Anyone know any Gluten free recipes?

[Nagual]

Hi there,

SWMBO has discovered she can't eat gluten without being sore n stuff. Now there are a plethora of recipes out there on the net, but I'm looking for ones that people I can relate or even know have tried and rate. We have tried just about ever shop bought gluten free bread, muffin and whatnot and the vast majority of them are pretty rank. It also limits things like pizzas and the like. It's not so much of a taste thing, but also texture that's being missed from the whole eating experience. Any ideas how to make bread crumbs, for coating meat or using for crumbles?

So fellow BcUK'ers can you help? What's your favourite ?


EDIT oops. Silly begger. Can a Mod change the title so it looks as if I can spell please?

 

[Toddy]

Huge sympathies, I'm still avoiding gluten like the plague.

The best of the breads are the Genius ones, but at near £3 a wee loaf it's expensive :yikes:
The latest Warburton's ones are fine if you only like toast

That said, any of them crumble up and dried then rubbed through a wide sieve make good breadcrumbs for things like stuffed mushrooms or the anything you'd normally use ruskaline type crumb coating. Inclined to look a bit grey even when cooked, so I add a little yellow cornmeal to mine....a bit crisper too

The Dove's farm SR flour works fine for baking, make sure the Baking Powder you use is gluten free too though.

The Plaice to Be chippy in Pitlochry makes a brilliant GF batter......he said it's just Doves Farm SR flour and fizzy water, and having made it at home, he's right it's very good and it's crispy too


For baking it needs more 'taste' added to it than wheat flour does, and I find Xanthum gum helps to keep it sticky the way gluten works. Failing that I add sorghum flour, cheap as chips and it works........makes yucky porage though ......unless you've grown up with it I suppose.

Amaranth and cornmeal, in all it's grades and varieties, has proved to be not only useful but very edible

I find that a pizza base made of a plain unsweetened scone dough using the GF flour is actually all right. It's also quite good if you add some yeast to the mix and let it sit a bit before you cook it. Smell/taste all improve the whole thing immeasurably

Best of luck with it.........I've got a wheen of books too if Bivibabe would like a read.

 

[Passer]

Would she consider being tested for Coeliac disease?
If she tests positive, she would be able to get bread (and other staples) on prescription.
I occasionally make this bread for a change, the Psyllium husk is not difficult to find online.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gluten-free_olive_oil_42050

The BBC food site is quite good for gluten free recipes, although I have found the odd one which isn't.
Eating out can be problematic, some restaurants are unaware of cross contamination.
Good luck.

 

[mrcharly]

I've been gluten-free for 16 years.

I make bread in a breadmaker (but you could use an oven etc) about 3 times a week. Pizza bases now and then. Sainsbury's own brand gf pasta isn't too bad.

First thing is, don't try to replicate wheat-flour bread and pastry. You can't. You can make really nice bread and cakes, but the texture will be different.

Basic loaf recipe.

240ml or so of hot water. Tip into breadmaker with a tablespoon or so of butter.

While the water is butter is melting the butter, mix dry ingredients. I use Doves farm white bread or brown bread flour, usually mixed with some buckwheat (not to everyone's taste - use just doves farm gf brown bread flour if not using buckwheat).

about 300gm flour (I don't bother weighing it these days, everything by eye).
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp guar gum powder (or a bit less)
nuts and seeds to taste - sunflower seeds are nice.
at least 1, probably 2 tsp sugar. Brown sugar adds more flavour. Less than 1tsp and the yeast doesn't work well.

Beat an egg into the water and butter.
Tip in the dry ingredients then a standard packet or equiv of dried yeast.
Use GF setting on breadmaker and let it mix for 1-2minutes. Now check the consistency. It should be a really stiff batter, not at all like a dough. gf flour is very starchy and will soak up a lot of the liquid.
If the mix is too stiff, pour in some tepid water and mix in carefully with a small wooden spoon. You are doing this while the breadmaker is running, so be careful to not trap the paddle.

Now leave to bake!

The same recipe could be done in an oven, with hand mixing and standing for at least 1hr in a warm place. If doing this, mix and pour into the bread tin - you can't knock back and knead gf dough.

 

[Passer]

A very easy flat bread is....

3 heaped tblsp of Gram flour.
100ml of water.
whisk together (should be like batter) season, add fresh chopped herbs.
200mm frying pan, splash of olive oil...heat until hot, not smoking, pour batter in cook for around 5 mins, don't let it stick.
Flip over with a touch more oil, give it a couple of minutes and eat whilst still warm.

One of my favourite meals is Paella, simple but very tasty.

