Gluten-free, dairy-free Challah (individual rolls)

Gluten-free, dairy free Challah Rolls

Many years ago, before I went gluten free, I made a challah recipe from a booklet which I had purchased in a health food store in my home town Freiburg in the 1980s.

It was a collection of bread recipes from all over the world, gathered in the early days of the health food movement in the 1970s by visitors from all countries in Sherborne House, Gloucestershire (England).

Gone are the days of this kind of booklets in organic food stores, and gone are the days of careless gluten baking for me ...

But talking to a very dear Jewish friend, I suddenly was overcome by the desire to make some kind of challah. A festive, dairy free bread for Shabbat and Holidays, something special outside of the everyday bread baking, for Jewish people as well as everybody else.

My first idea was to create a braided loaf, the typical beautiful challah.

But let's face it, gluten free dough which can be braided usually ends up pretty sturdy and dense. Or flat. Or both.

I know that is no requirement, but I aimed for something airy, soft, a bit fluffy, without using weird ingredients which normally are not really meant for eating.

Also I wanted to include at least one of the traditional grains, which would be oat, the only option for gluten free. Of course you have to be sure that you can tolerate gluten free oats!

If you don't, you can replace the oat flour easily with buckwheat or yellow corn flour or sorghum flour.

So, if you use oat flour, a loaf that can be braided most probably will end up flat and dense.

There is the option to use a braided loaf pan, which makes beautiful bread, but since I don't own one, I decided to make individual bread rolls using a muffin tin.

Yes, yes, they're not particularly pretty, but I can assure you that they taste particularly yummy! Plus they are made really quickly.

Besides using oat flour, I also used toasted soy flour. In Germany, you can get this in health food stores. In other countries you might have to look for kinako, which can be found in Japanese food stores or online. It is a very fine flour milled from roasted soy beans, with a pleasant nutty flavour.

If you cannot find that, you could use chickpea flour or some neutral plant protein powder. But I strongly recommend looking for the toasted soy flour, it lends a unique flavour to the bread and has a lot of health properties.

For the flax seeds, I used golden flax seeds. If you don't find those, you can also use brown flax seeds. I only use the golden ones for an evenly golden colour of the bread.

There are loaf pans for individual braided challah rolls available. You can use those instead of an ordinary muffin tin. Since they seem to be larger, I suppose the recipe would make about 8 of those braided challah rolls (educated guess!). In any case, don't fill your individual tins more than 2/3.

Also don't use burger pans, because they are not high enough. You want a tin which keeps the bread in shape until it is firm.

So, let's get started!

Ingredients for 12 regular size muffins:

• 1 cup oat flour

• 1/2 cup toasted soy flour (kinako)

• 1/2 cup fine white rice flour

• 1/2 cup potato starch

• 1/2 cup flax golden flax seeds (it's more than 1/2 cup after grinding, so measure before grinding!)

• 3 tsp. xanthan gum

• 1 tbsp. psyllium husks

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 2 tbsp. honey

• 1 tsp. honey or sugar

• 4 tbsp. olive oil

• 3 eggs

• 1 1/2 cups luke warm water

• 20 g fresh yeast or 1 pckg. dry yeast

Preparation:

• Grease muffin tins, if not using any kind of silicone mold.

• In a large bowl, stir 1 tsp. sugar or honey into the water, add the yeast and let stand while you assemble the dry ingredients.

• Grind the flax seeds as finely as possible and combine with all the other dry ingredients from oats to salt.

• The dissolved yeast should be slightly bubbly by now. Add olive oil, eggs and honey and beat with an electric beater until foamy (that happens very quickly).

• Pour the dry ingredients into the wet, beat with the dough hooks until the batter is smooth (about 2 minutes).

• Fill each muffin mold 2/3 with batter, then smooth the tops with a wet spoon so that they are slightly rounded.

• Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 25 minutes. They should rise to about 3/4 inch above the rim of the mold. If they rise more, they might collaps.

• Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) fan assisted (convection oven). If you have a static oven, slightly increase the temperature (190-200°C or 370-390° F).

• Bake for about 20 minutes, then remove the rolls from the tin and bake without tin for another 5-10 minutes.

• Let cool and enjoy! These can be eaten slightly warm, too. They are soft, slice well and freeze well. And they don't get dry after 24 hours, but I'd still recommend freezing any rolls which you don't eat within 24 hours of baking.

Grain and Dairy Free Pistacchio Rugelach

Grain and Dairy free Pistacchio Chocolate Rugelach

Seems like I'm on a rugelach roll ... All of a sudden, the idea of making those rugelach cookies with a filling of pistacchios and chocolate popped into my mind, so I had to make them immediately.

Not much of a story behind these, except that I had planned to spend a lazy Sunday, which was supposed to NOT involve any baking at all.

How wrong I was.

This recipe is different from the first one not only regarding the filling, but I also swapped the ground almonds and cashews in the cookie dough for ground walnuts. That does make the dough even harder to roll out (not that the first one was great to roll out, but I suck at rolling out anyway, so never mind). You can sure use ground almonds and cashews instead or maybe even ground pecans. The walnuts have a unique flavour, though.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 100 g potato starch
• 25 g tapioca starch
• 125 g ground walnuts
• 1/8 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 50 g sugar (or in my case xylitol)
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. coconut oil
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. cardamom

Filling:

• 150 g pistacchios, shelled, unsalted
• 2 tbsp. potato starch
• 2 tbsp. tapioca starch
• 1/8 tsp. xanthan gum
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. white sugar (or xylitol)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 50 g chopped dark chocolate (80% is best, but 70 will do, too)

Preparation:

• First combine all ingredients for the dough, shape into a small loaf that can be cut into 3 equal pieces, wrap in cling film and put into freezer.
• Place all filling ingredients except for the chocolate in a food processor and process until you get a paste which should be as smooth as possible (there will be still pistacchio pieces in it, which is fine).
• Add the chopped chocolate and stir to combine.
• Take the dough out of the freezer and cut off 1/3 of it, put the rest back into the freezer.
• Preheat oven (static) to 350°F (180°C).
• On a board, roll the dough between to pieces of non stick baking parchment into a rectangle about 25 x 15 x 0.5 cm.
• Distribute 1/3 of the filling on the dough and roll it up from the long end so that you get a long roll. Cut into ca. 2 cm pieces and place onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment.
• Proceed the same way with the second and third batch.
• Bake for about 20 minutes (depending on your oven, one or two minutes more or less, so watch the cookies after 18 minutes!)
• Let the cookies firm up on the baking tray for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. They can be stored in a cookie tin for up to a week (if they make it that long).
• Enjoy!

Grain and Dairy Free Rugelach

Grain and Dairy free Rugelach

From the flood of recipes available on the internet, this must be the most popular Jewish dessert ever. I'm no specialist on that topic, but I know I have thought about rugelach myself more than one time during the past couple of years.

There are recipes with yeast, without yeast, with cream cheese, without cream cheese, vegan, gluten free - I guess I was just plain unsure about what actually is the original recipe of rugelach. I mean, a baked good made with yeast is quite different from one without yeast, right?

Some weeks ago my dear friend Sharon told me she was going to buy her favourite desserts for Passover and that she thought they might be gluten free. I was a bit confused because I thought there had matzo meal to be involved, which of course is not gluten free.

Turns out I was completely ignorant of the actual rules of preparing food for Passover. There must not be raw flour from grains involved, thus many desserts nowadays are gluten free because they are just plain made with nut flour and potato or tapioca starch to avoid any problems that could arise when the matzo has not been made well enough to not leave any pockets of flour in it.

We found that Sharon was right: all the goodies were gluten free, and among them were also chocolate rugelach.

