Gluten Free Flour Blend for Breads

This flour blend is from a book entitled The Gluten Free Bible.  Not one kind of flour blend is suitable for all baked items due to the lightness of the blend; hence a second flour blend recipe is included in the blog for baking cakes and pastries. This blend for breads is used in all recipes using yeast.  Use this blend for the pizza crust recipe and you’ll be making it again and again!

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup sorghum flour

3/4 cup millet flour

1 cup tapioca flour

1 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup potato starch

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Whist to ensure that all flours are well blended.  The recipe can be doubled or trippled and stored in an airthight container in the refrigerator

The Best Gluten Free Pizza Crust

No joke.  This is the best pizza crust recipe I have made. I have tried several recipes and they turned out dry and hard.  This recipe takes few ingredients in addition to the Gluten Free Flour Blend for Bread.  I’m still experimenting on bread recipes so if you worry that making a batch of GF Bread Flour Mix may be too much, you’re mistaken.  You’ll be making this Pizza Crust recipe often so you’ll find that your flour mix will quickly be used up.

If you don’t have a stand mixer yet, you’ll want to invest in one for gluten free baking.  Many recipes require a lot of beating for the dough to thoroughly mix so a stand mixer ensures an even mixing without standing there for 5 minutes.  This pizza crust recipe requires 5 minutes beating time, but its well worth it.  Its hard to tell the difference in texture between this and wheat pizza dough when you’re eating it.

This recipe makes 5 to 6 pizza crusts about 7 to 8 inches in diameter each.  I like to freeze the empty baked crusts and take them out to make my individual pizza when the rest of the family is having pizza.

Pizza Crust Recipe

3 cups GF Flour Blend for Breads

2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast

2 teaspoons xanthan gum

l teaspoon salt

1 cup warm water (Use 3/4 cup at first, and add the rest but tablespoonful if needed)

1/4 cup extra virgen olive oil

3 egg whites

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper or sprinkle with cornmeal.

2.  Mix flour blend, yeast, xanthan gum, and salt in a large bowl.  Whisk 3/4 warm water, oil, egg whites, honey and vinegar together in a medium bowl.  Beat wet ingredients into dry ingredients with an electric mixer at low speed until combined.  Beat 5 minutes on medium-high, scaping bowl occasionally.  The dough will be very sticky and soft. If the dough is dry add additional 1/4 cup water tablespoon by tablespoon as needed.

3.  Transfer one-sixth of dough to prepared pan.  Spread dough into 5 or 6 inch circle using dampened fingers  Spread dough to desired thickness making dough thicker around edge to hold toppings.  Repeat with remaining dough.

4.  Bake 8 to 12 minutes or until crusts are lightly bronwed.  Top crusts with pizza sauce, cheese, herbs, and other desired toppings.  Bake an additional 2 to 3 mintes or until cheese melts.

If you are dairy free like I am, try the cheese substitutes available in grocery stores.  I particularly like the cheddar cheese substitute.  It has a nice tangy cheesy taste.  Enjoy!

My Mom’s Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is my farovite and I remember making the cake with my Mom when I was about 10 or 11. It was a favorite among my family too so we made it often. Forty some odd years later I still make the cake from the recipe that my Mom penned with her own hand. The paper is yellowed and stained in some spots but the recipe and the memories it brings back are precious

I’ve adapted the recipe to be gluten free and its another one of those recipes that works very well because of the fruit and the carrots that it holds. It can be made as sheet cake, in a bundt pan, or as a 2 layer cake.

My Mom’s Carrot Cake

3 cups Gluten Free Flour Blend
2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
10 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained and syrup reserved
4 eggs at room temperature, beaten
1 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups grated raw carrots, loosely packed
1 cup chopped walnute or pecans (optional)
Combine flour and next 5 ingredients, mixing well. Drain pineapple, saving syrup, set aside. Make a well in center of dry ingredients; add pineapple syrup, eggs, oil and vanilla, blen throughly, stir in pineapple, carrots, and nuts. Turn into 2 greased loaf pans Bake in 325 degree oven for one hour hour or a long wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes and turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
Sheet cakes and bundt cakes bake for approximately hone hour. Two nine inch cake pans requires approximately 45 minutes.

Frost or glaze cake as desired.

Fried Meat Dumplings

Dumplings are a delicacy in Tibetan cuisine.  My family makes momos or Tibetan dumplings for the Tibetan New Year and other occasions.  They are made with a white flour outer wrapper stuffed with seasoned and spiced meat.  I experimented with various versions of gluten free wrapper until I found one that I deem the perfect outer wrapper.  The smell of the dumplings frying trumps the smell of steamed dumplings so that besides the smell, my family is tantalized by the chewy crispness of the wrapper.  I haven’t found a dumpling wrapper recipe that steams well yet so if you know of one, please do share it with me.

They are not as caloric as they sound.  I use a Calphalon non-stick pan with a little oil in the bottom,   As the dumplings fry, the beef releases its own fat and juices so that the wrapper crisps well without the addition of a lot of oil.

