Gluten Free Artisan Bread

Gluten Free Artisan Bread

Bread is a bit of a sore point with a lot of people who can't have gluten. Gluten is the protein in bread that makes the dough all stretchy and elastic. It gives bread that lovely, light, slightly chewy texture. It makes the bread soft and pliable, so you can fold a piece of bread in half and it doesn't break and crumble. (Didn't you love eating folded-over sandwiches as a kid? I did.) But it's also the thing that causes bloating and discomfort in a lot of people, and does such terrible things to coeliacs!

When my son and I had to go totally gluten free for three months, the most difficult thing for us was not having bread. I mean, we could have gluten free bread, but have you ever tried the gluten free bread from the shop? Yeah, not so exciting. And it's expensive. And it's totally useless for sandwiches or for wrapping around a sausage. 

I did end up making my own gluten free bread with Cyndi O'Meara's recipe (originally from the Changing Habits Changing Lives cookbook), which is much nicer than the shop bought bread, and cheaper, and you can grind up the grains in your Thermomix. I still had to force my son to eat it though - he wanted his spelt bread back.

Then recently I bought the cookbook 'Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day' and the first recipe I tried was the gluten free artisan bread. Wow. It turned out better than any gluten free bread I'd tasted before. I mean, look at this - it even bends without breaking!!

You can wrap it around a sausage, or make sandwiches with it, and it won't disintegrate into crumbs! And believe it or not, this photo was taken when the bread was a day old!!! (Sorry about all the exclamation marks, but I just can't help being excited about this bread!) :D 

When my first loaf came out of the oven, it suddenly seemed like half the neighbourhood were in my kitchen, all wanting a slice of bread... Even when I told them it was gluten free it didn't scare them off - they loved it! (So, yeah, that first loaf didn't last long.) 

The crust on this bread is thick and crusty and chewy, which I love, and the flavour is slightly sourdough-ish, which I also love, and it turns out looking very rustic, which I love as well... So as you can see, I'm pretty pleased with this bread! (Those of you who are followers of my Quirky Cooking Facebook Page are probably tired of hearing about this bread, but I thought I should share it with the non-facebookers out there.)

Have a look at the texture - isn't that great for a gluten free bread? 

The addition of sorghum flour gives it a better texture, and bit of fibre. If you like, you could add more texture with the addition of some seeds - linseeds, pepitas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds - they'd all be great in this bread.

So here's the original recipe for this bread: Recipe for Gluten Free Crusty Boule  (I've just re-written it to make it more 'Thermomix friendly'.) Before you start, it would be best to watch the video clip by Zoe, one of the authors of the book - it'll give you a better idea of the method than just reading the recipe.

This recipe makes four 500g loaves - the dough stays in the fridge and you just bake a loaf when you need it. So easy!

1. Grind up in the Thermomix in two batches on speed 9 for a minute per batch:

- 300g brown rice (or use brown rice flour)

2. Add the dry ingredients (with all the rice flour) and mix in on speed 5 until well combined:

- 220g sorghum flour (find in health food shops or Indian/Asian grocery stores - also called 'Jowar Atta' flour)

- 380g tapioca starch (tapioca flour)

- 2 Tablespoons instant yeast

- 1 Tablespoon fine sea salt/Himalayan salt (adjust to taste)

- 2 Tablespoons xanthan gum

    Tip flour mixture into a large mixing bowl.

3. Weigh liquid ingredients into Thermomix and mix on speed 4 until combined:

- 4 large eggs

- 670g lukewarm water

- 65g neutral flavoured oil (eg. macadamia, grapeseed, sunflower, light olive)

- 30g honey

4. Pour liquid into the bowl with the flour mixture and mix together with a wooden spoon until all the dry ingredients are well incorporated. There is no need to knead! Dough will be like a wet, sticky, scone dough, not like a regular bread dough - see photo below...

5. Cover (but not airtight) and allow dough to rest at room temperature until it rises, approximately 2 hours or so. You can use it immediately after this initial rise, but the flavour is nicer if you refrigerate it in a lidded (not airtight) container overnight first. You can use the dough over the next 7 days, although bear in mind, the flavour gets stronger each day.

6. When you're ready to cook it, wet your hands, and take out a grapefruit-sized piece of the refrigerated dough. Quickly shape it into a ball, gently pressing into shape, and smoothing with a little water if you don't want it rough and rustic.

