A few years ago we were celebrating Thanksgiving at a family friend's house. This family had no clue what it was like to feed those who are Gluten-free. I was worried. But my sister and my mom were cooking many dishes and my sister told me she wanted to cook gluten-free. I was shocked. So I gave her my Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Flour and she used that in the following: Creamed Spinach, Creamed Corn, Sweet Potato gnocchi, Chocolate CAKE, Almond Torte and Pie. In addition to these now totally GF items, our hosts made other dishes that were naturally gluten-free. What a feast! I am still trying to get that gnocchi recipe from my sister. The meal was sooo delicious. I hadn't tasted anything like that in a long time. Pure home-made gluten free goodness. Now, THAT is what it's all about.
So...
YOU wan't cake? Use GF flour like Almond flour, White Rice flour, Brown Rice flour, Sweet Rice flour, Quinoa flour, Coconut flour, Tapioca flour, Lentil flour, Black Bean Flour, GF All Purpose flour, Teff flour, Buckwheat flour, Chick Pea flour, Garbanzo flour, Corn Starch, Potato Starch, Arrowroot Starch, Flaxseed flour, Fava flour, nut flours, Polenta, Corn flour, Green Pea flour, Millet flour, Amaranth flour, Sorgum flour and White Bean Flour. I only use Bob's Red Mill flours.
YOU are not a great baker, but want to bake a Pie, Cake, Biscuit or Brownie? Easy! If you are not ready to bake from scratch or convert your own recipes just go and get a GF Mix baking mix! There are soo many that are good. Well for one there is Bob's Red Mill Mixes like GF Pancake Mix, GF Brownie Mix, GF Biscuit Mix, GF Pizza Mix, GF Pie Crust, Muffin Mix and more. Then there are amazing frozen GF Pie Crusts from Whole Foods bakers. I keep at least 4 in my freezer. All you need to do is thaw, fill and bake. There is also Gluten Free 123. Gotta love this brand! Hard to find, worth the wait. Their biscuits and muffins are fantastic! And super easy to make whether you are cooking for one or 20!
What if YOU want to bake Oatmeal Cookies or a pie crust with Oats? Well, this one is a bit trickier. The only oats safe for Celiac's are the non-contaminated oats. Those can be specially bought at Bob's Red Mill or other markets. It will say it is not contaminated on the front of the label. If it doesn't say it, it's not safe.
Who says you can't use GF flours to thicken up your mashed potatoes, sweet potato mash, gravy or stuffing? You can! And don't think it won't taste good. You won't even know the difference!
Last but not least. When you bake GF DON'T FORGET THE XANTHAN GUM! Xanthan Gum is an important component in GF baking. It keeps the cookie from crumbling. Click HERE to find out what exactly Xanthan gum does to your baked goods and why it is so important to use.
Enjoy!
xoxo Julie
Julie: Someone just pointed me to your blog and I found this post. We have a friend staying with us tonight and my husband wants to make waffles for breakfast tomorrow. He bought some Rice Flour today (the Bob's Red Mill brand), but is now having second thoughts that it may not work. He was thinking of blending up some oats to add to it (I'm not sure why) but then I saw your advise about oats being contamination free and we probably don't have that. Can he just use the Rice Flour in place of the usual white flour in the waffle recipe, or should he also do anything else? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. (I think he really wants waffles!! LOL!). Thanks!! You can email me at kasclar [at] gmail [dot] com.
ReplyDeleteHi there. So glad I saw this comment, girl it's NYE. I'm in the midst of getting ready to celebrate, but i wanted to tell you that most likely you will need other flours gf of course, to get the right consistency. It is best to mix the gluten free flours or use a mix. Pamela's and Bob's Red Mill and easy 123 have great waffle mixes. Try and get some brown rice flour too. I'm sending you some recipe links. Happy Waffle making!
ReplyDeleteOats are contaminated, unless you buy the "non contaminated" kind. It's not in the oats that the prob, it's what it is processed with.
ReplyDeleteLOL!! Yep, NYE, I know, glad you were able to see this. :) Thanks for the info. We actually did end up just subbing the rice flour for the wheat flour and they actually turned out well. (The package of rice flour had a muffin recipe on it, so hubby decided that just subbing may work since that's what the package recipe seemed to do.) My husband did add in some blendered up oats and I asked my friend about that and she didn't seem concerned. They were fluffier than the waffles we usually make, but tasted just as good. I didn't notice much of a difference. Thanks for writing back and for all the links. I may investigate these more, since now we have rice flour, might be nice to see what else we can do with it. Thanks and Happy New Year!!
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