Rice-free Gluten-free Flour Blend

Apparently I was getting too comfortable with GF cooking. We had another loop thrown at us. After discovering that I also have a rice sensitivity I was faced with revamping my GF flour mix. Not an impossible task. I actually love this flour mix better than the rice one. While being frustrated by this new challenge,being forced to find an alternate no-rice flour mix was actually a blessing in disguise. This new flour mix is wonderful and doesn't have the 'moisture' issues that rice based ones do. Here are the result of those efforts.

**Most recent update(10/12) including metric measurements are below in the comments. I tweaked the cornstarch/potato starch ratio.**

**9/27/10 I've updated the recipe. What is below is the improved mix. It is continually evolving so I will post new updates as I have them. This new mix is the best yet! Oh, this is the doubled batch, but if you want to just try a little, it halves easily.**

No-Rice Gluten-Free Flour blend

2 1/2 cup Millet Flour

2 cup Sorghum Flour

2 cup Potato Starch

1 3/4 cup Tapioca Flour

1 1/2 cup Cornstarch

5 Tbs. Potato Flour

3 1/2 tsp. Xanthan gum

I have successfully used this flour mix with Betty Crocker sweet muffins straight from the cookbook with no modifications (no extra water, etc.). I also made corn fritters which turned out really well. It makes excellent pie crust!

Finally, a word to the wise.....

***It's a good idea if you are GF to rotate your grains so you don't become sensitive to rice, or any other for that matter. ***

GF Corn Dogs!

Easy as pie...well, whatever that means. In this case it means something that actually works out to be as good as a "regular" wheat filled corn dog. These corn dogs actually turn out looking like "real" corndogs, actually like the picture. Could there be anything better?! :) (I don't know about you, but I'm always suspicious of GF recipe pics, and am left wondering if they really used a wheat filled pic. I was elated that this recipe actually turned out like the picture!) Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
8 hot dogs (we use Ball Park Franks — yes, they are gluten-free)
1 cup gf flour *
2/3 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 + 1/4 cup milk
1 Tablespoon canola oil or vegetable oil
1/4 cup cornstarch Peanut oil for frying
Popsicle sticks

Directions:
Insert sticks into 1 end of each hot dog. Hold the dog firmly to make sure that the stick goes into the center of the dog.Dry the hot dogs thoroughly with a paper towel. This step is very important! The hot dogs must be dry in order for the batter to stick.

In a small bowl mix together the gf flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and canola oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Transfer batter to a baking dish.Heat peanut oil in a deep fat fryer or if you don’t have one, heat about 1 inch of peanut oil in a large deep skillet. When oil is hot 375°F reduce the heat to maintain a temperature of about 350°F.

Place the cornstarch on a plate and roll the hot dogs in the cornstarch. Dust of excess cornstarch.

Roll the hot dogs in the batter. This part is a little tricky…you may need to use a spoon or knife to smooth the batter on and even it out over the hot dog. Carefully place the battered hot dog into the hot oil. Fry the corn dogs in the hot oil until lightly browned on all sides, about 3-4 minutes total. Remove the corn dogs from the oil and drain on paper towels.

GF Pierogies!

Yes, did you know they are really easy to make?! Yep! If you have left over mashed potatoes from dinner, they're even easier because half the work is already done. I made this recipe the other day and was really impressed with how close they were to real pierogies. My only suggestion is to use a noodle roller instead of using a rolling pin. The dough gets thicker as it cooks, and it is pretty hard (though not impossible) to get the dough as thin as they say to get it (1/8"). If you're craving pierogies, or just miss them, you won't be disappointed with this recipe!

Click on the pierogie picture above to go to the link!

Here's the recipe:

Pierogies

1/3 cup Tapioca Flour
1/3 cup Cornstarch
2 Tb Potato Starch
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 Tb Xanthan Gum
2 large Eggs
1 Tb Vegetable Oil

Combine flours, salt, and xanthan gum. Beat eggs lightly and add oil. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and stir. This will feel much like pastry dough. Work together into a firm ball. Knead a minute or two.

The recipe in the book and online give further instructions depending on the different kinds of pastas you could make. For the purpose of making pierogi, you'll want to work with small handfuls of dough. Roll it out, with just the minimum amount of flour necessary to keep it from sticking. Too much flour will toughen the dough and keep it from being as sticky as it needs to be. Roll it out to about 1/8 of an inch. Use a biscuit cutter or glass or jar lip to cut circles about 4 inches in diameter. Keep rolling dough until you've made as many circles as it will yield.Use your fingertips to wet the edges of each circle. Let the water sit for few minutes, making a nice, sticky edge. (By the time you get to the last circle, the first one should be just sticky enough. Spoon some filling into the center of each circle. Fold the circle in half, pinching and crimping the edges until they are sealed tight.Any that you are cooking right away, set aside. Any that you will be freezing, place on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer until they are dry. Once they're no longer sticky you can put them in freezer bags.

