Gluten-free Gourmand

  White sandwich bread is an American household staple.  It's one of those things people miss after going gluten free, even if they never really thought much about it when they ate gluten.  It's one of those things people just take for granted, and sometimes a person just wants a simple grilled cheese on white bread or a slice of toast with butter. There are many debates about the best GF white sandwich bread.  Many of them have gums or other binders that give them a strange texture.  Most have rice flour, which is great because it's inexpensive and widely available, but it has its own problems with texture.  It holds on to water longer than other grains, so it takes forever to bake and it often contributes to gumminess.   Here is my contribution to the white sandwich bread recipes of the world.  As a bonus, it's also grain-free, using a mix of pseudo-cereals and tuber flours.  It also has a few extra attributes that are difficult to com...

I gave up on producing a showy loaf a long time ago.  I always rolled my eyes a little when I saw photos online of perfect bloom or wide-open crumb.  "The mustard is going to just fall right through," I would think to my self disapprovingly, shaking my head a little. It turns out, I was just jealous. After a decade of gluten-free bread baking and recipe development, and through a collaboration with some other bakers, I've come up with a gf sourdough bread recipe that produces an open crumb, a large bloom, and sometimes, if I'm lucky, an ear.   The bread has a very mild, pleasant sourdough flavor and is very light in color. The crumb is very open but not too delicate.  It has a chewiness to the texture that I associate with a good sourdough bread.  The crust gets a nice browning and it toasts up nicely. And I don't mind the mustard falling through as much as I thought I would. Many thanks to Michael Hollesen who came up with the original version of this reci...

The traditional way to create a starter can take a few weeks to a month to have a usable culture. A science-minded professional baker, Ian Lowe of Apiece Bakery, has figured out a way to accelerate the process to have a viable and very beautiful tasting culture in just 3-7 days. Using heat and hydration it’s possible to speed up the fermentation to get through the “bad bacteria” phase in just 48 hours, leaving you a usable culture on the third day with some luck. I created my starter on a Tuesday and I baked with it on that Friday with great results. I first came across this method in a post on The Fresh Loaf by the contributor Ars Pistorica, AKA Ian Lowe. I’ve been using this method ever since I first read about it in 2013. He used whole wheat and/or rye, but says the method can be used with "any cereal, pseudo-cereal, or tuber flours." It’s not the only way to accelerate the first stages of creating a starter, but this is how I’ve adapted this method to various gluten...

Falafel: the ultimate gluten-free, vegan, healthy, delicious food.  Practically a complete food unto itself with protein, carbs, and healthy fats, and vegetables all in a small delicious package.  But sadly, in the USA, they are often not made gluten-free when they so easily could be. I was traveling in Granada, Spain a few years ago when my then-fiancé and I were looking for a good, inexpensive meal that was a change from Spanish food.  We found a Lebanese restaurant and really lucked out - their falafel was gluten-free!  It turns out that falafel is usually gluten-free outside of the US.  But more than that, it was the most delicious falafel I've ever tasted.  It was kind of smooth and creamy on the inside, and very, very green as well.  The outside was the ultimate crispy crust. Recently I decided to re-create that falafel experience.  I was partly motivated because I recently got a Delonghi Deep Fryer.   Deep frying the falafel is w...

Have you ever ordered hummus at a "healthy" or "natural" restaurant and it came to the table as chunky, dry, mashed-up garbanzo beans?  What a disappointment!  This recipe will give you home-made hummus that's closer to what you would find in a Lebanese restaurant - creamy and smooth. Thanks to theKitchn.com for the recipe that inspired this post ! With the aid of a food processor, this recipe is really easy.  The trick is to add back plenty of the delicious liquid from the garbanzo beans. First, open and drain, reserving the liquid: a 15-oz can of garbanzo beans, aka chick peas Put the garbanzo beans in the food processor along with: About 1/4 of the reserved liquid, plus more as needed 3 Tablespoons tahini 3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 clove garlic juice from 1/2 lemon (only use fresh lemon) 1 tsp salt Black pepper to taste Blend the ingredients together for about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.  ...

Hello Friends, It has been a long time since I posted a recipe.  Well, here in Oregon we are under a "Stay at Home" order due to the COVID-19 crisis, and I am diligently staying at home.  I haven't gone to a restaurant or gotten delivery in weeks, and that means I'm cooking. Below are some of the recipes I've been revisiting during the Stay at Home order.  Then, up next, I will post a few new recipes that I've been throwing in the mix to have some healthy vegetarian Mediterranean meals, including falafel, hummus, and tzatziki. First, my fun project.  I made some Pain au Chocolate and finally got some good crumb shots!  I used the Quicker, Easier Method for the croissant dough. Pain au Chocolate I have some of the pastry dough saved to possibly make Chicken Pot Pie one night.  Chicken is a staple around here during the best of times, so it's also a great staple during a global pandemic.  I've been thinking up ways to make it a different me...

