit and chocolate I can attempt, but what do you use for a vanilla base?  I found a recipe using cashews and oats, and I tossed out the cashews and added extra oats to make something that almost was ice cream, except it was a little slimy.  Then liquid coffee creamer was on sale and I found a recipe that used straight coffee creamer so why not try that.  One commenter remarked that it gave their family rather drastic gastric upset but I thought it might be okay.  Well it tasted great, but yeah...not a recipe for the delicately stomached!

Too good to be true but it is! At least if you bake gluten free...

Christmas came a little early this year, I asked for an expensive ($15) implement of baking curiosity from the in-laws and they bought and mailed it to me early, knowing I'll have a use for it.  It's one of those things that looks too good to be true, but the price was right and the need dire (just kidding) so I thought I'd risk it and it really does work.  It looks like a wire coat hanger bent into strange spirals and attached to a wooden handle but the videos show it cutting through thick batter (aka most of gluten free baking!) like a butter knife through soft butter.  It's called a Danish Dough Whisk and it is the funkiest thing I've ever seen.  I thought I needed a powerful mixer or my bread machine to stir the dough posing as a batter that is most gluten free bread in its primordial phase but this baby cuts through it without getting clogged with batter or ineffectually stirring like a spoon.  I don't think it would be great for an actual dough, but for thick, sticky batters, it is amazing.  I can now mix gluten free by hand and use the bread machine for the hubby's wheat bagels again!