Daily Bread

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Posted on July 22, 2018

Bread has long been a staple of our Western diet. It comes in many and varied guises from the square white slices bagged in plastic bought from the supermarket to artisan sourdough loaves from trendy cafes and delis.

Then there is the seemingly elusive quest for a decent gluten free loaf.

Add the desire to reduce or eliminate plastic packaging and buying a loaf of bread really becomes a minefield.

For over 20 years GMan has made our bread. This was before I began eating a gluten-free diet and we had 2 children at home. He made white bread, grain bread and fruit loaf in a breadmaker using bread mixes from Laucke Flour Mills. We made sandwiches, toast and toasted sandwiches – all with minimal packaging from the bread mix bags.

Things have changed and GMan now makes white bread from scratch in the breadmaker as well as fruit loaf using a premix with added fruit. Here is a loaf he made tonight.

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The white loaf is the same shape but generally not as high.

However, his real love is sourdough bread which has led GMan on a quest to create a perfect sourdough loaf. For those who have asked for the recipe, all I can offer is this link which he found and has followed (in general terms). It appears to be an art and one in which I have not got involved. After months of varying degrees of success this was the result from a couple of weeks ago. Gman believes that it is definitely worth the effort.

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I eat very little bread these days as most gluten-free breads are not that great, expensive and heavily packaged in plastic.

Credit to inspired + delicious Facebook page for this bread recipe.

1 cup buckwheat groats
2 cups hot water (almost boiling)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
5 tablespoons psyllium husk
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 egg
2 tablespoons olive oil

Soak the buckwheat in hot water with apple cider vinegar overnight.

Next day, place buckwheat plus liquid in a blender and blend until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend well. Place mixture in a greased, lined loaf tin and allow to stand for 15 – 30minutes to allow psyllium to soak in properly. Bake at 200C until browned and it bounces back when you poke it. This is approximately 30 – 40 minutes.

This is the basic recipe but you can add whatever else you choose.

My first loaf had a handful each of sunflower seeds and pepitas added to the basic mixture.

Here are a couple of slices toasted. While it is perfectly edible as bread it is really delicious as toast.

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One of the things I do miss about bread is having grilled cheese on toast. This is not an everyday food but an occasional treat. I really enjoyed this for lunch the other day.

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Since I regarded my first attempt as a success, I decided to expand my repertoire and modify it to make a spicy fruit loaf. I added 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of mixed spice, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, some sultanas and dried cranberries and omitted the pepitas.

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I am now happily dreaming of other flavour options. I think the next attempt may be a savoury one – sun-dried tomato and olive.

While I am not going to be eating bread for every meal, it is great to have a plastic-free, unpackaged, gluten-free bread that is quick and easy to make.

Unpackaged bread has been my major success for Plastic-Free July this year.

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Stocking Up

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Posted on June 16, 2018

Even though there are only two adults in our household, I find it worthwhile to prepare bulk amounts of various meals and ingredients for meals.

Some of the bulk preparation is due to the quantities of seasonal produce from our garden and in other instances it is simply due to the recipe or my choice to make a substantial quantity in one go.

Here are some examples of the sorts of things I do.

Single lunch serves of pumpkin soup. This was after we had soup for dinner, it was all from one medium pumpkin picked from the garden.

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Limes cut into wedges. Citrus are in abundance at our place at the moment and this is just one of the many ways I am using the bumper crop of limes.

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Bagged and ready to pop into the freezer for a refreshing addition to chilled water – still or sparkling (from the Soda Stream).

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A bulk quantity of refried beans done in the slow cooker. This recipe (from Mimi all those years ago) practically makes itself. A versatile staple that I store in the freezer.

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Spiced peanuts – I used some in the kale salad tonight and the rest will be used for future salads, that is, if GMan doesn’t snack on them all in the meantime.

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A batch of gluten free cheese scones. These are delicious with a bowl of soup on a cool evening so I always have some in the freezer.

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What is in your stock to make preparing meals easier?

A Perfect Loaf

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Posted on July 17, 2017

I thought the sourdough loaf that GMan managed to produce 3 months ago was good and you can see it here. He has continued to work on fine-tuning the method and I think his most recent effort is pretty well perfect.