 

[yomperalex]

One of my best friends is gluten intolerent, he does some great deserts using either chestnuts or ground almonds in place of flour.

alex

 

[Harvestman]

I found that rice flour is excellent for cakes and so on. No noticeable difference in taste or texture.

Corn pasta is ok, but very glutinous - it has a tendency to stick to itself and end up as a formless lump.

 

[santaman2000]

Plus one on what has already been said. You simply aren't going to get the same texture in baked goods without the gluten (although cakes and pie crusts are a bit better than bread and rolls) We've found that rice pasta is better than corn pasta; brown rice pasta is also higher in fiber which can be difficult to get in a gluten free diet. The quinoa pasta is also fairly good but I like the rice pasta better. BTW Toddy, have you tried the plain quinoa porridge? I've used oatmeal as a filler instead of bread crumbs for years (We only recently discovered that oats may contain gluten but my daughter, who is Celiac, seems to tolerate it well enough) I use GF flours for my batters when frying chicken or such; but we've always used cornmeal to fry fish in the South so that was never a problem. GF flour to make pie crusts (basically use the recipes you've always used but substitute GF flour and add a small bit of zanthum gum)

It's actually hard to list recipes as such because we really don't know what you like. The best advice I could offer is when you know what dish you want to have, go to foodnetwork.com and search for GF recipes for it and try them. Even if it's not quite the way you like it the first try you can adjust it on the next try.

Be careful though (eating out or cooking in) Gluten hides in some ingredients you wouldn't commonly think of: Soy Sauce, canned broths (some), canned nuts, even some canned vegetables, etc. Be sure to read the labels carefully to make sure that whatever you're buying is GF.

Good luck. It is do-able.

 

[Toddy]

Good advice Santaman2000; we all have our own favourite foods and tastes.

I like quinoa and I can actually grow it here

How do you make a corn batter for fish ? I suppose I could use it around my veggie stuff ?

For a long time I couldn't eat oats.......and for a traditional Scottish housewifely cook that was something of a disaster.....but I find I can tolerate them now ......oatcakes, skirlie, brose, cranachan, toasted with almonds and made into muesli bars , caboc, parkin.....all back in the fold

I use Japanese rice noodles instead of spaghetti, the corn stuff's gluey, but the rice based pasta's fine if a bit tasteless.


cheers,
M

 

[Passer]

I would be interested to know how you cook quinoa Toddy, I always end up with sludge

The Oats thing is interesting, some people can tolerate them others can't.
There has been some debate whether they contained gluten, or just acquire it from cereals in nearby fields.
Thankfully there are now gf oats.

 

[Toddy]

Think of quinoa as like a couscous..........you need to cook it until the wee shell thing comes free, but then it needs cooked just that touch longer to dry it enough that it can be fluffed up

First couple of times I tried it I couldn't see what the fuss was with it......like a weird sago pudding, sort of; but I'd bought a box of the stuff and refused to be beaten, then I got the hang of cooking it and it's really good. I do use it as I would couscous (though it takes longer to cook) for other people.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[santaman2000]

...How do you make a corn batter for fish ? I suppose I could use it around my veggie stuff?...

I use Japanese rice noodles instead of spaghetti, the corn stuff's gluey, but the rice based pasta's fine if a bit tasteless...

Firstly I guess I should say that it's not a "batter" as such. We just dredge the fillets in corn meal and fry them (either shallow pan frying at home or deep frying both at home or a restaurant. Actually quite the same as when we dredge chicken in flour to fry. In either case we do add seasonings to the corn meal or flour before dredging. As you said earlier, it's a bit crispier.

There is a way to make a corn batter but it's actually a cornbread batter though; the only time it's used for anything other than baking cornbread is to make "corn dogs." www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/corn-dog.html They're NOT crispy but rather think of the batter as replacing a bun. I don't know if you have them over there are not; you make up your cornbread batter/dough (use any recipe you like but make sure the flour {some cornbread recipes call for a mix of cornmeal and flour} is gluten free) Next take a stick and push it into a hotdog weiner/sausage (like a popsicle stick) Then dip the wiener into the batter and fry it. Put whatever condiment/s you like on it (mustard and/or catsup are popular here.

Yes the rice pasta is kinda tasteless but then I usually eat it with sauces anyway so that neutrality can be a good thing.

 

[Passer]

Think of quinoa as like a couscous..........you need to cook it until the wee shell thing comes free, but then it needs cooked just that touch longer to dry it enough that it can be fluffed up

First couple of times I tried it I couldn't see what the fuss was with it......like a weird sago pudding, sort of; but I'd bought a box of the stuff and refused to be beaten, then I got the hang of cooking it and it's really good. I do use it as I would couscous (though it takes longer to cook) for other people.

cheers,
Toddy

I am convinced....I'll give it another try.
Ta