Gluten-free Gourmand

What are scones?  In short, they are my favorite pastry.  I think of scones often, so I thought I'd share a little bit about them with you, my readers. Scones can be called a quick bread, a pastry, a tea cake.  However, they are most like a biscuit in structure.  The most traditional type of scone is made like a biscuit in that the fat - in this case butter - is cut into the flour to form chunks of fat in the dough.  When the scones are cooked the butter melts and leaves pockets of air in the scone.  This gives the little cakes a flakier texture. Scones can be sweet or savory and made with all sorts of different flour blends and liquids.  They originated in Scotland.  The traditional Scottish scone would be made with white flour, butter, sugar, salt, and cream.  They might also traditionally be made with barley flour or oat flour.  Baking powder and/or baking soda are usually added for leavening.  Currants are often used for a fruit note.  They are traditionally served with

This winter I came up with many new bread recipes which I published here on my blog.  All of them involved my bread mixes which came out last fall and which I ship anywhere in the United States.  One day on my Facebook page I got this comment from a reader in response to my vegan sandwich bread recipe: Samantha Matete and I ended up swapping a bunch of messages about gluten-free bread making which eventually resulted in my blog post about how to make your own gluten-free bread flour blend .  Samantha ended up trying some of the ideas that I threw out.  I was excited to see pictures of her loaves once she did some experimenting. Here are some notes from Samantha about what she did on these loaves of bread: "Well I am definitely hooked on your bread recipes that I have been querying you about! The first 2 photos are following the vegan sandwich bread recipe and method. The 3rd photo is following the teff bread recipe and the 4th was a recipe by glutenf

Did you know that I've had various sales going on over the last week for my  gluten-free flours ?  No?  Well here's how to get in the loop! Sign up for my email newsletter.  Just put your email in the box at the top of the left column. Follow my  Facebook Page . Follow me on Twitter  @GFGourmand . I also put my recipes up on  Pinterest . Join this blog or follow the RSS feed.  Find buttons in the left column. Follow me on  Google Plus . Thanks for following!

When it comes to sterilizing things, I subscribe to the notion that Americans do it too much.  Harsh chemicals in a home kitchen can be dangerous for humans and the environment.  However, there are times when it's necessary to sanitize things.  When I got my license to mix and package my baking mixes for Gluten-free Gourmand the inspector told me that I had to sanitize all equipment after washing it in a chemical sanitizer.  I hate using chlorine - talk about harmful to the environment - but he let me know that I could use iodine instead if I wanted.  It's quite a bit more eco-friendly since the substance occurs naturally. As a bonus it's really inexpensive.  You can get a small bottle in most pharmacies or drug stores for a few dollars or less, and a little goes a long way.  I think this is a good kitchen tip to share around. Iodine isn't for everything.  It's a dark brown color, so it can stain things, especially white plastics.  I have noticed that it dulls so

You can find the recipe to this beautiful and delicious gluten-free salad on my cooking partner's website  Just another Shallot and Asparagus Blog .  Here you will find numerous delicious and funny posts about  - you guessed it - shallots and asparagus.  All recipes are gluten-free.

There is an updated version of this recipe here:  http://glutenfreegourmand.blogspot.com/2013/12/BouleBreadRecipe.html I'm sorry for the absence of new recipes lately.  I've been really busy with some major career events.  I'll post more on that in the weeks to come, but the long and the short of it is that I should have more time to post to the blog now that I've re-arranged my whole work life.  I'll be delving into some great recipes, including the ultimate bread recipe: sourdough.  I've been working on creating a nice, tangy, flavorful sourdough recipe for you, complete with an easy-to-use starter.  Keep checking back for that!  In the meantime, I have another nice traditional boule bread recipe for you to munch on. For those who have been following my gluten-free bread recipes , I'm giving you another in the series.  This one is very similar to the Traditional Round Loaf recipe.  In fact it's the same but you get a larger loaf, about a 2-lb.  Th