Adopt a gluten free blogger - Gluten Free Gobsmacked

Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger Web Event

And the GF adventures continue... 


Through my mad surfing, and my insatiable thirst for all info gluten free, I of course stumbled upon a NUMBER of blogs.  The first?  Kate Chan's blog over at Gluten Free Gobsmacked.  I love her style of writing, her passion for ingredients, that she's a mama like me, and the fact that she is a seasoned GF chica.  She was diagnosed with celiac THREE WEEKS before her wedding (poor chick!) and she and "her love" have been experimenting and living gluten free ever since.  Her DH is of Asian descent, so in that aspect, she kinda has it easy - so so many GF flours are regular, normal, everyday flours in the Asian menu.  At least *HE* knew what he was looking for! ;)  That said, I spend a LOT of time in the Asian section in our local Save-On Foods and Great Canadian Superstore... 


Anyway, back to Kate.  She's very adventurous with her baking, and she's part of this wicked awesome thing called Ratio Rally - wherein a group of GF bakers are committed to using weight ratios for their baking rather than standard cup measures... and lo and behold, some amazing creations are coming out of it!  They just did the most recent of Ratio Rallies, Cakes, on the 3rd... Can't wait to dig in to that one!  Oh, and another reason why I love her writing?  She has a sweet tooth like me!  Oh be still my heart!  One of her recipes that I'm *DYING* to try is for .... wait for it.... OREOS!  If you know me, then you know that I loooooooove Oreos.  If you don't, well, just get this - I have been known to polish off a whole bag of Double Stufs ON. MY. OWN.  Anyway, I was going to try baking them this week, but necessity won over craving - the man needs bread for lunch.  And it's just been one of those weeks that nothing else was gonna get baked this week.  Pooh!  Although... it seems that summer has finally arrived in Greater Vancouver - YES!  Hence why we've been so busy this week - lots of time spent at the beautiful parks in the City of Surrey.


So, why am I telling you about Kate?  Well, I signed up for this Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger Web Event.  Basically you "adopt" a GF blogger, do one of their recipes, photograph it and post about it.  So... here it is!


As I said, the man needed bread for lunch.  So I did a recipe of Kate's called Sorghum Flax Bread that actually has 3 different ways to make it.  I have, in my bread baking over the last 3 weeks, made it all 3 ways.  You can find her recipe HERE.


So I gotta tell you a bit about my adventures with this bread.  These pics are made the standard way with the recipe (eggs NOT separated, and WITH a sponge).  To be perfectly honest, I didn't notice a difference in taste or look between the 3 ways.  BUT.  With a sponge and with eggs separated was the only way my dough didn't bubble up and over into my oven during the rise.  (That was effort #2, NOT these pics.)  Not quite sure WHAT I did... except that MAYBE with the sponge this time last time I didn't let it settle enough?  I think that is *most likely* the cause of the bubbling dough debacle.  Well, at least my oven wasn't *ON.*  


***No smoke alarms or fire alarms were tripped in the baking of this bread.***  ;)

My "sponge" activating

My dough, all nicely patted down into my pan.

My dough, not so nicely patted down into my pan... 

oh, but rising! LOL!

Make lemonade out of lemons?  

How about buns out of bubbling over bread dough?

End result? Some darn good-lookin' bread and buns.

And a yummy chicken BLT... not bad!

And the verdict?  Well, good enough that the man is happy with it for his sandwiches for lunch... and I enjoyed a slice with hummus this evening... Aw yum!  


All yumminess aside, serious verdict is that this wholegrain bread has some good chew (not crumbly! yay!), a fantastic texture, and a little bit of a sweet undertone.  I may mix it up a bit by making it a bit savoury next time - dropping some of the sugar, and upping the salt and maybe some spices in there.  The texture is awesome, and I think it'd make a GREAT cheesy scone-type bun.


Go check out the rest of the posts for this AaGFB event, you'll find them in the comments section of the post. :)


Happy bread making!

Multi Blend Gluten Free Flour Mix and WAFFLE recipe

REPOST:
This is a repost of a Facebook note that I wrote on 20 June, 2011.




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As some of you know, Todd is gluten intolerant, and so in order to make it better for him to eat, I'm having a go at gluten-free cooking and baking.  Today being father's day, I made him gluten free waffles with a flour mix I found on the 'net.


It's a VERY popular mix, on many sites, including http://glutenfree.wordpress.com (where i found it first - kate is one hella-talented writer and baker!), celiac.com and many others.  This mix is touted as a great "beginner's mix"... perfect for me!!!  (and so many others too!)  As gf bakers get more confident, they rely less and less on "cure-all" mixes like this, and get more adventurous, but I'm just learnin' so I'm gonna go with this for now.  So, I'll put down the recipe for the flour mix and notes about the flour(s), and then the waffle mix, along with some notes at the end about how gf works with this recipe.


