Whole Grain Sandwich Bread

If you've seen my other posts, you may have noticed that I tend toward lighter, white-flour recipes. When it comes to gluten free baking, substantial, brown things are often a dime a dozen. But I do like to venture into healthy cooking sometimes; I know many people prefer whole grain, and this serves as a gum-free sandwich bread that's not lacking in structure and volume. It's perfect for piled-up sandwiches and toast with peanut butter.

**I highly recommend measuring ingredients with a baking scale. This recipe is really tough to get right measuring by volume. It's also very high fiber. If your normal diet isn't mostly whole grains, I'd recommend starting with half a slice, or making white bread instead.**

Ingredients

• 240 g (1 Cup) Boiling Water
• 60 g (3 Tbsp) Honey, or 60 g (1/4 cup) Sugar
• 360 g (1 1/2 Cups) Tap Water
• 85 g (1/3 Cup + 1 Tbsp) Oil
• 8 g (2 1/4 Tsp) Dry Active Yeast
• 160 g (1 1/3 Cups) Ground Oats or Oat Flour
• 40 g (1/3 Cup) Flax Meal
• 25 g (2 Tbsp + 2 Tsp) Ground Psyllium
• 500 g (3 Cups) Brown Rice Flour
• 20 g (1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp) Salt
• Small Handful of Whole Oats and/or Sunflower Seeds (optional)

Special Equipment
  9x4x4 Pullman Pan
  Another loaf pan big enough to act as a domed lid (you can use the normal lid, it just won't rise as high)

Time
  About 75 minutes + cooling time

Yield
  1 9-inch loaf

Instructions

Start your kettle. While it's heating, measure the 60 g honey into a bowl. Pour 240 g boiling water on top of the honey, and stir to dissolve. Add the 360 g tap water and the 85 g oil, and stir again. Sprinkle the yeast on top, stir the mixture, set a timer for 15 minutes, and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients: 160 g oat flour, 40 g flax meal, 25 g ground psyllium, 500 g brown rice flour, and 20 g salt, and toss with your hands to mix. If you're using whole oats, whole psyllium husk, or whole flax seeds, these should be ground in a coffee grinder before being added. Get out a whisk and flexible spatula (or whatever you're going to mix the dough with). Grease your loaf pan and have it nearby.

When the timer goes off, stir the dry ingredients into the wet, and quickly pat into the loaf pan. Sit it in a warm place, and cover with the other pan, turned upside down. Set a timer for 30 minutes.

When 30 minutes have elapsed, check to see how much the dough has risen. When it's risen just past the top of the pan, preheat the oven to 450 (preheating will take about 15-20 min, allowing the dough to rise just a bit more, which will make sure the final product, after a little bit of shrinking during/after baking, is the right height). Bake covered (leave the inverted loaf pan on top) for 30 minutes, and uncovered for another 30, or until browned.

Amazon Links for Ingredients:
Dry Active Yeast
Brown Rice Flour
Oat Flour  

Flax Meal  

Ground Psyllium

Pullman Pan  

Baking Scale

Crunchy Chicken Breast

 

I didn't have fried chicken for almost a year after going gluten free. In fact, it took me months and months to venture into anything resembling a wheat substitute. I'm grateful for that- it kept my standards intact while I read and learned- but, often, I find that a technique is so intuitive, versatile, and delicious that I wonder why it took me so long. This fried chicken breast has been showing up on my plate over and over, and I think it's high time I share it with you.

Ingredients:

• Salt
• A small handful of Seasoned Panko, Rice Chex or similar, or Crackers per person
• Chicken, about half a pound per person
• Lard or other animal fat, high-smokepoint oil, or ghee 

Special Equipment 

Hammer (optional)

Time

No more than 30 minutes

Instructions

If you haven't bought thin-cut chicken breasts, run your knife through your chicken, longways, to reduce the thickness by half. Put the pieces in a plastic bag, squeeze out the air, seal it, and bang out the chicken to about 1/4" thick, using a heavy hammer or a can. Dry the chicken thoroughly with paper towels. Sprinkle the chicken with salt (remember that it's very thin, so use a lighter touch than usual). If you're using cereal or crackers, grind them up in a food processor or smash them with your hammer, and add spices if desired. Spread the panko, cereal, or crackers over the chicken, and press in with your fingers. 

In a pot or pan just big enough for the chicken, heat a handful of lard over medium-high heat until the oil feels warm when you hold your hand a couple inches above it. If you aren't sure, drop a couple panko crumbs into the oil, or cut off a small piece of chicken and test it out. Fry the chicken for a few minutes on each side. Serve immediately, or place into an oven that's been preheated to the lowest setting. 

(If you're curious, the chicken pictured is drizzled with cream that's been simmered with sauteed spring onions and mushrooms, and served over steamed basmati rice)

Overly-Honest Corncakes

 

Although I can usually tinker and sub out the wheat, it’s always a wonderful surprise when one of my favorite bloggers posts something that’s already gluten free (I can neither confirm nor deny that, in this case, I audibly squealed). What you will find below is a scaled down version of David Lebovitz’s Fresh Corn Cakes. Scaled down and also... well... profoundly, inexcusably inaccurate.

