GF Hamburger Buns

I was planning on having the house to myself tonight.  Riley was going to take the Maestro and Hildr to Nearby Competing University (NCU) today to visit some friends of ours who got a job there last year.  We are under a winter storm advisory, so she is not going until Saturday, if plans hold.

 

Right now it is raining, and the temperature 36 F, and steadily dropping.  They could have left early this morning and tried to outrun the ice, but Riley grew up in the Southwest, and doesn't drive peacefully in the precipitation.  By the time she got there, she'd have been so worn out from the tension of driving safe that she probably wouldn't have been driving safe.  And that doesn't even include time for having to stop at a MacDonald's play place (where the Maestro can't eat any food) so they can run.

 

We're supposed to get ice by this afternoon, followed by up to six inches of snow by the end of tomorrow.  Hopefully, things will be cleared by Saturday, and they can go then.

 

I mention all of this here because I was going to make GF Hamburger Buns tonight, using the GF yeast free pizza crust recipe  I talked about earlier.  Because the Maestro is GFCF, and can't eat cheese, I was going to make a big batch of dough, and have pizza tomorrow without him.

 

We'll see how this weekend goes.  Hopefully, I can get those done next week.

 

Needless to say, our short-sleeved yard work of last week is done, and I didn't ride my bike to work this mroning.

Pumpkin-Fest Soup

Yesterday was out 9^th annual Pumpkin-Fest, the first to appear in a gluten and casein free format.  It seems like every year we have the same debate at our house regarding the scope of Pumpkin-Fest.  Do we invite everyone, or do we only invite a few people?   If we only invite a few people, who gets left off the list?  If we invite everyone, how are we possibly going to manage hosting such a gathering?   Who is going to get everything ready?  Who is going to stress about getting everything ready?  Why are we doing this, really?

 

It took us longer than usual to get these questions settled this year, partly because people got sick, partly because I've been taking extra time with work to get together job applications.   Usually, we hold Pumpkin-Fest two weeks ago.

 

Really, it turns out that the problem with Pumpkin-Fest appears to be the feelings of those who were important enough to us to be invited in the past, but not important enough to us to be invited this year.   Riley worries about people having their feelings hurt when they realize that Pumpkin-Fest came and went without them hearing from us.  I tend to think that by definition, the feelings of people who aren't important enough to us to be invited aren't important enough to worry about.   That sounds harsher than I intend it, but close enough that I'll clarify instead of deleting that sentence and starting over.

 

Many of our closest friends have moved since the last Pumpkin-Fest.  Hildegard blew into town on the west wind, and became part of the family.   Of the people who have been to Pumpkin-Fest in the past, there was really only one family who has ever given me the impression that it was important to them.   So, this year, it was Hildegard and that one family.  The family who thinks that the Gluten-free thing is in my head weren't invited.  The family who didn't eat any pumpkin foods at last year's event weren't invited either, though they are quite dear to Riley.  You disregard the Pumpkin-Fest, the Pumpkin-Fest rolls on without you.   Tidal waves don't ask forgiveness.  There was one family who came late last year that I could have invited, if there had been room on Riley's stress meter, but there wasn't.   The Maestro would rather have a late Halloween party with them anyway.

 

Riley decided that she wanted to serve hotdogs and chips this year.  The Family who was coming has a son the Maestro's age, and one who is about eight.   In the past, kids haven't been the most open to a meal centered on gourd-fruits, and having another option kids are guaranteed to eat makes it easier for Riley to relax.   In the past, quite a few parents have fed their kids prior to arrival, which we wanted to minimize.  We used Ball Park regular hot dogs, which claim to be GFCF.

 

Because this year was a smaller event, we only made one main dish, a killer pumpkin soup, with wild rice and apple topping.   Topping for a soup, you ask?  Yes.  And it is Awe-some.  When Riley and I were dating, we considered buying a Leek, and a lady at the store dissuaded us, because "Those are Nasty!"   The majority of the flavor from the soup comes from the leek, so I swear she must be wrong.  We definitely need to investigate this vegetable more closely.   Having ancestors from Wales, I feel a special kinship to leeks, I think.

 

We ended up not having any almonds, so I used pecans instead.  Our pumpkin was smaller than the recipe needed, and Riley didn't come home with parsnips, so we added a whole sweet potato to make up for some vegetable volume.   We are casein-free at this house, so we used Fleischman's unsalted margarine instead of butter.  This is the second time we have served this soup, to rave-reviews each time.   It's one of those soups that can convince people who think they don't like pumpkin that a pumpkin soup is great after all.  I think that we could put whatever vegetable we want in it without deviating from the overall intention of the soup too much.   The dominant flavor is the leek, and while I am not suggesting that sweet potato tastes like parsnip or pumpkin, altering the vegetable composition is going to have a subtle effect on the background flavors.