I usually use ground beef but you can substitute pork if you like.  The meat can be made with more or less spices and herbs, as your taste dictates.  I’ll give my recipe below with estimates on the spices.  I use what I have on hand so sometimes I may not even use cilantro.

Spiced Ground Beef

1 pound ground beef (80/20 mixture)

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

4 green onion, finely cut

cilantro, finely cut

salt and pepper to taste
Gluten Free Dumpling Wrapper

1 cup white rice flour

3/4 cup tapioca flour

pinch of salt

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2/3 cup warm water

Mix all ingredients, adding water slowly and as needed until a soft dough forms.  Divide dough into 14 – 18 portions and form into balls.  Flatten a ball between 2 sheets of plastic wrap.  Put a spoonful of meat on one side of the wrapper.  Fold in half and seal.  Set aside until all the dumplings are made.

Heat a Calphalon pan over medium heat.  Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Add the dumplings leaving enough room so that they do not touch.  Cover and let fry about 5 minutes or until brown.  Turn over the dumplings, cover and fry an additional 5 minutes.  Its usually note necessary to add more oil as the meat releases its own oil and juices.

Makes 4 -18 dumplings.

Asian Ingredients Needed For the Summer Spring Rolls

In case you are shopping for these ingredients for the first time this will give you an idea of what you are looking for.  Your local grocery store may carry these.  If not you can find them in a well stocked Asian grocery store.

Summer Spring Rolls

You’ll want to serve these often in the summer.  Summer Spring Rolls are are light and nutritious.  You can choose whatever fresh vegetables you have on hand.  Boiled shrimp or shredded chicken  are options for the protein.  And if you serve them with a peanut butter sauce, its even more filling.

Many of the ingredients which used to be found exclusively at asian grocery stores are now found in mainstream grocery stores.  Spring roll wrappers are traditionally a Vietnamese staple.  They are round, about 8 to 9 inches in diameter, and semi translucent.  They are made of tapioca flour and rice starch.  The wrappers are soaked in hot water that is comfortable to the touch.  A shallow plate such as a pie plate is a good one to use.  Soak the wrapper for a minute or so, lift it out and put it on a damp paper towel.  Near one edge of the wet wrapper, put your ingredients on it.  I layer the shrimp on it, then the basil leaves, green onions, cucumber and carrots, and then the bean vermicelli.    Remember that when it is rolled you will see the filling through the wrapper, so if you want it to look pretty, pay attention to how you layer on the fillings.  Tuck in the sides of the wrapper and roll it as you would a Mexican burrito.

Bean Vermicelli is a noodle made from mung beans.  Nutritious and filling, this is prepared by rehydrating the dry noodles in hot water for about 10 minutes.   This is another item found in Asian grocery stores and some local grocery stores.

Lay the Summer Spring Rolls on a platter and cover with a damp paper towel under they are served.  This prevents the wrapper from drying out and cracking.

Suggested Filling Ingredients

Shrimp or Shredded Chicken

Your choice of herbs – basil, cilantro, green onion

Assorted Vegetables cut into matchsticks – cucumber, carrots

Other vegetables could include napa cabbage, spinach, bean sprouts

Bean Vermicelli

Sesame seeds
Have fun experimenting with your fillings to find your favorite!
And now for the dipping sauces

Peanut Dipping Sauce

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce (or make your own from 1 tablespoon tamari sauce, dash of sesame oil, pinch of brown sugar, a few drops of hot sauce, and a splash of vinegar)

1/2 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter

1 1/4 cup cups water

Heat the oil in a small saucepan.  Add the gralic, tomato paste, and the hoisin sauce.  Stir until it comes to a boil.  Add the peanut butter and water.  Whisk until fully incorporated and slightly thickened.  Let it cool and serve in individual dishes topped with roasted, chopped peanuts.
If you wish to serve a light sauce, the Fresh Lime Dipping Sauce is sweet and salty, a perfect accompaniment for the spring rolls.

Fresh Lime Dipping Sauce

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 Thai chiles or 1 serrano chile, stems and seeds removed, and thinly sliced

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon hot water

1/4 cup Vietnamese or Thai Fish Sauce

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 teasppons finely grated lime zest plus 2 tablespoons lime juice

Combine garlice, chilli, and sugar.  Add the hot water and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir well.  Serve in small serving dishes to accompany the spring rolls.

Hummingbird Bundt Cake

This is the perfect cake to serve in the spring and summer when hummingbirds are buzzing around your garden. In gluten free baking I have found that cakes with fruit in them make them moist and light.  This cake has bananas and pineapple in it.  I have this recipe in my list of favorites that I make again and again

Make sure that your bundt pan is well greased and floured.  Gluten free products tend to stick to the pan otherwise.  It’s also important to let your batter rest for 30 minutes before baking the cake.  Gluten free flours don’t tend to bind together well which is why xanthan gum is used in gluten free baking.  Resting, or letting the batter sit for 30 minutes allows the flours to moisten.  I’ve found that the difference between resting the batter and not doing so results in a cake that is is lighter and rises about an inch higher.  So by all means do rest the batter.

Removing it immediately from the bundt pan instead of letting it rest 5 minutes also helps to prevent sticking.  I simply put a plate over the bundt pan and turn it over.

