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Gluten Free Sourdough Bread

Posted in Baking, Gluten Free, Grains on February 20, 2021| 3 Comments »

My project for Lockdown 3.0 was to master gluten free sourdough. I had been making sourdough since the first lockdown but my husband had never been able to enjoy it because he has a gluten intolerance. I thought it would be a fun challenge to make a gluten free version, but also thought why not give it a try!

Although many of the principles and processes for GF sourdough are the same as for traditional sourdough (see How to Sourdough for details on equipment and starter maintenance) there are a few key points that differ:

  1. The flours used need to be gluten free and you’ll need more different kinds – I use white rice, teff, quinoa, sorghum and tapioca + psyllium husk
  2. No need to pull and fold – just wait!
  3. No gluten means everything is so much easier to clean up!

Starter

As with a gluten-based sourdough, you’ll need a starter. This part takes a few days (possibly up to a week depending on the flours you use and the temperature you keep your starter at). I used this Guardian article and the freee Guide to Gluten Free Sourdough Making as resources and settled on a mix of three flours:

10g white rice flour
10g teff flour
10g quinoa flour
30g water – I use tap water that has been boiled and cooled

Mix in a glass (or plastic) jar and put in a warm place. As per the Guardian article, repeat the feeding and discarding daily until you start to see bubbles. After baking, I keep the leftover starter in the fridge until I want to bake again – taking it out the morning of the day before I want to bake, feeding it once and then giving it a big feeding at 5:30pm. It’s important to make sure you have enough starter to make the pre-ferment as well as have some leftover so you don’t have to start from scratch every week. I target around 200g of starter before baking.

Bread

I follow the recipe from the Guardian or the original on georgeats.com (which also has loads of resources and information on it) but I increase the quantities by 50% to get a bigger loaf.

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How to Sourdough

Posted in Baking, Recipes on October 3, 2020| Leave a Comment »

So, someone gave you some sourdough starter and now you feel the need to try to make bread. And you should… because it’s a great experience and there is no better way to learn that £4 for a loaf from a bakery is a bargain. Joking aside, it’s not really that hard and although there is a long elapsed time (spoiler… it takes a few days) there isn’t that much active work involved and having your own fresh sourdough is a real treat.

What you will need

Before you start this adventure, make sure you have:

  • a kitchen scale
  • at least one small glass jar with a lid – weigh it empty and write down how much it weighs
  • white and wholemeal bread flour – it’s important to have “bread flour” and not just regular flour
  • a proofing basket or banneton – you could just use a mixing bowl, but if you want the nice pattern on your loaf, you’ll need a banneton
  • a heavy crockpot that you can put in the oven – a Le Creuset crock pot works well if you have it

Maintaining your starter

Your starter will survive in the fridge for weeks without any attention. This is good. It means you can still go on holiday, forget to bake, and have a normal life. If I’m not planning to bake, I take mine out once per week, let it warm up for an hour or so, feed it, leave it out for a few hours and then put it back in the fridge. I pretty much follow the Refrigerator Maintenance method from Food52.

The biggest thing to get used to is discarding most of your starter every time you feed it. Yes, that’s right you need to get rid of most of it. You can throw it out or you can put it in another container and keep it in the fridge and make other yummy things from it like these Banana Nut Muffins or Pancakes. Or you can put it in another container in the fridge and then once in a while just throw it all out at once – this is what I typically do. Although I have had those muffins and they are amazing!

Feeding your starter

Feeding your starter means discarding most of it and giving it more flour and water. I keep 30g of starter and add 30g of water (I use previously boiled and cooled tap water) and 30g of white bread flour. I find this means I don’t have to waste too much flour week to week and I have more than enough starter to make one loaf of bread (the Food52 recipe takes 10g of starter).

If you know how much your jar weighs, this process is much easier. Get out your scale and put your jar on it. Next you’ll want to scoop or pour out starter until you have the weight of the jar + 30g remaining. Tare the scale and add 30g of water. Stir until dissolved and smooth. Tare the scale and add 30g of flour. Stir until smooth. Leave on counter for a few hours until it’s bubbly. If you’re not baking this week, return it to the fridge until next week.