7. Allow the dough to rest, loosely covered in plastic wrap, on a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal, or on baking paper on a cookie sheet if you don't have a pizza peel. It will need to rest for about an hour and a half, or even 2 hours. (If it hasn't been refrigerated and you're using it straight away, it will only need about 40 minutes to rest.) It will rise a little in this time, but it won't double like regular bread dough does.

8. Thirty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 230 degrees C (450 degrees F), with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. (If you don't have a baking stone, a cast-iron pan or heavy pizza tray will do.) Place an empty grill tray or baking pan on the rack underneath.

9. When the loaf is ready to bake, slash the top with 1/4-inch-deep parrallel cuts, using a very sharp knife, or a serrated bread knife. This isn't just for looks - it seems to bake better inside if you do this.

10. Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone or pan. (If using baking paper, leave it under the bread). Quickly pour a cup of hot tap water into the hot grill tray or baking pan and immediately shut the oven door. Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes, until lightly browned and firm. If you used baking paper, carefully remove it two-thirds of the way through the baking time and bake the loaf directly on the hot stone, cast-iron pan, or oven rack.

11. Allow bread to cool on a rack before slicing.

Note: Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in resting and baking time. If you like, you can make two loaves at a time, as they're small enough to sit side by side in the oven.

Sweet 'n' Salty Nuts

Sweet 'n' Salty Macadamias

This is one of our family's 'go-to' snacks which my friends think I really should share - they're the easiest, yummiest snack around!

This isn't a Thermomix recipe - it's so simple, it's hardly a recipe at all... All it involves is some nuts, a liquid sweetener, some sea salt, and an oven. Oh, and a baking tray. And it only takes 20 minutes.

Sweet 'n' salty nuts are great for a quick snack on the go. I often take a little bag of them in my handbag when I go out, which helps me control the urge for buying something not-so-healthy to munch on!

I buy my nuts bulk from Trumps in Brisbane - it's a lot cheaper that way. I buy organic raw cashews, insecticide free almonds, hazelnuts, brazil nuts - all sorts. I can also get lovely pecans and macadamia nuts locally, which are probably my favourites. I always have a variety of nuts in my freezer. (And at the moment, in bags on my kitchen floor because I can't fit them in the freezer...) We're a pretty nutty family! :D

There's lots of possible combinations of nuts and sweeteners - here's a few of my favourites, but see what you can come up with!

- Macadamias, rice malt syrup, sea salt

- Cashews, raw honey, sea salt

- Pecans, pure maple syrup, sea salt

- Almonds, raw honey, sea salt

I'm wanting to try yacon syrup too, just haven't gotten any yet, but I've heard it's amazing!

Okay, here's the simple method for making sweet 'n' salty nuts:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

1. Spread the nuts on a baking paper lined pizza tray (or baking tray) so that they're in a single layer, like this:

2. Drizzle with honey or syrup, back and forth - no need to cover them! Just a drizzle, like this:

3. Sprinkle over a couple of good sized pinches of sea salt or pink Himalayan salt. I use Himalayan salt crystals which I grind up in the Thermomix until fine. (There, see, I just couldn't do a recipe without using the Thermomix somewhere!)

4. Pop the nuts into the preheated oven and let them cook for about 10 minutes. Take the tray out and stir the nuts with a fork, turning them in the melted honey/syrup so they're evenly coated. Pop them back in the oven and cook another 10 minutes, or until they're golden and crispy. Don't burn them!

5. Let them cool for a few minutes before eating. Once they're completely cool, store them in an airtight jar on the counter.

P.S. You might want to do a couple of trays at a time - they go quick!

Chocolate Mousse with Blueberries & Chocolate Blueberry Almond Dirt

We've had a lovely week this week with my little brother up for a visit. He lives 2000 kms away and it's just too far! It was so good to get to spend some time with him again. I wanted to make him a special dessert, so after playing with a few different ideas,  I decided on chocolate mousse. If in doubt, always choose chocolate! And just to make sure it wasn't dull and boring, I thought I'd add some blueberries and chocolate 'dirt'. 