Multi Blend GF Flour Mix


1 c brown rice flour
1 1/4 c white rice flour
1/4 c potato starch flour
2/3 c tapioca starch flour
3/4 c sweet rice flour
1/3 c cornstarch
3 tsp guar gum (or 2 tsp xanthan gum)


* I tripled this recipe, and it fits nicely in an ice cream bucket.
* you can use straight brown rice flour instead of the white and brown - it's healthier actually, and in some opinion (I agree) tastes better.  white rice flour is the one that gives items the chalky, gritty taste/texture, so you want to use the white sparingly.
* you can use any combination of brown and rice flour that suits you, as well as "superfine rice flour".  i haven't found superfine yet, so that might be just an American thing.
* you can use pure buckwheat, amaranth, or quinoa flours in place of the rice flours as well.
* this mix can be used for sweets, tortillas, waffles, pancakes, etc.
* if using it for the following, add extra xanthan or guar gum PER 1 CUP OF FLOUR MIX to your recipe:
           breads 1 tsp/cup
           cakes/quickbreads   1/2 tsp/cup
           cookies   1/4 tsp/cup
*use CUP FOR CUP when wanting to replace traditional wheat flour in your recipes.
*guar gum is the least expensive, but you can also use xanthan gum. (edited to add: I've read that you when using guar vs xanthan, you want to use 1.5 times the amount of guar.  Ie: 2 tsp xanthan = 3 tsp guar.)
*I found the tapioca (68 cents!) and sweet rice flours ($2.49!!!) at Superstore in the Asian section (I'm sure Save-on would most likely have them in WL folks), and white and brown rice flours in the bulk section at Save On Foods... the remaining ingredients I got at a local place called Organic Grocer.  All told, my ice cream bucket of flour cost about $12 (and that is just an estimate, I can't remember how much I paid for the rice flours last year).  Next shopping I'm going to check out T&T Supermarket (a biiiiig Asian grocery store here in the Lower Mainland), and I'm guessing I should be able to find other stuff there too.
*this mix will take LONGER TO ABSORB your liquid, so don't panic if it's SUPER watery at first, like I did this morning. :P  I ended up adding extra flour to my waffle batter, the first thing I made with it, which it still tasted GREAT, but made for very thick, hard to pour/dish out batter.  And coming from someone who makes waffles at least twice a month, I do *kinda* know what I'm talking about. LOL  I will be trying it out on some cookies for T's lunch tomorrow.


****A lot of those notes above are a combination of stuff I've learned in some basic researching on the net regarding gluten free baking.  Some GREAT sources that I've found are:
http://glutenfree.wordpress.com
http://www.celiac.com
http://www.cookingglutenfree.com




*OLD SCHOOL* Waffle Recipe


--> I'm calling it old school because it came from one of my mum's OLD cookbooks, and my mum doesn't even remember which book I got it from (but I remember what it looked like!), and SHE doesn't remember using a recipe with shortening in it, but I do... LOL  I remember making them *myself * over 10 years ago, and have no clue where the recipe is from.  I have compared it to other waffle recipes though, and the ingredients are pretty standard.


1 2/3 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 2/3 c milk
6 tbsp shortening, melted
2 egg whites, beaten stiff


sift dry ingredients.  beat together yolks, milk and shortening (do NOT add yolks DIRECTLY to shortening or it will cook them); add to sifted ingredients.  beat until mostly smooth (there will be lumps of shortening though - just ensure your flour is all blended in); fold in egg whites.


*I usually double this recipe, and on my Belgian iron, I get 11 waffles with a doubled recipe.  I keep the leftovers in an airtight container, and we toast them (like Eggos) and eat throughout the week.  (and the boys LOVE just having a 1/4 of a waffle for a snack. ;) )
*the first time you try these gluten-free, give your mix time to absorb - don't panic like I did and add extra flour.  Mine still turned out great, but I think they'd have been fine had I just left the flour to do it's thing for longer.

Gluten Free Adventures begin...

So the man is gluten intolerant.  Not celiac, we don't think, as he doesn't get violently ill, or rashy... just that his tummy doesn't gripe so much when he's off gluten.


And maybe me too?  Maybe why I'm always so damn tired (oh wait, 'cause it's 1am right now.. :P ), bloated, cranky, eczema-ey... etc.  I'm going to a naturopath next month to get tested... who knows, maybe our whole house will end up being gluten-free....


Anyway, we THOUGHT he had issues with yeast and just wheat, turns out it's pretty much just gluten.  (Not that yeast is a good thing in excess, but he had to give up his beloved Vegemite before, now... not so much.)