Making your bread

I follow the Table Loaf recipe from Food52. The video is a great way to see how to actually do the various techniques and her voice is so soothing to listen to.

Timeline

Day 1: Take starter out of fridge sometime in the morning, let it warm up, feed it and leave on counter. Feed again in evening.

Day 2: Feed starter sometime around midday. Make leaven in the evening (step 1 from the Table Loaf recipe).

Day 3: Make the dough (steps 2 to 5 from the Table Loaf recipe).

Day 4: Bake. Be sure to let your loaf cool for at least 2 hours to allow the crumb to form properly.

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Victim Cookies

Posted in Desserts, Recipes, tagged , on October 13, 2012| 1 Comment »

Adapted from Baking Bite’s Vampire Cookies, these victim cookies are fun to make and popular with hungry guests!

Victim Cookies

3/4 cup butter softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
red food colouring

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and extracts.

Add flour and salt to the bowl and mix them into the butter-sugar mixture at low speed until dough is just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C.

Divide dough in half and keep the portion you are not using in the refrigerator.

Roll out the dough directly onto the baking sheet liner.

Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/8-inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out human shapes and place them on a baking sheet. Or, if you are lucky enough to have a Silpat or other non-stick baking sheet liner, roll the dough out right onto it, cut out your cookies and then peel away the unused dough. I’ve found this means much less wastage because the delicate cut-outs don’t need to be moved.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until cookies are starting to brown.

Cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pour out a small amount of red food colouring into a shallow dish. Dip a toothpick in the food colouring and drag across the cookies making injury-like marks.

Cookies will keep for up to a week in an airtight container.

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Meringue Ghosts

Posted in Baking, Health Conscious, Low Calorie, Low Fat, Recipes, tagged , , on October 9, 2012| 3 Comments »

These little ghosts are adorable, easy to make and super-tasty! Credit for the recipe goes to SkinnyTaste.

Meringue Ghosts

Makes 36

Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C. Place rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Have a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain tip.

The little beauties!

4 large egg whites, room temperature
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup superfine sugar (or put sugar in food processor for 30 seconds until fine)
1/2 tsp pure white vanilla extract
miniature chocolate chips for the eyes

In your mixing bowl, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on low-medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until you get very stiff peaks. Beat in vanilla extract.

Add the sugar, a little at a time, and continue to beat until the meringue holds very stiff peaks. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Before placing the meringue ghosts on the cookie sheet, place a little of the meringue on the underside of each corner of the parchment paper to prevent the paper from sliding.

Transfer the meringue to the pastry bag. Holding the bag perpendicular to the baking sheet, pipe with even pressure, 2 inch high mounds of meringue.

Carefully press two miniature chocolate chips into each meringue ghost for the eyes, and a third chip for a mouth.

Bake the meringues for approximately 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 hours or until they are dry and crisp to the touch and easily separate from the parchment paper. Turn off the oven, slightly open the door, and leave the meringues in the oven to finish drying several hours, or even overnight.

Keeps for several days at room temperature.

Nutritional Info: Size: 1 ghost
Old Points: 1 pts
Points+: 1 pts
Calories: 27.5
Fat: 0.3 g
Protein: 0.4 g
Carb: 6.1 g
Fiber: 0.1 g
Sugar: 5.9 g
Sodium: 6.4 mg

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Top Notch Vegetarian Lasagne

Posted in Main Courses, Pasta, Recipes, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , on March 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Introduction
You do not need to be an accomplished chef to attempt to construct this dish. In fact, you do not need to know anything about cooking at all. It would probably be better if you were a simple bricklayer. Just follow the instructions, stay true to your quest, and you shall be rewarded with the finest lasagne in all the land. Good luck.
Ingredients
6 sheets fresh lasagne
1 aubergine
1 bag spinach
300g asparagus
1 large red onion
100g sun-dried tomatoes
300g mozzarella
200g mexicana cheese, or substitute cheddar with chilli flakes
1 large jar white lasagne sauce (700g)
1 bag fresh basil
1 bag fresh coriander
3 cloves garlic
soy sauce
freshly ground black pepper

