Gluten Free Sandwich Bread -Moist!

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1 1/3 cup warm water
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
3 lightly beaten eggs
1 1/2 tsp salt
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3 cups GF Bread Flour (Flour Blend HERE)
1 Tbs. xanthan or Guar gum
2 1/4 tsp – 1 T dry active yeast (Start with smallest amount and if you didn’t get the rise you wanted try more next time)
2 T ground flax seeds
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~ Combine wet ingredients in your stand mixer. (The bread works best if wet ingredients are room temperature- or you use HOT water to warm up the mixture)
~ Sift dry ingredients and add it on top of liquid ingredients. Toss in your yeast and add ins.
~ Turn on your mixer with the dough hook and allow to kneed for 2 minutes
~ Let sit for 10 minutes and then turn the mixer on again for another 2 minutes.
~ pour the dough into a greased bread pan (coconut oil works great for this) and let rise for 40 minutes-1hr
~ Bake at 400* until golden brown and sounds just a tad hollow when you tap the crust.
~ Allow to cool for a few minutes first in the pan, then out on a rack until just warm before cutting. Cutting your GF bread too early can cause it to gum up.

~ ENJOY!

*Mostly adapted from Kim’s Whole Grain GF/DF Bread*

Gluten Free Flour Blend (Bread)

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(to purchase these flours, I like Authentic Foods best on Amazon HERE)

EQUAL PARTS:

  • Tapioca Starch(Flour)
  • Sorghum flour
  • Super-fine brown rice flour
  • Super-fine white rice flour

THEN ADD:

  • 1 TBS Xanthan or Guar Gum
~ mix briefly, then sift all ingredients together twice. Store in an air-tight container and use in any GF bread recipe.
**For a pastry flour, increase starch or add a secondary starch such as corn or potato starch (maybe by half?). Increase Gum product only SLIGHTLY**

Kombucha

by In Drinks Leave a comment
Materials
  • Gallon Jar or non lead-based crock
  • Linen or cloth napkin that will fit completely over top of jar or crock
  • Rubber band to go around neck of jug or crock
  • 16 oz Bottles (or mason jars if you do not want to fizz it)
 Ingredients:
  • 1 Cup Sugar ( White, Coconut or Sucanat sugar)
  • 4-5 tea bags (black or green- organic is best)
  • 3 Quarts of Filtered water (NOT distilled)
  • 1 Cup Kombucha Starter (a Scoby + 1 Cup Kombucha)
  1. Wash all utensils in hot soapy water and rinse well.
  2. Boil the water and add the Sugar for a few minutes before taking off the heat.
  3. Add the tea bags to steep for 10-20 minutes. (or longer)
  4. Remove tea bags and let cool completely. (squeeze excess tea out to not waste it!)
  5. Pour cooled tea into your gallon container, add your 1 Cup of Kombucha and your scoby- smooth and shiny side-up.
  6. Place your clean cloth over the mouth of the jar and secure with a rubber band. This will keep un-wanted mold and yeasts out.
  7. Place your jar in a ventilated darker place without direct sunlight for 6-15 days.
  8. You will notice soon a new scoby forming on the surface. Start tasting your tea after 1 week.
  9. When your tea is ready, filter through a cheesecloth or milkbag and either bottle, or put in jars in the fridge – Making sure to leave 1 Cup tea to begin your next batch with!

SECOND CULTURING 
  • When you place your kombucha in the fridge, either put some whole fruit in your batch to flavor it as it sits, or add fresh squeezed juices.
  • To fizz your Kombucha, stop the culturing process a day or so early (while it still has a tiny touch of a sweetness left), add your fruit or juices when you bottle it, then let it ferment in your pantry for 1-3 days.
  • If second culturing in your pantry, MAKE SURE TO BURP IT (slightly pop the lid and re-close) every day so it does not build up too much pressure. Place in the fridge once you like the fizz and flavor.
** Recipe from www.culturedfoodlife.com**

Mom’s Ice Cream- Creamy Dairy Free

by In Desserts Leave a comment
1 liter of Almond or Coconut Milk
       (Charity uses 2 cans Trader Joe’s full Coconut Cream with 1 Cup added Almond Milk)
8 Egg Yolks
200-250 grams Sugar
1 Vanilla Bean or 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
      (A little cornstarch, guar gum, or some little thickener makes it creamier, but it isn’t necessary.)
      (You may also add some kind of cane syrup for smoothness–40 grams–but then use the 200 grams of sugar so it isn’t too sweet.)
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– Bring to a boil the milk, half the sugar, syrup, the vanilla bean (sliced and scraped)  and stabilizer (cornstarch, etc.) Let it Infuse a bit.
– Beat the egg yolks and gradually add the rest of the sugar. Add slowly some of the hot milk while stirring the yolks. Return all to the saucepan and pasteurize. (Heat to 85 degrees Celsius).
– Pass through a sieve, if you like, pour it into a clean metal container, cover the surface with plastic (touching the Crème Anglaise) and chill quickly. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.
– Use a churn ice cream freezer.To Make your own almond (or Coconut/Cashew) milk, blend almonds and water until you have a strength you like. Just chop up the meat and put it in a blender with some water. Pass these through a Milk Bag.