I was totally flashed by the look of them and decided that I HAD to make them.

She sent me the ingredient list and told me that these particular rugelach were very cookie-like, not flaky as they probably would be when made with cream cheese.

The cashews in the ingredient list might hint that they used vegan cream cheese made from cashews, but I decided to just use ground cashews and go ahead to see what happened.

And what happened were some of the most delicious cookies I've ever made, if I may say so myself. Sometimes you just get it with the first attempt, throw things together, and the result is perfect. Most probably that happens when you're in the flow.

When I made these, I most definitely was in the flow!

Ingredients:

Dough:

100 g potato starch

25 g tapioca starch

75 g ground almonds

50 g ground cashews

1/8 tsp. xanthan gum

1 tsp. baking powder

50 g sugar (or in my case xylitol)

1 egg

2 tbsp. coconut oil

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. coconut milk

vanilla, cinnamon to taste

Chocolate filling:

50 g ground cashews

25 g ground almonds

2 tbsp. potato starch

1 tbsp. tapioca starch

1/8 tsp. xanthan gum

3 tbsp. cocoa powder

1 tbsp. maple syrup

3 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. white sugar (or xylitol)

50 g dark chocolate (70%), chopped

2 tbsp. coconut oil, melted

1 tbsp. olivve oil

4 tbsp. coconut milk

Preparation:

First combine all ingredients for the dough, shape into a small loaf that can be cut into 3 equal pieces, wrap in cling film and put into freezer.

Place all filling ingredients in a food processor and process until you get a paste which should be as smooth as possible (there will be still chocolate pieces in it).

Take the dough out of the freezer and cut off 1/3 of it, put the rest back into the freezer.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).

On a board, roll the dough into a rectangle about 25 x 15 x 0.5 cm.

Distribute 1/3 of the filling on the dough and roll it up from the long end so that you get a long roll. Cut into ca. 2 cm pieces, place onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment and bake for 22-25 minutes.

While the first batch is cooking, proceed with the second. Depending on how quick you are, you can get the second and third batch ready within the 22-25 minutes baking time of the first batch.

Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack. They can be stored in a cookie tin for up to a week (if they make it that long).

Enjoy!

Gluten free apple bread with chestnut flour

Gluten-free apple bread with chestnut flour

This is my favourite apple bread which I've already made dozens of times before going gluten free.

It's moist, rich, sweet and extremely satisfying, and since I replaced the sugar by xylitol, it's really healthy.

If you don't get chestnut flour, just don't worry. You can use any gluten free flour mix which you have on hand. Just make sure that it contains psyllium husks or ground chia seeds or it will be a crumbly mess.

I've never used xanthan gum in it, but I suppose xanthan gum will work just as well.

For the non-gluten free folks: Just use 500 g of spelt, whole wheat or any all purpose flour. It will work.

You can also use 400 g ap flour and 100 g chestnut flour.

The hazelnuts may be replaced by pecans. Walnuts might be good, too, haven't tried it yet, but apples and walnuts always pair well.

Usually I make two small loafs, but you can also make a large one.

Ingredients:

• 750 g apples
• 100 g sweet chestnut flour
• 250 g buckwheat flour
• 100 g tapioca starch
• 50 g potato (or corn) starch
• 1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 200 g sugar or xylitol
• 2 tbsp. raw cane sugar (muscovado sugar)
• 200 g raisins
• 200 g hazelnuts
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 100 ml brown rum
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 tbsp. psyllium husks or 3 tbsp. ground chia seeds
• 1 package baking powder (ca. 1 heaped tbsp.)