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It must be about time he tried making that gluten-free starter for me. 🙂

Pizza Recipe – An Update

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Posted on April 20, 2017

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It has been brought to my attention that I made what could only be described as a monumental error in the recipe for the pizza bases which I posted yesterday.

There were 2 lines which were different quantities of olive oil – one line should have read ‘warm water’. This has now been corrected and I sincerely hope that no-one has made it from the original copy.

Secondly, in response to a comment on the post I will explain a little about psyllium. Yes, it is a laxative but that is not the reason for using it in the pizza bases. As Monica Topliss, the author of the recipe book explains, it is the ‘secret ingredient’ in many of her gluten-free recipes as it provides the elasticity that is lacking with the absence of gluten. Using this theory I have managed to successfully make my own gluten-free pasta. Psyllium is also purported to assist in lowering cholesterol levels. Here in Australia it is readily available in supermarkets and health food shops.

A Perfect Pizza

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Posted on April 19, 2017

For the past couple of years I have been making gluten-free pizza bases and tonight I want to share the recipe with you.

I have previously posted about making pizzas here but did not published the recipe as it included a specific blend of flour which was only available in the recipe book. However, the ‘recipe’ for the flour blend is now available on the internet and you can look it up here.

The recipe below is the quantities I use. It is actually double the original recipe and I find it makes 6 bases.

Pizza Bases

Ingredients

600g MGF flour blend
16g psyllium
2 teaspoons raw sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons dried yeast
40ml olive oil
520ml warm water

Method

Turn the oven on to 100 degrees C and set a timer for 5 minutes. Turn the oven off after 5 minutes.
Place all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add warm water and oil. Mix well. (I use the Kitchen Aid mixer on a low speed).
The mixture will seem quite runny at first but will soon firm up as the psyllium absorbs the moisture.
Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and place in the warm oven to rise for 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven and divide into 6 equal pieces.

The original recipe suggests rolling the dough out on a greased tray, allow to rise for 20 minutes then add toppings and bake for 15 minutes at 220 degrees C.

My version is a little different. I roll the dough out on baking paper, bake on a tray for 8 minutes at 180 degrees C. When cooled I freeze the pre-cooked bases ready for future use.

This is the pizza maker that I use which has a pizza stone set into it.

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Here is a sample of the end result. We ate it tonight.

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NOTE: I reuse the baking paper and store it in a ziplock bag in the freezer between uses.

Sourdough Success

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Posted on April 11, 2017

I am pleased to report that in a little under 2 months since his first attempt GMan has baked a very respectable sourdough loaf.

In this post from February I mentioned that the first effort was a failure. In fact, unmitigated disaster might be an accurate description. Since then he has persevered and tweaked the technique with a few more loaves which have been edible – best toasted. I have been watching from the sidelines as this is not gluten-free.

The loaf which GMan baked tonight is the most impressive so far and he is justifiably rather proud of it.

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I think a couple of things contributed to the success. Firstly, the ‘starter’ is maturing with time and secondly, he cooked it in an enamel cast-iron lidded pot rather than on a tray.

This is about as ‘cooked from scratch’ as you can get with only 3 ingredients used – flour, salt and water.

My next challenge for GMan is to create a gluten-free ‘starter’. Watch this space for more details in the future.

Gift Giving

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Posted on December 15, 2016

I have probably been reading far too much on various groups on social media but I am feeling really fed up with what Christmas gift giving seems to have become.

Just to give some context to this post, I am 58 and grew up in what some would regard as a simpler time. I am one of 4 siblings.

As far as I can remember, we each received a gift from our parents and one from Santa. We would buy, individually or jointly a small gift for each of our siblings as well as our parents. Our pocket money, sometimes supplemented by Mum, was used for these purchases. There were modest gifts from our grandparents and some aunts and uncles but these were often for the family (a tin of biscuits or perhaps, a lottery ticket). There was no buying for sundry work colleagues, friends, neighbours, teachers or classmates.

I am amazed by the number of people who are busily trying to give gifts to dozens of people who barely rate as acquaintances. For a variety of reasons (eg: budget, environmental or anti-consumerist) many are choosing to give gifts which they have made. This may seem a noble idea but is it really very smart?

