My search for bread

Since going gluten-free, many of my Saturdays are spent trying out bread recipes, in search for a bread that somehow resembles what I can no longer have.

So far, no joy.

I have tried this simple bread from Elana's Pantry, but it was really more like a nutty cake so, although tasty, not what I was looking for. Elana has since developed other bread recipes, including this one, which I will certainly be trying, but plans for more baking doesn't ease the disappointment of not having nice bread on a Sunday morning.

Yesterday, I made this bread, since I needed to use up some brown rice flour. It's decent, but too moist for me, wet really, and has a rice taste that just doesn't resemble bread. So it's a no, both on the texture and on the taste front.

I'll keep looking. Maybe one of these will be my bread salvation?



- one of these lovely sounding recipes from the Gluten-Free Girl
- or one of these from the Gluten-Free Goddess
- any others you'd like to point me to?

This post is linked to the September edition of Whip up Something New! (don't know what I'm talking about? - see here) and to Weekend Cooking over at Beth Fish Reads.

Easy Gluten-Free Bread

Giving up bread is sooo hard, especially when you live with people who love bread and pastry and especially if you live in the French culture where life without baguettes, croissants, pains au chocolat and other goodies cannot be imagined.

I've tried all the ready gluten-free breads I can buy and they range from alright when toasted and smothered in something that can kill the taste to inedible under any circumstances. So I decided that baking my own was the only way to go.

Thankfully, bloggers like Elana are out there to perfect healthy recipes and share them with us. :-)

Last night, I made Elana's Simple Bread. I happened across it and had all the ingredients plus it really did look simple. When I tried it last night I thought it tasted strange - I guess I was expecting something more like a baguette so my expectation was clearly unrealistic. :-)

It did bake into a loaf of bread though and that is amazing. It amazes me that these ingredients made any sort of bread. I mean, it's mostly almond flour! :-)

This morning I made french toast out of it and had it with maple syrup and bacon - delicious.

I believe that Elana has developed a better recipe for bread - I'll try it as soon as I get my hands on some flaxseed meal, probably after our trip to the UK.

I'm still on time to enter this into the July edition of Whip up Something New!, hosted by Margot. Check out the other recipes and add your own here.

Banana Bread - Yum!

Thank you all you wonderful people who have given me gluten-free and dairy-free ideas, you are all so helpful! I'm still struggling, but feel like I have a plan now. Or more of a plan. Or at least some substitutes for foods I love.

I still get frustrated in some situations though. Like yesterday, I had a call-back for a small principal part in Hello, Dolly! and I got the part (of Minnie Fay). I was thrilled (still am!!) and wanted to celebrate so I picked up a bottle of wine and wanted something indulgent for dinner too. Pizza? Can't. Pasta? Can't. A raw vegetable salad? Ummm, not so indulgent. In the end I bought some tortilla chips and had them with guacamole. But I really would have loved a pizza! :-)

One thing that I miss is baked goods. So I'll be experimenting with those, I guess. Over the weekend I realised I had too many blackening bananas so I looked for a banana bread recipe - and found one that is both gluten-free and dairy-free. It turned out fabulous - my husband couldn't even tell the difference. ;-)

You can find the recipe on the Taste of Home website here but I am copying it down in this post too, just in case. I really wouldn't want to lose it!

Banana Bread (gluten- and dairy-free)

2 cups gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (4-5 medium)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted these)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, bananas, sugar, applesauce, oil and vanilla.

Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Transfer to two 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with walnuts. Bake at 350° for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
This is my entry into June's Whip up Something New challenge, hosted by Gnoe over here.

P.S. This blog has turned into a recipe/nutrition blog lately... I assure you, I AM reading and have some coold reviews coming soon. Promise. :-)

Whip up something new - Faworki

Well. I can't believe how busy work has been! Between that and Shane and everything else I haven't had a single second to blog! So sad! But I have been cooking and I have been reading, so there are a few interesting things coming up on my side.

Today, I want to tell you about is a Polish carnival tradition, faworki. Carnival refers to the time right before Lent in Roman Catholic countries and is characterized by a lot of partying, eating and drinking. Which explains this Polish tradition - faworki are deep-fried pieces of dough with powdered sugar on top.

Making them is really easy - explaining might make the process sound more difficult than it is. :-)

Fill a glass with egg yolks. It doesn't matter what size the glass is, some sort of medium-sized variety. Measure out the same amount of beer. Put these in a bowl and add as much flour as is needed to make a dough. the dough shouldn't stick to your hands, but be careful not to put too much flour as then it'll be too tough. This part just takes practice.

Roll out the dough so that it's very thin. Cut into strips and then cut a line in the middle of each strip, like so:

Heat oil in deep-ish pan. It should be enough oil so that the strips of batter can be covered in it and the process can be called deep-frying.

Pick up a strip of dough, out one end through the whole in the middle, to get a shape like this:

Deep fry, turning once, until golden. Once the oil is hot, this goes really fast so it's best to have all your faworki ready to be fried before you start frying. 

Dust generously with sifted powdered sugar.

These are seriously, seriously yummy and they're not as complicated as I make them sound. The most difficult thing about them, I find, is getting the amount of flour right so that the dough doesn't get too touch. Oh and also having the patience to roll the dough out to be really thin, I almost never do.

I don't know why I forgot to take a photo of the finished faworki, but I did, so here is a photo of what they should look like, taken from the web:

And what to do with all the egg whites, you ask? Why, make meringues of course! Beat the egg whites on their own for a while, then add the same amount of sugar, slowly and still beating. Then add the same amount of sugar again, slowly and still beating. And a teaspoon of potato starch (but I've omitted this and the meringues have been fine).  Let them dry in an oven preheated to about 100C for a couple of hours. I always take mine out slightly early because I like them all gooey! Yum!

Go check out the other entries over at Trish's, she's the host in February. And it's actually already high time to find a host for March. Any takers?

Also, don't forget to regularly visit Beth at Beth Fish Reads - she has a great Weekend Cooking event each week!

Whip up Something New: Banana Cake and Vanilla Cupcakes

I had a blast cooking this weekend! Or baking, rather. Which means I have two recipes to talk about for January's edition of Whip up something new! and for Beth's Weekend Cooking. Yay me!

When I saw the first contribution ever to Whip up something new!, Elise's Old-fashioned Banana Cake, I immediately thought of the perfect occasion to try it - my Baby Shane's first birthday party! :-)

Yes, that's right, Shane is now officially a toddler - and toddle he does. The cake, with it's banana goodness and lots of moisture from the added sour cream - and let's not forget the cream cheese frosting - was a huge hit with kids and adults alike. Lovely for a Sunday afternoon, no matter what age group you've invited. Thanks Elise!

But - as you can from the photo, the banana cake is one of those 'proper' round cakes so I couldn't cut it open and see if it baked properly and all that... so I also made these vanilla cupcakes. It's a Martha Stewart recipe for plain cupcakes, which is just what I wanted. I frosted them with ready-made chocolate frosting and they were good, though not as good as the banana cake!

I am SO proud of myself for making Shane's first birthday cake from scratch. That's some serious Mommy behavior, I guess I'm growing into the part. :-)