I’ve been playing around with the gluten-free recipes from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes per day.  Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg have done a great job of providing whole grain and gluten-free options for their Artisan Bread in 5 minutes per day method.

Simply put, this method is great for families and households where you would like [...]]]>

I’ve been playing around with the gluten-free recipes from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes per day.  Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg have done a great job of providing whole grain and gluten-free options for their Artisan Bread in 5 minutes per day method.

Simply put, this method is great for families and households where you would like to be able to make bread with a minimum of fuss.  It involves mixing larger batches of dough, and letting a long, cool, delayed fermentation do the rest of the work for you.  For wheat-based breads, this method is great, as it develops the gluten structure slowly, but thoroughly, and has the added benefit of the enzymatic reactions typical of a delayed ferment.   Obviously, with gluten-free breads, there is no need to develop the gluten, but this method is a great one nonetheless, for the convenience AND for the flavour development

While I’ve been doing my own noodling around with these recipes to make them egg and dairy-free, a while back, I noticed that ABin5 put up their own version of an egg-free, gluten-free version, which was also whole-grain heavy to boot!  AWESOME, I thought, and read on, only to discover that it made use of some of the new King Arthur gluten-free flours — not at all readily available to us up here in B.C.  In my trials with this method, I’ve moved completely away from commercial egg-replacers as I found them too drying, and been relying on chia seeds or flax seeds, so I was interested to see that ABin5 also fell back on flax seeds for theirs.

Undaunted, I set about to play around and come up with a recipe that would be heavier on whole grains, but be feasible for those of us still buying our flours separately!  This is my modification of Zoe and Jeffs — the proportions are based on their original recipe, with the major change being the flours.  This relies on only about 25% starch for the texture: considerably less than the minimum of 50% that many other gluten-free breads require to achieve a pleasant texture.  The other addition here that is critical, is the inclusion of sweet rice flour, which adds moisture and helps with the binding of the final flour.

A final note:  I’ve given proportions in volume measures here.   There is minimal mixing required for this approach, as the xantham gum hydrates slowly while the dough sits, and I’ve found that hydration levels are easy to adjust for as you go.  I’ve tried both volume and weight measures, and had consistent results with both, so left the measures as volumes as many folks find them easier.

We’re making baguettes here today, but stay tuned to see what else we can make with this dough!  We’re also sending this one over to Yeastspotting, go check out  what some amazing bread bakers have been up to!!!

Whole “Grain” Gluten-free, Egg-free Baguettes

(modified from Artisan Bread in 5 minutes per day)

• 2 tablespoons flax meal (I use golden flax seeds for their flavour)
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup tapioca starch
• 2/3 cup brown rice flour (make sure to use one that is very finely ground, not gritty)
• 1/3 cup sweet rice flour (also called “glutinous rice” or “sticky rice”)
• 1/2 cup millet flour
• 1/2 cup amaranth flour
• 1/2 cup sorghum flour
• 1 Tablespoon instant yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 Tablespoon Xantham gum
• 2 cups warm water
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon honey or organic cane sugar

Mix together the flax meal and 1/3 cup water and set aside for 15 minutes until it becomes thick and gloppy.

In a large bowl, mix together flours, yeast, salt, and xantham gum.  Whisk well to combine all the ingredients (You do NOT want to have blobs of xantham gum!!!)

Add all the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until the dough is well mixed.  Transfer the dough to a container with a loose fitting lid, and let rise for 1 1/2 – 2 hours until doubled in volume.  The dough will be airier in texture than wheat-based dough.  Store the dough in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

To bake baguettes, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Grease a baguette pan, or line with parchment paper.  (You can do this on a heavy sheet pan, but the baguette pan allows for greater air circulation on all sides of the baguette — its all about the crusty exterior!!!)

To shape this dough, you want to handle it as little as possible.  I’ve found the easiest way to form into baguettes is with a scoop, laying scoops of dough all in a row and then use a wet spatula or fingers to smooth out the scoops into a uniform baguette.  Sprinkle seeds or gluten-free grains of your choice on top of the baguettes.   Once you’ve formed the baguette, let it sit for about 30 minutes, to take the chill off the dough.  It won’t double in size, but will have oven spring once it starts baking.  You can also slash the top of the dough to control the rise, just be gentle when you do!

Bake at 450 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  Let the baguettes cool completely before you try to cut them!

Tonight’s post is another easy dinner, that you can throw together with mostly on-hand pantry items (depending on your pantry), but can also be modified to meet whatever flavour profile you’re hankering for, or adapt to whatever seafood you have available.

These [...]]]> So they tweeps have spoken, with a narrow margin voting in favour of a food-related post!

Tonight’s post is another easy dinner, that you can throw together with mostly on-hand pantry items (depending on your pantry), but can also be modified to meet whatever flavour profile you’re hankering for, or adapt to whatever seafood you have available.