Tools
ovenproof rectangular dish – 12″ x 8″ x 2″ deep
a second dish of similar size for holding hot water
large non-stick frying pan
small shallow pan
plastic potato masher
garlic press
steamer, grill or microwave for softening asparagus
colander
spatula
kettle
knife and chopping board

Preparation
These can be done simultaneously depending on your competence and number of helpers. When each bit is done you can simply set it to one side until needed. If you are really motoring this can all be done in 30 minutes. Give yourself 40 and enjoy a nice glass of wine while you do it.

1. Press the garlic into a small shallow pan. Chop the onions and sun-dried tomatoes and add to the pan. Add a bit of olive oil if your tomatoes are not already drenched in it and fry on a low heat until the onions are soft but not brown.

2. Heat a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat. Slice the aubergine into half-centimetre slices and add to the pan in a single layer. Douse with soy sauce and after a few minutes press the aubergine using a plastic potato masher, being careful to hold the pan steady. You should be looking to gently crush the aubergine so that it gives up its moisture and starts to fry in its own juices. Flip the aubergine slices as necessary and fry until browned on both sides. Continue until all slices are done.

3. Steam the asparagus for 5 minutes to soften it up. Alternatively, put under a grill for 10 minutes. As a last resort, microwave for 3 minutes. If you have bought fine asparagus then this step is not necessary.

4. Wash the spinach and place in a colander. Pluck the leaves from the basil and mix with the spinach. Pour over a litre of hot water from the kettle and mix gently with a spatula so that all of the spinach wilts.

5. Slice the mozzarella and mexicana – the mexicana needs to have enough area make a single layer in your dish and the mozzarella, two. You might find the mozzarella doesn’t look enough – don’t worry, you can leave gaps and it will melt.

6. Roughly chop the coriander.

7. Fill the second shallow rectangular pan or dish with hot water from the kettle, and dunk your fresh lasagne sheets in there to make them malleable.

8. Preheat the oven to 180C.

Construction
This is from the bottom up. At each stage you should be looking to minimise the amount of air in the dish by packing the ingredients tightly together. After each layer of lasagne you can even press down evenly across the whole dish to squish everything together. Shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.

1/4 jar of white sauce – spread evenly
2 sheets of fresh lasagne side-by-side but overlapping
spinach and basil
1/2 of the mozzarella
generous black pepper
1/4 jar of white sauce – spread evenly
2 sheets of fresh lasagne side-by-side but overlapping
tomatoes, garlic and onion
coriander
aubergine – lay slices flat, try to fill the available space
other 1/2 of the mozzarella
generous black pepper
1/4 jar of white sauce – spread evenly
2 sheets of fresh lasagne side-by-side but overlapping
asparagus
1/4 jar of white sauce – spread evenly
mexicana cheese

If you have any ingredients left at this stage, you have failed. Go back to “Introduction”.

Cooking
Put it in the oven for 40 mins at 180C. If you like the top layer a bit browner and crispier, turn it up to 200C with 10 minutes to go.

Serving suggestion
Trust me, you do not need chips. A nice green leaf salad with a simple balsamic and olive oil dressing, and maybe a halved tomato or two should be ample.

Variations
Try adding any of the following:

  • pan-fried courgettes or peppers
  • broccoli
  • black olives
  • sliced artichokes in oil
  • stir-fried Mexican chicken (caution: may not be strictly vegetarian)

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Panna Cotta with Raspberry and Blueberry Coulis

Posted in Desserts, Fruit, Recipes, tagged , , , , , on March 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This dessert is perfect for dinner parties because you can do all of the preparation work earlier in the day or even the day before. Some people like to get the panna cotta out of the ramekin for serving, but I don’t see the point – it might fall apart, and the ramekin needs to be washed anyway.