Preparation:

• The evening before baking, peel, core and cube the apples and combine with all other ingredients except for the flour, psyllium husks or chia seeds and salt.
• Let stand overnight.
• The following morning, preheat oven to 338°F (170°C) fan assisted (if you don't have a convection oven, preheat to 350°F).
• Grease two 4x8 or 9 inch loaf pans (or one larger one).
• Combine the apple mixture with the flours, psyllium husks or chia seeds, baking powder and salt.
• Fill into loaf pan(s) and let stand for some minutes to allow the psyllium husks or chia seeds to swell.
• Bake at 338°F in a convection oven or 350°F in a static oven for 60 minutes.
• After about 25 minutes, cover the pans to prevent the top from burning, and remove the foil 10 minutes before the baking time ends.
• Let cool for several minutes, then remove loafs from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.
• Enjoy with butter, cream cheese, ice cream or just plain!
• Bon Appetit!

Gluten Free Maltese Ftira

Gluten Free Maltese Ftira

This is a project which I started during a cooking world tour. Our first two destinations were Malta and Hawaii, and since my prefered flavours are Mediterranean and Middle Eastern, Malta is my favourite of the two.

It is influenced by the whole Mediterranean and Levante region and blends together the best elements from all those countries.

There is just one concern for those of us who are gluten free: The pizza issue which occurs in every one of those regions. Call it pizza, pita or whatever you like, those flat breads or pockets with filling are not accessible unless we make our own.

So I took the Challenge to make ftira, the Maltese version of pizza, my own gluten free way.

I call it a project because my first attempt at it was delicious, but the dough was not perfect. For a start, I followed the instructions of traditional ftira dough, to see what happens when made gluten free and to learn what should be made differently to get the desired result. That's what I post now - I'll update when I've tried another method.

Traditionally, the dough rests in a warm spot for about three hours, then rests in the fridge overnight.

I made it the other way round: First rest in the fridge overnight, then four hours in the warm kitchen.

After rolling and filling it, it did not rise anymore or bake up in the oven - I already expected that but wanted to try.

So I ended up with a thin and very crisp crust which I loved because I love pizza with thin crisp crusts.

Usually the best thing to do with gluten free yeast dough is to knead it and then let it rise in the final shape. Which means, knead it and then form the loaf or crust or whatever you want to get at the end, and then let it rise.

So, when I make this again, I won't let it rest overnight but will make it an hour before it goes into the oven, make the crust and let it rise in a warm place.

Still, even though it didn't puff up in the oven, it really was very yummy!

Also I have to experiment a bit with baking time and temperature. The recipe said 20-30 minutes at 200°C. I think 220° will do better, so that's what I'll do next time, too.

For the dough I used the flour blend which I usually use for pizza.

This recipe makes two of the ftira which you can see on the photos. I only made one and froze the second portion of the dough for later use. This was the perfect amount for DH and me for lunch / dinner.

Before baking

After baking - you can see that it didn't rise anymore

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 3/4 cup sorghum flour
• 1/2 cup sweet rice flour
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 1/2 cup tapioca starch
• 1/4 cup fine yellow maize flour (corn flour, not cornstach!)
• 2 tsp. xanthan gum
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tsp. yeast
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. sugar or honey
• 1 cup warm water (a little less maybe)

Filling:

• 1 medium potato
• 1 large tomato or 2 medium tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 can sardines in olive oil
• 15 black olives, sliced
• some pieces of goat's cheese, as much as you like
• some dollops of ricotta (I used goat's cream cheese)
• salt, pepper, dried oregano to taste

Preparation:

