Gluten Free Pizza Crust {or the Holy Grail}

I've wanted to share this recipe for a while - it came together right after Christmas. And the first bite was Heaven sent; tears actually came to my eyes {keep in mind that I was running high on pregnancy hormones and nauseated most of the time}.

But I kept it to myself. at least until the recipe proved itself. How dare I hold out gluten free hope, only to realize that my first attempts were a fluke.

Living with a major food allergy is one of those losses that normalizes. You forget that anything is different. Unless it is painfully pointed out. For people with gluten issues, yeast is that screaming reminder that you're missing out on something truly fabulous. Whether it be cinnamon rolls or french bread or, in my case, pizza.

What can I say, I'm a gourmet pizza junkie aficionado. And the gluten free crusts we tried tasted like crackers or biscuits. They lacked the essential 'spring' and 'foldability' of real pizza dough. I gave up for a while and used this recipe {which is excellent but completely different}.

Then I opened The Homemade Pantry {have I talked you into buying this book yet?? Seriously, you should.} and saw her recipe for homemade frozen pizza crust, real pizza crust. From the wife of a former pizza parlor guy. I either forgot how bad{!} my first attempts were or was overcome with desperation to taste something that resembled stretched, leavened dough.

Here's the result. The Ellis Family All-time Favorite Meal {we finally hear little shrieks of 'pizza!!!' at dinner time - an American family once more}.

Dough post-rising

All that was left...

GF Pizza Crust

Ingredients

1 1/4 c warm water

1 T active dry yeast

1 t sugar

1 c oat flour

1 c quinoa or sorghum flour

1 1/3 c sweet or white rice flour

1 t salt

2 t xanthan gum

2 T olive oil

2 eggs

Directions

Proof yeast - mix yeast, water and sugar in a glass measuring cup or bowl and allow to sit 5-10 minutes until foam forms across top. 

In a stand mixer, combine flours, salt and xanthan gum. On medium speed, mix in oil, until evenly incorporated. Mix in eggs, until evenly incorporated. Add yeast mixture as quickly as dough will absorb it. The mixture should resemble a thick cake batter. Add flour (1/4 c at a time) or water (1 t at a time) to adjust consistency. Beat dough on high speed for 4-5 minutes, until dough takes on whipped appearance.

Spray olive oil on 2 pizza stones or air bake pans. Split dough in half. Wet hands thoroughly and spread dough as thin as possible on stones. If the dough clings to your hands, wet your hands again. Smooth the surface from the inside of the ball to the outside.

Cover the stones with a wet dishcloth or oiled plastic wrap and allow to rise until double in size (1-2 hours).

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. When oven is hot, top your pizza (the crust will be soggy if you top it early). Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until sauce bubbles and cheese begins to brown. 

Note - This recipe freezes well. To freeze without toppings, bake for 5 minutes. Allow to cool completely on pan. Wrap in 2 layers of plastic wrap and freeze up to a month.

Another note - this is not{!} one of those recipes where you just change the gluten free flour for whole wheat flour and carry on. The prep for this dough is completely different as are some of the ingredients. If you want my old {still fantastic} recipe for pizza dough, check it here.

Sugar, sugar {or sugar 3 ways}

Stopped in to see now grown up sis's apartment. It has a European feel - tiny compact, intentional, and homey.

But... there is no storage. None. Her pantry is a 2'x2' table next to the kitchen door and a wall hanging spice rack from my grandmother. Might not matter if you don't cook, but she does. She cooks marvelous, exotic, complicated fare. With no pantry or prep space.

So we discuss the merits of basic ingredients - the true staples that produce all the stuff you usually buy. My pantry is bigger than sis's, but I find it clutters quickly unless I focus on staples. I can't keep four different types of the same product, for example. Which leads me to sugar.

White, brown, dark brown, powdered, turbinado. That's only the crystalized stuff. Never mind molasses, honey, agave, corn, and maple syrups. Sugar by any other name.

Trying to keep the pantry cabinet simple, I found I need 3 sugars: organic, unbleached cane sugar, unsulphurized molasses, and honey. From those three, I can make or substitute for any other 'sugar' ingredients.

I want to mount a mini soap box about organic sugar: you probably don't ingest many chemicals with regular sugar - it's highly processed. The chemicals and farming practices affect the regions where the sugar is grown, especially the water. We buy organic sugar for the sake of the plantation workers and their families. Something to think about.

