Category: Recipes

How I gluten-free (GF) my baking

I bake GF out of necessity, not want

To borrow from Ferris Bueller, life comes at you fast.

One day everything is fine. We are eating our regular sandwiches on milk bread and enjoying fluffy pancakes.  Then my wife is diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease.

It is a complex disease, but of relevance to this baker, it means no gluten.

WTF!

What I know is steak is gluten-free.  Bread, not so much.

I did what any baker would do; I learned.

Here’s what I think I know

Flours

Gluten-free flours are not the same. While that seems like a Duh! moment, the difference is vast.  So vast that hydration between brands can mean soupy batter or wallpaper paste.  When substituting GF flour for regular flour, start with less.

Most mixes that I’ve tried work well with 75% of the original weight of flour. I know that can present a problem since not everyone weighs flour. The chief take-away here is all those labels that read 1:1 aren’t, in my experience.  I’ve used King Arthur (good stuff), Namaste, Pam’s Bread Flour, Trader Joe’s and a few other mixes.

There may be a dozen brands of mixes.  Maybe more. There is also dozens of individual flours. Red rice and sweet rice and white rice and brown rice and arrowroot and tapioca and millet and quinoa and potato starch and potato flour and on and on.  It is overwhelming.

Mixing

Mixing is not the same.  Use a paddle, not the dough hook.

Rest the dough or batter 10 minutes. No kidding.  The flour needs to absorb the liquid.

Baking times will be longer. How much? Dunno. That depends on which brand of mix you use.  For anything not bread, I am using Namaste.  If you can’t find it at your local store, here’s my Amazon affiliate link.

Gluten-free bread is not like bread you are used to making.  Most bread dough looks like cookie batter.  One rise, in the pan, then bake.

Keto can help

Keto recipes will almost always exclude wheat flour due to the carbs. As it happens, then, GF baking is happy to use Keto recipes.

Since I am not (too) concerned with the carb count, I don’t sub the sugar with the sugar replacement.  We often make almond flour pancakes for breakfast which, curiously, have no sugar and, frankly, with the Maple syrup, we don’t miss it.  They are really good pancakes, too.

Skills are transferable

All the skills you have in mixing and working with regular batters and doughs do translate to GF baking. Mostly.

Since there is no gluten, the window pane test for bread makes no sense. But pie dough will still feel supple and cakes and breads need specific hydrations.  There remains a learning curve, but those skills bump you ahead a bit.

Now, here’s my list of GF recipes of need.  They work as I make them with the flour I mentioned. Work at it.

Almond Flour Pancakes

Gluten-free waffles

 

How to make the most amazing brownies

Rich, decadent brownies and sauce; who could ask for anything more?

I’ve made these at home and they are very easy to do.

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Brownies

Ooey and gooey are best when it comes to brownies, and this brownie delivers.

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Baking, Brownies, Chocolate, Dessert
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 22 minutes
Servings 8 portions
Author Dann Reid

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 215 g Bittersweet or milk chocolate, chopped
  • 180 g Unsalted butter
  • 318 g Granulated sugar
  • 1 t Vanilla extract
  • 1 t Salt
  • 4 each Eggs
  • 204 g All-purpose flour, sifted

Instructions

Procedure

  1. Set oven to 350° F.

  2. Prepare the Anna potato pans for individual brownies or a 9 X 9 (or as close as you get) cake pan by buttering the inside.

  3. Melt together the butter and chocolate in a large mixing bowl over a double boiler until just melted. Remove from heat.

  4. Whisk the sugar, vanilla, and salt into the chocolate-butter mix. The mixture will start to get stiff and grainy. That’s okay. Add eggs, two at a time, and mix well after each addition. The batter will look broken at first but then come together after a few more stirs of the whisk. Fold in the sifted flour. Pour into a prepared pan and bake till just set in the center.

  5. This recipe is the same one I used for years at the Governors Club. We baked them in individual tins which were grand for service but little is better than a big pan of warm melty brownies. Ovens, pan size, and altitude will impact the duration of baking. Remember that as the brownie starts to pull away from the pan even a bit, remove them from the oven.

Recipe Notes

Here's a link for the small pans I mentioned.  This is not an affiliate, but this is where I bought them.  They have lasted me years and I used them for more than just brownies. Mini-cakes, for one.

For those individual brownies, we took gooey to the next level with a small disk of ganache inside each brownie. When it was cut into, the gooey chocolaty center with the sauce and ice cream was pure decadence.  As it should be.

If this interests you, send me an email and I'll explain our process.  It's not hard, exactly, but does require some tools you may not have.

 

Anything chocolate is made better with more chocolate. In this case, this white chocolate sauce. Omit the mint if you prefer.  I like that flavor.

This sauce will take color pretty well, so have at it for festive holiday presentations.

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White Chocolate Sauce

This is an easy to make and super yummy addition to your desserts repertoire.

Course Dessert Sauce
Cuisine American
Keyword Dessert, Dessert sauce, Mint, White chocolate
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Author Dann Reid

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 4 oz Water
  • 5 oz Granulated sugar
  • 1/4 C Light corn syrup
  • as wanted Fresh mint leaves
  • 14 oz White chocolate, broken into pieces
  • 1/4 t Salt

Instructions

Procedure

  1. Put the water, sugar, corn syrup and mint into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stir to ensure the sugar is dissolved and remove from the heat. Cover the pot and allow the mint to steep 20 minutes. Remove the mint, stir in the white chocolate and strain.

  2. For fun at holidays, dye the sauce with an appropriate color: red for Valentine’s, green for Christmas.

  3. Keep the sauce refrigerated. Warm in very short cycles in a microwave or in a warm water bath.

Recipe Notes

In the restaurant, we used to keep this sauce in a squeeze bottle.  Most people don't have those at home, me included, so any container which seals well is a good choice.

When my friend Chef Todd and I were looking for new desserts, we stumbled onto the idea of individual brownies.  These were baked in round molds for symmetry and pretty and had melty ganache inside.  A scoop of vanilla ice cream, some berries, and mint and sauce, and that was one lovely and decadent dessert.

Chips are fine here. If you have access to a higher cocoa mass chocolate, that makes a more flavorful brownie.  The key part is to not overbake the brownie. When the brownie just starts to pull away from the edges of the pan, it is done.

Know what makes brownies better than white chocolate sauce?  Ice cream.

Here’s my recipe for the ice cream base, creme Anglaise.

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