To cook, place pierogi in a large pot of salted boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes (and hope you sealed them tightly enough!). Remove with a slotted spoon. Serve with hot melted butter.

Cheaper GF flour ingredients

Eating GF isn't cheap, but there are ways to cut the budget.  One way is to mix your own GF flour blend.  Recently I read that in doing this you risk buying bags of ingredients that may actually have a high gluten content (stinkin' cross contamination).  The suggestion was to purchase a ready made product.  I choose to mix my own flour blend, but by experience I have learned to only purchase ingredients labeled gluten free tested (got burned by one labeled a "gluten free grain"....um duh).  I admit though, I buy regular cornstarch off the shelf.

The most recent cost savings way to get Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour mix components is to go through Amazon.  Amazingly, buying from Vitacost through Amazon saved nearly $1/bag with a bonus of free shipping if you purchased $49(double check to see if that promotion is still available to be sure).  Search for your item and choose one, then look to the right of the screen where it shows other vendors.  Vitacost should be listed as another vendor.  Compare the price. :)


Here are some ways to get GF flour ingredients super cheap, usually around $1.09/lb (generally in 12 oz packages).

(text pasted with liberties from highlighted website forum)

These flours are commonly available from local Asian grocery stores:

Chinese Grocery Store (usually labels include the english translation)

• white rice flour
• sweet rice flour (labeled glutinous rice flour-though it contains NO gluten)
• tapioca flour
• corn starch
• potato starch (NOTE:potato starch and potato flour are NOT the same!)

Indian Grocery Store (along with their Hindi names)

• millet flour ...is Bajri (pearl millet)
• sorghum flour...is Jowar or Juwar
• Buckwheat flour ...is Kuttu
• Chickpea flour ...is Chana or Besan
• Potato ...is Aloo
• ***FYI: "Atta" when alone describes wheat flour***

I can find cornstarch at a local orchard that sells bulk foods for $0.79/lb, which is cheaper than store brand at the grocery store. But the Chinese grocery sells it by the bag too so if you're already there buying other flours, the cost of gas may not justify making a special trip for one ingredient.

Diagnosing Celiac/Gluten Intolerance

Just read today that anyone who has a family member with any autoimmune disease (grandmother, aunt, sister/brother, cousin, etc), should be tested for Celiac. Because it runs in families, and is an autoimmune disease as well.

Excellent sheet with a list of Celiac symptoms and questions for a doctor if you're suspicious that gluten could be causing you problems.

Gluten/Celiac websites worth mentioning

Here are some great GF blogs/sites to bookmark.

Cooking and Baking sites

• http://glutenfreenaturally.blogspot.com/ There are even GF sourdough recipes on here, and a variety of bread recipes beyond basic rice bread.
• http://www.thebakingbeauties.com/ This site has a little of everything.

Diagnosing Celiac and Gluten Intolerance sites

• Celiac Disease Symptoms list This article from celiac.com has an excellent list of symptoms associated with celiac. Symptoms are different for each person so just because you don't have the same symptom as another person with celiac, doesn't mean that cutting gluten out of your diet won't help.
• Getting a Celiac Diagnosis Another excellent article, also from celiac.com. It's written by a GI doctor married to a doctor and they both end up with celiac. Discusses diagnosis and history of doctors diagnosing.
• Gluten Intolerance symptoms Contains a pretty comprehensive list of symptoms and their associated mistaken "diagnosed" diseases when gluten intolerance isn't correctly diagnosed.

Gluten Free ready-made products

• List of ready-made products Actually, this is a website offering a service, but the list of GF foods was too good to not pass on. These are foods that they offer, but it's nice to have a list like that of what is available for those times that you don't have time or energy to find a recipe and mix it up yourself, or when you just need a treat. :)

GF Hot Cross Buns!!!

I found a recipe for Hot Cross Buns, just in time for Easter!!!! They were on a blog I just found and she has TONS of GF recipes. http://www.thebakingbeauties.com/
Here they are......

Look at them!!!I can't tell you how incredibly excited I am to find this recipe!!!!!

And, the insides look just like my Mom's recipe!!!!!!!!

I made these this weekend and they were WONDERFUL!!! Just in time for Easter! :)

I substituted for the bean flour (because I can't stand bean flours) and it worked out just fine.

There are only two changes I made to their recipe. Here are my changes:

- For the flour bean mix I used

2T teff flour

6T millet flour

1/4c sorghum

3/4c cornstarch and

3/4c tapioca

(the teff and millet were used in place of the garfava bean flour and I only mixed up about what was needed- I think I had about 2T left over that I just threw into my regular jar of flour mix)

- Instead of the cinnamon, I used 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/8 tsp nutmeg. I did this because these were the spices used in our family hot cross bun recipe and I wanted it to be as similar to that as it could. Tasted just like I remembered, but next time I might add a bit more brown sugar to the recipe. I didn't compare that to our family recipe.

I meant to take a picture....but we ate them too fast. Seriously! :)