Breadsticks



Gluten Free Breadsticks

My mom used to make me these breadsticks for school lunches. I would take a bag of breadsticks with a little container of tomato sauce and maybe a pepperoni stick or some cheese slices and fruit. They are nice and easy to transport and they also freeze well. My gluten-eating husband has been requesting breadsticks a lot lately and I was starting to get a little jealous, so I decided to make some of my own. I'm planning to whip up a big batch for the upcoming Superbowl!

Go Pats!

I use my white buns recipe for these breadsticks. I usually make the whole recipe so I have enough to make some buns too. Why not make the most of the mess! It's a little tricky to make 1/3 of the recipe anyway. I did my best to give you the alternate measurements.

I use about a third of the dough for an 8x8 pan or roughly 2/3 of the dough for a 9x13 pan. If you want to make all breadsticks, use an 8x8 pan and a 9x13 pan. Otherwise, just make buns out of what's left over using the directions from this recipe.


(for 1/3 of this recipe use the measurements in the square brackets)

Ingredients

1/2 cup warm water                                       [2 Tbsp + 2 tsp]
2 tsp sugar                                                     [just under 1 tsp]
4 tsp dry yeast granules                                  [1 1/3 tsp]

2 cups white rice flour                                    [2/3 cup]
2 cups tapioca flour                                        [2/3 cup]
1/4 cup sugar                                                 [1 Tbsp + 1 tsp]
4 tsp guar gum (replaces the gluten)                [1 1/3 tsp]
1 1/2 tsp salt                                                  [1/2 tsp]

1 -1 1/4 cups milk (usually 1 cup is enough)    [1/3 cup]
4 tablespoons oil                                            [1 Tbps + 1 tsp]
1 teaspoon vinegar                                         [ 1/3 tsp - just estimate]
3 eggs                                                            [1 egg]
1/4 cup ground flax (optional)                         [1 Tbsp]


 Directions

Combine warm water, sugar, and yeast in a small bowl and let it proof.
Combine rice flour, tapioca flour, sugar, guar gum, and salt together in largest mixing bowl.
Combine milk, oil, vinegar, and eggs in a smaller bowl.
Add wet mixture, flax, and yeast mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on high for 4 minutes.Spread into greased 8x8 pan and let rise 20 minutes.
Brush italian or greek dressing on the breadsticks
Bake at 350 for 15- 20 minutes or until edges begin to brown.

Let cool and slice into sticks. Serve with tomato sauce.

 

spread dough in greases pan and let rise

brush with italian dressing



bake and let cool



serve with tomato sauce

Quinoa Brownies

Gluten Free Quinoa Brownies

A friend of mine gave me this very interesting looking recipe (thanks Steph). She got it from a friend of hers so I'm not exactly sure where it originated. It's genius really. No flour, starch or meal of any kind. Just cooked quinoa! It seems too easy, I know, but it tastes soooo good and it gets health points for using whole grains with plenty of fibre and protein (we can ignore the 6 Tbsp of butter for now). I am wondering how the same recipe would work if I used brown rice in place of quinoa. It would definitely be cheaper. I'll give it a try and report back.
(Reporting Back: not as great as I had hoped. The brown rice didn't blend as well so there were obvious chunks of rice in it. still tasted great, but the texture was off)

quinoa in blender

I did so much baking before Christmas that I was kind of getting sick of it. Now that most of the residual Christmas treats have been gobbled up, I'm starting to get back into experimental baking. I have decided that working (part time as an educational assistant) is just not worth the chest pain and exhaustion for now, so I am going to look for something I can do from home. So far, no luck.
When I do have some energy, I will use it too cook, clean and bake! (my husband doesn't complain)

I'm also trying to make my food a bit healthier (it is January, after all)... stuff like sneaking quinoa into a brownie, tossing ground flax in my muffins, making oatmeal cookies, and adding a little less sugar (I really can't afford the fancy agave syrup that healthier individuals might substitute). It's kind of a relief after the butter laced shortbread and fudgy, sweet indulgences of the holidays. You can only keep that up for so long!

So for us, it's lots of veggies, whole grains, and quinoa brownies!

(makes one square 8x8 baking pan)
Ingredients

1 cup Cooked Quinoa
3-5 Tbsp Milk (start with 3 but add more if the mixture is too thick for the blender. I used 5)
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
6 Tbsp Melted Butter or Margarine (or canola oil)
3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt

Directions

Line an 8x8 square baking dish with wax paper (or just grease the dish).
Blend cooked quinoa, milk, eggs, vanilla and butter in a blender or food processor until smooth and creamy.
In a bowl, mix sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add dry mixture to the blender and blend until well mixed. (add the extra milk here if needed)
Scrape batter into prepared dish.
Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool. Cut into 9 pieces.
Top with icing, melted chocolate or whipped cream. Or just eat as is!

put wet ingredients in a blender

blend until smooth and creamy

mix dry ingredients separately and add to blender

blend well (add more milk if too thick)

pour into prepared pan

bake at 350 for 35-45 mins

cool, cut and serve

I think these could make some pretty sweet cupcakes too. They have a cake-like texture. I'll put that on my mental "to try" list along with these delicious looking oreo cookies from Gluten Free Gobsmacked!
http://glutenfree.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/gluten-free-homemade-oreos/

Caramel Corn

caramel corn (gluten free)

As promised, here is my caramel corn recipe. It's nothing particularly special since caramel corn is naturally gluten free, but it's one of my favourites so I'm going to share it anyway. I tend to associate caramel corn with Christmas time, but it's a great treat any time of year. This Christmas I tied little bags of caramel corn to some homemade cards I gave to friends and family. Yes, I have too much time on my hands:) I probably ate half the caramel corn while making the cards... oops.