 

Oh, and we like double topping, so you should make lots of that.  I haven't doubled the quantities in the recipe below.

 

 

Pumpkin Soup with Wild Rice and Apples

 

Soup

2 Tbsp Slivered Almonds

3 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 onion, diced

1 leek, white part only, sliced

1 pumpkin, seeded, peeled, cut, 4 cups

1 large turnip, peeled, sliced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 large parsnip, peeled and sliced

2 ¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground pepper

3 ½-4 cups chicken stock

2 sprigs thyme

 

Topping

1/3 cup wild rice

1 apple, cored and sliced

2 scallions, sliced

pinch of cayenne pepper

 

1.       Brown almonds in frying pan.  Chop and set aside.

2.       Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a large stock pot and sauté onions until soft.  Add leek and cook 5 minutes.  Add remaining vegetables (pumpkin, turnip, carrots, parsnip), 2 tsp salt and pepper.   Cook unit vegetables are soft.

3.       Add stock and thyme.  Bring to boil and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

4.       Allow soup to cool slightly, transfer half to blender, and puree.  Return to stock pot.

5.       Cook wild rice with ½ tsp salt.  Wild rice takes about an hour.

6.       Heat remaining butter in large frying pan.  Add apple and cook until soft.  Add scallions, remaining salt and cayenne.   Cook unit scallions are soft, about 1 minute.  Add rice and reserved nuts.

7.       Ladle soup into bowls, and garnish with wild rice and apples.

 

 

 

Pumpkin-Fest Dessert Pie

For dessert, we ended up going for pumpkin pie.  Traditionally, we don't have pumpkin pie at Pumpkin-Fest, but with this year's guest list, it seemed like a good time to try out a gluten-free pie crust without anyone being disappointed if it didn't turn out.   Hildegard said that she has a recipe that uses potato flour (not starch) that is OK, but not great.  I used the shortening crust recipe from "The Pie and Pastry Bible" by Rose Levy Berenbaum, substituting 2:1 Jowar/Tapioca Flour for the pastry flour, because that is the basic mix I am using for everything these days.   I also added 1 ½ tsp Xanthan gum, because another Jowar crust recipe I have used that much.  I'm not sure what effect the Xanthan gum has on a pie crust, because you don't really add enough water to get the helixes stretching out, like you would in a muffin batter.   This is something to investigate further.

 

I got it to roll-out fine, but it cracked when I tried to pick it up to put it in the pie plate.  Hildegard, who is the only person I know personally who has ever tried gluten-free pie crust, said that you just have to pat it into the pie plate.   It really only had two big cracks, so it was mostly a uniform thickness.  I'm not sure whether patting it into the pie plate gets you a better crust than that, but it would save time rolling out a crust that is going to break anyway.   I'm thinking about adding an egg, which was anathema to me in the pre-gluten-free days, but might be appropriate now.

 

I filled the pie with pumpkin custard for which I'm sure you have plenty of recipes already, so you don't need mine.   The only modifications were that I used rice milk instead of cow's milk, about 2/3 equivalents for real maple syrup instead of the sugar, and added an extra egg.

 

When I cut the pie, a bit of the crust broke off.  I handed it to Hildegard, who popped it into her mouth.   With wide eyes, she said "That tastes so good that I feel like I am going to be sick eating it!"  Compliments sound different coming from celiacs, don't they?   I was really pleased.  Riley had eaten my Pastry flour/Butter crust before, so thiis was not going to be near that, in taste or texture, so Hildegard's reaction was the one I most cared to see.

 

Compared to my wheat flour crusts from the old days, it was a little crunchier, without being tough, and it wasn't as flaky.   The Crisco wasn't as cold as it should have been when I mixed it up, so I would have been surprised if it had turned out very flaky, anyway.  And, as mentioned, it wasn't as malleable when rolled out.   This wasn't a really discerning crowd, as far as pie crust goes, but it satisfied the wheat-eaters, who didn't have any comment on it.

 

Hildegard is taking a pie to her brother's for regular American Thanksgiving this week, and asked me to teach her to make this crust.   I'll try using colder shortening, and maybe a second crust with egg, so see if that makes it more malleable.  Perhaps if I mix the Xanthan gum with the egg first, and add it in a separate step from the shortening?   Any suggestions are welcome.