I've never actually seen any recipes for chocolate dirt (although I'm sure they're there), and I was in a hurry, so I made my own up. I figured it would be good made out of dried blueberries, my homemade dark chocolate, Rapadura and almonds. Unfortunately, I didn't have any dried blueberries or homemade chocolate on hand, and after a busy day I only had half an hour left to invent my dessert, so I frantically dug the Lindt blueberry chocolate out of the freezer (where I'd been hiding it!) and used that instead. (I always seem to work best to a deadline!) And everyone was kind enough to wait for dinner until I'd gotten the mousse whipped up and popped in the freezer to set. They were all glad they'd waited. :)

Here's what I did. 

First I made the 'dirt':

Chocolate Blueberry Almond Dirt

1. Grind up the Rapadura in the Thermomix to make it fine, about 30 seconds on speed 9:

- 50g Rapadura

2. Add and grind on speed 9 for a few seconds, until 'dirt' consistency:

- 50g raw almonds 

- 50g blueberry Lindt chocolate 

(or try dried blueberries, almonds & plain dark homemade chocolate)

3. Set aside in a bowl, clean out Thermomix jug.

Then I made the dairy free chocolate mousse with this recipe.

Now to put it all together. 

I put a handful of blueberries in each dish...

...added a good sprinkle of chocolate blueberry almond dirt...

...then poured over the chocolate mousse. I put all the dishes on a tray in the freezer so they'd set while we ate dinner. When it was time for dessert, I got them out (they were perfectly set - took about an hour), sprinkled each one with chocolate dirt, and topped them with a blueberry each.

So, so good.

My brother told his friend (who was having dinner with us) that my desserts are 'so healthy you can eat them for breakfast'! Which I think scared his friend a bit, and he said he really wasn't very hungry... but after tasting it he must have changed his mind, because the whole thing disappeared quite quickly!

And I'm not so sure about this one being healthy enough for breakfast - it might be a bit rich with the Lindt chocolate and all. But I think if I found one hiding in the fridge tomorrow morning I would try my best to eat it. :D

Creamy Coconut Vanilla Rice Pudding

Rice pudding. The perfect comfort food.

We love it hot with cherries or caramelized fruit as dessert, cold as an after school snack (great for lunch boxes too!), or as a satisfying just-before-bed snack. It's not too rich, not too sweet, can be 'dressed up' or eaten as is. My version of rice pudding is dairy free, gluten free and vegan, and the Thermomix makes it so simple and quick - great for when you don't really feel like cooking, but you really want something for dessert!

I use Rapadura to sweeten this, which is why it's a darker colour than what you may be used to. The Rapadura gives it a lovely, slightly caramel flavour - much nicer than the bland, super-sweet taste of refined sugar!

If you don't have a vanilla bean, you can just add vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract to the ingredients in step 2. I do love to use a whole vanilla bean though - you get all the little vanilla-y bits and the delicious seeds all through your pudding!

1. In your Thermomix, grind up the Rapadura and vanilla bean for 1 minute on speed 9:
- 60g Rapadura
- 1 whole vanilla bean, snipped in pieces

2. Scrape down lid and sides and add remaining ingredients. Cook for 20 minutes at 90 degrees, reverse, speed 1 1/2.
- 200g arborio rice (or 250g if you like it thicker)
- 400g organic coconut cream (use organic so you don't get all the nasty additives)
- 600g water

3. The rice pudding will still be quite runny - don't worry, it thickens after a few minutes. You can pour it straight into a serving dish (a Thermoserver is ideal) and leave it for 5 minutes before serving, and it will be perfect.

For a delicious dessert, top with caramelized mango or peaches or nectarines. Halve or cube the fruit, sprinkle with Rapadura or palm sugar, and cook in a heavy frying pan (or char grill pan) for 1-2 minutes each side, or until caramelized.

Sue-Ellen's Singapore Noodles

My friend Sue-Ellen has kindly given me permission to post this recipe which she converted herself for the Thermomix. It's really good! I tweaked it a little, steaming and scrambling the eggs with the noodles in the Themomix bowl, instead of separately in a pan - I thought that was pretty cool! Love this machine! :)

Sue-Ellen based her recipe on one for 'Fried Bee Hoon' in the new Asian Thermomix cookbook. (Another really yummy recipe!) If you're new at converting your recipes for the Thermomix, here's a good tip: find a recipe that is similar to yours in one of the Thermomix cookbooks, and use that method, changing the ingredients to suit. You'll also need to make sure that the combined ingredients won't exceed 2 litres. For more tips on converting your recipes, see this post.

