Gluten-free Gourmand

I like to eat big.   When I was a kid, just a skinny little thing, family and friends would marvel at the huge piles of pasta I would heap on my plate and top with meatballs.   I mean, I would really pile it on – and at 10 I would pack away more of the dish than most adults.   Italian food was a staple growing up and my mom taught me how to make my grandma’s spaghetti and meatballs, as well as other hearty meals like fresh pasta and home-made bread.   Whatever I loved to eat, I would learn how to make it. My home-made creations weren’t always perfect.   I am still teased for the time I tried to make eggplant ravioli without a recipe when I was 16.   It took 5 hours.   When we finally sat down to eat at 10 pm, everyone was famished, but I had made some miscalculations.   Each person got about three ravioli.   They weren’t even good!   That was when I learned that eggplant, while delicious, can be spongy and bland when not cooked...

I've been working on this recipe for my mom, who requested an easier, faster recipe than a traditional all-butter pastry crust  without any egg.  This crust is every bit as good, and much easier to handle due to the egg.  Plus, it's just in time for making your first strawberry rhubarb pie of the season. Gluten-free Pie Crust Recipe Makes one crust.  Double for pies that need a top crust. mix time: 5 min rest time: 30 min (optional) cook time:  30-50 minutes filled (like apple pie) or  20 minutes pre-cooked for a custard filling or as a gallette

When a person first goes gluten-free, she often immediately thinks of all the delicious foods she won’t be able to eat again.   Croissants?   Beer?   Baguettes?   WAFFLES?   What a catastrophe!   Well, catastrophe averted.   I haven’t figured out how to make my own beer yet, but waffles are one thing that no one should ever have to miss with easy gluten-free recipes like this one.   In fact, these waffles are even lighter, fluffier, and more delicious than the wheat version.   Why?   No pesky gluten, of course!   Gluten can toughen waffles if you aren’t extremely careful in mixing.   With this recipe, there’s no gluten worry.   The texture is extremely pillowy, the flavor is full and buttery, and they are easy on the belly. They are even soft and springy the next day.

Here's a post from my sister publication, Just Another Shallot and Asparagus Blog .  I collaborated with "Shallot" blogger Christopher on this recipe.  Just make sure your  fish sauce  is gluten-free, or substitute with gluten-free  soy sauce ,  and you're good to go with this healthy asian meal.

This is a very traditional sourdough bread recipe, using artisan methods to create a nice, tangy, San Francisco-style sourdough bread.  If you like a really sour-but-smooth sourdough bread, this is the recipe for you. There are just a few differences between this recipe and a standard wheat-based recipe.  The most notable difference, of course, is the psyllium husk, which is a gluten substitute.  Read more about psyllium and other binders here .  Then of course there's the flour.  I use my own Bread Flour Blend for bread baking, but if you live outside the U.S. read my post  Make Your Own Gluten-free Bread Flour .  If you use your own flour blend, you may have to adjust the amount of water and psyllium you use. Why sourdough?  It's incredibly delicious, for one thing.  The natural process of fermenting the bread through the sourdough process makes it really good for you, too.  Then there's the fact that sourdough bread stays ...

Breads are considered the stuff of life in many cultures.  Those of us who are gluten-free in a gluten-loving country can fee left out of the main event of our culinary heritage.  Knowing something about the history of bread has helped me keep gluten in perspective. When did people start making bread?  The most ancient and the simplest method of making bread does not use fermentation.  This is the method that's still used to make tortillas: a simple mixture of flour and water, patted into a flat circle and grilled on both sides until done.  People have been using this process for making flatbreads since time immemorial. People figured out how to ferment the water-and-flour mixture as long as 20,000 years ago in Africa.  The invention of cultured doughs made injera and other types of sourdough pancakes possible.  The grains used for these yeasted flatbreads are mainly teff and sorghum.

Update: See my updated version of this recipe:  https://glutenfreegourmand.blogspot.com/2021/10/sourdough-starter-ready-to-use-in-3-7.html When I was a kid, my dad loved to make the family sourdough bread on the weekends.  I loved watching him feed the starter, knead the dough, and put a raw lump into the oven to see a golden half-globe of bread emerge later.  We could get really good fresh San Francisco sourdough bread in the store, but that had nothing on my dad's bread.  It was one of my favorite foods. I like my sourdough really sour in the San Francisco and pioneer traditions.  My dad's sourdough was from an old country recipe that was handed down from a farmer neighbors, the Lists. Old List Family Sourdough  Bread Recipe I decided to track down the recipe and re-create it, gluten-free.  When I get an idea in my head to re-create a recipe I loved as a gluten eater, I'm like a dog with a bone.  I just work on it tenaciously until the ...

