Lesson Two... Give into Cravings

As I mentioned before my one gluten weakness is pizza. A really great thin crust pizza that is soft and foldable just cannot be made gluten free. The reason is its the gluten that is developed in the kneading process that makes pizza crust so soft and pliable. Most gluten free pizzas have more of a cracker texture or a thick biscuit dough for a crust. While that may make a perfectly fine pizza for most people, I am looking for a New York style pizza that you fold in half to eat. That can be really difficult to find, especially in takeout.

I have attempted to order gluten free options from local pizza pizzerias and have not been really successful. Either the pizza is not good, or I have had gluten reactions to the cross contamination that runs rampant whenever you mix gluten and gluten free doughs.

I did find an eat-in gluten free pizza at Shoeless Joe's Sports Bar in London, Ontario, on Wonderland Rd that is pretty good. It comes in a small / personal sized pizza, I was told the crust is made by French Meadow and is only available in the US. Make sure if you are ordering you double check on the toppings. The first time I ordered it I was assured that all of the toppings were safe, and so I ordered the buffalo chicken pizza. Unfortunately it came with breaded chicken on it. The next time I ordered I double checked and was able to substitute grilled chicken for the breaded. A much better option. I will be back for this pizza, too bad it is not available in delivery.

I recently made my last attempt at ordering a gluten free pizza from a local pizzeria, Pizza Tonight. I had a huge gluten reaction as the cross contamination was terrible. The pizza itself was very tasty, but not worth the after affects.

I am sick of the bad pizza and gluten reactions so now I am attempting to find a good crust that I can make my own pizza at home. First up is Udi's Gluten Free Crust. I originally found it in the freezer section of many US grocery stores, and recently found at Metro in Canada. It is a nice thin crust that bakes up soft in the middle and crispy around the edges. I added a little too much cheese, but it was a very tasty pizza. And better, it was completely contaminate free as I controlled all of the toppings and the environment in which it was baked.



My First Pizza with Udi's Crust

My second attempt was much more successful as I did not add as much cheese and you can actually see the crust. It is not the foldable new york style crust that I originally set out to find, but it is a nice soft thin crust pizza. 

Second Attempt with Udi's Crust

Lesson One... Double Check Everything.

Someone once posted to an online group that I belong to that her stomach was angry with her and a thread went around about the terminology we use to describe how our bodies react to being glutened. We all agreed that we generally humanize our bodily symptoms of ingesting gluten containing foods. For years I have always said that my stomach/body was angry with me when I was feeling symptoms and could sympathize with the original posting.

Recently I have been rethinking this idea and realized that why shouldn't my body be angry with me. Whether I ingested gluten intentionally or not I was the one who did it to myself. If it was intentional, then my body has every reason to be "angry" with me. If it was unintentional then I did not check things as carefully as I should have. Either way, it was my own fault that I am experiencing symptoms.

I recently experienced symptoms after eating a "gluten free" pizza from a local pizzeria. I am usually very careful in checking everything out before I eat it. But pizza is my one gluten weakness and I was excited when I heard they offered a gluten free option. It was my own fault because although I checked into the crust and was assured it is baked on its own aluminium pan, I did not follow up with all of the toppings and every possible cross contamination source. It was only when I was finished and throwing away the pan that I realized the bottom of the pan was covered in flour. My body had every right to be angry with me as I was the cause of its distress.

Lesson to be learned, double check everything and then check again.

The Ultimate Cake Challenge

In my opinion the ultimate dessert is a layered cake.

A layered cake is usually one of those things that we think is so complicated that we end up leaving it to the professionals and buying one for our special occasions. 

There are several problems with buying a cake, the most important being it can cost a fortune to get a really nice one, especially if it is gluten free. Most standard bakeries do not make gluten free cakes as you have to be super careful to avoid cross contamination. To get a safe gluten free cake there are many things to need to take into consideration to ensure it is safe to eat. You need to make sure that:

• ingredients are kept safe in sealed containers and different utensils are used, such as scoops, and they are cleaned regularly.
• the storage, baking, decorating areas (basically the entire bakery) is cleaned and sanitized after the regular cakes are made and prior to making anything gluten free.
• the batter is made at a different time so the gluten filled flours are not flying around in the air mixing with the gluten free batter.
• gluten free cakes need to be baked in separate ovens and pans from the regular gluten filled ones, which means having double the equipment.
• the decorating surface is clean and sanitized to ensure no crumbs from the regular cake get mixed in with the icing/filling and then spread on the gluten free cake. And I learned cakes can be very crummy as you are decorating them.