I find it so amazing that the Thermomix can grind grains and coffee beans and ice to powder in seconds, yet it can also gently stir pasta and rice and vermicelli noodles without mushing them! I avoided cooking vermicelli in the Thermomix for a long time, thinking the results would not be pretty - but guess what? I was wrong! It really does work! Of course, if you overcook it, it will begin to break up, so keep an eye on it and don't let it overcook. 

I recommend using chicken stock paste in this recipe, as the flavour is so delicious! If you want to make some, the recipe is here with the one for Creamy Chicken & Brown Rice Soup. If you don't have any chicken stock paste and you're in a hurry to make this, vegetable stock paste will do.

Note: If you're on a grain free or low carb diet, you can use mung bean vermicelli ('bean thread') in this recipe instead of the rice vermicelli.

This recipe serves 6, or maybe a little more. 

 

1. Mix chicken and seasonings together in a bowl and set aside:

- 250g chicken, cubed in 2cm pieces

- 1 small tsp salt

- 1 tsp Rapadura

- 1 tblspn oyster sauce

- 1 tblspn soy sauce or shoyu

2. Soak the vermicelli in a bowl of cold water:

- 200g rice vermicelli (or mung bean vermicelli)

- water to cover

3. Place garlic & ginger into Thermomix bowl and chop for 3 seconds, speed 7:

- 3 cloves garlic

- 5g fresh ginger

4. Add oil and curry powder and saute for 3 minutes at Varoma temp on speed 1:

- 15g olive oil

- 1 tblspn curry powder

5. Add marinated chicken and cook for 5 minutes at Varoma temp on reverse, speed soft.

6. Add carrot and onion and cook for 3 minutes at Varoma temp on reverse, speed soft:

- 100g carrot, peeled & julienned (1 medium carrot)

- 1/2 brown onion, thinly sliced

7. Add water, stock paste, vermicelli, cabbage and bean sprouts and cook for 5 minutes at Varoma temperature on reverse, speed soft:

- 420g water

- 1 tblspn chicken stock paste (or vegetable stock paste)

- drained vermicelli noodles

- 150g Chinese cabbage, thinly sliced

- 60g bean sprouts

8. Remove lid and gently drag some of the veges up to the top so the vermicelli goes to the bottom of the bowl. Pour in the beaten eggs. Replace lid and cook another 2 minutes at Varoma temp on reverse, speed soft. The eggs will steam on top and scramble as it stirs.

- 2 eggs, beaten

(Cooking time can vary - only cook until the noodles are soft, don't overcook.) 

9. Empty bowl into Thermoserver and stir egg evenly through noodles with spatula. Enjoy!

{This recipe makes quite a lot - it fills a 2.2 litre Thermoserver!}

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake

I know it may seem like all I ever do is bake sweet things (mostly chocolate sweet things) and eat them, but I really don't... I do love to bake, but generally I only make decadent things like this for special occasions, like Mother's Day or birthdays or when friends come to visit. And I only eat a tiny bit - there's always plenty of people willing to help eat it. And I tweak them to make them healthier. So I hope you'll excuse me for posting another one, and I promise to post something healthier next time! :)

This is my take on the classic French flourless chocolate, coffee and almond cake. I love it, because it's grain free, and I love nut flour cakes as they stay moist for days. I made mine with walnuts instead of almonds - you could use almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts, and pecans would probably work well too.  Unlike my Flourless Pecan Cake, however, this one isn't a light cake - it's a dense, fudgey cake, delicious for dessert with some berries and maybe a drizzle of cream (cashew cream, for me!)... And just for fun, you can also make mini Flourless Espresso Cakes like these ones I made for my friend's 'birthday cake', covered in chocolate ganache. She loved them!

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 F). Butter (or grease with coconut oil) a 20cm round cake tin, sift cocoa over the butter so cake won't stick, and set aside.

1. Insert the butterfly into the Thermomix bowl and whip the egg whites and cream of tartar on speed 4 until stiff - about 3 minutes:

- 5 egg whites

- a pinch of cream of tartar

   Set aside and clean out Thermomix bowl, drying well.

