Favourite Bread

It has been a weird week. I tweaked my back on the weekend, which actually meant that my hips were acting up again and not rotating properly. Then my body crashed – oh the joys of being a woman!! – worse than usual and I spent a day on the couch sleeping and drinking tea. A woman I know gave me a bag of Earl Grey tea that has little bits of lavender and vanilla and it helped me not want to jump in front of a bus. Tuesday I went for a short walk and got my back and hips worked on at a neighbourhood clinic. It was painful, but my body felt so good afterward. My posture was straight; I could twist and turn, and bend over without a problem. After seeing how rough I was for a few days The Honey now thinks I should go for a massage monthly as a preventative measure. I partly agree, but the cost does add up. I’m sure my RMT was able to take a little holiday last year because of me. Tuesday was great then I wake up Wednesday morning so sick to my stomach; another day on the couch and with some tea and honey. By evening I was feeling better but was stumped as to the cause. I had been in pretty decent shape the last few months so I guess it was bound to happen that I would have an off week. Unfortunately, nothing much has gotten done this week as a result – dishes piled up, laundry sat wet in the washing machine or hung on the drying rack a few extra days, my business plan sat on the floor collecting cat hair (oh, summer), and board meeting minutes didn’t get sent out. Thankfully I was back to normal yesterday and a whole pile of catching up happened.

This morning is another day and the weather is just perfect. I went for my usual morning walk (no problems with the bosy), got a coffee for the walk home, and am feeling pretty unmotivated to do any real work. My TESL books are slowly getting summarized and packed away. There are about two shelves left; the stuff I didn’t really use. Other projects have come up and they can wait until these books get put away. The Honey and I have been talking about what to do with the shelves now that they are half empty. One may find its way to the curb or on Kijiji.

This seems to be the summer of sandwiches for us. The Honey got so sick of salads in the spring that he actually begged not to have any more. It was getting a little too much. Our salad pot finally bid us adieu two weekends ago, scorched by the heat and then drowned by a massive rainstorm. The Parkdale Market has been keeping us going with our usual vegetables and lettuce. Udi’s bread has been one of my favourites because it doesn’t need to be toasted. I still like it, but I’ve had to cut back more on my ingestion of potatoes as those little guys are affecting me even more (I think the starch is more potent than the potatoes, actually).

On a trip to Perth, we stopped in at FoodSmith’s. It’s a tiny grocery store with a lot packed into it, and fabulous quality too. They even had some gluten-free items I hadn’t seen at our stores here in Ottawa. We didn’t need any groceries, but we ended up picking up some things because they were too hard to resist. Silver Hills makes a bunch of healthy breads that can be found at some of the health food stores. I’d heard there was a gf one, but never found it. Walking around to the freezer section I saw two; a flaxseed and a chia seed. I like flax so that one came home with us and it is good. It’s actually healthy, tastes healthy, but also tastes good. Whether it’s toasted or not it does the job. I was beginning to think I’d have to go without because I still hadn’t found it around town, but luck would have it that Farm Boy now carries it. Yea!!

New to the market is All But Gluten, a gluten-free line made by Westons. The plain bread doesn’t really do anything for me, but the focaccia is quite nice. I was lucky enough to get some freebies of it at the CCA conference, and with my little Metro carrying it I can pick it up whenever I like. Apparently, Walmart and other grocery stores carry it as well. It’s nice dipped in oil and a nice vinegar, toasted for a snack, and sliced in half for a sandwich. The Honey had no idea it was gf.

Udi’s is still on my favourite’s list, but now I have two more options to add. And on a gf diet, options are always nice to have.

  

Things Are Cookin’

After avoiding my cookbooks for most of the last 4-6 months (aka being too lazy/tired to cook) I have re-entered the kitchen with motivation. With the chilly weather earlier this week I made a delicious lasagna with some gluten-free lasagna noodles (will be posted at a later date) and we began an early weekend with some gluten-free poppyseed French toast. It was so good The Honey and I couldn’t resist gorging ourselves. There were four pieces leftover for my breakfast this morning and it tasted just as good as on Friday. I remember regular French toast getting all hard and gross when it was reheated, but that didn’t happen. I’m sure banana bread would be just as tasty.

The French toast recipe comes from Joy of Cooking and I had added some extra milk since I was going to slice up the whole poppyseed loaf, but I don’t think I was necessary. There was enough liquid to coat my 8x4’ loaf. The slices for the loaf can’t be too thin otherwise they’ll break once drenched in liquid, but they also can’t be too thick otherwise the centres won’t warm up while cooking.

