Gluten Free Instant Bread

The difficulty of finding gluten free ingredients for baking over the Easter long weekend calls for a shortcut. After baking 2 loaves of bread which compared less favourably than commercial ones available from Country Life Bakery, Noodle Cook dashed into the local supermarket just before closing to grabbed a box of gluten free bread mix which costs AUD$0.55 per 100g. That means a standard 750g loaf made using 500 g mix costs AUD$2.75, which is very much in line with standard breads.



Product: Gluten Free "Easy Bakers Instant Oven Bread" by Laucke Flour Mills
Usage: Bread, rolls, pancakes, pizza, tortillas, cakes, lunch wraps
Version: "Meals and Grains"
Ingredients: Potato flour, tapioca flour, rice flour, grains 13% (linseed, kibbled corn, sunflower seed, soy grits), soy flour, raising agent (575, 500), canola oil, salt, sugar, vegetable gum (464, 412, 415).
Availability in Western Australia: Coles and Woolworths supermarkets
Method suggested for bread: Add 380 mL water to 500 g bread mix. Beat for 2 minutes 30 seconds. Pour better into 1.8 L baking tin. Let rise at 30 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes until almost double. Bake at 215 degrees Celsius for 35 minutes until golden brown.
Bread Shelf Life: 2-3 days
Recipes: Not available at website for Gluten Free. Recipes found on the box include pancakes, basic cake, lamingtons, pizza, rolls, bread, wraps and tortillas



Notes: Beautiful, even texture with pleasing moistness. Light, well risen, spongy and flexible. Salty. Smells of beans from the soy flour. Hard to remove from baking tin due to tough crust. Very pale crust when baked to instructions. Crust cracked during baking. Can be used for sandwiches. Toasts can be quite hard.

To produce a better bread with more acceptable aroma, better keeping qualities and crisper crust, try the following. The yeast used here is to produce a more pleasing, bakery-like aroma.

Recipe

250 g Gluten Free Easy Bakers Meals and Grains mix
50 g lentil flour
1 teaspoon dried yeast (1/2 of 8 g packet)
200 mL water
2 teaspoon sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon lecithin granules, optional
1 tablespoon flavoured oil (eg. garlic infused)

Dissolve the yeast in water. Make and bake to instructions given above.

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Gluten Free Sorghum Batter Yeast Bread

After the surprisingly poor results from the gluten free almond quick bread, Noodle Cook puts on the scientist's hat. Research shows that

• sorghum flour tastes most wheat-like
• sourdough fermentation works best for sorghum flour
• soda water, baking powder, and baking soda provide additional aeration
• a strong starch gel retains the air bubble well
• gluten free bread "dough" is often a thick batter
• the liquid to dry ingredients weight ratio is approximately 1:1 for batter bread
• lecithin (health food), soy flour, gelatin and milk powder act as crumb conditioners
• ascorbic acid in crushed Vitamin C tablets, vinegar, lemon juice and ground ginger help activate the yeast

Recipe:

Adapted from Bette Hagman

175 g sorghum flour
75 g potato starch
50 g Orgran "Gluten Free Gluten"
1/3 cup milk powder or "Ensure"
2 tablespoons almond meal, optional as milk powder substitute
2 tablespoons soy flour, optional, as milk powder substitute
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda (or 2 teaspoons baking powder)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 packet dried yeast (8 g)
2 eggs
pinch ground ginger, optional
1/2 teaspoon lecithin granules, optional crumb conditioner
1 teaspoon lemon juice, yeast activator
3 tablespoons olive oil
250 mL water (or club soda)
1 teaspoon gelatin, dissolved in 2 tablespoon boiling water
Flavouring: 1 teaspoon crushed peppercorn. Rosemary and thyme olive oil infusions

Method:

Combine all dry ingredients.

Whisk remaining ingredients until emulsified.

Add dry ingredients, including any flavouring spices and herbs to the liquid mixture. Beat on high using a standard hand mixer for 10 minutes. The resultant dough should resemble a thick cake batter.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Cover with foil after 10 minutes.

The bread can keep for 2-3 days if lecithin is used. Otherwise, freeze the remaining.

Notes: The bread sagged 10 minutes into baking. The temperature was a touch too hot. As expected, the texture is very heavy, and compares less favourably than the commercial gluten free bread from Country Life Bakery. The aeration looks adequate, but appears very coarse. Although moist, the bread breaks when bent. The aroma scores a WOW and a 10 out of 10. Overall, very tasty and can easily be mistaken for quick bread made with wheat flour.



Sorghum breads to try:
Gluten Free Girl's Artisanal Sorghum Bread
Gluten Free Girl's Crusty Sorghum Bread
Bette Hagman's Sorghum Bread for Twin Valley Mills
Simply Gluten Free Hubby's Bread

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Gluten Free Almond Quick Bread

General purpose gluten-free flour:
1/2 rice flour
1/4 maize starch
1/4 potato starch

Fortified gluten free flour:
1/4 nut/bean/pea/lentil flour
3/4 general purpose gluten-free flour

Improved gluten free flour:
10 g soy flour for each 100 g gluten-free flour (general or fortified)
10 g milk powder for each 150 g gluten-free flour (general or fortified)
10 g lecithin for each 500 g gluten-free flour (general or fortified)

Egg substitute:
1 egg = 1 tablespoon lecithin minus 1 tablespoon fat from recipe, plus 2 tablespoon liquid
1 egg = 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal plus 2 tablespoon hot water
1 egg = 1/4 cup beancurd
1 egg = 3/4 cup soy yoghurt less some water and fat
1 egg = 1 tablespoon to 1/4 cup fruit sauce or puree
1 egg = 1 1/2 teaspoon Egg Replacer by Ener-G plus 2 tablespoons water
1 egg white = 1 1/2 teaspoon Egg Replacer by Ener-G plus 2 tablespoons water
1 egg yolk = 1 1/2 teaspoon Egg Replacer by Ener-G plus 1 tablespoons water

Gluten replaced flour for pizza, bread, scones, muffins, pasta:
20 g Orgran "Gluten Free Gluten" (GFG) for each 100 g gluten-free flour (general or fortified)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum = 30 g "Gluten Free Gluten" (GFG)



Ingredients listed on Orgran "Gluten Free Gluten": Superfine rice flour, pea extract, maize starch, potato starch, vegetable derived gums & cellulose: guar gum, methylcellulose, carboxymethylcellulose, monoglycerides from vegetable.