For the recipes:

I started making powdered sugar when I realized I was out of powdered sugar halfway through a recipe blurgh. After making it once, I was so pleased by how easy it was that I gave up buying powdered sugar. {Making your own is also an easy way to get organic powdered sugar, which can be tricky to find.}

To make 1 c powdered sugar:
Pour 1/2 c granulated sugar into a blender or clean coffee grinder. Pulse for several seconds at a time on low speed until the sugar starts growing. Continue pulsing at 10-20 second intervals on a higher speed until sugar has reached desired consistency {usually 5-6 minutes}. It will double in size during the process. Ta da!

To make vanilla sugar {perfect for homemade hot chocolate or sugar cookies}:
Fill a 1 qt glass ball jar with 4 c of granulated sugar. Bury a vanilla bean in the sugar. Shake every few days. After 2 weeks, remove vanilla bean. Ta da!

To make brown sugar {courtesy of Homemade Pantry}:
Mix 2 t molasses into 1 c granulated sugar. Blend with fork, past the clumpy stage, until smooth. Ta da!
For dark brown sugar, add more molasses.

An additional note about sugar:
Regardless of the form, too much sugar isn't good for you {duh, right?}. I found baking at home that I'm more likely to count the sugar when I add it myself. I poured 3 c of powdered sugar in those meringues the other week. I'm not going to eat six in a sitting. Also, sugar can't be hidden under a different name if you bake it yourself. There are hundreds on monikers for sugar, and they can all be listed separately, giving the appearance that a food is healthier than it really is. Again, when you mix in the sugar, you know exactly what your family is eating.

So... I use real sugar, no Splenda or Truvia. Because I know what's going into our food.

Chocolate weather {or another cookie recipe}

We are having chocolate weather. All I can think to serve for snack are chocolate chip cookies, hot chocolate, biscotti, mochas. Rain and snow and more rain {and maybe pregnancy} will do that to you. We have chronic wet feet. Big one stalls at the open van door while she musters the courage to face the rain again, leaving small one and I dripping - chocolate seems to be our only cure.

 The snow brought at least 30 minutes of outdoor fun. More than that for Abby - this was her first snow, small as it was. Her excitement was contagious when she realized she could eat the white powdery stuff all over the ground.

Almost contagious. Small one was unsure of the snow, and why she needed mittens, and a hat, and a coat. She thought momma was entirely overprotective with the winter clothing. Except the pink boots. Those could stay.

A morning of firsts, passed from daddy to daughter: snow angels, snow men, snow balls. All tiny due to the tiny snow. Perfect for tiny hands.

And when tiny hands turned red and became more cold than fun, momma was able to pass on fudgy warm cookies, like only-edge-piece brownies. They were so delightful {and devoured} that I must pass on the recipe.

Double Fudge Cookies

Ingredients
3 c or 375 g powdered sugar
3/4 c or 65 grams cocoa powder {best you can find}
1/4 t salt
2 1/2 c chocolate chips {I use the 70% cacao 'pound plus' bar from Trader Joe's and cut up what I need}
4 egg whites
1 T vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Mix powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in chocolate chips. Mix egg whites and vanilla in a separate bowl. Add whites and vanilla to dry ingredients and mix with a fork(!) until batter is wet through.

Using a teaspoon {from your silverware drawer, not the measuring variety}, scoop small balls onto the parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, leaving plenty of space. These cookies double, even triple in the oven.

I know they look like little plops here, but magic happens in the oven.

Bake in center of oven for 13-15 minutes, until tops crack.

Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow cookies to cool on sheet for 3 minutes, then move parchment paper to a rack and cool completely before removing. I used a 'cookie spatula,' a small square silicone spatula - they picked up beautifully.

Makes two dozen cookies.

Did I mention they don't require flour, don't require beating egg whites until stiff, and would make the best ice cream sandwich on the planet??

Note for my glutenous friends: A friend made these for me and the girls as part of the funeral fare. Bookmark this recipe as an easy gluten free recipe if you don't have a gluten free kitchen - no need to buy special flour.

Gluten free Flour {what to use when}

This is a more technical post to be sure. But I'm asked about gluten free baking all the time. Not just friends, strangers stop me in the grocery store.

GF flour lists are overwhelming, and I feel, short on the most practical info. Namely, when do I use each of the twenty varieties of flour? What flours are most economical? etc...

This is a brief explanation of what I've learned so far.