A fabulous idea may be to make a batch one evening and warm some up each morning for breakfast before work. My colleagues would be so envious knowing I had delicious French toast for breakfast, and on a weekday too!

French Toast

2/3 cup milk

4 eggs

2 tbs sugar or maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp salt

Sliced bread of your liking

Whisk together milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt. Heat a large skillet and dip the slices of bread into the liquid until coated, then place onto the hot pan. Repeat and add as many slices to the pan as will fit. When they brown on one side, flip them over, then to a warm plate when browned on the second side. Serve with maple syrup.

Scones

Scones have become the bain of my existence. They have been frustrating me for months. They have made me curse out loud after taking a bite. You see, I haven’t had any luck making scones gluten-free, or at least consistently.

I love scones and would eat them frequently. They are perfect for breakfast with jam (or when wrecking havoc on my system cornish or devon cream). They also make a good snack to tie you over until lunch or dinner.

When I was only wheat-free I would make them with spelt or kamut flour with success. I’ve tried adapting my recipe different ways and I’ve tried different recipes from different cookbooks – regular and gluten-free.

Sometimes they are great and sometimes they are not. One day the recipe will be tasty and mouth-watering and the next time the same recipe will be dry and bland. So you can see why it’s a little frustrating.

My goal this year is to conquer the scone. I will do it! I will make a delicious scone over and over again. I’m determined.

I’ll keep you posted on the scone wars.

Breadcrumbs – From Home with Love

Breadcrumbs aren’t a staple in my kitchen and don’t make an appearance on my plate very often. Other than strips of chicken and rounds of eggplant, I haven’t breaded anything nor wanted to. But I realize there are people who like breading and are on the search for something to stock their kitchen with. While the Natural Pantry stocks their own homemade breadcrumbs, it’s easy to make your own.

Breadcrumbs are so easy to make and can be ground as fine as you like. All you need is a food processor and bread (stale bread is okay). All those leftover end pieces are perfect (or cut them up for croutons) or take that beautiful loaf of bread that just didn’t turn out right (because the water was just a tad too warm) and turn it into something better.

Cut or break up into manageable pieces depending on the size of your food processor and press the button for how you would like it ground. I find ‘grate’ leaves them in larger pieces than ‘puree’. Let it run until everything has been ground to your liking.

Voila!

Store these in a Ziploc bag in the freezer so they are ready to go when you are. If they are left in the fridge, they may spoil sooner depending on the amount of preservatives in the bread.

Your next parmigiana awaits.

Nice buns, hun!

I wrote the other day that I had made buns/rolls for Thanksgiving. I had never made them before, but there was always a first time. Buns is what I was listed to bring. There wasn’t much of a choice as it was the only thing left. It wasn’t very exciting either. A cousin laughed and replied ‘That’s ok. I’m bring pickles; like that’s exciting!’. I love pickles so to me it was. You can get all kinds of pickles: dills, gherkins, onions, garlic, sweet mix. Buns are buns. So I made some.

And boy did word spread.


We got out of the car and a cousin asked ‘Are those the homemade ones?’ How did he know? ‘Oh, I heard about them’. I’m always taken by surprise when I realize how fast news travels through the Honey’s close-knit family. And it’s quite frequent. After 15 years I’m still not used to it.


Days before I tried out the dinner roll recipe from A. Roberts’ Gluten-Free Baking Classics (I think I love this book!) and it was successful. Sometimes it seems like a crap-shoot with new things. The item looks great and may even smell good, but with the first bite sometimes regret follows. A word of warning though: these buns need to be done in a muffin or bun tin as the dough is on the runny side and it’ll just spread out otherwise.

They are nice and fairly light. Inside looks like real bread. The first bite is…heavenly. It tastes like a real bun!! The Honey couldn’t stop eating them. These were going to the farm!

 GF Dinner Rolls
For small buns – makes 12; For big buns – makes 6
½ cup millet flour
½ cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1 ½ tsp xanthan gum
½ tsp salt

2 tbs sugar

2 tsp active yeast

2 eggs (at room temperature)

1 egg white

3 tbs melted butter

¾ cup milk (or buttermilk)

Add ingredients according to the bread machine instructions. Set bread machine on the gluten-free cycle for the knead cycles only. Allow kneading to continue for 5-10 minutes (at least into the 2 kneading) then remove from machine and scoop into muffin tin. For large buns, fill cup half full; for smaller buns, fill cup until bottom is covered (maybe 1cm). Let rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until browned. Buns will sound hollow when tapped.

