gluten-free

Teff Flour Cornbread

by ladypbwiggins

First of all what in the world is Teff Flour? Growing up in the southern United States the only flour you are usually familiar with is all purpose white flour. Unless you are from another country and it is common to your culture, you may not even realize there is another kind of flour. I discovered Teff flour when I was looking for a recipe for a gluten-free loaf of bread. That outcome is another post. Back to the cornbread.

I had made a Quinoa-lentil soup and I decided I needed cornbread to complete the meal. I looked in my pantry and discovered the types of flours I had purchased didn’t inspire me.  I checked my vegan and gluten free cookbooks for a four blend that would be satisfying. I was missing some ingredient. On my way home from church I had the thought use psyllium husk and Teff flour. The words of my friend Morgan came creeping into my thoughts. Write down your experiments and write your own cookbook. I don’t know about the cookbook but I tried my first true experiment: Teff Flour Cornbread

1 c Teff Flour

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Before Cooking
1 c Cornmeal

1 tbl psyllium husk

1 tbl baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbl coconut oil

1 – 2 tbl olive oil

2 eggs

nondairy milk as needed for desired consistency

Let sit for about 5 minutes so the psyllium husk can do its thing. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes

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After Cooking
It didn’t rise as high as I had hoped but it tasted good. The texture was true to cornbread and it was great with the soup. I call my first true experiment, my recipe a success. I will try more psyllium husk or baking powder next time. You are welcome to try it and modify. Let me know your results.

Teff Flour Cornbread and Quinoa-Lentil Soup

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Wanted: Gluten-Free Biscuit Recipe

by ladypbwiggins

Hello Gluten-Free cooking friends

I am looking for a tried and true biscuit recipe using gluten-free all purpose flour.I would really appreciate it.

Thanks.

Gluten-Free Bread Success

by ladypbwiggins

I have been trying to bake gluten-free bread that had the texture and height to qualify as a sandwich bread. The first attempted tasted fine but did not rise to the sandwich bread size standard. I made the substitutions for wheat flour as directed in my bread recipe but the outcome was not completely satisfactory. Since that effort I have searched for a recipe that would give me the desired results. I went to Barnes and Noble to get a book I had found online but they did not have it. I found another called The How Can It Be Gluten-Free Cookbook from the American Test Kitchen. I decided to give it a try.

They have several bread recipes but I chose the Classic Sandwich Bread. I used Bob’ Red Mill Gluten-Free flour blend, almond milk, homemade dairy-free butter and agave nectar instead of their blend, sugar, butter and dry milk.

 

I had to forget all that I knew about baking bread. There was no kneading to be done. The instructions said the dough consistency would be like sticky cookie dough. It was. They said the dough would rise above the pan and advised that you make this aluminum foil collar. It did. If I had not done that it would have spilled our over the pan. I didn’t make it tight or stiff enough because it spilled over a little bit. That made it hard to get out of the pan when it was done. My husband and I were quite pleased with the results. He was too thrilled about the first attempt.  🙂

I am very please with the bread and the cookbook. It is also a teaching aid for novices to gluten free cooking. The recipes are tested and critiqued by home cooks before publishing. Tomorrow is cook day. I plan to try their flatbread and corn tortilla recipes.

 

Thanksgiving Cooking Experiment

by ladypbwiggins

I posted this on ladywiggins.blogspot.com  for Thanksgiving. I thought I would repost it here. Vegans out there please share your recipe successes.

I hope you had a wonderful time with your family. It was just my husband and I. Our children were away this year. I had a ball. Not because they were away though. I experimented with our traditional recipes. I was motivated by my newly vegan son and my dairy-intolerant grand-baby. I had wanted to try vegan cooking for a while and I figured now was a good time.

Mac and Cheese

Attention went first to my mac and cheese. This is my grandmother’s mac and cheese so the flavors are sacred. I decided to use rice elbow macaroni. I never used it before. Next concern: How do you bring those southern flavors to vegan world: Butter, real milk, sharp and mild cheddar cheese? I was skeptical but I went all in. I replaced the cheese with veggie cheese. I replaced the milk with flax seed milk. I found it to be creamier than almond and other nut milks I’ve tried. However, what to do about butter? I found some vegan butter in my favorite organic store but the cost was ridiculous. Google came through. I found several vegan sites that had recipes for making your own vegan butter without using soy products. I made my first non-dairy butter. The results were good but I still didn’t know how it would work in my mac and cheese. It was wonderful. That gave me hope for my sweet potato pie.

Sweet Potato Pie


This was not completely vegan but it was still an experiment. I used my non-dairy butter, a blend of flax and evaporated milk and egg. I thought my husband had bought an egg substitute but he bought egg whites instead. The filling was good. The real experiment was the pie crust. I decided to try gluten free flour. Who knows why? I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil or shortening. I either had a crumbling mess or something that was very oily looking. I wanted that flaky crust I was familiar with. As it turned out, the taste was great but the texture was too thin. Saved by the flavors.

I have learned a lot through this experiment.

  1. I will never plan to buy dairy butter again.
  2. I have since found a recipe for homemade baking shortening. That’s next.
  3. Coconut oil, refined and unrefined are my new best friends. It has so many uses besides cooking.
  4. I have found a website of a vegan sweet potato expert. Things are looking up for my Christmas pies.  http://sweetpotatosoul.com/2014/01/how-to-make-vegan-sweet-potato-pie.html
  5. Sunflower oil has entered my pantry.
  6. I found non-soy, non-gluten, non-wheat egg replacer. They also gave the ingredients and I have them in my cabinet. I wonder if I can make my own?
  7. I just found an egg replacer recipe using chia seed. Who knew? Got to try this. http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-make-egg-substitute-chia-seeds/

I also found this link for powdered egg replacer recipe. If any of you have used these recipes, I would certainly like to hear from you. My holiday baking begins in about a week and a half. I am planning to experiment ahead of time.

Vegans out there please share your experience and wisdom. I am on fire to test things out.