Going Gluten Free

This would work best if I started at the beginning of my gluten free story.

Almost 5 years ago I found out that I had to go gluten free out of necessity. It was rough at first. I wasn't trying to do all sorts of research on what I could or could not eat, and where to buy the different items. Our society loves to make fun of people who are gluten free and mock gluten free foods so I was going into the entire process feeling like it wasn't going to work. Then it came to actually eating gluten free. All the products I was buying from the store matched up with all the horror stories. They were too dry, too crumbly, or too dense. Many of them lacked flavor. Some tried to make up for the lack of flavor by adding too much salt. I was really sad to give up my yummy wheat, barley and rye based foods.

The plus side to all of this was that I am trained as a cook. I spent a couple years in culinary school learning as much as I could about cooking. I even worked in the field for a while before my life's path went in a different direction. I love cooking. But, baking? Not so much. I was never very good at baking in my teens or 20's. I could handle cakes and cookies but not much else. I wasn't trained in baking at my schools and I had no real interest in the expertise. It turned out that with the help of my cooking abilities all that was about to change.

It soon became apparent in my 30's that if I was ever going to eat good food again I would have to make it all from scratch myself. That included the baking. It turns out that I'm really good at gluten free baking, maybe even better than I am at cooking. I'm now making everything from scratch, from my tomato sauce, gravy and stocks to my breads, pizzas and pretzels. People who don't eat gluten free can't even tell the difference at this point. I'm now building up the money to open my own bakery, so I can get back to what I love best.

I hope you enjoy all the little tips and simple recipes I would love to share on here.

Baking Tips

1. When baking your favorite items (converting from wheat to gluten free) try using a flour blend like Cup4Cup or Bob’s baking flour blend.

2. If it’s a converted item that needs to rise add an additional ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum

3. You do not need to worry about over kneading gluten free dough as there is no elasticity that can be reduced, but you should still use easy smooth motions in place of beating it up.

4. Many books will tell you that the gluten free products can not double rise. This is inaccurate. If your yeast is working properly you can get a double rise. It just won’t be as much of a rise on the second round so some products like rolls and breads are better with 1 rise cycle.

5. To ensure your yeast is alive and active place 1 teaspoon in a glass cup with 1 cup of 115 degrees F water and a little bit of sugar. If it produces a lot of bubbly growth than the yeast is doing well.

6. Any yeast recipes work best if all liquids are heated to 115 degrees F with the sugar elements melted through before adding the yeast (off the flame) in glass or ceramic bowls. Metal may harm the growth of the yeast.

7. When in doubt a bread machine is your friend. Whether you’re making pizza dough or sweet dough with no in machine baking, or you want the machine to do all your guess work by baking a loaf of bread all the way through a bread machine will handle the most difficult parts well. Make sure the bread machine has a gluten free setting, though you don’t need to stick exclusively to this setting.

8. When making pie crust, make sure all your ingredients are properly chilled, even the water. A good pie crust should always have the butter cut in with a cutter or two knives rather than with your hands. Once enough water is added to work it into a ball and roll it out, it should be turned onto a cool counter or cutting board and worked with your hands only long enough to properly prepare it for rolling. Make sure your work surface and rolling pin are properly floured and gently roll the dough into form. The more times this need to be done the more likely the crust will be dense. Once it is rolled you can loosely wrap it around the rolling pin to transfer it to your pie plate. Following these steps will help ensure your crust is flaky rather than dense.

9. Some of the best gluten free baked goods include butter over margarine and the use of milk. So, unless you are also dairy free I advise the use of these products.

10. For a good pizza crust you can simply use the same as your favorite bread recipe. Let it rise in a ceramic bowls with a cloth placed over top in a warm dry location. Punch down the dough and roll it out into the size pizza you want, making sure to dock the dough before the rise cycle by poking around the crust with a fork. Place it on a pre-baking pizza pan to rise about a half hour longer. Then pre-bake your crust at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes, before adding toppings.

11. If your home lacks a properly warm, dry place to rise dough you can turn on your oven to 170 or 180 degrees F and before placing the item to rise, turn the oven off. Place the item in the oven and it will get a good warm rise on the product.

12. Always have fun with your baked goods. The foods may not sense your moods as they aren’t animals but they are effected by the energy you use in making them.