These little fritters are also great for folks who are on carbohydrate-restricted diets, as they make use of nut flour rather than grains — making them gluten-free to boot!

For tonight’s dinner, we went with slightly fresher flavours of lime, ginger and basil, and rounded out the fritters with a few grated carrots for added colour and nutrition.

The choose-your own adventure part?  You can substitute the prawns I used here for finely chopped seafood of pretty much any that is moderately firm — scallops, fish, shrimp, even lobster if you’re feeling extravagant!   You can also substitute the almond flour for any other nut meal, or even a flour such as chickpea flour for a texture more like tortillitas.  The veg are versatile to, subbing carrots for shredded zucchini, or even finely chopped, seeded tomatoes.

Finally, you have control over how you want to cook these — avoiding oil, you can bake them in the oven on parchment, 400 degrees, 10-12 minutes.  I’ve panfried these, but you could also drop into simmering broth and have them like dumplings in soup!

We opted here for more asian flavours, but if you’re inclined, you could leave out the ginger, and basil, and add cumin, coriander and cilantro for more Mexican flavours.  Hey, they’re your fritters!  Its your Monday night dinner adventure!!!

Seafood Fritters

• 1 lb. prawns, shelled and finely chopped
• 1/2 small onion, finely diced
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1  1/2 teaspoon finely minced ginger
• zest of 1 lime
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 6-8 basil leaves, chiffonade
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well to combine.  Drop by 2 tablespoon scoops into a heated, oiled skillet, flattening slightly as you form the fritters.  Cook 4-5 minutes per side, turning only once.  Serve warm.

P.S. there were a number of requests for a cocktail post — stay tuned for a post tomorrow for an cocktail post on what to do with the other half of the lime from tonight’s dinner!

We’ve had dreadful weather lately, and braving it out on the barbeque in the rain and the wind, hoping that summer would magically appear!  Well yesterday, the sun was out, and everyone rushed out in shorts and tank tops, madly pursuing summer activities, and I was thinking [...]]]> I sense a theme coming on — Easy Sunday dinners!

We’ve had dreadful weather lately, and braving it out on the barbeque in the rain and the wind, hoping that summer would magically appear!  Well yesterday, the sun was out, and everyone rushed out in shorts and tank tops, madly pursuing summer activities, and I was thinking we might even get to enjoy grilled pizza (and even eat it in the patio!) for our Sunday dinner.

Well we woke up this morning to rain … again.  Grilled pizza urges were suddenly dampened, and I found myself turning to winter-ish food cravings.  So tonight, we’re having black bean chili for dinner.

For a smaller amount I make this up in a 4 quart pressure cooker.  Yes, a pressure cooker Virginia.  You can easily double the recipe in a 7-8 quart pressure cooker.

…For those of you with childhood memories of the jiggle-top pressure cookers, and tomato sauce all over the ceiling, have no fear!  The modern versions have built-in safety valves, so they self-correct far before the point of explosion!  They are also very efficient and I far prefer my pressure cooker to a slow-cooker.  I find it preserves the texture and the flavours of individual ingredients far better than a day of stewing in the slow-cooker…   Back to your regularly scheduled programming

Chili is pretty easy to pull together, but I find there are a few things that help amp up the flavours and make a big difference.

• As with most dishes, take a bit of time to develop the flavours of the onions and garlic at the beginning
• Toast the spices before adding the meat, that way the meat browns even more with the spices.  You can do this all right in the pan, with the onions and garlic you’ve already sauteed.  The toasting really helps deepen the flavours.
• A little bit of cocoa powder added to the pot adds a great deal of depth — think of a mole sauce!
• Smoked paprika!  Once you start using this stuff, its hard to stop

The other favour you can do yourself here is cook your own beans from dried.  I know the canned beans are convenient, but dried beans are much more economical, AND you can control the amount of salt in your meals.  I cook the beans for about 30 minutes at high pressure — no soaking, no muss, no fuss!  You can also freeze cooked beans in a little of the cooking liquid, and add them just like you would use canned beans.

You can certainly make this in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan or a Dutch oven, but you will need to increase the cooking time.  The advantage of the pressure cooker, is that you can go from start to plating (including chopping) in under an hour, and still have about 20 minutes to enjoy a glass of wine or a cocktail while the pressure cooker is doing its thing!

Sunday Night Black Bean Chili

• 1 Tablespoon grapeseed oil
• 1 medium onion, choppped
• 1 large celery stalk, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried epazote (optional)
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 pound ground bison (or substitute about 8 ounces organic tempeh, crumbled, to make this vegan)
• 1/2 large sweet pepper
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 2 cups cooked black beans
• 1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes (try and find an organic, no-salt added)
• 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
• salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions and celery over medium heat in a pressure cooker until the onions are just starting to brown.  Add the garlic and spices (thru to smoked paprika) and cook until you can smell them starting to toast.   Add the meat and cook until the meat is almost cooked through.  Add the remaining spices and herbs, and all other ingredients, leaving the beans on the top.  Add up to 1/2 cup water.