So most of us will seek out a gluten free bakery, which has a dedicated gluten free facility, to purchase our cakes. This is why they can cost so much.

Since a layered cake is for very special occasions we do not often buy these kinds of cakes and may not know the quality of the bakeries in our areas who do gluten free cakes. This comes down to the last issue, taste. Gluten free anything can be finicky. It can be dry, crumbly, tasteless, or even mushy. Even the regular store bought cakes have issues with taste, most often that they don't have any. Store bought cakes can often be too sweet as they are covered with too much icing and the cake itself does not have much flavor. The best thing about making your own cake is you can control all aspects of taste. You choose the cake flavors, the icing and the fillings.

I decided since I really do not like the regular store bought cakes that I was going to make the cake for the party I was hosting for my parents 40th wedding anniversary. Since I was making it, this would naturally be a gluten free cake. I used the Luscious Lemon Cake recipe by Mary Capone from the April/May 2012 Living Without Magazine that I earlier tried as lemon cupcakes and made a 2 tiered lemon cake. The lemon flavor in this cake counters the sweetness of the icing and makes a natural paring.

I can definitely say that if you are to attempt a feat such as this, make sure you have at least a full day to complete the entire cake. Baking two of each of the 6" and 9" cakes took the morning with the cakes cooling till the afternoon, then they needed to be carefully sliced in half. I made the lemon curd for the filling and the lemon butter cream icing. Again I reduced the amount of milk in the icing recipe to make a thicker icing that would set hard on the cake. Layering the cake with the lemon curd and icing filling and then icing the outside of the cake took the rest of the day. I left the cake in the fridge to wait until closer to the event to finish the decorations including adding the fondant flowers I had made a couple weeks earlier. I think the only thing I would change would be to make the cake closer to the event date so it is little fresher and not quite as dry. The lemon curd filling is a nice touch as it adds moisture to the cakes themselves.

If you can bake, you can make a layer cake. Decorations can be as simple as just icing the cake and adding confectionery decorations that can be purchased at local cake decorating or craft stores, or as complicated as you can make it. The only limit in decorating is your imagination. Gluten free cakes should not be a daunting idea. Just take your time, plan your steps, put on some music and go for it. Be adventurous and you will be surprised what you can accomplish.

Bake Sale Goodies Day 2

After the success at the first charity bake sale we decided to have a second one. I wanted to bake something that was larger and more complicated so that we could charge more for them and hence make more for the charity. I was also craving something sweet and I knew exactly what to make. I decided to make Gluten Free Lemon Chiffon Cupcakes. 

These cupcakes come from a recipe in the April/May 2012 Living Without Magazine. The actual recipe is for a wedding cake, but I thought they would make perfect cupcakes. Boy was I right.

I previously made these for a family Easter dinner and was very disappointed in the results. The Easter attempt was not as successful as my initial attempt for my co-workers therefore felt like I needed to try again and perfect the recipe. While making them for Easter I guess I was trying to multi task and over baked them slightly and they became dry. These cupcakes need to be removed from the oven at just the perfect time and they will be soft and moist. Watch them carefully and when a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs attached they are done. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cupcakes are over baked. The cake should feel slightly dense and spring back when you touch the center. Let them sit in the muffin pan for just a couple minutes and then remove them to cool completely on a wire rack so as not to over bake.

My two earlier attempts included a surprise in the middle. I made a lemon curd from the wedding cake recipe and piped it into the middle of the cupcakes with a piping bag and small round tip while both the cupcake and lemon curd were still warm and this made a nice gooey center to them. This time I wanted to practice some decorations for an upcoming project and made fondant flowers for the tops. The flowers were beautiful at first, but became soft and wilted due to the moisture in the frosting. Next time, either no flowers or place the flowers on after the icing has set. The icing recipe that comes with the original cake recipe is very fluffy and I found I needed to reduce the amount of milk to 3-5 Tbsp instead of 1/4 cup to suit my tastes.

