Food allergy safe baking
Puffin is on a diet to see if she has any food allergies. That set me on a quest for a wheat free, egg free, dairy free, soy free, corn free, potato free, sugar free Bread. Because, you know, I like challenges.
I decided to try a flat bread first, since it had the fewest replacements. I found one that added garlic and rosemary, which turned out to be fortuitous.
First off were the basics. Baking powder. Commerical baking powder contains cornstarch, and that's a no-no. So I had to make my own. 1 part baking soda : 2 parts cream of tartar : 2 parts arrowroot. Of course, this makes single acting baking powder, not double acting.
The next thing I did was to research various gluten-free (GF) flour recipes. Most called for potato starch, which wasn't allowed.
There are many recipes for GF flour, usually using a base of brown rice flour, some starch (potato and/or tapioca), and then various quantities of white rice flour, sorghum flour or garfava flour. Earlier I had purchased some specialty flours, so I had some on hand: White Rice Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Tapioca Flour (aka Tapioca Starch), GarFava Flour (Garbanzo/Fava Bean), Quinoa Flour, and Almond Flour. It turns out that you can substitute Quinoa for sorghum pretty much 1:1 in these recipes.
The first GF flour recipe I tried was:
1 C Brown Rice Flour
1/4C White Rice Flour
1/4C Tapioca Flour
1/4C Quinoa Flour
When I opened the quinoa flour, I realized that I was lucky I was making a bread with other flavors: quinoa smells grassy. I immediately opened the garfava (because they're close to the same Fat/Carb/Protein ratios and discovered that garfava also smells -- like beans.
I stuck with the original recipe and made Gluten free Piadina. It wasn't bad, very Italian, although a little salty (which I blame on my first-time use of sea-salt).
The next thing I did was to head back to the grocery store to see if I could pick up some Sorghum Flour, in the hopes that it didn't smell....
Sorghum flour acquired! It smells a little, but it smells like, um, flour. BTW, a Bing! search tells me that at least for the bean flour that the smell goes away after baking.
After spreadsheeting all of my flours and 7 different GF flour recipes, I decided to try 4 parts Brown Rice Flour : 2 parts White Rice Flour : 1 part Sorghum Flour because it had the protein content closest to AP wheat flour.
Next up: Shortcake
1 1/2C GF Flour
2T Brown Rice Syrup
1T Baking Powder
1 1/2t Xanthan Gum
1/4t Sea Salt (1/2t kosher/table salt)
1/4C Palm Oil shortening
1/4C + 3T Rice Milk
4 1/2t Water
1 1/2t Ground Flax Seed
1/4t Vanilla
Mix Flour, baking powder, xanthan gum and sea salt in food processor. Add shortening and pulse until finely mixed.
Mix water/flax seed using VitaMix or immersion blender.
Add rice milk, flax seed mixture and vanilla. Mix until dough comes together.
Place dough onto floured parchment paper, add a bit more GF flour. Roll out to 3/4" thick. Using 2" biscuit cutter, cut biscuits. Cook at 350F for 10-14 minutes until golden brown.
Mine didn't rise as much as I would like (might need to add more leavening), but they tasted good. I wish I had some whip cream and strawberries right now.
Now that I have a GF mix that I'm happy with, I'm going to go for the gold and try some quick bread. I'm definitely going to up the leavening.
Going to try both a banana bread and an apple/raisin bread.
Apple/Raisin Cake
1C GF Flour
2t Baking Powder
1/4t Sea Salt
1/2C Palm Oil Shortening
1t Cinnamon
1t Nutmeg
5/8C Chopped Pecans
1C Golden Raisins
1 1/2C Grated Apple
1/2C Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate
1/2C Water
2T ground flax seed
Mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Blend in shortening.
Mix water/flax seed using VitaMix or immersion blender.
Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased/floured pan. Baked at 350F for 60-75 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
Well, I sort of forgot that this was a Cake, so I tried to depan it. The top fell out and the bottom didn't.