Succulent Rhubarb

On a trip to the Byward market on Monday I saw some rhubarb. The stalks were about half the size they were a few months ago, but they were slim and perfect for baking. I couldn’t resist and picked up a few bunches. Immediately came to mind was my Lunar Rhubarb Loaf.

This recipe has been in my collection for a long, long time. In an early summer phone call with my sister our conversation involved rhubarb. She mentioned that she didn’t have a rhubarb loaf recipe, and would love to find one. So of course, like a good big sister, I passed mine along. In its original form, it’s heaven. It’s crumbly, yet doesn’t fall apart. It’s sweet, but not too much.

I can’t take credit for Rhubarb Lunar Loaf as much as I’d like to. It belongs to a woman in Halifax. I worked with a woman many years ago and whenever I had a food dilemma, she’d call her mom. I think it was a good excuse to call home. This recipe is hers and I make it every summer. After going wheatless, I would make it with spelt flour and it was just as wonderful. Since going gluten-free I’ve been using the rice flour mix from Gluten Free Baking Classics (A. Roberts). It is quite nice. It has the same flavour and consistency, but don’t forget to add the guar gum, otherwise the lunar bumps in the top won’t happen.

Lunar Rhubarb Cake

50 minutes Makes 1 loaf
½ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp Guar gum
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk (or yogurt)
2 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 tsp flour

Topping:

¼ cup butter

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup brown sugar

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in vanilla and egg. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the creamed mixture alternating with the buttermilk (making 3 dry 2 wet additions). Toss the rhubarb and 1 tsp flour. Spoon into a pan. Blend together the topping ingredients. Sprinkle evenly over the batter. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until the cake has risen and browned. Serve hot topped with whipped cream or ice cream.

Down in Funky Town

I’ve returned to a bit of a funk this week. The weather has been relatively horrible; cool and rainy. I can’t seem to shake a chill that has crept its way deep down into my bones. Yesterday I was concerned I was coming down with something. Cup after cup of herbal tea couldn’t warm me up, and neither could cover with blankets on the couch.


I met a friend for breakfast yesterday morning and she’s in a bit of a funk too. It doesn’t seem like I’m the only one, the toilet is acting up and the element on the dryer quit last night.

Do moons need to be aligned in some sort of way for things to happen, well, as it should?

It’s been a while since I had some bread so I baked myself a loaf in the handy bread machine. This recipe is from the Joy of Cooking, which surprisingly, has a few gluten-free recipes in the bread chapter.

Sliced, then toasted and spread with some pesto. Then topped with some sundried tomatoes. An easy lunch for when I don’t feel like having much and it was tasty. Simple and tasty. It also made a perfect grilled cheese.

GF French Bread

2 ¼ cup brown rice flour

¾ cup tapioca flour

¼ cup potato starch

2/3 cup nonfat dry milk

2 tbs sugar

3 ¼ tsp xanthan gum

1 tbs egg replacer *

1 tbs + 2 tsp quick-rising yeast

¼ tsp salt

¼ rice vinegar

1 egg

2 egg whites

1 ½ cups warm water

2 tbs melted butter

Mix according to your bread machine directions. Using the gluten-free cycle my machine needed another 45-60 mins baking time.

*1 egg replacer=1tbs flaxseed and 3-4 tbs water

(Can be used to make 2 baguettes by just using the dough setting and baking in an oven. Check the website for more detailed directions).

A slowdown

My schedule has slowed down a lot in the last two weeks. It was nice at first as I could putter around the house and spend some time outside. But this week, I don’t like it so much. I’d much rather be at work and I’m beginning to get a little bored.

I was a little down the other day, under the weather and feeling a little fed up with the waiting game. Many times it feels like it’s either feast or famine, and right now it’s famine. As much as I love what I do the downside is being between students and just waiting for new ones to register or coordinators with government departments making the arrangements. The upside is I’m not the only ESL teacher that goes through this, but it’s frustrating nonetheless.

Yesterday I got my butt into gear and into the kitchen. It was a miserable day again outside and sometimes I feel so much better when I’m in the kitchen. The honey had requested a banana loaf and there were some apples for an apple cake too. Monday we picked up some ingredients for a tomato pepper soup we enjoy. I had my list so I made a nice cup of mint tea, got a few chocolates to go with it, and off I went.

