gluten free

Fastnacht Day is Here!

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Happy Fastnacht Day! How ever you spell it; there are several versions out there: also spelled Fasnacht, Fausnacht, Fauschnaut, or Fosnacht. Anyway, today is Shrove Tuesday which is Fastnacht or donut Day in Pennsylvania.  A true fastnacht has some potato in it and the texture should to be light yet substantial and moist. It can have a hole or not but no filling or fancy sprinkly crazy donut flavors.  It is a basic old school donut and people around the Lehigh Valley love them.  I can guarantee you that hundreds, no thousands, of fastnacht donuts are being munched on as I type this!

I pretty much gave donuts up a number of years ago and only ate them on Fastnacht Day. They are so fattening and oinky plus I never eat many so making a batch, even a half batch, used to leave me with a lot of donuts to give away. When I went gluten free exactly 2 years ago today I gave them up totally.  It wasn’t the biggest food sacrifice I made (there are too many choices for that award to even mention here!) but I do miss that treat on this special day.

Yesterday I looked at recipes, wanting to find a donut recipe for which I had the ingredients and could make within the time frame of the day, meaning no 12 hour to 2 day rise recipes.  The best looking and sounding recipe had just that; a minimum twelve hour rise.  Nixed it and went for a version that was made from extra flaky buttermilk biscuit dough.  No yeast, no rising. Some freezing and a lot of folding and rolling was part of the deal. No sweat, just make sure you have two cups of the special gf pastry flour recipe made up plus some for sprinkling on your bread board.

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I can’t share the recipe; created by Nicole Hunn of Gluten Free on a Shoestring fame, she does not allow recipes of hers to be shared in blog posts like mine.  You can get it right from her website: http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/gluten-free-biscuit-donuts/.  The dough goes together fairly easily.  I found it best to use my pastry cutter to blend in the flour properly.  I froze most of it rolled and cut into round and rectangular biscuits for later use.  I only made 4 donuts and 4 donut holes.  Containing my donut possibilities down to something manageable! I probably should have smoothed my dough more; it is a bit craggy, reminds me of sour cream cake donuts…. Next time….

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I made one change to my donut finishing; I added a good sprinkle of nutmeg to the granulated sugar and thus gave them some of the flavor of my mom’s lovely yeast donuts.

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Next Fastnacht Day I will create Nicole’s yeast raised donuts – just have to plan a few days in advance so her amazing dough has time to organize itself properly in the cold raising phase in my fridge. Do check that recipe out in her book, Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread, along with many other tempting breads.  It is not too late to whip up a batch of oinky donuts that are gluten free and yummy.

Happy Fastnacht Day to all my donut loving friends! Time for my fastnacht!

Sandwich Bread Worth Baking

Gluten Free bread is not generally known for rising high in the pan.  Nor does it often taste good enough to enjoy once the first day has passed.  Worse yet, it is mostly terrible in sandwiches, all crumbly and messy. I have tried a few recipes and, especially in the sandwich bread area, nothing was worth mentioning much less putting in this blog.  Until I baked the sandwich bread from the How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook, created by the America’s Test Kitchen team.  This cookbook promises “revolutionary techniques and groundbreaking recipes” right on the cover.  What I love about it is the discussion on how they came up with the final recipe; all the changes and reasons why things were added/subtracted or changed to create the best possible final result.  I guess it is the science teacher in me but those discussions are my favorite part of this book.

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A tall handsome loaf!

The bread recipes use one extra ingredient which put me off, I’m sort of getting tired of excessive ingredients and so many flour mixes after only two years of living gluten free.  Anyway, the ingredient is powdered psyllium husk.  The cookbook says psyllium husk powder is critical to building a stronger protein network that traps gas and steam, key to producing a taller loaf (pg171).  It took me a while but finally, I got a bag of it at Frey’s Better Foods right here in town, $6.75 in a twist tied baggie; bulk packaging lowers the price quite a bit from the commercially packaged versions.  It is a brown/gray powder.  Doesn’t look magical.  But apparently, it is!  My loaf rose and rose, to the top of my special tall sided 8 ½ x 4 inch pan.  And it stayed tall through the baking process, no shrinking or sagging either as it cooled.  It is found on page 171, classic sandwich bread.  I thought it tasted sort of like multigrain bread, not as white as I expected, which is fine by me.  The creating is typical of gf breads: mix the dry ingredients and in a separate bowl the wet ones, mix and beat well.  You do have to make up their flour mix: a blend of white and brown rice flours, potato starch, tapioca starch and non fat dry milk powder.  Not too fancy but yes, another big jar of flour mix to store somewhere…

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Cuts nice, lots of slices for sandwiches or toast.