Definition Sourdough is not a description of a type or a flavor of bread - it's a process.  Sourdough is an ancient method for making bread that uses a starter of natural yeasts and bacterias found on the grain itself.  These microorganisms are cultured by the bread maker to have a healthy balance of flavor and the power to let the loaf rise. Bread History in a Glimpse It used to be that sourdough bread was just called bread.   Commercial yeast has only been available for the last 100 years.  Before that, leavened bread was made using either the sourdough method or in a similar process that used the yeast left over from fermenting alcoholic beverages. The sourdough process has been used for 10,000-20,000 years.  When you think of that length of human history, and then compare it to the last 100 years of bread making, that puts the tradition of sourdough bread in perspective. Process Making sourdough bread is more like growing a garden than ex...

I know that I've got a good bread recipe if, after first tasting a loaf, my boyfriend immediately plans on making a sandwich out of it.  If the bread is just okay, I get an unconvincingly encouraging "That's good!"  If it's great, I get, "We could cook some bacon and make a BLT with melted cheese!"  Then, even if it's 11:00 at night after a heavy meal, he will make that sandwich. I got all kinds of compliments on my baguettes for Christmas dinner, from people who ate gluten and from those who were gluten-free.  It was an amazing and filling meal, and yet my boyfriend made little turkey sandwiches afterward with baguette slices and turkey bits.  That says it all. I made a quick version of this recipe which works great for a tight schedule.  This recipe is more traditional, with two rises of the dough.  That slow process improves the flavor and the browning of the crust for a more traditional artisan look and taste to your bread. T...

This is a re-post of the 2-lb Boule Bread Recipe that I have updated with a better method for superior flavor and browning. Updated again on 7-16-2021 with some minor adjustments to ingredient amounts. 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, but you get a larger loaf, about a 2-lb.  This recipe uses my  Bread Flour  mix, or the Rustic White Bread Flour  blend, which are pretty simple to make.   Gluten-free Bread Recipe - Large Round Loaf makes one 2-lb round loaf Mix time: 10 minutes Rise time: 2-3 hours Cook time: 35-45 minutes Mix in the bowl of your stand mixer or whisk together by hand: 490g (about 2 to 2 1/4 cups) warm water, 110-120 degrees 27g whole psyllium husk (or 20g ground psyllium husk) Add to the bowl: 375g GF bread flour  (reserve an addit...

Do you have a gluten-free person on your Christmas list?  Here are a few ideas on what to give them - or any foodie on your list - for the holidays: At the Book Store I always like  Joy of Cooking .  It's an invaluable reference for every kind of thing you can imagine cooking.  Many of the recipes in this blog are adapted from recipes in this book. I also love The Penguin Companion to Food .  It's a great reference for food nerds.  Do you want to know how pectin works?  Do you love terms like polysaccharide chain?  This is the book for you. Gluten-free Girl Every Day .  If you don't already have it, get it for yourself or a loved one!  It's available here in Portland at  Powell's , among other places online.  It's a useful recipe book to have. At the Kitchen Store For my Portland readers I highly recommend Kitchen Kaboodle .  They have a great selection, helpful staff, and they sell everyt...

ENDS 11:59 December 15th. Gluten-free Gourmand is offering free shipping on any order of $25 or more for the next week!  Use Coupon Code SHIP25 for free shipping. Have a gift basket shipped directly to a friend! We can even personalize the tag for you if you leave me a comment at checkout. Use Coupon Code SHIP25 at checkout for free shipping!

Scones are what got me into this mess.  They were like a gateway drug to gluten-free baking.  Now I can't stop.  Where will it end?  I'm up to long-ferment gluten-free sourdough bread. I have a feeling I will keep looking for more challenges.  But it all started with the simple scone.   The scones were so popular that I decided to sell a  scone mix .  It can be made with the traditional recipe, the vegan recipe, or the cream scone recipe. I ran across this Pinterest board on the topic the other day and thought it was genius.  In honor of the gluten-free scone I'd like to highlight a few scone recipes, old and new. Traditional scone recipe - gluten-free Scones: Vegan Scones: Citrus Glaze Savory Cheddar Scones from Gluten-free on a Shoestring Scones: Heart-shaped Cream Scones Scones from the Gluten-free Girl Scones: Whole-grain Blueberry Scones: Paleo Pumpkin Scones from Leigh Olson

This Monday and Tuesday only, get 30% off a your entire purchase at Gluten-free Gourmand !  Check out our new gift baskets - a perfect idea for the holidays!  You can have the gift tag personalized and ship right to your friend or family member. Use discount code CYBER30 to get 30% off your order.