The recipe for the soup is from Foodland Ontario; I love picking up their little booklets from the produce section. The recipe has been adapted slightly to my cooking style. As much as I love roasted peppers, I can’t be bothered roasting them. I can get them from a jar, but then that defeats the purpose of using fresh (and local) produce. Instead I chop them up and sauté them slowly over low heat; they become nice and sweet and juicy. The same is done with the tomatoes. It may take some time, but while everything is cooking away I can do other things. The end product is delicious. It’s a nice sweet soup with a dash of herbs to complement it.

I goofed a bit when making the apple cake, adding the flour mixture to the wet instead of the other way round. It turned out alright, but I’ll make another attempt another day before posting it. I’ve attempted apple goodies before, never with much success – strudels, pies, tarts. My Polish friend gave me her family recipe to try, and like I said, it turned out alright. It didn’t taste like hers, but then again, it’s been 8 months since I had a bite. We’ll have to wait and see until apple cake #2.

While the loafs and cake were baking I caught sight of a package of Bob’s Red Mill out of the corner of my eye. Some time ago Bob’s Red Mill products were on sale at Metro so I picked up a bunch to try out. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not really into mixes, but for the sake of trying something gluten-free, I’ll give it a shot. It had been sitting on my counter for quite a while so it was as good a time as any. Yesterday’s experiment was their Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix.

All that is needed is ½ cup butter or margarine and 1 egg. Following the instructions carefully (this seemed easy so I was bound to mess it up) I started rolling the dough into balls. The dough seemed really dry and crumbly; nothing like I’d seen before. It was staying in balls though so I kept going.

Twenty minutes later out they came; nice and soft. I’ve heard there’s nothing like fresh cookies from the oven all warm and gooey. Well, they were warm but not gooey. In fact, the cookies were quite dry (I wondered about that while mixing the dough). Hmmm, I think these are a pass. While the experience of having warm freshly baked cookies is nice – and something that doesn’t happen too often in my house – I think I’ll try to find a nice recipe from scratch.

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
6 servings
1 ½ hours
3 large red peppers, chopped into large pieces
3 large tomatoes, chopped into large pieces
5 large cloves of garlic, chopped into large pieces
1 large onion, chopped into large pieces
2 tbs olive oil
½ tsp each dried thyme, rosemary and basil
¼ tsp salt and pepper
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
Sour cream and fresh herbs for garnish
Sauté the peppers over low heat until softened. Add the tomatoes and continue until they soften. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil over medium/medium-low heat. Let simmer for 15 minutes or so. Puree.
I have a hand whizzer so puree-ing it is really easy. If you use a blender, you’ll need to wait until it cools first.

White Sandwich Bread

The loaf of bread I made the other day has turned out pretty good. Of course, I’m always disappointed when the bread isn’t light and fluffy like regular wheat bread, but that is something I’m learning to live with. And in experimenting with different recipes, I find ones I like and don’t like. Even without this gluten allergy I’d still be testing recipes.

I mentioned the other day that I made a new recipe from a new gluten free cookbook. I was unsure how it would stand up to sandwiches. It seems most I make stand up to toasting and a pile of jam, but never tomatoes, veggies, etc. Well, this one has. It made it through a toasted tomato sandwich with Dijon mustard. It didn’t fall apart nor get soggy. It’s a keeper! It tastes pretty decent too so I’m passing along the recipe.

I have a Black & Decker bread machine with a gluten free cycle so I used that and needed to add 10 mins of baking time at the end (a little extra baking time was needed). With a regular bread cycle, the recipe suggests using the dough cycle, then the bake cycle for 60 mins at 350°F. The recipes come from 250 Gluten-Free Favourites by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt.

White Bread Mix
Makes 3 ½ cups (enough for 1 loaf)
1 ¼ cups brown rice flour
½ cup almond flour
½ cup amaranth flour
½ cup quinoa flour
1/3 cup potato starch
¼ cup tapioca starch
1 tbs xanthan gum
1 ¼ tsp instant yeast
1 ¼ tsp salt
Mix all ingredients together

Sandwich Bread
1 ¼ cups water
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 tbs honey
1 tsp cider vinegar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
3 ½ cups white bread mix
Add ingredients according to your bread machine instructions.
If using the gluten free cycle, increase the water to 1 ½ cups. Bread is done when it reaches 200°F.

Jelly Beans

Friday I came to realize that life can be a lot like a bunch of jelly beans. You just never know what you’re going to get or what’s going to happen. I came to this realization after I had poured some into a bowl to munch on while I poured over program evaluations.