Anyway, it was tall and handsome and sliced easily into individual slices to enjoy now and to freeze for later.  There are lots of other recipes in this book that I plan to try. If you are serious about gluten free baking this recipe and this book are well work a good look.  I am having a sandwich today for lunch and I am excited, bread that looks normal and holds together, no more crazy crumbling sandwiches!

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Still slightly warm, buttered and ready for my first taste!

Classic sandwich bread

2 cups warm water, about 110 degrees

2 large eggs, room temp

2 tbsp butter melted

3 cups plus 2 tbsp ATK flour mix (recipe below)

1 1/3 cup oat flour

½ cup non fat dry milk powder

3 tbsp powdered psyllium husk

2 tbsp. sugar

2 ¼ tsp. dry yeast

2 tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp salt.

Directions:

Spray an 8 ½ by 4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

Wisk the wet ingredients in a small bowl.  Mix all the dry ingredients in the large bowl of your stand mixer. Slowly pour in the wet ingredients, mixing slowly; scrape bowl sides down as you go; takes about a minute.  Increase the beater speed to medium and beat for 6 minutes, it should look very thick; sort of like a cookie dough. Glop it into the prepared pan, trying to fill the corners well. Then, smooth the top with your dampened fingers and spray with a bit of water.  Make a foil collar for your pan; if you have the tall pan like I do such a collar is not necessary.  The recipe says you can use a stapler to secure it around the pan. Cover the dough with a piece of plastic wrap and let rise at room temp until doubled. I heated my oven to 100 degrees and turned it off – popped the bread in and this gave it a nice warm temperature as my kitchen’s room temp is much too chilly for bread dough.  It took about 55 minutes for mine to rise; recipe says an hour.

Spray the loaf lightly with water before popping into the oven to bake at 350 until golden and firm and it sounds hollow if you tap on it. Although how you can tap on a hot loaf of bread is sort of beyond me!  Try to remember to rotate it half way through the time, I forgot…. Mine was done at an hour and 15 minutes; recipe says 1 ½ hours.  Let cool in pan ten minutes, cool on wire rack for two hours before cutting.  So don’t be diving into this bread warm; not happening.  If you cut gf bread too soon it can collapse and or get gummy in texture.  I hate the gummies so I resist the temptation to cut early and so should you!  This makes good toast too and great gf crumbs.

Cross Contamination…A Serious Issue for Celiacs

I believe a little information is necessary on this issue as it seems like many people do not realize that the problem of cross contamination is huge for celiacs.  Hence this post to try and clear up this issue for the general public. Cross contamination is when minute amounts of gluten get in food that normally does not contain gluten.  Like in my hash browns cooked on your grill in the same area you recently made wheat based pancakes.  It means that we celiacs can get really ill from that dusting of flour on your counter that gets on the bottom of our gf pizza slice, those crumbs left in the lettuce when you yanked the croutons off my salad or the sunflower seeds in my granola; which seeds were processed on equipment that also processes wheat, barley, or rye.

Even a tiny amount of gluten is enough to cause major health problems for people with the severe gluten allergy which anyone with celiac disease lives with every day of their life. For many celiacs it is a lot like if you got a severe stomach virus.  This is not a pretend illness nor is this is not a diet we are on for losing weight.  For those of us with celiac it is serious and important and we need you to understand why we have such concerns about cross contamination.

A great explanation of cross contamination is near the start of a well written article posted by an engineer with celiac: https://blog.safaribooksonline.com/2015/02/01/gluten-free-celiac/. I suggest you read what he has said on cross contamination.  The rest of his article is very good too.  He and his child both have celiac and his articulate description of celiac and how to live with it are worth the few minutes it will take to read.

This severe reaction to even a tiny amount of gluten is no exaggeration.  I had trouble getting it at first.  When I went gluten free due to my diagnosis with celiac I just didn’t understand cross contamination.  I thought that as long as the ingredients in my food did not include wheat, rye or barley I was safe.  I found out otherwise the hard way, several times, in several ways.