Panna Cotta with Raspberry and Blueberry Coulis

Serves 4.
Preparation time: Can be done in 20 minutes if you make both at the same time. Serving time: 2 minutes.

For the panna cotta
300ml double cream
300ml milk
60g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
2g agar agar

For the coulis
200g blueberries
200g raspberries
50g sugar
1 cinnamon stick
40ml water

Preparation – Panna Cotta

1. Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds. You could probably substitute vanilla essence for the seeds.

2. Put the vanilla seeds, double cream, milk, sugar and agar agar in a pan and warm on a medium heat until the mixture is hot. Simmer for 5 minutes – do not let the mixture boil. You can tell when it’s boiling because of a) the bubbles and b) the noise, which sounds like a kettle.

3. Remove the pan from the heat, leave to cool for 5 minutes and then divide the mixture between 4 ramekins. Remember to leave enough room for the coulis! Leave to cool for a further 5 minutes and then put in the fridge for at least a few hours.

Preparation – Raspberry and Blueberry Coulis

1. Find a pan with a lid.

2. Put the blueberries, sugar, cinnamon stick and water in the pan and cook on a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.

3. Reduce the heat to low, put the lid on the pan and simmer for 3-4 minutes.

4. Remove the lid, turn the heat back up to medium and cook for a further 4-5 minutes. At this point you should have something that looks like a sauce and the berries should have collapsed slightly. If it is very thin you might want to leave it for longer until it thickens up.

5. Remove from the heat, retrieve and discard the cinnamon stick, add the raspberries and stir well.

6. Transfer the mixture to a suitable bowl or dish, leave to cool for 5 minutes and then put it in the fridge next to your panna cottas.

Serving

Simply retrieve everything from the fridge and spoon the coulis on top of the panna cottas.

Nutritional information: if you care, you should not be making this dish

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Pumpkin Pecan Pie

Posted in Baking, Desserts, Recipes, tagged , , , on October 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »

If you love pecan pie and pumpkin pie, this is the pie for you! Great for Thanksgiving or any time you want sugar hit!

I made this fabulous pie for Canadian Thanksgiving last weekend. It’s based on Libby’s Pumpkin Pecan Pie, but with a few modifications.

First things first.. the pumpkin… In the past when I’ve made pumpkin pie, I’ve always cooked the pumpkin myself and then pureed it. Unfortunately, I’ve found that the resulting pies were often soggy. When researching pie recipes this year, I found a great tip from Keri Fisher:  after pureeing the pumpkin, put it back in the oven spread thinly on a cookie sheet and roast it until it gets drier and thicker.  My pie was not in the slightest big soggy.. I think this tip made all the difference.  And before we start, I’ll admit that I didn’t make my own crust. I bought all-butter frozen shortcrust pastry from Waitrose. 🙂

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

Preparation time: 20 mins + 50 mins cooking time (assuming you already have the pastry and pumpkin prepared).
Makes one 9-inch pie.

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

1 (9 inch) unbaked (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
250 g pumpkin puree (see note above)
65 g brown sugar
1 large egg
2 g pumpkin pie spice (nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves)

160 ml honey
100 g brown sugar
2 large eggs
45 g butter or margarine
3 ml vanilla extract
120 g pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C.

1. COMBINE pumpkin, sugar, egg and pumpkin pie spice in medium bowl; stir well. Spread over bottom of pie shell.

2. COMBINE honey, sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla extract in same bowl; stir in nuts. Spoon over pumpkin layer.

3. BAKE for 50 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Serve with freshly whipped cream and enjoy!

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Roasted Garlic, Thyme and Beetroot

Posted in Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian, tagged , , , on February 1, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Another great recipe from delicious Magazine..

Mom, I think you’ll like this one.. yummy roasted garlic and beets. Two of our faves!

Roasted Garlic, Thyme and Beetroot

I made this recipe a few months ago but it was so good I have been meaning to add it here for ages. I thought the flavours worked really well, and a bit of roasted garlic never goes awry.

