Focaccia Bread

I tried making gluten free focaccia for the first time last night.  I would say it is a little on the dense side, but pretty darn good; so I will go ahead and share it.  It would definitely make a good pizza crust.

Focaccia is fun because you can keep it pretty simple with just a little salt and herbs sprinkled on top or you can do it a little more “pizza” style and add some more substantive toppings.  This time we did it with sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives and some chopped fresh rosemary sprigs.  It was pretty awesome.

Focaccia

Gluten Free Focaccia/Pizza Dough

In a small bowl mix together and set aside:

1/2 C warm water (110-115°)

2 1/2 tsp yeast

1/2 tsp sugar

In a large bowl combine:

1/2 C brown rice flour

1/2 C sorghum flour

1/4 C Garfava bean flour

3/4 C tapioca starch

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp salt

In another small bowl mix together:

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp cider vinegar

Measure out:

1/4-1/2 C warm water (110-115°)

Add the yeast mixture and egg mixture to the flour mix and combine.  Slowly add more warm water until you get a wet but workable dough texture.  It will not be stretchy/springy like wheat dough!  Don’t worry if it’s on the wet/sticky side.  It should be.

Grease a cookie sheet or pizza pan and press out dough  so that it is about 1/2 inch thick.  Brush with a little olive oil (I bet reserved egg would work well for this too) and press your toppings into the dough.

Let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes (until dough has about doubled.

Bake in a 400° oven for 20 minutes.

Buckwheat Pancakes with Warm Apple Compote

A couple Sundays ago, we woke up with just about nothing to eat in the house, but I did have a few gluten free flour varieties, exactly 2 eggs and a tiny bit of rice milk–just enough for a batch of pancakes.

Lately, I’ve been using a flour blend with quinoa flour, but I was almost out of it and it’s a bit expensive; so, I’m trying to use less of it.  Instead, I grabbed a bag of buckwheat flour.  Mmmmm, sweet, nutty buckwheat.

Buckwheat is great because, despite its confusing name, it is NOT related to wheat and is therefore gluten-free.  It is a pseudocereal that is actually grain rather than a grass or true cereal. Buckwheat seems like a sort of exotic thing here in the US, but it used to be incredibly common because it grows well in short seasons and poor soil; however, it became much less common after the invention of nitrogen fertilizer, which it doesn’t like.  This means it has to be grown without it.  This is a good thing for those of us who like to avoid things grown in petroleum-based fertilizers.

Buckwheat also has some helpful medicinal qualities:  in has a lower glycemic index than many other grains/starches which might make it a good choice for diabetics. It is also a higher protein grain and has heart healthy properties that may reduce cholesterol.  And it’s just a plain yummy.  I always think it has a sweet yeast bread taste.  Who doesn’t like that?

Anyhow, I adapted the following recipe from Joy of Cooking:

Buckwheat Pancakes

Combine in large bowl:

1/2 C buckwheat flour

1/2 C sorghum flour

1/2 C Tapioca flour

1 tsp salt

2 Tbs sugar

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp xanthan gum (optional)

In separate bowl combine:

2 eggs, whisked

3 Tbs vegetable oil

1–1 1/4 C rice milk (milk of your choice)

Add liquid ingredients to dry and combine well.

Cook on medium  heat.  Makes about 12 pancakes.

Dustin gets the credit for coming up with the warm apple compote.  As I said, we did not have much in the house including syrup and when I mentioned this fact, Dustin, from the bedroom yelled, “warm apple compote!” as though startled from sleep.  I had exactly 2 McIntosh apples in the fruit bowl.  Brilliant.

Small confession:  I rarely measure anything when I cook; so, I am going to be a little less precise about how to make the compote, but here’s what I did.

Apple Compote

2-3 Apples, peeled, cored and sliced into medium small pieces

a few Tbs butter/margerine

a handful of brown sugar (maybe 1/4 C-ish)

A couple dashes of cinnamon

(I told you it wouldn’t be precise.)

Melt butter in a small sauce pan, add the apples and saute for a few minutes.

Add the brown sugar and cinnamon.  At this point, I also added about a Tbs of water to thin it out a little.  Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes with the lid on and then it should be good to go!

No exaggeration:  This is shout-out-loud-at-the-table-oh-my-god-GOOD!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Here it is!  The first installment of this week’s recipe blitz.  Enjoy!

We eat a lot of peanut butter in this house.  Just sayin’.  I would also eat a lot of granola bars if they weren’t so expensive (especially for the gluten free variety) and so sweet.  So when we took a recent picnic excursion out of the city, I decided to try to to make my own healthier version.  Packed with protein, fiber and addictively yummy.

I may tweak this recipe a little more in the future, because they tend to get a little crumbly if they aren’t refrigerated, but it doesn’t matter too much since crumbs from these babies are just as good.

(side note:  if you aren’t gluten free, you can obviously just substitute regular oats.)

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Heat oven to 350

Prepare 9 X 13 inch pan with with parchment paper

In a large bowl mix together:

2 Cups GF oats

1/4 C Almond meal flour (ground almonds)

1/2 C crushed nuts of choice

1/2 C golden raisins

In a large sauce pan combine and heat over medium heat (do not let it scorch!):

2/3 C peanut butter

1/3 C honey

2 tsp (GF) vanilla extract

When it is bubbling and smooth, add the oat/nut mix and stir until everything is evenly coated.  Then spread into prepared pan.  Don’t worry if it doesn’t spread to edges of the pan.  I like my granola bars a little thicker.

Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Let cool and then cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours (I usually chill overnight)

When they are thoroughly chilled, lift the whole thing out of the pan, parchment paper and all and set on a cutting board.  Cut into bars and serve.  I usually just put the bars into an air-tight container and store in the refrigerator.

Does anyone else have some great granola bar recipes?  I’d love to try more.

Spiced Rustic Apple Cake

Yesterday was Dustin’s birthday!  I was particularly inspired this year.  Last year we sort of just missed it.  I’m thinking this has something to do with the fact that we had newborn in the house–perhaps we were just a wee bit distracted.  But I have no excuses this year and the cool autumn air has arrived, just begging me to get baking.

However, since Dustin doesn’t like birthday cake and I’m gluten free, I had to get creative.   And because we’ve already spent our grocery budget for the week, the other parameter I set for myself was that I had to be able to make his birthday dinner and cake from ingredients I already had on hand.

Dinner was easy thanks to the abundance of farmers market produce still left in the refrigerator.  Unfortunately, the cake proved to be more challenging than I expected because I was out of most of my flour stash.  I did have several farmers market apples; however, and with some creative flour combos, I came up with an amazing dessert.

Spiced Rustic Apple Cake

Preheat oven to 350

Grease 9 inch round pan

• Thinly slice:

3-4 Macintosh apples (or any good baking apple)

• Combine in a large mixing bowl:

1/2 C Almond Flour

1/2 C Tapioca Flour

1/2 C Millet Flour

1/2 tsp xanthan gum (optional)

3/4 C brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger powder

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

• In another bowl combine:

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 C olive oil or other vegetable oil

3/4 C rice milk (or any milk should work)

1 tsp vanilla extract

• Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
• Fold apples into the batter.  Tip:  hold on to about 12 slices to lay on top for a decorative look, or go totally rustic and mix them all in.
• Bake about 1 hour (55-65 minutes)

The best part about this cake is that you can change up just about anything and it will still be amazing.  Substitute any type of flour, sugar, milk you have on hand!