Lock the lid on the pressure cooker, and bring up to pressure.  Cook at high pressure for 20 minutes, until all the flavours are melded.  Bring the pressure down, and serve with corn muffins, garlic toast (or however you like it!)

Serves 4 hungry people.

Crab cakes are a bit of an indulgence, given the price of fresh [...]]]> Last night we had crab cakes for dinner, and I put up a quick pic of a lone crab cake (taken after we had scarfed down a few with side dish for dinner!), so I thought I would post the basic recipe I use.

Crab cakes are a bit of an indulgence, given the price of fresh crabmeat, but there are a few options out there if you want to enjoy these on a regular basis!  Make sure that whatever approach to crab you opt for, that it is good quality (tastewise), after all, these are all about the crab!  If you can find tinned crab with a high percentage of legmeat in it on sale, grab it, and stash it in your pantry.  Alternatively, keep an eye out for crab coming into the docks for sale — a bit more work, but definitely worth it!

Making crab cakes is essentially like making crab salad with a bit of binder in it — I like to use Japanese breadcrumbs, because they add a bit of texture to the whole works!  Not too much though, because the crab should take centre stage.  I like the addition of cilantro and a little bit of minced red pepper if I have it around.  Its a pretty versatile base, so play around with it!  If you like your crabcakes spicy, add some Siracha!  If you like Old Bay seasoning, try that and take out the cilantro!  they are, after all, your crabcakes to enjoy the way you want!

Crab Cakes (makes about 8 – 10 individual cakes)

• 1 lb. crabmeat, drained and picked over for shells
• 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs (or substitute fresh breadcrumbs)
• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1/4 cup minced green onion
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup minced red peppper (optional)
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten

Mix everything well and form into individual patties, about 1/3 cup each.  Press the patties on the top and bottom into additional Panko, and place in a preheated frypan, with 2-3 Tablespoons vegetable oil.  Fry on each side until golden brown and crispy on medium-high heat, about 4 minutes.  Serve warm with fresh salsa with lots of cilantro on the side, or with smoked paprika aoili.

One of the other things on the list was to incorporate chia seeds into more of the baking [...]]]> Well I’ve had a couple of things I needed to do on the gluten-free baking front, one being to work on a new loaf to add to the mix, and a cinnamon raisin loaf seemed like just the thing.

One of the other things on the list was to incorporate chia seeds into more of the baking as a replacement for eggs.

So having some time this afternoon, off I went with the mixer and baking pans!

I started with a recipe from Betty Hagman (this woman was a gluten-free baking genius!!!) and made a few changes along the way to make it vegan, so this loaf is gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free!

Oh, one of the other things I’ve been wrestling with is the apparent difference in strength of xantham gums — some are ground more finely than others, and I recently made a change in brands and had some puzzling results which I thought were the fault of yeast (or my fault due to overproofing!) Turned out it was neither, but the fact that the more dust-like xantham gum isn’t as strong as the stuff that has a slightly more granular texture!  Of course, I found reference to this in one of the last books Betty Hagman wrote! Oh well, live and learn!!

So here’s the loaf — I modified the recipe to use both xantham gum and guar gum (which results in both working together very nicely).  The addition of the chia seeds creates a nice moist loaf with some good shelf-life to it, and the teff creates a nice mildly nutty flavour.   The loaf is only very lightly sweet — 1/4 cup of raisins in this one, as I wanted to see how well the dough carried the raisins, it could probably be upped to about 6 Tablespoons for extra raisiny goodness!

Gluten-free Cinnamon Raisin Bread (adapted from a Betty Hagman recipe)

• 80 grams teff flour
• 30 grams sorghum flour
• 154 grams Bette’s Featherlight Mix (equal parts cornstarch, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, plus 1 teaspoon potato flour for every 1 cup other flours)
• 2 tablespoons almond flour
• 3/4 teaspoon xantham gum
• 3/4 teaspoon guar gum
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon gelatin or agar powder
• 2 Tablespoons evaporated cane juice
• 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2 Tablespoons chia seed soaked in 6T warm water
• 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 2 tablespoons light agave syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons warm wter
• 1/4 cup – 6 Tablespoons raisins

Bake at 400 degrees for 55-65 minutes, until internal temperature registers 205 degrees.

This yeasty recipe is being sent over to Yeastspotting – if you haven’t been there already, go check it out!  And if you have already, go on back and see what’ new this week!