• Blend together the flours and xanthan gum.
• Of this blend take 2 cups and place in a bowl, you will have 1/4 cup left which you can use for dusting the work surface.
• To the two cups, add salt, yeast and sugar.
• Add oil and water, 3/4 cup first, then as much more as is needed to get a soft but still kneadable dough.
• This is best kneaded by hand to get a feeling of the consistency.
• Sprinkle your working space with some of the remaining flour mix, the knead the dough for some minutes.
• Form a round loaf, lightly oil a bowl, place the dough in the bowl, cover with cling film and let sit in the fridge overnight.
• The next morning, get the dough out of the fridge and let it sit in a warm place for at least three hours, four are better.
• When ready to bake, preheat oven to 200°C.
• Divide the dough in half.
• Place one portion on a baking tray layered with baking paper or a silicon mat like the one you see on my photo.
• Roll it out (best between two sheets of baking paper) or just flatten and pull it with your hands as I did, until you have an oval or rectangle which is about 30x25 cm wide and about 1/2 to 3/4 cm thick.
• Brush the dough with olive oil.
• Thinly slice the potato and layer it on the dough, leaving a spare rim of about 3-4 cm.
• Lightly sprinkle the potato slices with salt and pepper.
• Thinly slice the tomato, cut the slices in half and layer over the potato slices.
• Mince the garlic and scatter over the tomatoe slices.
• Scatter the sardine pieces over the tomatoes, then the sliced olives.
• Lastly add the cheese and sprinkle with dried oregano.
• Bake at 200°C for about 10 minutes, then rise the temperature to 220°C and bake for another 10-15 or so minutes.
• Pull out of the oven and let cool a bit or serve immediately.
• Bon Appetit!

Gluten free Double Chocolate Cookies

Double Chocolate Cookies (gluten free)

These cookies have been created for the Ready, Set, Cook Game. One of the main ingredients on the list was chocolate - does it get any better?!? I mean, chocolate and chocolate, that is, double chocolate. Cookies, of course. The moment I saw the ingredients, the recipe appeared in my mind, so - there you are.

For the flours I used white rice flour and potato flour (i.e. potato starch). You can just use regular wheat flour if you're not gluten free.

Normally, chocolate and butter have different melting points, so it would be correct to first melt the chocolate in a bain-marie and then add the butter. I made a shortcut, popped chocolate and butter in a small pot and melted it together on very low heat on the stove top. You just have to be careful that it doesn't burn.

To form the cookies, I used a small ice cream scoop / melon baller with ca. 1 inch in diameter. That made 85 small cookies. Feel free to use a larger scoop and make larger cookies. The cooking time might be a little longer for larger cookies.

The cookies turned out soft and a bit cakey, just the way I wanted them. For a crispier cookie, maybe try to bake them a little longer, but be careful not to burn them and consider that they might get a little dry when made gluten free.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 60 g dark chocolate (I used 70%)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup potato flour (=potato starch)
• (or 1 1/2 cups regular flour for not gluten free)
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preparation:

• Over very low heat, slowly melt together butter and chopped chocolate
• Preheat oven to 350 °F / 180°C fan assisted
• In a bowl, combine the two flours with baking powder and salt
• With a mixer, cream together the melted butter and chocolate with the sugars
• Add the eggs one after the other, completely incorporating the first one before adding the second one
• With the mixer still working, slowly add the flour until completely incorporated
• Continue mixing with a spoon and add first the oats, then the chocolate chips
• Using a cookie scoop, place little or larger mounds on a paper lined cookie sheet
• Bake at 350° F / 180° C in a fan assisted oven for exactly 10 minutes
• Let cool cookies on the sheet until they have firmed up, then let cool completely on a wire rack.
• Enjoy!
  
  
  I'm completely clueless about how to add a photo to a comment, so I just add Mikekey's photo of these lovelies to the post. He made them with regular instead of gluten free flour, and they look fabulous! Thanks so much for trying these!
  
  

  

   

Spiced Green Tea Lime Cooler

 

Spiced Green Tea Lime Cooler

This beverage was created for the Ready Set Cook Game RCS 2018 of my favourite cooking community.

Main ingredient:

Green tea!

This recipe just popped into my mind when I read the ingredient list. Not a huge fan of cold tea beverages, but all of a sudden I knew I wanted this... And it turned out really delicious, even though the colour is a bit strange because of the evaporated cane juice!