I recently had to give away a huge batch of homemade granola because the sunflower seeds I added for extra flavor were cross contaminated.  Even the few seeds in my sprinkling of granola over yogurt were enough to bring on major symptoms this Christmas season. The peanuts I bought at Giant, store brand, the label says – processed on equipment that may process wheat.  I didn’t know notice or think about that sentence until I got ill and read the fine print on the label.

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Until those several incidents within one week, I had kinda pooh paahed cross contamination as an exaggeration or maybe just pretty rare to deal with.  Nope. It happens frequently and it is serious.  Getting ill from gluten poisoning causes damage to the small intestine. It can lead to a number of diseases and health issues including MS, diabetes, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. None of which I want to contract.

So I will continue to read the fine print and be skeptical of a number of food items that are often processed on equipment that handles gluten containing grains.  A while ago I threw away some oat flour as it made me ill, not sure why at the time but now I realize it is the cross contamination.  Ditto for oatmeal.  I have been buying oatmeal that is labeled gluten free.  oatmealThat label gives me peace of mind, that I am safe and that I will not have to throw away or give away cookies or granola made with my oatmeal.  I nearly got sick from food prepared at a Panara restaurant, someone forgot to change their gloves and wipe down the area before they made my salad.  When I inquired about it the staff decided they needed to re-make my salad so it would be free of any possible cross contamination.  I was really thankful they made a new salad after cleaning up the salad area and putting on fresh gloves.

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The basic facts are: food that should be safe and gluten free sometimes is not, due to cross contamination like being prepared in same area as food made with/out of wheat or other gluten containing ingredients or your food might have been processed on equipment that also processes gluten containing foods.  So it is just not enough to know a food doesn’t have gluten in the list of ingredients, we celiacs have to be constantly vigilant as to how/where our food was processed, baked, mixed or stored.  We are not exaggerating.  The risks of cross contamination are very real and very serious for someone with celiac disease.  Please take this issue seriously if you know someone with celiac disease.  Or, if you have celiac  you can show this post to someone who doesn’t understand the concept of cross contamination and it might give them some insight.  Be safe and read those labels!

Chickpea Pastina Soup for Supper

Another week, another storm, another hearty soup! This storm I made a chickpea and pasta soup.  It is simple yet filling and savory.  The seasonings are simple, relying on the chickpeas for the predominant flavor. I used up some potato water leftover from mashed potatoes the night before, adding an extra layer of flavor.  I have made this soup many times, in several variations.  This version is my favorite.

It is naturally gluten free, just be careful about the chicken broth you use; most are not safe for celiacs. I really like Kitchen Basics, safe and great flavor.  For my pasta I chose Shar anellini which are tiny rings, about of the size of jewelry jump rings. I suppose you could make it with canned  chickpeas but I would not recommend that; the time you spend cooking up the beans is worth it for their flavor and firmer texture are very important to the success of this winter soup.

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What’s left in the pot after I have a bowl for supper!

Tuscan ChickPea and Pasta Soup

1 ½ cups dried chickpeas

6-7 cups liquid: water, chicken broth, potato water, a mixture is okay

¼ cup EVOL (extra virgin olive oil)

1 cup finely chopped red onion

1 large carrot, chopped small

1 ½ celery stalk, chopped small

2 garlic cloves minced

1 ½ tbsp. tomato paste mixed with ¾ cup chicken broth

Salt/pepper to taste

1/3 cup pasta; anellini work well

Directions:

Put the chickpeas in a big sauce pan, cover them with water, bring to a boil, cook 2 minutes, turn off and cover.  Let sit 60 minutes.  Drain and rinse them well.  Clean out the pot, put the beans in and cover with broth or water.  Cook 1.5 to 2 hours until tender.  Stir occasionally, add water as needed and taste – I like them done but al dente; still a touch firm.