 

Pie Crust

 

9 Tbsp Shortening

1 ½ c 2:1 Jowar/Tapioca Mix

½ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp Xanthan Gum

6Tbsp water (or more)

Sweet Rice flour for dusting.

 

1.       Mix flour mixture with salt and Xanthan Gum. 

2.       With pastry blender, cut in shortening until chunks are pea-sized.  Drizzle in water 1 Tbsp at a time until dough starts to clump together.

3.       Cool in refrigerator.

4.       Roll out, carefully, dusting surface with sweet rice flour to prevent it sticking to the rolling-pin.

5.       Carefully peal crust off the pastry board with a spatula.  Transfer to 9 inch pie plate.

6.       Mash dough pieces from what used to be a rolled-out crust into pie plate.

7.       Pour in pie filling, and bake until set.

Sturdy Muffins

A problem that I have had with muffins is having them go soggy before I am ready for them to. The addition of some rice flour seems to fix that right up. I am using 2:1 Jowar/Tapioca flour as my go to flour these days, so I typically mix that 2:1 with brown rice flour, or divide it roughly along those lines. In the following recipe, which started with 1 2/3 cup flour, I went with 1:0.66, just to make the math easier.

Sturdy Apricot-spice Muffins

1 c 2:1 Jowar/Tapioca Flour Mix

½ c Brown Rice Flour

¼ c Soy Flour

¼ c sugar

2 ½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp xanthan gum

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

dash cloves

2 eggs

1 c milk or soy milk

1/3 c vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

(optional)

½ c chopped apricots

¼ chopped nuts

UPDATE: I accidently had baking powder listed twice. The second one should have been xanthan gum

Pumpkin Muffins

Here is my new recipe for GF pumpkin muffins.  These end up a lot like cupcakes, actually, so I thought they would work well as a sugar-free version, for Hildegard.   To make that conversion, I simply left out the sugar, and put in a little stevia.  The secret here is that there is a lot of wet fruity matter, in the form of pumpkin to make up the texture.

 

Cory's Pumpkin Muffins (adapted)

 

1 ½ c sugar

1 c pumpkin

½ c oil

½ c water

2 eggs

1 c Jowar/Tapioca Flour Mix

2/3 c Brown Rice Flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp cloves

 

Hildegard's Perfect Sugar Free Pumpkin Muffins

 

<s>1 ½ c sugar</s>

2 tsp Stevia powder

1 c pumpkin

½ c oil

½ c water

2 eggs

1 c Jowar/Tapioca Flour Mix

2/3 c Brown Rice Flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp cloves

 

 

Pizza Crust and Hamburger Buns

I've perfected the yeast free bread recipe I had high hopes for.  I've used it so far to make pizza crust, mashing it down into a cast iron frying pan   before baking, and for hamburger buns, dolloping some left-over pizza crust into another pan, and not mashing it down as much.  I need to try some large scale hamburger bun production, but the first one went well.   This recipe doesn't brown very well, so watch for that.  I haven't tried this as a loaf, but it is pretty soft, so I don't expect it to hold up in a tall form.

 

Yeast Free Bread

 

1 ½ c 2:1 Jowar/Tapioca Flour Mix

¼ c Soy Flour

¼ c Additional Tapioca Flour

2 ½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp sugar, (or 1 tsp stevia, if making for Hildegard)

2 eggs

1 c milk or soy milk

1/3 c vegetable oil

 

Look! I'm a lead balloon!

As some of you know, I have three blogs: a work blog, a food blog, and a cello lesson blog. I usually keep these three separate, because foodies don't usually care so much about the problems of academia, academics tend to eat what they want, and my three-year-old's music has little to do with what I am baking or working on at school. This post is going on both my work blog and my food blog because it deals with both, plus some of my academic friends might have this problem. What the heck, I guess I'll put it on the cello blog too, just for kicks.

I feel like crap.

I don't have celiac disease. I don't have celiac disease, officially. I don't have celiac disease the way so many of you have it. I thought. Perhaps I am wrong.

My son, the Maestro, has sensory-integration disfunction, sensory-processing disorder, or a bunch of other names for something that means he is really touchy about a number of things. Sound is an easy example to explain. He can't handle noise, but he loves music. He would be the kid upstairs drumming and singing into the karaoke machine. Anyone else's noise drives him up the wall, or at least makes him want to slam himself against the wall. I think music is an ordered form of controlled noise like auditory methadone. He doesn't like dissonance, perhaps because it feels disordered to him, and "hurts his feelings".