I hadn’t used beets in quite a while and had forgotten how wonderful they look on the inside. I couldn’t resist taking a picture of them before I cut them up. Since I had the camera out, I thought I’d document the pan before and after it went in the oven. Unfortunately, they looked so good when they came out of the oven that I completely forgot about taking a picture and served them up immediately.

Click here for recipe @ delicious

Beets with magical colours.

Beets with magical colours.

All ready to go in the oven.

All ready to go in the oven.

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Seafood Risotto

Posted in Grains, Main Courses, Recipes, Seafood, tagged , , on November 10, 2008| Leave a Comment »

This is one of Rob’s all-time favourites. It’s always a joy to watch his eyes light up when we’re on the way home from work and he asks “what’s for tea?” and I get to say “Seafood Risotto”. I usually make it with Sainsbury’s Seafood Collection which is a mixture of cooked mussels, king prawns and squid rings, because its easy and relatively cheap, but I’m sure it would be wonderful with lots of other seafood too.

I’ve been experimenting with this recipe for ages. Sometimes I add a bit less lemon or a bit more cheese. I’ve also used red wine as a substitution for white, which I don’t recommend. Apart from turning it a wierd colour, it just didn’t taste right. The parsley isn’t essential, and could be curly rather than flat if that’s what you have. If I have some asparagus on hand, I like to grill it with some olive oil, salt and pepper, cut it into one inch pieces and stir it in at the end.

Seafood Risotto

Serves 2.

Seafood Risotto

2 1/2 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped
fresh ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
150g arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
2 1/2 to 3 cups of stock, chicken or vegetable
235g (or more) mixed seafood, cooked
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

1. Melt the butter in a large heavy-bottom saucepan over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted add the chopped onion and cook until almost translucent. Add a few grindings of black pepper and the minced garlic.

2. Just before the garlic starts to brown, add the rice and stir well. Keep stirring until the rice has absorbed most of the butter and the pan is almost dry.

3. Add the white wine and turn down the heat a notch. When the wine is almost absorbed, add 1/2 cup of stock. Stir frequently adding the rest of the stock in approximately 1/2 cup portions until the liquid is almost all absorbed. If the rice is still a bit hard, add any seafood juice from the packet or some hot water and cook until it is absorbed.

4. Add the lemon juice and stir for a few more minutes. Add the seafood and a bit more pepper.

5. Just before serving, stir in the parmesan and the parsley.

6. Serve up in bowls with some extra parmesan and a bit more parsley as a garnish.

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Banana Bread

Posted in Baking, Breakfast and Brunch, Desserts, Recipes, tagged , , , on November 3, 2008| 2 Comments »

This weekend I decided to tackle the growing collection of frost in the freezer. At the back of the freezer, long forgotten about, I found two ripe bananas which I had been saving for banana bread. Since it was a lovely fall weekend, I thought some baking was in order.

This recipe is based on Quick Banana Bread from The Joy of Cooking with a few modifications. When my brother and I were growing up, the Joy was one of our favourite cookbooks. With instructions on how to skin a squirrel and recipes that make 200 cookies, the Joy is sure to be a hit with young chefs. We would pore over it for hours before deciding to make some obscure cookies, candies or a cake. Mom never questioned our choices and was always supportive of our efforts, even when we really did make 200 German Honey cookies.

This recipe requires less cooking time than many others I have seen and is very easy. Enjoy it while it cooks and fills the house with a wonderful aroma, hot out of the oven with butter melting on it or the next day for breakfast (if there’s any left!)

Banana Bread

Preparation time: 15 mins + 45-60 mins cooking time.
Makes one loaf.

1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup brown sugar
Grated rind of one lemon

2 beaten eggs
1 to 1 1/4 cups of ripe banana pulp

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C.

1. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

2. Blend the butter, sugar and lemon rind in a large mixing bowl until creamy.

3. Beat the eggs and banana pulp into the butter and sugar mixture.

4. Add the sifted ingredients to the sugar mixture in 3 parts, beating until smooth after each addition.

5. Fold in the walnuts.

6. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.

Bake for 45 – 60 mins until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool slightly before sneaking the first hot slice.

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