Gluten free flour for baking

When I bake, I do it in double batches.  One gluten-free, the other regular.  It's expensive to feed a family of seven on pasta or baked goods that are gluten-free.  You can save money by grinding your own brown rice flour using an electric flour mill, by mixing your own baking flour, and baking your own goodies.  Here is my recipe and a few things I've learned using it.

GF Flour Ingredients:
(all available through Blue Chip Group)

1 lb. brown rice flour
1 lb. potato starch
4 TBSP. xanthum gum

1) GF flour LOVES fruit acid.  The baked good that turn out with the best texture are those that include some fruit and/or their juices.  Although I haven't checked it out under a microscope, I believe the rice grain is softened more completely by the fruit acid than anything else.  Even rice flour milled to the finest texture has some tell-tale grit to it unless fruit is added.

2) Xanthum gum needs to be just right.  (That's 1 TBSP per 1 Cup of flour.)  Too much xanthum gum makes batter too thick and gummy textured.  Too little, and your batter will not hold together.

3) If at first you don't succeed... it's okay.  Even though it feels like an expensive mistake or a terrible waste.  GF baking will not have the same feel as what you're used to, but getting it right so you can enjoy a blueberry muffin in the morning or cupcakes on your birthday is worth it.

4)  Waxed paper is your friend.  Anything that needs to be formed first (from pie crust to scones) can be shaped using waxed paper.  A lite coating of canola oil helps. 

5)  GF flour should be stored in an air-tight container and kept in a cool dry place.  It does NOT have the shelf life of wheat flours.  So, investing in a 50 lb. bucket is a bad idea unless you open a GF bakery.  (The three pound mix above lasts a full month during the busy holiday baking season.)

6)  Have fun!  Changing the food you eat can feel devastating at first.  So many people will ask you -- Can you eat anything?!  The answer is YES, YOU CAN.  It will take some getting used to, but having your body running at full steam ahead and healthy is totally worth all of the labels you will read and careful preparations you will make.

Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies

This cookie has become a holiday favorite.  Oh, let's be serious!  It's a year-round yummy!  I stock up on canned pumpkin just because our family loves it so much.  The version I'm posting is gluten-free.  For a "normal" cookie, just use regular baking flour in exchange.

GF Flour Ingredients:
(all available through Blue Chip Group)

1 lb. brown rice flour
1 lb. tapioca starch
1 lb. potato starch
6 TBSP. xanthum gum

Cookie Ingredients:


1/2 C. shortening
1½ C. sugar
1 C. prepared pumkin (canned or cooked/mashed)
1 egg
1½  tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. ginger
2½ C. GF baking flour
1 tsp. Rumford baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 Bag White Chocolate Chips

Cream shortening, sugar, egg, and pumpkin.  Add dry ingredients.  Stir with a wooden spoon until combined.  Add Chips.  Drop by teaspoonsful on cookie sheet.  Bake at 375'F for 10 minutes.

Corn Chowder

For our family last night, you could say this was a recipe of "desperation."  Not that anyone was actually desperate on Christmas night, but a tummy flu was finishing up its final rounds and we needed something lighter than Christmas ham.  This simple soup is very gratifying.

Ingredients:

7 potatoes (one for each person to be served)

1 can of corn

1 cup of cream (or milk)

1/2 cup of dehydrated onion

1 tsp. Better Than Bullion chicken flavored

water

salt, pepper (to taste)

1½ tsp. paprika

Peel and chop potatoes (bite-sized pieces) and place in pot.  Fill pot with enough water to cover potatoes.  Bring to boil.  Add corn, onion, spices, and bullion. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat.  Taste the broth for seasoning.  Lower heat to low and add cream.  Heat through and serve.

This would be delicious with your favorite cheese or bacon. 



Apricot Glazed Chicken

This recipe came about after a disasterous first attempt at Apricot-Pineapple Jam. My family swore it tasted all right and I knew better.  But, I couldn't bring myself to waste all of the effort.  So, I poured it on some chicken.  Delicious!

Bone-in Chicken (thighs, legs, or breasts)
Apricot Jam
salt and pepper to taste
Oil spray

Coat broiler pan lightly with the oil spray.  Place chicken on a broiler pan and place in a 400'F oven for 60 minutes.  Ta-dah!  NOTE: Time may be shorter for chicken that is fully thawed before placed in the oven.  I'm usually pulling the meat out a half-hour before dinner prep needs to get serious, and, well, it's not always enough time for the microwave to do its magic.