The last few months have been hairy - the decision to move south to the Greater Vancouver area, the move (whoa), unpacking (double-whoa), and adjusting to life with daddy away from the house for 11 hours a day (when previously, being self-employed, he was here 24/7 to help mummy when she was going batty). And maybe a bit of fb activism regarding HM4HB thrown in for good measure too (see previous post). ;)  OOH, AND, fitting time in there to learn/research about being gluten-free. 


I've been baking a bit, trying some new recipes, as well as adapting old ones.... and tonight I did the latter.  I adapted MY banana muffin recipe.  (yes, it's truly mine, I've been tweaking it now for about a decade.)  But... I made a boo-boo.  Part-way in to baking, I realised that I didn't have enough gluten free flour blend, so rather than wasting a schwackload of time mixing up another batch of blend, I improvised using the chana flour I'd bought today.  (Boo hoo! Yeah right, I was stoked to try out baking with the chana!)  The result was this yummy Banana Chocolate Chip Flax Seed Muffin that TASTES BETTER than its' wheat counterpart!  REALLY!  Sooooo excited. :) :) :)  Pic and recipe below....

Don't they look stinkin' scrumptious????

 Dinnae's Banana Chocolate Chip Flax Seed Muffin


3 bananas, mashed
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c oil
1/2 c sugar


1 1/2 c + 2 tbsp gluten free flour blend (recipe below)
2 tbsp sweet rice flour
1/4 c chana flour (aka chickpea or garbanzo flour - chana is the Indian name for it)
2 tbsp flax meal
2 tbsp flax seeds
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt


1 c chocolate chips

• Preheat your oven to 350F. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray or line with muffin liners.
• Mash your bananas; add beaten eggs, sugar and oil - whisk together well.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients except the chips.
• Combine the wet and dry ingredients, mix well (get out all the dry lumps) but do not overmix.
• Fold in chips.
• Fill muffin cups 2/3 full, and bake until golden.

 
Notes:


I used muffin TOP pans, so I baked mine for 7 min, rotated them (my oven is old-school and not even), and then baked another 4-5 min.  Full size muffins would probably be about 18 - 20 min, give or take.


This can also be baked in a loaf, but I'd probably drop the temp down to 325F and then bake for 45-60 min.






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I found the following recipe at a couple of different sources, but most notably www.celiac.com and GlutenFree Gobsmacked


Gluten-Free Flour Blend

• 2 1/4 c brown rice flour
• 1/4 c potato starch
• 2/3 c tapioca flour
• 3/4 c sweet rice flour
• 1/3 c cornstarch
• 1 tbsp guar gum

Kate (GF Gobsmacked) uses superfine rice flour, which I haven't been able to find here in Canada, and I also adjusted it for guar instead of xanthan gum.  Xanthan is more expensive (like crazy so), and guar gum needs a bit more.  On the Bob's Red Mill site, it said that subbing guar for xanthan is ok, but generally one should multiply it by 1.5 to get the same consistency.




Alrighty then, so there it is, my first GF recipe posted to my blog.  I've posted a few to facebook (which I think will make their merry little way over here), but this is the first one I've done on here.  Yay!  Here's to more baking, and more posting yummy recipes and pics!

Breaking the stigma of milksharing - INFORMED CHOICE

Logo for my local HM4HB chapter - BC

Recently I posted a link to Human Milk 4 Human Babies (HM4HB) on my facebook wall.  I am eager to pass on the information that there is a grassroots movement out there to encourage INFORMED, mama-to-mama milksharing!  The group was recently re-named so there were a bunch of us posting the new name and new site to our walls.

Not long after I posted the link, an old friend from highschool posted on my wall: "This may be a silly question: But do people actually donate their breast milk to other moms who need it?"

And of course, I replied.  :)  Then it got me thinking, I REALLY should blog about this, because whilst my facebook wall is only viewable to my friends list, my blog is viewable to the WORLD.  Anything to get the word out!

And my reply to her was this (edited to add links, etc):

The simple answer: OH YEAH BABY! ;)

And the more complex answer (picture me getting on my soapbox...):

I'm actually in the process of giving over 100 oz of frozen milk I have to a mum in Kelowna with a baby about the same age as Riley (my youngest, he's almost 4 months old).  I've been blessed/cursed with over-supply, especially in the first 3 months post-partum, with all 3 of my boys.  This time around, within 10 days of Riley being born, I was pumping 8 to 10 oz per feed, and he was only eating 2 to 3 oz.  For me, it can be a curse, because I am unable to feed naturally without pain (unless using a breast shield) for the first couple of months.  Once my supply settles down (around the 3 to 4 month mark), I'm good to go.  This being my 3rd baby, I was feeding naturally (without shields, and without pumping) by 3 months, which was just awesome to me. :D

Conversely, with all the stresses in today's society (stress SERIOUSLY affects milk supply), limited support and education (at a grassroots level, ie: mum and aunties helping you, teaching you - which is a much better way to learn than just reading), and the "taboo" nature of breastfeeding ("ew, boobs are for sex, not food!"), some mums are finding breastfeeding nigh on impossible, at least without some supplementation.  And until more grassroots support is available (ie: we de-taboo breastfeeding, daddies understand how IMPORTANT their support is to mama, and women don't feel inadequate by discussing their issues), donated ebm is the perfect solution.