It's a mess. But it's good. Really. I'm totally liking this. The flour is a bit gritty, so it has a peculiar mouthfeel. My reading indicated that the rice flours have this failing.
I decided to try a flat bread first, since it had the fewest replacements. I found one that added garlic and rosemary, which turned out to be fortuitous.
First off were the basics. Baking powder. Commerical baking powder contains cornstarch, and that's a no-no. So I had to make my own. 1 part baking soda : 2 parts cream of tartar : 2 parts arrowroot. Of course, this makes single acting baking powder, not double acting.
The next thing I did was to research various gluten-free (GF) flour recipes. Most called for potato starch, which wasn't allowed.
There are many recipes for GF flour, usually using a base of brown rice flour, some starch (potato and/or tapioca), and then various quantities of white rice flour, sorghum flour or garfava flour. Earlier I had purchased some specialty flours, so I had some on hand: White Rice Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Tapioca Flour (aka Tapioca Starch), GarFava Flour (Garbanzo/Fava Bean), Quinoa Flour, and Almond Flour. It turns out that you can substitute Quinoa for sorghum pretty much 1:1 in these recipes.
The first GF flour recipe I tried was:
1 C Brown Rice Flour
1/4C White Rice Flour
1/4C Tapioca Flour
1/4C Quinoa Flour
When I opened the quinoa flour, I realized that I was lucky I was making a bread with other flavors: quinoa smells grassy. I immediately opened the garfava (because they're close to the same Fat/Carb/Protein ratios and discovered that garfava also smells -- like beans.
I stuck with the original recipe and made Gluten free Piadina. It wasn't bad, very Italian, although a little salty (which I blame on my first-time use of sea-salt).
The next thing I did was to head back to the grocery store to see if I could pick up some Sorghum Flour, in the hopes that it didn't smell....
Sorghum flour acquired! It smells a little, but it smells like, um, flour. BTW, a Bing! search tells me that at least for the bean flour that the smell goes away after baking.
After spreadsheeting all of my flours and 7 different GF flour recipes, I decided to try 4 parts Brown Rice Flour : 2 parts White Rice Flour : 1 part Sorghum Flour because it had the protein content closest to AP wheat flour.
Next up: Shortcake
1 1/2C GF Flour
2T Brown Rice Syrup
1T Baking Powder
1 1/2t Xanthan Gum
1/4t Sea Salt (1/2t kosher/table salt)
1/4C Palm Oil shortening
1/4C + 3T Rice Milk
4 1/2t Water
1 1/2t Ground Flax Seed
1/4t Vanilla
Mix Flour, baking powder, xanthan gum and sea salt in food processor. Add shortening and pulse until finely mixed.
Mix water/flax seed using VitaMix or immersion blender.
Add rice milk, flax seed mixture and vanilla. Mix until dough comes together.
Place dough onto floured parchment paper, add a bit more GF flour. Roll out to 3/4" thick. Using 2" biscuit cutter, cut biscuits. Cook at 350F for 10-14 minutes until golden brown.
Mine didn't rise as much as I would like (might need to add more leavening), but they tasted good. I wish I had some whip cream and strawberries right now.
Now that I have a GF mix that I'm happy with, I'm going to go for the gold and try some quick bread. I'm definitely going to up the leavening.
Going to try both a banana bread and an apple/raisin bread.
Apple/Raisin Cake
1C GF Flour
2t Baking Powder
1/4t Sea Salt
1/2C Palm Oil Shortening
1t Cinnamon
1t Nutmeg
5/8C Chopped Pecans
1C Golden Raisins
1 1/2C Grated Apple
1/2C Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate
1/2C Water
2T ground flax seed
Mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Blend in shortening.
Mix water/flax seed using VitaMix or immersion blender.
Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased/floured pan. Baked at 350F for 60-75 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
Well, I sort of forgot that this was a Cake, so I tried to depan it. The top fell out and the bottom didn't.
It's a mess. But it's good. Really. I'm totally liking this. The flour is a bit gritty, so it has a peculiar mouthfeel. My reading indicated that the rice flours have this failing.