Gluten Free Baking (& Cooking) Thread

I have been a reader and contributor to the "What Are You Baking Now" thread for a very long time......until I discovered that both my daughter and I are WHEAT INTOLERANT.  I have several health issues that I have found are greatly improved when I cut wheat totally out of my diet.  The benefits to me are amazing.  The same is true for my 10 year old daughter.

However, I have been a bread junkie and baker all of my life, so having to cut out all wheat products made me very sad.  (Down right depressed, actually!)  So, once I got over crying about it I started trying to learn all I could about baking using alternative flours.

I am starting this thread in the hopes that there may be other folks out there who are in my position (with wheat intolerance or celiac's) who might contribute tried and true recipes, ideas for where to find the different ingredients needed to make gluten free baked goods and to offer suggestions and encouragement to those who are new to this road less traveled.

Today I took liberties with a gluten free cake recipe I found on allrecipes.com and made Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.  They turned out wonderfully scrumptious, are beautiful to look at and the texture is exactly that of a wheat based muffin.

Gluten Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins


The texture:


If anyone is interested I'd be glad to post the recipe!

Deb

I do hope folks will find this thread and post THEIR favorite recipes, Frogdog!   Some of the cooking-gluten-free ingredients, etc, can be expensive.  I am looking forward to trying out recipes that someone else has perfected!  lol  I can't really afford too many "oopses!"

Here is my recipe for GF Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.  This is Gluten Free only.  I am sure it can be modified for dairy free (soy, almond, rice milk?) and egg free (there is egg replacer and also, I have seen where folks use flax gel instead of egg-I had to try it and it was really cool.  Just flax meal and water, mix it up and let it sit...it gets real egg like!)

Gluten Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

1 1/2 cups White Rice Flour
3/4 cup Tapioca Starch (flour)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
4 Eggs
1 1/2 cups White Sugar
2/3 cup Mayonnaise
1 cup milk (I use goat's milk)
2 teaspoons Lemon Extract
1 or 2 teaspoons Lemon Peel (I used dried)
Poppy Seeds (To choice-I use A LOT)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 

Mix rice flour, tapioca flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, poppy seeds, lemon peel and xanthan gum together and set aside.

Put the eggs, mayonnaise, and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until fluffy.  Add the flour mixture, milk and the lemon extract and mix well. 

Prepare muffin tins by greasing and flouring with rice flour.  I used melted ghee and no rice flour and did not use paper liners, which resulted in a "crispier" crunchy outside and a very tender inside.

I used my small sized muffin tin and baked for 12 minutes at 350.  I like my baked goods sort of brown and upped the temp to 375 and baked them for 10 minutes and they were perfect.

The muffins in my picture were baked in extra large size cups (I doubled the recipe and it made a ton of small muffins, so I used the last of the batter in the larger cups) they were baked at 375 for about 15 minutes. 

If you do make these GF, and/or DF, and EF I would love feedback on how they turned out!

Okay, well this thread hasn't exactly taken off like a rocket has it?  LOL  That's okay.  I'll keep posting recipes I have worked on and hope that other's who are on the GF train will hop aboard!

This morning I made some terrific little Brazilian, Pao de Queijo!  (Cheese Bread/Puffs)


Gluten Free Pao de Queijo
(Makes 1 dozen Biscuits/Puffs)

1 1/4 cups Tapioca Flour (or starch, it is the same thing)
2 cups shredded cheese
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup softened butter
2 teaspoons dill, (or caraway seeds, or herb of choice)
2 teaspoons dried chives (or herb of choice)

Preheat your oven to 450 (I use a baking stone and put it in to heat at the same time)

Mix all ingredients together in your mixing bowl.  Mix thoroughly, but do not over beat.

Form into balls about 1.5 inches in diameter.  I wet my hands to keep the dough from sticking to them and roll them into balls that way.  Place one inch apart on parchment paper on a cookie sheet OR onto a preheated baking stone.

You can leave them round so they puff up or you can flatten them slightly (I use the bottom of a glass that I dip in water between balls).  I have also used a decorative cookie stamp to flatten small balls of dough and make them quite thin.  They make the most delectable crackers.

This Brazilian cheese bread is super easy to make.  They are delicious and very versatile.  You can do so many different things with the recipe depending on what you are serving them with or who you are serving them to.  Today I made them in their simplest form....just nummy, cheesy goodness for my kids.  You can add dill or caraway seeds and swiss cheese to serve them with Sauerbraten or some other German dish.  Add anaheim or jalapeño peppers and a fiesta blend of cheeses for Mexican food....the possibilities are endless!

Come on all of you Gluten Free eatin' people, post your favorite recipes (baking or otherwise!).  You know who you are....now let ME know who you are.  lol

Pat, thanks for posting your links!  Do you have other dietary restrictions?  We are thinking that my daughter has issues with corn and all of the corn based things as well as wheat.  Which means I will have to find xanthan gum that is not made from corn...and no cornstarch which is another good starch/flour for gluten free cooking as it is interchangeable with tapioca, and a whole lot more reading of labels.

We have switched over to drinking milk from our own goats, I make yogurt and soft cheeses with it too.  We are still eating hard cheese made from cow's milk, though.  That will probably be the next area we explore.

I have made oatmeal cookies using rice flour and they are really good, too.  Is buckwheat flour your alternate flour of choice?