Hamburger Gravy

I first married at nearly 20 and hadn't paid much attention to the food my mother made using the palms of her hands as measurements.  I found myself on the phone asking her for this recipe. I was desperate for a taste of home and needed to know how to make something my young ones could eat. This has been a family favorite for years. It can be served over toast, white rice, or mashed potatoes. Last night, with the help of leftovers, I served up all three!

1 pound hamburger
salt
pepper
garlic
onion
(all to taste)
3 tsp Better Than Bullion Mushroom
3.5 TBSP Corn starch
3 Cups water

In our family, I used the powdered form of onion and garlic because I have two that hate the texture. This dinner is one I make on those busy, long days when we need it simple and without complaints at night. Why push the onions? Better Than Bullion is one of the rare gluten-free bullions...don't use the Aus Juis flavor, though! (Always check the label.)

Brown the beef in a skillet over medium heat. Add seasonings to taste. Sprinkle corn starch over browned meat. Stir until coated. Add water. Let simmer until the corn starch turns from opaque to "clear" and of gravy thickness. TIP: If you like your gravy thicker, stir another tablespoon of corn starch into a quarter cup of cold water and then add it to the hot mixture. This prevents LUMPS. (And no one likes lumpy gravy.)

We served this up with canned green beans and grated mozarella for those who wanted the cheese.

A Sweet Tooth

by Rebecca Samford

Cookies aren’t made from scratch now,
scratching the surface of our sugar
Need. Love feeds you from the inside
out—by hand. Betty Crocker was a man
with a metal hand – a conveyer belt
to goodness, if you can call it that. William
needed a “cheery, All-American name.”
Look at the ingredient list, find flavor
enhancers and preservatives. How do I
preserve this feeling to hold you forever
and for every moment a bold swell
in my chest, that tastes like courage,
or righteous indignation? We will
make the world a better place. (Or,
at least the 1800 square feet around us.)
We will make a choice. We will stir the batter
In our own bowl with a simple wooden
spoon until the egg in you and the flour
in me combine smooth as churned butter.
Unsalted because it cannot last
beyond this one lick of the spoon.

Swallow and all is forgotten.
Spit and nothing is forgiven.

Sing and I will hear you halfway around
the world until my heart aches
like the bread we forgot to kneed.
Bubbling over hopeful on the counter,
ready until there was nothing to rise
against and it fell flatter than it had
been in the beginning. Why do chocolate
chips come from child labor? Slaves who
will never eat the sweetness of the fruit
born on their own dreams and hurts
down to the kidneys. Swollen with
broken promises from your two lips.

Cookie dough wrapped air tight – this
means it cannot breathe – and pinched
on the ends – because love has its limits.

Cut it open. Spoonfuls on the same metal
sheet you’ve used for a decade. Bake.
Cool. Feel the warm, gooey goodness
in your mouth and the never-ending
aching empty in your core until you suck
the sugar straight from the cane.
Your mouth wrapped around the straw
of it and you learn that earth and truth
and living from the beginning to the end
cannot be saved up for later, cannot
be dehydrated and re-watered as fresh
as the seed and you give yourself
to love like the grain of wheat ground
between granite, and rising still.

Simple Introductions

Welcome to the kitchen!
You'll notice that there aren't many gadgets here... a toaster, a blender, an electric beater (our most frivilous space filler is the electric knife to cut a roast with)... and a collection of wooden spoons. 

I have this thing for a wooden spoon.  I like the way it fits in my hand.  I like that the batter stays were I stir it (or fling it, if I am so inclined.)  I prefer to keep food simple.  Unlike many cooks that strive for "simplicity" by using as many pre-made sauces and mixes as they can stash in a cupboard, I keep things as close to the ground as possible without eating them off the floor!

I am the mother of five, each with their own taste buds and dietary needs.  My grandmother prides herself on never fixing more than one dinner at a time, but I often find myself making one thing for the Celiacs, another for the onion lovers, another for the toddler pallet, and something entirely different for my dear hubby -- a self-proclaimed "noodle man in a rice family." 

This blog is dedicated to those recipes that turn out to be a sweet success for everyone.  I want families converting to a gluten-free diet to know that it isn't the end of the world -- food can still be fun for the whole family, even the Chef!