Feel free to adjust the spices to your taste.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of cold green tea (I used gunpowder)
• Juice of 1 1/2 limes
• 1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
• 1/8 (or less, to taste) teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar (evaporated cane juice, or jaggery)
• 1 Slice of lime (garnish)

Preparation:

• Brew green tea and let cool completely, if you want it really cold, let it stand in the fridge overnight or for a couple of hours.
• Put 2 teaspoons of brown sugar into a tall glass.
• Combine cold tea, lime juice and spices, stir well.
• Pour over brown sugar.
• Serve with a slice of lime.
  Enjoy!

Spicy Breakfast Rice with Walnuts, Pistachios and Raisins

 

Spicy Breakfast Rice with Walnuts, Pistachios and Raisins

I like to make some spicy breakfast dish from left over rice, and today this was what crossed my mind. Red rice, rose and red pepper salt, cardamom, cinnamon, pistachios, walnuts, raisins and cranberries and some dried green olives.

When I cook rice, I don't add salt so that I'm free to decide for rice pudding if the mood strikes.

That's very rare, though, usually I want something spicy. Or something spicy with a little sweetness added, like a tablespoon of raisins and dried cranberries.

For the salt, I used a spanish sea salt scented with dried and ground rose petals and mixed with red pepper. Fell free to use any kind of salt, or other spices.

Of course just some rice, even whole grain red rice, is not enough for me for a full breakfast, so it went along with a boiled egg, two slices of goat's cheese, some slices of cucumber and some date tomatoes.

Ingredients for the rice for 1 person:

• cooked rice, ca. 1/2 cup (about 50 g uncooked I suppose)
• 1 tablespoon walnut halves, broken into pieces
• 1/2 tablespoon pistachios
• 1/2 tablespoon raisins
• 1/2 tablespoon dried cranberries
• 1/2 tablespoon dried olives, optional
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil

Preparation:

• In a hot skillet, toast walnut pieces and pistachios until lightly browned and fragrant, set aside
• Gently fry the rice in 1 teaspoon coconut oil, then add salt, spices, nuts, raisins and cranberries and olives, if using, heat through and serve with eggs, cheese, vegetables as you like.

Gluten free Pistachio Sesame Seed Biscotti

 

Gluten free Pistachio Sesame Seed Biscotti

These biscotti are easy to make and have a beautifully oriental touch due to the sesame seeds, pistachios and cardamom. You also might try to add some rose water or orange blossom water - I know I will do it next time!

Maybe reduce the butter  a bit when you do it.

You can even make them with normal plain old wheat or spelt flour if you're not gluten intolerant. Just skip the xanthan if you do.

Ingredients:

• 100 g ground almonds (almond meal)
• 50 g sorghum flour
• 50 g potato starch
• 35 g pistachios, chopped
• 35 g pistachios, whole
• 80 g sesame seeds
• 60 g butter, cold, in small cubes
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup powdered sugar (or powdered erythritol)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. real vanilla (or extract)
• 1 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1 tsp. anise seeds

Preparation:

• Lightly beat the egg (just to break it up, not until it gets foamy).
• In a bowl, combine almond meal, sorghum flour, potato starch, powdered sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, vanilla if using real vanilla, cardamom and anise seeds. If using vanilla extract, add it to the lightly beaten egg.
• Preheat oven to 320°F / 160°C (fan assisted).
• Add cold butter cubes to the dry mix, cut into the flour with a pastry cutter or a fork until crumbly.
• Add pistachios and sesame seeds, stir, then add in lightly beaten egg.
• Knead until dough comes together, then dump the dough onto a large cutting board. Divide into two equal pieces.
• Shape each lump of dough into a loaf which is about 11-12 inches long, 3/4 inches high and 2 inches wide.
• Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in preheated convection oven for 20-30 minutes (mine took 25 minutes) until golden brown.
• Let cool for at least 20 minutes, then cut diagonally into 1/2 inch slices. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a static oven at 320°F / 160°C for about 23 minutes.
• Let cool completely and store in airtight container for up to 14 days.

Bon appetit!