Consider a teacher with 25 children in the class. How many boxes of chocolates, handmade candles, sleighs made from candy canes, homemade fudge and so on can one person realistically use? Whatever happened to a writing a thoughtful, heartfelt note as acknowledgement of a job well done?

The final straw, as far as I am concerned, came from a forum in which someone posed the question, “Talking about homemade Christmas gifts (specifically food items). Is it standard for people to just throw them in the garbage?” There were in excess of 150 responses which ranged from “I never eat anything that I have not prepared myself” to “How wasteful – of course I would eat it” and everything in between.

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It seems that the reality is at odds with the fancy photos in recipe books, websites and Pinterest.

My contribution to the discussion was, “I am very disappointed that this happens. It serves to remind me that no presents is actually the best idea”. Of course, I am not talking about immediate family or a select number of friends to whom you are very close.

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This brings me back to the point of this post. Why is everyone madly rushing around buying (or making) gifts for people we barely know? Are we simply trying to keep up with (or outdo) everyone else?

Half of these gifts are unnecessary, unwanted ‘stuff’ which may end up in the garbage, landfill or op shop before January is over. How would you feel if you knew the fate of your gifts? Would it change you pattern of behaviour?

What are your thoughts and experiences?

An Easter Recipe

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Posted on March 27, 2016

Happy Easter!

The desktop computer will not be back in action until the middle of the week so I am struggling with and old laptop which is very slow and not responsive. However, I am determined to persevere and bring you a recipe for gluten-free hot cross buns.

Here is the original recipe which I used for the first batch which I made on Tuesday. The only alteration I made was to add another teaspoon of psyllium husk instead of the teaspoon of xanthum gum.

The initial prototype was acceptable but I felt I could improve on the recipe a little.

The instructions said that the recipe made 8 buns so I followed this and they were much too large for my liking. The buns also tended to spread on the tray rather than rise. Additionally, we prefer more spice and fruit. I made a note of this for my second attempt.

Here is my amended recipe with method and photos. Do not be put off by the long list of ingredients. I have divided the ingredients into separate sections accoring to the method.

GLUTEN-FREE HOT CROSS BUNS

Ingredients

1 cup sultanas
1 cup boiling water

7g dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
120ml warm water

24g psyllium husk
3 eggs
250ml hot water

3 cups gluten-free flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons bicarb soda
1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
75g sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons mixed spice
Zest of 1 orange

2 tablespoons sugar
Juice of 1 orange

1 egg
1 tablespoon water

3 tablespoons gluten-free flour
Water

Method

Place sulatanas in a small bowl and cover with boiling water and allow to stand.

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Combine yeast, sugar and warm water in a small bowl and set aside to activate.

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In a another bowl combine the eggs and psyllium then add the add hot water and set aside to thicken.

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Place a large bowl of hot water in the oven and turn oven to 100C. Set timer for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes turn the oven off and remove the bowl. This means the oven will be perfect for the dough to rise.

Place the flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt, sugar, spices and orange zest in a bowl and combine. Add the yeast mixture and egg mixture and mix thoroughly. Finally, drain the excess water from the sultanas and stir them into the dough. This step could be done by hand but I use my Kitchen Aid mixer.

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Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface. Although kneading is not required for gluten-free baking (no gluten to stretch) you can gently roll and fold the dough a few times before dividing it into suitable sized portions. I weighed my balls of dough and chose to make them 75g each which yielded 17 buns.

Place balls of dough into muffin pans or on a tray and set the tray in the pre-warmed oven for 45 minutes.

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While the dough is rising prepare the egg wash to brush the top of the buns by whisking the egg and water together. Make the mixture for the crosses. Blend together the flour and enough water to make a smooth paste which can be piped onto the buns. Place the flour paste into a plastic bag and snip a tiny piece off one corner.

Remove dough from the oven and turn oven on to 200C to heat while you finish the buns. Brush with egg wash. Pipe crosses onto the buns.

Return buns to the oven set at 200C and cook for 20 – 25 minutes.

Place the sugar and orange juice in a saucepan and simmer gently until reduced and thickened.

When the buns are cooked remove from the oven and drizzle with the orange glaze.

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Ready to eat.