This recipe takes time, but it's really easy to make and fairly inexpensive too. Just be careful with the hot caramel, it burns like a mother. You can fancy up the corn by mixing in some peanuts or other nuts. Just add them to the corn when you pour in the caramel.

(makes about 24 cups of caramel corn)
Ingredients

24 cups popped corn (6 quarts)
1 cup Margarine (or butter)
2 cups Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Corn Syrup
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1-1 1/2 cups Nuts - optional

Directions

Pop corn and place in two large shallow pans (I use the lid and the base of a roaster). Remove any unpopped kernels.

pop corn

place in two pans

Mix margarine, sugar, salt and corn syrup in large pot.
Stir mixture occasionally until it boils.
Boil without stirring for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and add baking soda and vanilla.
Stir until mixture is fluffy.
Pour caramel over 2 pans of popped corn (add nuts here if desired) and stir until evenly mixed.
Bake at 250 for 1 hour. Stirring every 15 minutes until caramel has evenly coated the corn and starts to harden a bit.
Let cool, stirring occasionally so the corn stays separate.
Enjoy!

mix in large sauce pan

boil for 5 mins without stirring

add baking soda and vanilla and stir until fluffy

pour caramel over corn

stir caramel in to corn

bake at 250 for 1 hr, stirring every 15 mins

store in large airtight bucket or in bags

This stuff should keep for at least a month.

Multigrain Bread

 

gluten free multigrain bread

Happy New Year!

I was going to post my caramel corn recipe, but seeing as we are just barely recovering from the indulgence of the holidays, I decided to post something a little healthier instead. So today's recipe is for gluten free multigrain bread. Don't worry, caramel corn will come soon :)

gf multigrain bread with honey and butter

I have been working on this recipe over the last few months. I was looking for a healthy bread recipe, with lots of fiber and nutrients, that had a mild and pleasent taste. I really like the nutty, whole grain flavour of this bread. It is a decent size for gluten free bread, and can be sliced fairly thin. Like most gluten free baking, it is best stored (pre-sliced) in the freezer and microwaved or toasted to thaw.

Let me know what you think of this bread recipe!

(makes 1 loaf)
Ingredients

Dry Ingredients
1 cup Brown Rice Flour
1/2 cup Oat Flour (grind gluten free oats in coffee grinder or food processor) (you could probably sub rice, sorghum or millet)
3/4 cup Sorghum Flour (or millet or buckwheat flour) - Quinoa flour also works great. See end of this post.
1/2 cup Tapioca Starch
1/3 cup Corn Starch (or Potato Starch)
1/4 cup Ground Flax
1 1/2 Tbsp Guar Gum (or 1 Tbsp Xanthan Gum)
1 1/2 tsp Salt

Wet Ingredients
3 Eggs
1 tsp vinegar
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
2 1/4 tsp Yeast + 1 tsp Sugar
4 Tbsp Canola Oil
1 1/4 cup Very Warm Water

Directions

Mix the yeast, 1 tsp sugar, and 1/4 cup of the warm water (or more if necessary) and set aside for 10 minutes to let the yeast proof.
In medium bowl, beat the rest of the wet ingredients (eggs, vinegar, brown sugar, oil and remaining water)
In a large bowl (you can use the bowl for your electric mixer), sift together the dry ingredients.
Slowly add wet ingredients and yeast mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing as you add.
Using a mixer or with your hand, mix on low or medium for 5 minutes.

Spoon dough into greased 8" nonstick loaf pan (if your pan isn't nonstick you should line it with greased foil). Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise for about an hr.
Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes until it sounds hollow when tapped or the internal temperature is 200-210.
After 1/2 an hour of baking, cover the loaf with foil to keep from getting too dark.
Let cool on rack until room temperature before slicing.
Freeze in airtight container within 12 hours.

add wet to dry ingredients and mix

spoon into greased nonstick loaf pan

let rise for about an hour

bake and let cool on rack



slice and freeze (or eat!)



I tried this recipe the other day using 1/2 cup quinoa flour (simply grind raw quinoa in your coffee grinder until flour like) and 1/4 cup buckwheat flour in place of the sorghum flour. It turned out really good (I liked it more than the original recipe) and the quinoa/buckwheat flours are better for you than the sorghum anyway!

Multigrain bread with quinoa flour