Recipe:

Adapted from Buckwheat Bread at taste.com.au

2/3 c rice flour (80 g)
1/3 c maize starch (40 g)
1/3 c pototo starch (40 g)
1/4 c Orgran "Gluten Free Gluten" (30 g)
1/2 c almond meal (50 g)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites (80 g)
1 cup milk
2 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon lecithin (improves keeping quality, reduces oil and replaces egg yolk)
1 tablespoon macadamia/walnut oil
poppy seeds for decoration, optional

Method:

Sift the flours. Combine with almond meal, baking powder and salt.

Whisk the egg whites.

Whisk the remaining ingredients, except for poppy seeds, until the mixture emulsifies.

Fold all ingredients together until combined.

Place in a loaf tin. Sprinkle with poppy seeds.

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 1 hour.



Notes: The bread is very dense and heavy, and in part due to insufficient egg. The beautiful aromas produced during cooking did not transpire to the finished product. Overall, this bread tastes awful. Commercial Gluten Free Low GI bread made with almond is available from Country Life Bakery.

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Gluten Free Pain Perdu for Weight Control

The pain perdu (French toast cooked in egg custard) shown here is made from low GI gluten-free bread available from by Country Life Bakery. The low GI comes from almond and linseed fortification of the bread. When cooked, the bread softens to a texture very much like sponge cake. The pain perdu, together with low fat ricotta accompaniment, makes an excellent low GI and high protein meal suitable for weight control. Gluten free food is particularly useful for people with autoimmune diseases like hypothyroidism due to Hashimoto.

According to celebrity gossip, the very famous Betheny Frankel claims her new book "Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting" will make Oprah Winfrey thinner.

Noodle Cook cannot claim that food alone can make anyone skinny, but a gluten free meal can contribute to the well being of autoimmune disease sufferers. Would Oprah Winfrey like to try gluten free, low GI, high protein food instead of dieting?

For high protein diets, check out the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet Book 1 and Book 2. For gluten free ideas, follow Shauna, the Gluten Free Girl.

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Garden Fresh Rocket

Some 12 weeks after sowing, the best tasting rocket leaves made it to the salad menu.

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Around the World in 7 Days

Contrary to belief, Noodle Cook's home meals do not consist of just 2 minute noodles and dumplings ...

Sunday: French chicken and vegetable pot pie made with fresh tarragon and thyme

Monday: Pan-fried Moroccan spice rubbed pork chop, couscous with preserved lemon and mint, and garden salad

Tuesday: Grilled parsley chicken maryland, tarragon peppercorn white sauce, braised red cabbage with caraway, roasted pumpkin and zucchini with dill, mashed potatoes

Wednesday: Parmesan meat balls in napoletana sauce with pasta

Thursday: Thyme and lemon lamb chop with haricot beans, served with rice

Friday: Teriyaki chicken, sesame and soy dip, braised vegetables (sprouts, red capsicum, baby corn, broccoli, spring onion, onion), ginger olive oil infusions, served with rice

Saturday: Couscous and mint crusted salmon, saffron potato and onion, basmati rice with preserved lemons and fennel, beans, peas and green onion dressed with lemon vinaigrette

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Gerbera

A cheerful orange gerbera against the backdrop of a blue swimming pool.

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Caramelized Banana Slice

An incredibly simple snack turned restaurant dessert through presentation. Here's the recipe for the big kids. You'll soon have school kids looking like masterchefs cutting with paper scissors and plastic knives!



For each small kid allow the following quantities:

1/2 sheet of flat bread (lavash)
1 tablespoon hazelnut spread (Nutella), or 2 squares chocolate, grated
1 banana, sliced
2 teaspoon raw sugar
melted butter, optional
Frangelico liqueur, optional
icing sugar, wattleseed, cocoa for dusting, optional

Brush the flat bread with melted butter if liked. Cut the flat bread into quarters. Spread with Nutella or sprinkle with grated chocolate. Neatly arrange banana slices over the the slices. Brush with more melted butter and Frangelico liqueur if liked. Sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes until the sugar melts and turns brown. The flat bread should be crisp.

Stack the 4 slices neatly on a dinner plate. Dust with icing sugar or cocoa powder. Serve hot or cold with vanilla ice cream or custard sauce. For variation, use apple.

To make a soft textured version, place creme patissiere between the stacked layers.

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Masterchef Australia Preview

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Fresh Apple Slices

A lovely fruit basket arrives on April 1st brimming with fresh apples.


The unblemished red apple looks irresistible, until cutting, and suddenly, it is: April Fool! What a surprise that the beautiful apple has a rotten core.




Since this is electronic reality, Noodle Cook rushes behind the scene for a sharp knife, and 2 minutes later, out comes beautifully presented apple slices for dessert! The cut slices cleverly avoided the rotten core.

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