Chocolate Macaroons

Baked Meringues - Chocolate and vanilla

I've noticed something about special dietary concerns and potlucks. Your special dietary need becomes your special dish. Before the gf diet, I was always asked to bring veggies. Theoretically, a mostly vegetarian should make awesome veggies, right? Now I'm always asked to bring a gf dessert. Its easy to substitute corn pasta or bake chicken instead of frying it, but once you venture into gf flour, people become uneasy. Dessert becomes the celiacs unofficial dish forever.

No complaints here. Dessert can be made ahead. Dessert is easy to transfer. Dessert leftovers never stir up complaints in my house. So I'll be the gf dessert queen.

Trail Mix Cookies

My little galley kitchen transformed into a Christmas treat factory this year. Specialty ice creams, meringues, toffee. So much sugary goodness.

Now that all the Christmas goodies are gone, I find myself still scurrying through cabinets for something sweet. Bad habits dying hard, I suppose.

Rather than the traditional January crash diet, I like to move myself slowly back to healthy bathing suit season food. Swap the rich, sugary fluff for a hearty oatmeal cookie instead. I'm on an apricot and cranberry kick right now, providing direction for Trail Mix Cookies. Hearty, protein-packed cookies shoved full of spices, fruit and nuts. Granola wishes it had grown up to be this cookie. I can hear its muffled regret from inside the cereal box. These are seriously delicious.

Pineapple Blueberry Muffin

Gwenny is at an awkward food phase. She wants to feed herself, and she doesn't have molars. Veggies are a real problem. Breakfast and lunch are pretty manageable, but we have problems around dinner, especially when we go out. I need something I can just grab and go as a back up if we can't find suitable food. My solution: frozen muffins.

Not just any muffins. I want whole grains, protein and veggies involved. So I created these today. I used oat flour for the additional iron and protein. Also, molasses instead of refined sugar gives these muffins extra calcium, magnesium, iron and potassium. I included carrots to sneak in a veggie and nuts for more protein.

It's a lot of ingredients, but these are meals in a muffin! Seriously, they leave nothing out.

Ingredients
1 c oat flour (make from whole rolled oats and a food processor or coffee grinder)
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c flax seed meal
2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 medium carrots, grated (or finely chopped, if you already have the food processor out from the oats)
1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple with juice
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 c milk
1/2-3/4 c molasses (you could use same amount of honey or 1/2 c brown sugar)
1 t vanilla
1 t grated orange zest (delicious, but unnecessary)
2 c fresh or frozen blueberries
1 c chopped nuts (I use pecans because I'm allergic to walnuts)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375.
Combine dry ingredients and whisk together. Then mix in carrots and pineapple.
Beat wet ingredients in a large bowl, then mix in dry ingredients. Lastly, stir in blueberries and nuts. Mix as little as possible for fluffy muffins.
Grease muffin tin and fill cups with 1/4 c of batter.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.

The most difficult part - putting them in the freezer to eat another day. Gwenny and I could easily eat six of them right now. :)

Cupcakes

I love the recent cupcake trend. Cupcakes allows me to enjoy cake with much less frosting and much less temptation to take a huge piece. So when I was planning a baby shower with friends, I volunteered to make cupcakes for the event.

In the process of finding a recipe that looked complicated enough to be wonderful but simple enough that I could complete (baking isn’t my forte), I learned some neat tricks for baking.

Oil/fat is needed in baking products to keep gluten from forming. However, plant based oils react differently with flour than animals based fats do. For a fluffier consistency, use oil. Fat (butter, crisco, etc...) make a denser consistency.

Egg whites, if beaten a little after adding them to your batter, make your cupcakes huge and beautiful and fluffy, which also helps to stretch your batter a little.

A cheat to avoid sifting flour (this is especially handy when you’re making 60 cupcakes, like I was) - use a whisk. Just dump all of your dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and run the whisk attachment through them for 30 seconds. It mixes, fluffs and breaks up the lumps.

If you don’t have enough batter to fill the baking pan, put water in the empty cups. It keeps the heat circulating evenly. Otherwise the heat will concentrate around the filled cups and bake too quickly.

Here’s the recipe for the Carrot Cupcakes I made for Kristin's baby shower:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2 cups of all purpose flour

2 cups of sugar

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t ground cloves

1/4 t nutmeg

3 cups of grated carrots

Mix these ingredients until the carrots are covered in the flour mixture, then add:

1 cup of oil

4 eggs (or the equivalent in egg whites)

1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate

1 t vanilla

Mix for 2 minutes on high.

Pour batter into greased muffin tins, filling cups 1/2 - 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Makes about 20.

Hope that’s helpful. Enjoy your cupcakes.