Earlier this year, we found some literature on the link between autism and certain proteins, including gluten. Sensory Integration Disfunction is present it a lot of autism cases, so after consultation with SciFinder, we decided to give it a try. We took the Maestro off gluten and casein, and it has made a huge difference in his ability to control his reactions to sensory input.

I live pretty far from the rest of my family, and have missed most of them going off wheat. My Mom doesn't eat wheat, and all of my siblings either don't eat it, or have kids who don't or shouldn't. My Mom had told me several times that I should give it a try, but how do you "try" going off wheat? It is everywhere, in everything.

So, suddenly I have a kid who needs to eat something else. Sorghum, or Jowar, flour is a good substitute, if you can learn how to handle it, hence the Gluten-free blog. So I gave it a try myself, and felt a lot better. I hadn't really felt sick, but I was tired a lot. I fell asleep in a lot of group meetings and seminars. I went off wheat, and I stopped being tired all the time. That was good enough for me, I was going wheat-free for good.

We're pretty strict with the Maestro's diet. We watch out for modified food starch and barley malt and dextrose for him. I have always had a problem with oats, and now wheat. I haven't been concerned about traces of gluten in what I ate, however. The rest of my family claims that they feel OK eating spelt, oats and rye, so it must just be a wheat issue with us.

I have always had an iron stomach. I throw up every 10 years or so. If Riley or the kids get the stomach flu and are turning themselves inside out all over the house, I tend to feel a little queasy, but no more than that. I can't be a celiac. The Maestro and my little sister Rai both had the blood tests, which came out negative. It's not celiac disease in my family.

Yesterday, I didn't bring enough lunch to work, and got hungry in the afternoon. So I went to the store on the corner and bought a snack. Hmmm. Nestle's Crunch (with Caramel). Tasty.

About ten minutes later, I was sitting at my computer when my brain did a little flip-flop in my skull. My head hurts. My back hurts. I feel weak and trembly. My head, where it doesn't hurt, feels kind of like a lead balloon --heavy and hollow at the same time.

Crunch contains crisped rice (rice flour, sugar, barley malt, traces of wheat gluten). All the celiac bloggers are saying "Why did you eat that?!! That's so stupid! Of course you are going to feel like crap!" Um, I don't have celiac disease, I am just wheat sensitive? Um, I guess not. If I don't have celiac disease, officially, I guess I need to eat like I do. And no, I am not about to start eating in order to do the gluten challenge sufficient for an endoscopy, so don't even suggest it. The blood test would come out negative, just like for the rest of my family, so that isn't likely to be any more helpful.

I had hoped I would feel better when I woke up this morning, but I don't. Oh, and my iron stomach feels a little queasy this morning.

Did you know that one in between 100 and 133 people have celiac disease, depending on where you get your statistics. This ranks it up with hyper-tension with numbers. That is the statistic for people who don't know they have it. You may be that one person who has celiac disease and doesn't know it. Head-aches? Tired or sick a lot? Digestive problems that no one can explain? Weird persistent rashes? Joint problems? Some subset of those? It's worth looking into. A whole generation of doctors didn't study anything about it in medical school, so you basically have to tell them about it. If you think you have it, you should get tested for it before going off gluten, if you care about an official diagnosis. Gee, this would have been a good post for celiac awareness month, wouldn't it?

It may be you. Because it sure isn't me. I don't have celiac disease. I'm just wheat sensitive, right?

Oh, I feel like crap.

Look, I'm a lead balloon!

As some of you know, I have three blogs: a work blog, a food blog, and a cello lesson blog.  I usually keep these three separate, because foodies don't usually care so much about the problems of academia, academics tend to eat what they want, and my three-year-old's music has little to do with what I am baking or working on at school.  This post is going on both my work blog and my food blog because it deals with both, plus some of my academic friends might have this problem.  What the heck, I guess I'll put it on the cello blog too, just for kicks.

 

I feel like crap.

 

I don't have celiac disease.  I don't have celiac disease, officially.  I don't have celiac disease the way so many of you have it.  I thought.  Perhaps I am wrong.

 

My son, the Maestro, has sensory-integration disfunction, sensory-processing disorder, or a bunch of other names for something that means he is really touchy about a number of things.  Sound is an easy example to explain.  He can't handle noise, but he loves music.  He would be the kid upstairs drumming and singing into the karaoke machine.  Anyone else's noise drives him up the wall, or at least makes him want to slam himself against the wall.  I think music is an ordered form of controlled noise like auditory methadone.  He doesn't like dissonance, perhaps because it feels disordered to him, and "hurts his feelings".