Yesterday I had the day off and for a change I didn’t make one single plan. I was going to do whatever came my way whenever it showed up. This included the repairman for the stove, but they show up anytime within a four time frame so I don’t count it as a plan. There were many possibilities and for a change I had a light airy feeling inside me.

Breakfast constituted of gluten free cinnamon raisin bread. I picked it up on sale a while back from the Natural Pantry, sliced it up and popped it into the freezer. Today was the last of it and it was covered in margarine (the Becel Vegan Margarine I wrote about recently). Butter and margarine don’t make an appearance on my plate very often, and only when I have one of two things: cinnamon raisin bread and corn on the cob (and only with corn on the cob do I have an obscene amount of salt as well). They are nice little loaves and when I see one on sale I’ll pick one up again. The consistency and texture are the same as the regular ones I would pick up at the store once in a while many, many years ago.

The house was pretty disorganized so I did some tidying up and was pleased. There were quite a few spider webs here and there, made more obvious by the cat hair trapped in them. That could wait for another day. I didn’t feel like lugging out the vacuum cleaner. Afterwards I went outside to survey the work of our contractor who spent the last few days installing eavestroughing for us. He has done a very nice job. Hopefully that will have an effect on the water that gets into our basement and the rain barrels will also help in lessening the flooding in the driveway.


While I do enjoy eating with my Honey, I also enjoy dining alone as I can make whatever I want. Since he’s a picky eater that really opens up my options. There was an interesting recipe in Fresh Home with Tilapia and Strawberries and lunch seemed like a perfect opportunity. Off I went to the Parkdale Market and picked up some strawberries. There were some nice little eggplants that would be perfect for a recipe in the Moosewood Cookbook so in my bag they went, along with some tomatoes. A stop at Metro on the way home resulted in some tilapia. Two small fillets. Perfect.


Upon returning home I set to work tying up loose ends from the summer program. It was time for lunch once the tummy began rumbling. Out came some pots and pans and the kitchen filled with the aroma of strawberries and wine.

The end product was delicious. I didn’t know what to expect and was pleasantly pleased. The flavours all came together and none overpowered the others. A very simple salad only dressed with a drizzle of olive oil, raspberry balsamic vinegar, and freshly ground pepper was all that was needed to use up the sauce that remained on the plate.

While dining on my lovely lunch I realized that I hadn’t made any bread in a while. I had made some last weekend, but it was a little on the gross side and ended up in the composter. Out came one of the new gluten free cookbooks and I found a recipe for sandwich bread. Plain Jane bread. None of this flaxseed, honey, healthy stuff. I wanted bread I could have for toast or a sandwich, without it falling apart or tasting weird with mustard or veggies. (By the way, it turned out quite nice for toast this morning. We’ll have to see about the sandwiches. I’ll keep you up to date.).

After lunch I paid some bills (always a joy), cleaned up my emails and touched base with a few friends. Then I got the dreaded box of program evaluations. They’ve been sitting in my car for the last few weeks and they needed to get done. It was going to take a while, but breaks were nice. The cat needed a scratch and massaging pet, Steven and Chris were giving some kind of DIY advice on lampshades. Another break occurred when the Honey called to say he was going out with colleagues after work (a send-off for one). Although I was disappointed I quickly thought of what to have for dinner. Back to Metro (they probably think I don’t have a home I’m there so often) and to the fish section. I really like fish. Salmon would be great, drizzled with some maple syrup. Then I saw red salmon. I couldn’t remember seeing it before. It was so red! It was worth a shot.

The red salmon with a fish seasoning instead; I wanted to see what it tasted like. And on the side, some of those tiny eggplants with a drizzle of olive oil and fresh ground pepper. Mmmmm

The jelly beans were good today.

Tilapia with Strawberry-Thyme Sauce (adapted from Fresh Home)

35 minutes Serves 4
1 cup quartered fresh strawberries
½ cup white wine
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tsp thyme
½ tsp salt, divided
4 tbs gluten free flour
¼ tsp pepper
4 generous tilapia filets
1 tbs olive oil
Crumbled blue cheese

In a small saucepan, combine the berries, wine, sugar, lemon juice, thyme, and ¼ tsp salt. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until slightly thickened. Combine GF flour, pepper and remaining salt. Sprinkle over tilapia. In a skillet, cook fillets in oil over medium-high heat for 3-4 mins each side. Serve with sauce and sprinkle with blue cheese.