Chocolate GF Cake, Moist

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2 cups GF flour blend
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 cup milk (regular or almond are what I’ve used)
1/2 cup oil (I use safflower but any oil is fine)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup boiling water or hot coffee

Combine all ingredients. Mix by hand and scrape down sides of bowl. Then place on mixer and mix on medium speed for 2 min. Take off mixer and add hot liquid. Mix carefully by hand until well combined. Pour into prepared pans. Bake at 325 for 20-25 min.  Recipe will yield 2 8 or 9 inch cake pans.

My GF flour blend is 1 pound cornstarch, 1 pound tapioca starch, 1 pound sorghum flour, 1 pound brown or white rice flour, and 1 pound of almond or oat flour. I just mix that all together well and it’s good to go!

Gluten Free and Grain Free Crêpes

by In Breakfast, Desserts, Healthy Snacks, Main Courses Leave a comment

1 1/3 Cup Tapioca Starch
1/2 Cup Coconut Flour
8 eggs
1/4 Cup oil
1 Cup water or almond milk

– Blend together all ingredients until smooth and LET SIT 30 minutes
– Pre-heat crêpe pan and season with coconut oil.
– Pour 1/3 Cup batter into skillet and swirl to coat pan.
– When the sides begin to pull away from the skillet, flip crêpe briefly and then slide into plate.
– Fill with whatever you like.

Baked Oatmeal

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  • 4 Cups Oats
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 Cups sugar plus some for sprinkling on top
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/4 Cup water (or almond milk)
  • 1/2 Cup Oil
Pre-heat oven to 375*. Blend all ingredients well and pour into a greased 9×13 in casserole dish and sprinkle the top with sugar. Bake until a knife comes out clean. About 15-20 minutes. Serve warm in a bowl with milk poured over it.
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*Charity’s version: Add 1/2 Cup almond butter,  1/4 Cup chia seeds and a few shakes of cinnamon to recipe. I also use Coconut sugar and Stevia instead of normal sugar.

Mousse au Chocolat

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500 grams 64% chocolate

160 grams butter

6 egg yolks

12 egg whites

200 grams sugar

 

Over a bain marie, melt 500g of 64% chocolat with 160g of butter. Remove from heat and stir in 6 egg yolks. Let cool. Whip up 12 egg whites and add gradually 200g of sugar. Slowly fold the chocolate into the meringue. Fill your little cups with a poche à douille, cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours.

There you go!

Ragout de Poulet

by In Main Courses 1 Comment

Cut a chicken into four pieces, chop two carrots and one onion, de-germ and smash one clove of garlic.

Make a ” fond de volaille ” with the carcass, and put together the “bouquet garni”.

Color the chicken, remove from the skillet then color the carrots and onion. Add a spoonful of tomato paste, stir and sprinkle with about two tablespoons of flour. Color the flour in the oven on very high broiler. Add the chicken, pour in the wine, bring to a boil, add the fond de volaille; bring to a boil, add the garlic and the bouquet garni, cover and cook it in the oven (around 400ºF) for about 1h30 min.

While it’s cooking you can make the tomato fondue with diced échalotes, olive oil, chopped tomatoes (that have been peeled and de-seeded) and a bouquet garni. It’s then simmered for quite a while till nice and thick.

Remove the chicken ragout from the oven, take the pieces of chicken out, strain the sauce, add the olives and half of the tomato fondue, bring to a boil, put the chicken back into the sauce and serve with a little dollop of tomato fondue and a sprig of parsley 🙂

Pecan Lace Cups

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– ¼ C. firmly packed light brown sugar

-2 Tbs. light corn syrup

-3 T. Butter

– ¼ C. Flour

-1/4 C. chopped pecans lightly toasted (optional)

 

(preheat oven to 375 degrees)

 

  1. Combine sugar, corn syrup and butter in saucepan. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Whisk in flour and pecans,  remove from heat.

 

  1. Place in 1tsp to 1Tbs size mounds on parchment covered baking sheets. Bake at 375 until lightly browned, 4-8 minutes.

 

  1. Cool 1 to 2 minutes. While still warm and flexible, drape over inverted tart tins (or spice jars, shot glasses or anything small that works). Cool. If cookie hardens too fast, place back in oven for a second to soften.

 

  1. Fill with whatever you desire! My favorite is strawberries with whipped cream and fudge sauce to top it off!