2. Grind up nuts on speed 9 until fine - don't overdo it, or they'll be too oily. About 8-10 seconds should be enough. Set aside.

- 100g raw walnuts or almonds or hazelnuts

3. Grind up Rapadura until fine, about 30 seconds on speed 9:

- 150g Rapadura

4. Add the chocolate, broken into pieces, and grind on speed 9 until fine:

- 200g dark, bitter chocolate (I use 70% cocoa Lindt chocolate)

5. Add coffee, essence, and butter/ghee and melt at 50 degrees, 3 minutes, speed 2:

- 2 Tablespoons very strong espresso coffee, liquid not instant (or 3 Tablespoons instant coffee)

- 1 tsp rum or brandy essence (or a tablespoon of the real thing)
- 150g butter or coconut oil

6. Add ground nuts and mix well on speed 5 for 10 seconds.

7. With motor still running on speed 5, add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well between each one:
- 5 egg yolks

8. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the beaten egg whites to the mixture and mix in on speed 3. Scrape mixture into a large bowl, and gently fold in the rest of the egg whites with a rubber spatula.

Before folding in egg whites

After folding in egg whites

9. Turn mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 40 - 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool before removing from cake tin. Don't worry if the crust cracks and collapses a bit, that's normal.

10. Dust with a little icing sugar to serve (made in the Thermomix, of course!)... and I like to top it with some raspberries and mini rapadura-sweetened choc chips too. :)

Mothers Day 'Mess'

I wanted to make a special Mother's Day lunch for my extra special mother, and when I saw a recipe for a 'Muddled Mother's Day Mess' (think 'Eton Mess', kind of like a trifle) on the Thermomix Recipe Community, I knew I just had to make it for dessert! The only problem was that if I made a dessert full of cream and sugar, I wouldn't be able to have any... So I decided to 'tweak' the recipe to make it gluten free, dairy free and naturally sweetened. I hope mum doesn't mind - but just in case she does, I've also made her a Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake! :)

I just want to say a quick word about my mum - she is the most amazing cook, and taught us from a very young age to experiment in the kitchen, and never minded the messes we made or the fact that half the things we 'invented' were quite inedible. It's funny, when I was a kid I'd get quite annoyed with mum wanting to 'tweak' recipes to use what she had in the fridge or cupboard - I just wanted to follow the recipe exactly as it was written! Well, mum, thanks for all that early training in 'tweaking' - it's come in really handy!! And I've made a lovely 'Mess' just for you... (I've always been good at making messes, right mum? lol)

Here's my version:

1. First make a Sponge Cake. 

I used this recipe for a Gluten Free Almond Sponge Cake. It's actually even grain free if you use arrowroot or tapioca starch instead of the cornstarch! I halve the sugar and use Rapadura, and add a little green stevia powder. If you can't have nuts, make a plain gluten free cake like this one. Cool the cake, then slice into cubes.

While the cake is cooking, make the other layers.

2. Passionfruit Cashew Cream:

    (If you can't have nuts, change this to a rice milk vanilla custard)

    Blend in the Thermomix for 1 minute on speed 9:
- 150g raw cashews
- 200g water
- dash of pure maple syrup or raw honey

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

    Stir in:

- the pulp of 4 passionfruit

    Remove to a bowl and refrigerate. (It will thicken as it cools.)

3. Raspberry Coulis

    Weigh into Thermomix bowl:

- 200g raspberries

- 100g Rapadura

- juice of 1/2 a lemon

    Cook at 90 degrees, 6 minutes, speed 4.

    Pour into a strainer over a bowl to remove seeds, then refrigerate.

4. Lemon/Lime Butter

    Grind for 30 seconds on speed 9:

- 60g Rapadura

    Scrape down sides with spatula, insert butterfly, and add:

- 1/4 tsp green stevia powder

- juice of 1 lemon or 2 limes

- 80g coconut oil

- 2 eggs

    Cook for 8 minutes, 80 degrees, speed 3.  The lemon butter should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

5. To Assemble: 

Place a third of the cubes of sponge cake into large glass serving bowl, or several individual glasses. Drizzle with a little coulis. Dollop with some Lime Butter and Passionfruit Cream. Repeat layering a couple more times, until all ingredients are used, ending with cream. (Swirl a little of the coulis through the cream on top with a skewer.) Garnish with raspberries. Serve cold.