The traditional hummingbird cake has a cream cheese frosting on a layered cake.  Since I am dairy free I make a lemon sugar glaze.  But if you’re not then by all means enjoy a creme cheese glaze.

Cake Batter
3 cups GF flour blend

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 3/4 cups mashed bananas (about 4 large)

10 oz crushed pineapple (do not drain)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.  Stir together flour and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir in eggs and next 5 ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon batter into a 14 cup bundt pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for an hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  Cool the cake on a wire rack for 5 minutes and invert the cake onto a plate.  Allow to cool completely before glazing (about 2 hours.)

Lemon Glaze

1 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Add lemon juice spoonful by spoonful to the confetioners sugar until the desired consistency is reached.  Spoon over the cooled cake.

Brown Sugar Pecan Cookies

These cookies are a snap to make and a nice sweet treat with coffee or tea.  I also like to serve them with a fresh fruit salad for dessert.  Since its a dry cookie I liken them to an ultra healthy biscotti.  It only requires 5 ingredients and you can substitute other nuts if you like.  They’re truly gluten free since no flours of any kind are needed.
BROWN SUGAR PECAN COOKIES

Makes 32 cookies.

2 3/4 cup pecans

1/3 cup  granulated sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Put nuts, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until nuts are finely ground.  Add the egg and process to a sticky dough.  Remove the dough from the food processor and knead a few times.

Form dough into a 6 x 4 x 1 rectangle.  Cut lengthwise in 4 strips and crosswise into 8.  Pleace the strips onto  the cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes or until bottoms are a deep brown.

Let the cookies cool a few minutes and then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Gluten Free Apple Blackberry Pie

This is a light and flaky crust pie filled with apples and studded with berries  To make the crust flaky, chill the dough for about 40 minutes and add the egg  to the dough only after the dough is removed from the refrigerator.  This allows the coconut oil to partially solidify.  When oil melts in the baking process you get a flaky dough.

Gluten Free Pie Crust

2 cups gluten free all purpose flour blend

1/4 cup sweet rice flour (50 grams)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup coconut oil

1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 egg (added when the dough is taken out of the refrigerator)
Mix the flour blend, sweet rice flour, sugar, xanthan gum and salt in a medium bowl.  Mix in coconut oil and vinegar.  Refrigerate for 40 minutes, or until very cold.  Remove from the refrigerator and mix in the egg.  Divide dough in half and roll out between 2 sheets of parchment paper.  Lift the parchment with the dough and invert into the pie pan.  Fill with the apple berry mixture.  Top with the second half of rolled dough.  Cut slits into the top of the pie and bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 40 minutes.  Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes more  Cool on wire rack.

Notes:   When the egg is added to the chilled dough the result is a soft  dough that is easy to roll.  However it is also difficult to move to the pan without the use of the parchment paper.
Apple Blackberry Filling

3 pounds Granny Smith Apples

3 pounds Braeburn Apples

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup GF Flour Blend (for the apples)

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 12 oz package frozen blackberries (2 cups)

2 tablespoons GF Flour (for the berries)

1.  Peel apples and cut into 1/2 inch wedges.  Toss with sugar and 1/2 cup flour.

2.  Melt coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add apples and saute 15-20 minutes until apples are tender.  Cool completely – about 1 hour.

3.  Toss frozen blackberries with 2 tablespoons flour and stir into apple mixture.  Use immediately.

4.  Bake at 425 degrees  on the lower rack for 40 minutes.  Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes more.

Making Your Own Gluten Free Flour Blend

You may wonder why you wouldn’t just use one kind of flour such as sorghum, millet, or rice.  Many gluten free flours are dense and can make your baked goods heavy.  Rice flour is light but I feel that the baked product is not as nutritious as it could be.

I like to keep a full canister of gluten free flour blend in my pantry.  That way you can quickly measure out what you need and quickly make a batch of cookies.  It doesn’t take long to make a canister of flour.  A kitchen scale is essential to make the flour blend as well as in the baking process.  Simply measuring out the flours by the cupful could result in flours that are not proportionately balanced as a cup of flour could be more or less densely packed than it should be.

Flours that I like to mix and match in the blend include white rice flour, sorghum, tapioca, millet, buckwheat, potato starch and almond flour.  I like to make a blend that where approximately seventy percent of the blend is of the heavier flours (rice, millet, buckwheat, sorghum) and thirty percent and 30 percent make of lighter, starchier flours (tapioca, cornstarth, potato flour).

Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour Blend

(This blend is for all baked goods not made with yeast.)

1 cup white rice flour (158 grams/cup)

1 cup sorghum flour (127 grams/cup) (Or substitute with millet or buckwheat)

1 cup tapioca flour (125 grams/cup)

1 cup cornstarch (128 grams/cup)

1 cup almond flour or coconut flour

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Whisk to ake sure the flours are evenly distributed.  The recipe can be doubled or tripled.  Stour in an airtight container.
You can recalculate the grams per cup of the flour blend when you substitute another type of flour but I have have found that using the average of 127 grams per cup of GF Flour Blend works well.