Lemon Chiffon Cupcakes

adapted from Luscious Lemon Cake by Mary Capone
April/May 2012 Living Without Magazine

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup milk

1 cup mild vegetable oil of choice

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

                                                       1 Tbsp lemon zest (about 1 lemon)

                                                       1 tsp lemon extract

                                                       1 tsp pure vanilla extract

                                                       2 1/2 cups gluten free flour blend of your choice

                                                                [I use Bette Hagman's original gluten free flour mix]

                                                       1 tsp xanthan gum

                                                       1/2 tsp salt

                                                       1 Tbsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard 12 cup muffin pans with cupcake liners.

In a heavy stand mixer with a whisk attachment or with a hand mixer and a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar for 3 to 5 minutes.

In another bowl whisk together gluten free flour, xanthan gum, salt and baking powder. Zest lemon into the flour mixture.

In a small bowl combine milk, oil, lemon juice and extracts.

At low speed slowly add dry and wet mixtures to egg and sugar mixture just until combined.

Using 1/3 cup measuring cup, divide batter evenly between both muffin pans to make 24 cupcakes. Place in preheated oven and bake 18 - 22 minutes until cake center springs back to touch or toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few crumbs attached.

Once cupcakes are completely cooled decorate cupcakes as desired with your favorite icing recipe. For lemon chiffon icing recipe visit April/May 2012 Living Without Magazine.

Bake Sale Goodies

As I mentioned in my last post I recently tried a new recipe for brownies that I took to a charity bake sale at my work place. I have been looking for a good gluten free recipe for a really fudgy brownie for a long time and never found one that I liked as much as a gluten free brownie mix I loved. This was a recipe that I found in one of my sister-in-law's cookbooks that I read while I was visiting. As this recipe was named Chocolate Truffle Brownies I thought it had a good shot of filling my brownie sweet tooth.

I had never baked with Quinoa flour before and was curious. I found that Quinoa flour can be found in the Organic section of the grocery store and the only one I could find was by Bob's Red Mill.

Gluten Free Chocolate Truffle Brownies
From Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood by Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming

Ingredients:
4oz unsweetened chocolate (4 squares)
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 lg eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups quinoa flour
1/4 milk
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9" square baking pan and lightly sprinkle with flour or line with parchment.

In small saucepan, melt the chocolate & butter together over low heat. Add the sugar, stirring constantly. When the mixture is thoroughly blended pour in to a large bowl. Add the eggs & vanilla to the chocolate mixture and blend well. Stir in the flour & milk. Mix in the nuts. Pour evenly into the baking pan.

Bake on center oven rack for 20 - 22 minutes. To keep these brownies chewy be careful not to over bake. Cool 15 minutes in the pan before cutting into 16 squares.

Since it was for a bake sale I tried to double the recipe and make as many brownies as I could. I doubled the recipe and baked it in an 9" x 13" non stick pan lined with parchment and buttered. This meant it took considerably longer to bake than the recipe called for. I baked it for 50 minutes and then cooled it in the fridge overnight before cutting into squares. The center squares were still fairly soft and gooey but were fine if refrigerated.

The few leftover squares that were left made a wonderful brownie sunday when sliced thinly

Welcome to the Hearth

I recently brought a new recipe of gluten free brownies to a charity bake sale that was being held at my workplace and ended up with the inevitable question "Can I have the recipe?". I have been asked this same question every time I bake something to share with others and each time I copy the recipe down and pass it on. This time I thought there has to be an easier way.

The Gluten Free Hearth was born.

For those not in the know, the hearth was the central part of the home as it is a fireplace that is used for cooking. It became the integral part of the home as the day revolved around cooking of the meals and this provided heat to the entire house. The concept of the hearth has been generalized over time to refer to the entire home or household as in "Hearth and Home". My Hearth is entirely gluten free.

I hope you will join me as I experiment with cooking, baking and all things gluten free in my hearth.