Expressed breast milk (ebm) is the BEST source of nutrition for human babies next to straight from the source.  Preemies and addict babies ESPECIALLY benefit from ebm - Jenna Elfman (aka Dharma) donated excess ebm that she had in her freezer to a couple that had adopted an addict baby -- and the drs say that the only reason that baby is now thriving is because he got that ebm from Jenna.  Neil Patrick Harris was on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson talking about getting milk from a milk bank, because his adopted daughter (one of twins) doesn't deal well with formula.

Basically, formula is either dairy or soy-based.  Soy has been proven to have high amounts of estrogen - not so good for babies (some babies even get boobies from it - boys included!!).  Dairy is made for baby cows, not baby humans.  Cows have completely different digestive tracts than humans (including FOUR STOMACHS!), so it's not surprising that MANY babies' tummies don't deal well with formula, and it causes many complications, including gas, reflux, and down the road, lactose intolerance, allergies, asthma and eczema... just to name a few.  According to the WHO, bottle feeding a baby formula is a LAST DITCH option for feeding babies, it ranks number 5, after donated ebm, wet-nursing and even feeding formula from a CUP.  And in their document, Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding, it says on Page 10: "Infants who are not breastfed, for whatever reason, should receive special attention from the health and social welfare system since they constitute a risk group."  That some pretty scary stuff, yet our western society chooses formula very nonchalantly, like it's no big deal.

Culturally, western society is having a hard time dealing with this "notion" because... ew, it's a bodily fluid!!!  Ummm, hello?  And what, pray tell, is dairy milk?  Don't get me wrong, I loooooooove milk, we go through 3 4L jugs in about a week in this house, but if I stop to think about the fact that it's a bodily fluid from a COW... yeah, I'd much rather the stuff that was MEANT to be for humans.  Salma Hayek nursed an African baby last year... but our society was collectively "grossed out" by it.  Because, ew, that's just gross, giving a baby much needed milk. :/

In the 80s, Canada had over 20 operating milk banks nationally.  Now?  ONLY ONE.  ONE, in Vancouver.  I don't know about the one in Van, but milk banks in the States CHARGE for ebm, and on one forum post I read about it, it costs about $120/day to feed a baby ebm from a milk bank.  $120 a day!!!!!

The lady behind getting HM4HB up and running (Emma Kwasnica) said something that a lot of people are quoting now: "Breastmilk is not some sort of scarce commodity; it is a free flowing resource."  There are lots of mums out there like me, who have oversupply, and have a freezer full of milk (liquid gold! ;) ) that will go bad if it's not used... so why not provide that milk for a baby that needs it?

BM has probiotics, antibodies, antifungal and antibacterial properties, and ALL the goodness a baby needs (not just SOME, it is THE PERFECT FOOD).... and if a mama is unable to give that to her baby, she should have the option available to her to give her baby ebm from another mama.  

I realise that there are mums who choose to formula feed, and that's fine, provided that they have all the information.  National recalls were going on due to contaminated formula - the companies were cutting corners to save a buck (rumours were flying that some execs KNEW about the contamination!) - and we're feeding this to our BABIES?  No worries about recall from boobie milk.  lol  Formula is a necessity, many babies would die without it, I don't deny that, but it shouldn't be the first go-to solution (and the WHO most definitely agrees!).

Okay, so maybe I should step down from my soapbox now.  ;)

Please don't EVER think any question, ESPECIALLY about breastmilk, or breastfeeding, is silly to me.  (um, and including, natural birth, home birth, etc. ;) )  THAT is where the education and support starts - when people are honest and look to expand their knowledge and make INFORMED CHOICES by asking questions.

And her response was so awesome, and the reason why I decided to blog this: 

"It is quite a concept. I have to admit, I was kind of like "ew, gross....feeding your baby someone else's milk" I'll admit it....kind of gross. But I guess the points you make are true esp. regarding the one about cow's milk being a bodily fluid! Pretty awesome that you are a milk making machine and that you can donate your milk to another mom in need. Thanks for the info....definitely something to think about :)"

I just want to say thanks to MK for prompting me to blog about this... it's information that NEEDS to be out there: parents need to know ALL the options available to them.

Soooo....

Looking for milk? Have milk to share? Human Milk 4 Human Babies (HM4HB) is a global network represented by community facebook pages for each state/province/country. These pages provide a space where families in need can connect with women who have milk to share. HM4HB affirms that human milk is the biological norm for human infants and children. HM4HB does not support the sale of human milk.

http://www.hm4hb.net