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The Maze of Gluten Free Pasta

I often find myself standing in front of the gluten free section staring at all the pastas, wondering if, perhaps, one actually tastes good. Sometimes I luck in.
But usually when I go back they don't stock it anymore or I can't remember which shop I purchased it from.
Sigh.

Orgran ones aren't bad. They're not amazing though.
Corn based pasta tastes like it should be under mexe-beans and nothing more.
Rice pasta disintegrates.
I know that out there, somewhere is a good gluten free pasta that doesn't cost the earth and is available at more than one shop. And so my hunt continues.
If you know of a good brand, please leave me a note. Please.

Gluten Free Flours. It's really not that hard. Really.

I know that it can be confusing when you read recipes with a thousand different ingredients, some of which you've never heard or think of as cattle feed.
I don't use premixed GF flour anymore as it contains things I don't want to eat, like soyflour (which can inhibit nutrient absorption amongst other things) and Xanthan and Guar gum, which upset my stomach. They're also lower in nutrients. And when you're watching your weight, empty calories are not your friend.



Sorghum flour is (easily) found in Indian food shops and some healthfood shops. I use red as that's what I found first. I'll try white next. It's a wholegrain flour that is grown in huge amounts for cattle here in Australia.

Brown Rice flour is easily found in healthfood shops and some supermarkets

White rice flour is easy to find in supermarkets, try the baking aisle for small packets or the health food aisle in larger amounts.

Teff is not available easily in Australia or New Zealand. It is however easily found on the roadside as a weed in QLD if you're into grinding your own flour.

Amaranth flour is easily found in healthfood shops and some supermarkets.

Quinoa flour is easily found in healthfood shops and some supermarkets too.
 
Maize flour is usually yellow and again, is whole grain. It's different to what we know as cornflour, used in sponges. It can remind you of taco shells if you use it solely, so I always mix with other flours. Find it at the healthfood shop.

Cornflour is white and is what americans call cornstarch. It's also sometimes made from wheat, which is useless if you're baking for people with allergies, so please check your packet. It must say Maize in the ingredients list. It's starch.


Glutenous Rice flour doesn't contain Gluten. But it makes great muffins! It's cheap as chips from your asian grocery, about $2kg. Americans call it Sweet Rice Flour.

Tapioca flour or Arrowroot is a starch and is easily found in supermarkets in the baking aisle. Try a healthfood shop for larger amounts, or if your supermarket has an asian food aisle, try there too. It's super cheap.

Potato Flour is easily found in healthfood shops.

Also note that Almond Flour is not Ground Almonds/Almond Meal. It's a different product with a different texture.

Chickpea flour and lentil flour taste funny, so I don't use them. I haven't tried coconut flour so can't comment but I know a lot of people who don't like to cook with it.

Guess what. You don't need all these flours! I don't have all these flours! Buy a few at a time and experiment with them, make notes and then you'll learn what you like. You'll learn what's more economical too.
If you need to be told where to start *coughcoughstephaniecough* then start with Brown rice, Sorghum if you can find it, quinoa, potato and tapioca.

Muffin Mania

I have a new obsession... Muffins.

It came about last night that I had a massive chocolate craving and the subtle hints to the man before he left work produced no chocolate gifts. Drat.
So once the kids were in bed I had a quick google for my favourite GF Blogger to see if she had a muffin recipe. Ofcourse she did. See here  for the recipe and flour blending instructions. I won't post the recipe, as I really want you to read her blog post, plus that'd be rude.

Her muffins are wholegrain and therefore full of nutrition (protein and fibre), just right to start the morning. And they are FILLING! It was in fact, my breakfast muffin obsession that led me to the conclusion that it was gluten making me exhausted at 9am and burning with reflux by midday. Woohoo! My breakfast muffin routine can begin again. I digress. Last night, I wanted CHOCOLATE. Delicious, gooey, dark chocolate. And so I baked.

To fully understand what I'm about to write, you MUST read Shauna's post and explanation of flours before the recipe. She's done all the hard work and below is simply my take on her version of someone else's Gluten based muffins! She's such a joy to read though, I know you won't find it a hardship. Also, you really do need a kitchen scale. It makes GF baking a breeze.

I made up the flour mix using red sorghum and brown rice, and tapioca (arrowroot) and potato flour, simply because that's what I had. Next batch I'll do a mix of sorghum/rice/amaranth or maybe quinoa. We'll see. If you can't use eggs, add a teaspoon of linseed or chia meal to a cup, then pour 60 ml of boiling water on top. Stir and let cool. For this recipe, you'll need 2 teaspoons meal and 120 ml of water.