It's been awhile!  I've been meaning to create a new blog post lately and this video inspired me.  Chile Relleno is one of the few dishes that I can't enjoy when I'm in Mexico because it has a little bit of flour in it.  I make it at home by subbing out the flour for white rice flour.  This video shows a slightly different technique than I have in my recipe , and it also answers the question I've always had about what exactly is in the sauce.  Please enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WCni7y8i44

The Julia Childs croissant recipe takes 24 hours.  I don't want to brag here, but my new croissant recipe only takes six!  Croissants aren't easy, but I've taken the tricky bits out.  These crescent rolls are even better than if you took an extra18 hours to make them. The traditional method of making croissants calls for a laborious task called "laminating" that takes up lots of time and labor.  This recipe uses a technique typically seen in other types of pastries and biscuits - cutting in the butter.  This is much faster than laminating and doesn't take much in the way of technique.  So never fear, you do not need to get a degree from the Cordon Bleu to make these tasty pastries! Croissant Recipe, Quicker and Easier Mix time:10 minutes Chill time: 60 minutes Rolling/shaping time: 30 minutes Rise time: 3-4 hours Cook time: 20 minutes Yield: 8-12 croissants In a food processor, or in a medium mixing bowl, blend together: ...

I've been using the Gluten-free Bread Flour Blend for years, but I recently developed a "whiter" flour blend that gives the bread a bit more rise, a lighter color, and a lighter crumb.  I get the most compliments on my bread made from this flour.  This flour blend is lower in whole grains and higher in starches, but it's not completely without whole grains so it has a rustic country-style look to the finished product. This flour blend can be used interchangeably with the original Gluten-free Bread Flour Blend. Rustic White Bread Flour Blend Recipe Blend together thoroughly: 150g Tapioca Flour 150g Potato Starch 100g Sorghum Flour 50g Millet Flour For a binder, keep this separate and mix with the liquids as the recipe indicates: 20g ground psyllium husk - OR- 28g whole psyllium husk

I haven't posted a recipe in a while, so I thought I'd check in and let you know that I'm working on a few recipes that I'm really excited about! Lemon Cookies "Quick"-er "Easy"-er GF Croissants Pain au Chocolat Whole-grain muffins New bread recipes! So tune in on Monday for a real treat!

You know that one thing that you keep missing, even though there are so many great GF products out there?  For those of us who love dark beer, finding a gluten-free version that satisfies our craving for that smoky, malty, liquid goodness is our personal search for the holy grail.  While I'm not saying that my search is over, I am saying that I have found a cup that looks an awful lot like that grail. Any dark beer lover would have already tried Green's Dubbel Dark Ale  knows that it's a solid choice for GF dark beer.  However, that light fruity Belgian style is just not the same thing as a lush, malty dark beer.   Ground Breaker Brewing's Dark Ale  comes a little closer to satisfying that craving.  However, this Seasonal Squash Ale is even better than the brand's Dark Ale.  Something about the squash in the recipe smooths it out and mellows the flavors. Maybe that's because of the process.  From the Ground Breaker press release ...

This is a re-post of my holiday recipe roundup from last year.  I hope you all enjoy your holidays! Gluten-free Gravy Dinner Rolls Gingerbread Cookies Traditional Stuffing Quick Bread Stuffing Butternut Squash Pie Pie Crust Turkey Soup Coq au Vin Baguettes

I recently heard from a reader who is new to gluten-free bread baking and is really delving into it.  Eric from San Francisco had a lot of great questions for me about why I created some of my bread recipes the way I did.  He also asked me to flesh out some of the bread-making methods I use.  He had a couple of great photos he shared with me and he's been nice enough to let me show them to you! Eric: Your recipes and methods work well! I cannot believe how well. GF Bread that actually rises and that is workable, who knew?! Thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge. I'm new to Celiac so this has been a really tough time. Baking calms me and your blog has really helped me accept my fate and inspires me to bake more! I have a few questions, if I may: 1. Regarding baked and uncut bread. How long would it stay "fresh" on a counter? Do I need to cut, wrap and freeze it if unused in the same day? I was hoping to store some baguettes out, uncut for a fe...