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I was very pleased with the result and the final word comes from my friend who said that it was just like the commercially produced fruit loaf. This has inspired me to try baking this recipe as a loaf which could be sliced and toasted.

NOTE: The other variation is the type of flour used. The original rice uses tapioca and brown rice flour. I use my own mixture which includes both of these as well as potato and quinoa flours. You can choose a commercial gluten-free flour or you own combination as long as it totals 3 cups.

Dinner – Gluten Free Quiche

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Posted on February 28, 2016

Although you can buy gluten-free pastry and it is possible to make it from scratch there is an easier option for the base of a quiche or savoury pie.

Quiche Base

1.5 cups cooked rice
1 egg
1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients, press mixture into a dish, chill for 30 – 60 minutes then add filling and proceed as for regular pastry case.

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Like pizza, quiche is great for using up small amounts of various ingredients for the fillings. The combinations are limited only by your imagination. Remember, that you do not need huge amounts of filling.

Today, I used bacon, mushroom and broccolini. 1 rasher of bacon, 1 mushroom, 1/2 onion and about half of a small bunch of broccolini.

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Here it is chopped up and ready. I kept the stalks and florets of the broccolini separate. The onion is frozen as I have about 7 kgs of diced frozen onion in my freezer. You can read about it here.

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I sauteed the onion and bacon before adding the chopped stalks and finally the mushroom and florets of the broccolini.

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I allowed the mixture to cool for about 5 minutes before spreading over the base of the quiche.

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I then covered this with 1 cup and grated cheese.

The final step is to make the custard, for that is essentially what a quiche is – savoury custard. I never follow a specific recipe for this but it is a mixture of milk and eggs.

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Today I used:

3 eggs (they are extra large from our chickens)
1/4 cup double cream
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon skim milk powder
Pinch of salt
Ground black pepper

Beat the ingredients thoroughly.

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Carefully pour the egg mixture over the filling.

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Don’t worry if the egg mixture does not cover the cheese. It is best not to overfill the dish or you will find that it overflows during cooking.

Bake at 180C for 35 – 40 minutes or until firm to touch and golden.

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The rice crust can be made using whatever rice you prefer. I use brown rice as it works equally as well as white. Make sure the rice is well-cooked to help it stick together.

The filling can be any combination of whatever you choose.

The custard mixture is milk and/or cream and eggs. I happened to have the cream as it was bought to have with dessert last week when we had guests. I generally do not have cream and tend to use skim milk powder blended with a smaller amount of water than normal to mimic evaporated milk. From memory, I think it is about 1 cup of milk powder to 1/2 cup of water.

Bulk Cooking

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Posted on September 27, 2015

Since there are only 2 of us to cook for, I do not prepare huge quantities of food but it is nice to have a few meals planned and prepared. The other factor that influences my decision is that I prefer to use the oven efficiently when it is turned on.

Yesterday I sorted out what was lurking in the freezer and decided that this week we would eat what I could make using freezer and pantry ingredients. I should really only need to buy some fresh fruit and vegetables.

I started by making gluten-free pizza bases. I par-cook these in the oven then freeze them for later use.

Here they are ready to freeze. I have some old cereal packets which I use to separate the bases when they go in the freezer.

It is simply a matter of adding the toppings and cooking in the bench-top pizza-maker.

Next, I decided to make some gluten-free muffins which turned out to quite acceptable using a standard recipe and simply substituting gluten-free flour. I made 2 batches – orange, walnut and sultanas in one and the other were banana, walnut and mixed spice. The catalyst for these were the sad looking banana that I rescued from the fridge at work on Friday and some orange pulp I found in my freezer.

At the same time I made some gluten-free wraps for lunches.

These are cooked in a hot, dry frying pan and can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

A pack of sausages which had been left in the freezer by our house-sitters were grilled and sliced then made into a sausage casserole which made 4 serves.

I usually cook a bulk amount of dried red kidney beans in the slowcooker and freeze them in portions ready to use. I found a pack in the freezer as well as a pack of diced beef so I put them in the slowcooker with frozen cherry tomatoes from last season, frozen diced onion and some spices to make 4 serves of chilli beef. That bubbled along all day while I was doing the other cooking.