In a large heavy bottomed soup pot, heat the olive oil.  Add the onion, cook 1 minute, add the carrot and celery bits, cook 4 minutes, add the garlic, saute one more minute. Add the broth/paste mixture.  Stir well.  Cover and cook 15-20 minutes adding more water or broth if it seems low.  It is not that brothy of a mixture.  Add 1 tsp. or more of sea salt, a few grinds of fresh black pepper and the pasta; cook the length of time the package says.  Turn off and let rest a few minutes before serving it.  Be sure to taste the soup and adjust the seasoning.  I often have to add more water or broth so it has the consistency I want for serving.

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It’s perfect on a cold winter evening with a slice of gf bread or some biscuits and a green salad.

This is an adaptation from a recipe out of a favorite cookbook “Italy Al Dente” by Biba Caggiano.  I changed some ingredients and revised the proportions a touch.

Great Meal at Pearly Baker’s Alehouse

Oh how I would love a fancy supper out.  One that is safe for me (of course!!)  Last night I got my wish.  We went out for a belated birthday dinner (mine) in Easton.  I had heard comments about Pearly Bakers and wanted to explore them as an option.  Their very nice website menu has clearly noted gluten free options, not a lot of them but enough to make me feel comfortable that they might be doing the gf thing properly.  Still, you never know until you try. I did look at some other Easton eateries but no sign of gluten free choices so I went with a place that was making an effort for those of us who must eat gluten free.

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Out into the frigid night we went, to Easton’s Center Square.  No parking open on the circle but we parked in the garage around the corner, cost us 75 cents.  There is a front eating area which is reminiscent of a pub. Tall tables, lots of beer taps and a fairly noisy convivial atmosphere.  We ate in the formal dining room, my choice for a slightly quieter dining experience.  I had been there  for dinner many years ago when it was Charlies.  The dining room seems very different, new colors maybe?  I sat facing an old painting of a boat burning on the Delaware River at Easton in 1860 or so. Impressive.

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I was equally impressed with the menu, not lengthy which generally tells me the chef is not using a lot of frozen foods.  There were three gluten free entrée options as well as several sides and one appetizer safe for me. We passed on apps as I tend to get too full on them.  I chose the ginger teriyaki salmon but I requested several modifications.  I just wasn’t in the mood for fried rice or radish cuke salad.  There was mashed potatoes with the pork loin so I requested that for my starch choice and the caramelized Brussels sprouts were right up my alley so a request was made for that in combination with the salmon and potatoes.  Their willingness to alter an entree like that was a sign of a responsive chef.   They didn’t even charge me extra for making it as I desired.

We sat enjoying our drinks, I had the house pinot grigio which was quite tasty.  Joe had his favorite lager; not in the mood, apparently, to try one of their many interesting looking beers.  Our food came pretty rapidly; not too fast though; we had time to chat a bit and relax. He ate a roll.  I suffered from roll envy….

Then plates were delivered and I got over my envy because my entrée was awesome looking.  I totally forgot to take a picture in my eagerness to dive in.  It was a large oval of mashed potatoes with small roasty looking brussels sprouts sprinkled all around the potatoes and on top too. A decently sized fillet of salmon was plonked down on top of the mashed.   There were the peas and corn that came with the salmon as it was described on the menu and my fish was also sprinkled with slivers of red onions and cuke. I dug in, finding great flavor in my fish and really perfect mashed tatters. The salmon was of good quality and cooked to perfection.  I loved the veggies.  I know, it was a tad odd to have mashed with ginger teriyaki flavors, but it worked wonderfully; I scraped every bit off my dinner plate! I think they should add this combo to their gf choices.  My only request would be to maybe caramelize those sprouts just a tad more next time.

Joe had fish and chips; he loved it and the roll he ate beforehand.  He couldn’t finish it and had to take a doggie bag.  He claimed later that the potatoes wedges were his veggie but I say they were a starch.  I pointed out that I had all my veggies and one serving of starch.  He had the breading on his fish, his roll and his chips.  It was understandable that he felt that starch overload sleepiness that can come over me when I overdo the starch.  I didn’t and I felt full but awesome.  I gave him a taste of my salmon and I think he had entrée envy although he refrained from saying so out loud!

The atmosphere was festive and relaxed, the service was perfect; friendly helpful server and well timed food delivery. Most importantly the food was delicious. Memorably tasty and safe for me as a celiac.  That combination is tough to find here in the Lehigh Valley.  I know I will be returning to Pearly Bakers, maybe in the spring when we can enjoy a post meal stroll along the river.