So DOUBLE DARK CHOCOLATE MUD MUFFINS
Make sure your ingredients are room temp!
I added 50g of cocoa to the flours and 180g of dark chips at the end.
The liquids I used were sunflower oil and 250g of Lactose free milk and 50g of cream because that's what  I had (and I wanted to see how I reacted) Rice milk will work fine, as will buttermilk, soy milk... whatever you want to try. I heated it slightly in the microwave to bring it to room temp. Next time I make these I'll use 200g of Lac free milk and 100g of cool Espresso... nom nom.
I also baked them until they were cooked, but just barely. Top was still slightly tacky and it set upon cooling.
The mix looked quite sloppy but it worked fine. They were richly dark, moist, not too sweet and hit the I-Need-Chocolate-Right-Now spot.

CRANBERRY COCONUT LEMON MUFFINS
They're SO YUMMY.  (Don't tell the chocolate but I like these even more)

So, I used the same recipe and this time added 100g of coconut and two handfuls of Craisins to the flours. I also used 1/2 instead of 1/4 tsp of baking powder as I like my muffins well risen.

For the liquids I used 200g lactose free milk, 100g of clear apple juice (for a little extra sweetness) and Sunflower oil again. The zest of one lemon was added to the liquids. I scored the peel vertically every 2 cm and the zested it horizontally so I had short slim strips of peel. (IYKWIM) It will look too liquidy again, but hey, they worked!

The second batch had been sitting for 15 minutes while the first batch baked, and I think they were better. So feel free to let your batter sit for a while before you bake them.

If you're a breastfeeding mama, make them with grated apple, cinnamon, walnuts and add a couple of tablespoons of Brewers Yeast, then top with raw sugar and oats. Freeze these down in twin packs for quick feeding snacks. Heat them in the microwave or flat sandwich press when you need them. .

Please let me know what you think of them and what flavour combinations you tried. I think next on my list will be Hummingbird Muffins... pineapple, banana and date.


Happy baking!

Christmassy Cocktail

I have an obsession with mixed fruit at this time of year. I'll eat it any way I can get it.
And drink it. I soak my fruit in vast amounts of sherry, and there's plenty of fruit infused sherry in the containers left over, Which is awesome for glazing mince pies and doughnuts too.
This is my version of a Christmas Cocktail. Let's call it a Sloshed Noel shall we?

Sloshed Noel
2 parts fruit infused sherry
1 part Vanilla Galliano
1 part gin (I choose tanqueray 10)

Drop a glace cherry or two into the bottom of the glass.
Layer Sherry, Galliano and Gin in order

Serve with ice stick and a spoon.

GF Lactation Biscuits.

After a nasty scare last night with no milk and a hungry, upset baby, 

I thought it was time I sorted this recipe out as GF.

I can tolerate GF (uncontaminated) oats, so I have included them in my recipe. However you can use flaked coconut instead if you can't tolerate oats. This recipe is also dairy free and a smaller amount than a lot of similar recipes. I prefer to cook smaller amounts more often, but this recipe is easily doubled. 

The result is chewy and delicious and won't last long if you let the kids and husband at them!

So - 

Gluten Free Lactation Biscuits

Ingredients

40ml water

1T ground linseed

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup dairy free margarine

1 60g egg, beaten

1tsp vanilla bean paste

1/3 cup almond meal

1/2 cup cornflour

1/2 cup GF flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 heaped tablespoon brewers yeast

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

125g chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven at 180c (fan forced).

Line cookie sheet with baking powder or silpat.

Mix linseed meal and water in small bowl, set aside.

Cream butter and sugars, then add egg. Beat until light and fluffy.

Add vanilla and linseed slurry, beat again until combined.

In a second large bowl, combine meal, flours, salt, yeast, baking powder and ground cinnamon.

Fold dry ingredients into wet, then fold in oats and chocolate chips.

Use a soup spoon to drop roughly circular dollops of mix onto tray.

Bake 15 minutes, check after 12. Biscuits should be just browned on the outside.

Notes

I use original Nuttelex spread and Orgran brand GF flour.

If you're not into chocolate, use sultanas or dried cranberries.

The chocolate chips I use are dark. However if you're doing these with coconut instead of oats, 

use white chips, omit the cinnamon, and add half a cup of chopped macadamias.

Peanut Butter bikkies

Baking is a chemical art, precision is necessary to get the same results and a clear understanding of how the chemistry works also necessary before you start messing with the balance. Or so they say.

Here for your amusement:  

Freehand GF Peanut Butter Bikkies

Ingredients:

100g Caster sugar

2 Eggs

120g DF margerine

80g Peanut butter

1 tsp Vanilla

100g GF flour

150g Cornflour

1.5 tsp Baking powder

Preheat FF oven to 170celcius

Cream together the wet (first five ingredients) in a medium bowl until really fluffy and light. 

Fold in the sifted flours and baking powder. The dough should be soft but not sticky. Add more cornflour if necessary.

Roll into balls at size of your choice and space out on baking papered tray. Flatten with a fork and sprinkle with extra caster sugar. Bake 15-20 minutes depending on size. To check, break one open at 15 minutes and check if cookie is an even colour, an uncooked centre will be a darker colour.

Notes: Use raw castor sugar if you can get it, it gives a better colour and flavour. 

The flour I used was a supermarket GF flour.