(This post inspired by #overlyhonestmethods, which, if you’ve ever worked in scientific research, I guaran-dang-tee you will find completely and utterly hilarious)

Ingredients

• Two Medium Onions. Mine were red onions.
• 115 g (3/4 Cup) Cornmeal
• 3/4 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 20 g (2 Tbsp) Unsalted Butter
• 115 g (1/2 Cup) Milk
• 1 Egg, or 50-60 g egg, not counting shell weight
• Pinch of Maple Sugar (brown sugar is a good substitute)
• 1 Ear of Fresh Corn (150 g or 1 cup kernels)
• 1 Jalapeno with the gills and seeds removed, chopped 

Special Equipment
Food processor, 3 cups or bigger 

Time
No more than 30 minutes

Serves
Two as a side

Instructions

Onions were the one change I made to this recipe that was intentional. Well, semi-intentional. By that, I mean that 1) I opened up my fridge and found some onions 2) I have yet to find any food not improved by sauteed onions and 3) I wanted to sit down and procrastinate some more, and could justify that because the onions were cooking. Anyhoo, I sauted them over low heat in a little butter until I suddenly remembered their existence, frantically ran back into the kitchen, and flipped off the burner. They were just shy of inedibly burnt, so I employed the all-powerful phrase “eh, good enough!” and set them aside.

I made the batter in a food processor. Firstly, it’s less work, and secondly, you’re supposed to use finely-ground corn flour, and I didn’t have any. Instead, I decided to pulse the dry ingredients and cross my fingers really hard. Soooo, anyway, I combined the cornmeal, baking powder, and salt, and processed until whatever random fantasy was flitting through my head reached its natural conclusion. I omitted the cayenne, mostly because I was in a caffeine hole, and the thought of pulling down my spice bin made me feel exhausted.

Because my kitchen is like 80 degrees, and thus my butter is more of a nebulous, greasy blob than a stick, I just threw it right on top of the dry ingredients along with the milk, egg, and maple sugar, and mixed. I added the corn and pulsed again quickly. Then I remembered that I had wandered off and gotten distracted by a sale at the Gap website and neglected to saute the jalapeno with the onions, so I just threw it in raw. (Chiles would probably have been better, but I didn’t have any). Then I remembered the onions, and added those too.

I heated a handful of lard until it felt hot-ish when I held my hand nearby. I used a 3 tbsp scoop to portion the batter, because it was on the top of the pile. After the first couple fritters broke, I cranked up the heat a little more. I narrowly managed to restrain myself from using the lard left on my hands as moisturizer. I fried the fritters until brown on both sides. They were delicious.

Mac and Cheese

 

I have strong feelings about macaroni and cheese. So strong, in fact, that if you think it's okay to bake it in the oven at 350 for an hour, I might mutter a few choice words under my breath. That s&*t is not mac and cheese; it's dry, disappointing, slightly-cheese-flavored casserole. 'Round here, the stovetop roux-based stuff is boss. If you like a topping, get the broiler good and hot while you make the sauce, and broil only long enough to crunch up the top. This recipe is particularly lovely made with sharp cheddar and half and half. I don't suggest anything less than 2% milk no matter which cheese(s) you use, but suit yourself. You should be able to find white rice pasta at large Asian groceries, and corn pasta at Trader Joe's or Walmart.

 

 

Ingredients

• 25 g (1 Tbsp + 2 Tsp) Butter. I use unsalted, but it doesn't matter.
• 10 g (1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp) Glutinous Rice Flour or 10 g (1 Tbsp) Sweet Rice Flour
• 350 g (1 1/2 Cups) Cream, Milk, or combination
• 115 g (4 Oz/Half a Block/1 Cup Grated) Cheese 
• 1/2 Tsp Salt for cheese sauce, plus more for pasta water
• 170 g (6 ounces, about 1/3 box) Dry Pasta (I prefer white rice pasta, or corn pasta)
• Parmigiano for the top (optional) 

Time
About 30 minutes

Serves
Two average eaters as an entree, or three to four as a side

Instructions

Set some salted water (1360 g or 6 cups of water and 10 g or 2 tsp of salt, if you're feeling precise) over a burner turned to the highest setting. While the water heats, measure out the 20 g (1 tbsp + 2 tsp) butter, 10 g (1 tbsp + 1 tsp) glutinous rice flour, and 350 g (1 1/2 cups) milk or cream. Cut up the butter (into eight pieces, if you're still feeling precise) and grate the 115 g (half package) cheese. When the water is boiling, stir the pot to dissolve the salt, and cook the 170 g pasta according to package directions. (If you don't have a scale, just look at the weight listed on the box, and use the fraction of the box that gives you 6 oz. It doesn't have to be exact.) Taste a noodle before draining if you're not familiar with the brand- sometimes packages are wrong, and you want the pasta to be completely soft. Drain the pasta and set aside. Don't worry about it clumping- the cheese sauce will fix that. 

Put the empty pot back on high heat, just until any water in the bottom has evaporated. Add the butter to the pot. When the butter is melted, turn the heat down to medium, make sure your milk or cream is within reach, and stir in the flour using a completely dry whisk or fork. Continue cooking the flour until you can just barely tell that it's changed color- you'll see small spots of light brown around the edges. Whisking furiously, pour in the milk and/or cream (careful, it may spatter). Continue to stir lazily until bubbles appear, then stir enthusiastically, targeting any lumps. 

When the milk mixture (Sauce Béchamel, if you like) is hot and smooth, stir in the salt first, then the cheese, and finally the pasta. Serve immediately, grating parmigiano on top if desired. If making ahead, stir the pasta as it cools, or rinse it slightly, store the sauce and pasta separately, heat the sauce on the stovetop, and then stir in the pasta.

You should buy a baking scale.

Amazon Links for Ingredients: 
Glutinous Rice Flour
Sweet Rice Flour (Certified GF)