 

Earlier this year, we found some literature on the link between autism and certain proteins, including gluten.  Sensory Integration Disfunction is present it a lot of autism cases, so after consultation with SciFinder, we decided to give it a try.  We took the Maestro off gluten and casein, and it has made a huge difference in his ability to control his reactions to sensory input.

 

I live pretty far from the rest of my family, and have missed most of them going off wheat.  My Mom doesn't eat wheat, and all of my siblings either don't eat it, or have kids who don't or shouldn't.  My Mom had told me several times that I should give it a try, but how do you "try" going off wheat?  It is everywhere, in everything.

 

So, suddenly I have a kid who needs to eat something else.  Sorghum, or Jowar, flour is a good substitute, if you can learn how to handle it, hence the Gluten-free blog.  So I gave it a try myself, and felt a lot better.  I hadn't really felt sick, but I was tired a lot.  I fell asleep in a lot of group meetings and seminars.  I went off wheat, and I stopped being tired all the time.  That was good enough for me, I was going wheat-free for good.

 

We're pretty strict with the Maestro's diet.  We watch out for modified food starch and barley malt and dextrose for him.  I have always had a problem with oats, and now wheat.  I haven't been concerned about traces of gluten in what I ate, however.  The rest of my family claims that they feel OK eating spelt, oats and rye, so it must just be a wheat issue with us.

 

I have always had an iron stomach.  I throw up every 10 years or so.  If Riley or the kids get the stomach flu and are turning themselves inside out all over the house, I tend to feel a little queasy, but no more than that.  I can't be a celiac.  The Maestro and my little sister Rai both had the blood tests, which came out negative.  It's not celiac disease in my family.

 

Yesterday, I didn't bring enough lunch to work, and got hungry in the afternoon.  So I went to the store on the corner and bought a snack.  Hmmm.  Nestle's Crunch (with Caramel).  Tasty.

 

About ten minutes later, I was sitting at my computer when my brain did a little flip-flop in my skull.  My head hurts.  My back hurts.  I feel weak and trembly.  My head, where it doesn't hurt, feels kind of like a lead balloon --heavy and hollow at the same time.

 

Crunch contains crisped rice (rice flour, sugar, barley malt, traces of wheat gluten).  All the celiac bloggers are saying "Why did you eat that?!!  That's so stupid!  Of course you are going to feel like crap!"  Um, I don't have celiac disease, I am just wheat sensitive?  Um, I guess not.  If I don't have celiac disease, officially, I guess I need to eat like I do.  And no, I am not about to start eating in order to do the gluten challenge sufficient for an endoscopy, so don't even suggest it.  The blood test would come out negative, just like for the rest of my family, so that isn't likely to be any more helpful.

 

I had hoped I would feel better when I woke up this morning, but I don't.  Oh, and my iron stomach feels a little queasy this morning.

 

Did you know that one in between 100 and 133 people have celiac disease, depending on where you get your statistics.  This ranks it up with hyper-tension with numbers.  That is the statistic for people who don't know they have it.   You may be that one person who has celiac disease and doesn't know it.  Head-aches?  Tired or sick a lot?  Digestive problems that no one can explain?  Weird persistent rashes?  Joint problems?  Some subset of those?  It's worth looking into.  A whole generation of doctors didn't study anything about it in medical school, so you basically have to tell them about it.  If you think you have it, you should get tested for it before going off gluten, if you care about an official diagnosis.  Gee, this would have been a good post for celiac awareness month, wouldn't it?

 

It may be you.  Because it sure isn't me.  I don't have celiac disease.  I'm just wheat sensitive, right?

 

Oh, I feel like crap.

Omnivore's Dilemma

A few weeks ago, Brenden, at Something in Season reviewed The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Micheal Pollan. I had heard an interview with Pollan on NPR so I was interested in another view of his book. Slate's Daily Podcast from yesterday is a long discussion of the book by some literary critics. These critics are not Foodies and don't even seem aware of the term, calling Foodi-ism "Yuppy sensibilities."

They make some good points, and you might be interested in their take on the topic. Their main beef is that he describes the problem so well, and gets too enamoured with living on a farm and killing your own chickens, that he doesn't offer any solutions for the rest of us. I remember that in the NPR interview he said that he offers no solution because he doesn't really know of one.

It sounds to me like he needs to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and on a ride to Bozeman instead of moving to a farm, but I haven't read the book. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time I would like to devote to foodi-ism lately. We even had to postpone PumpkinFest this year, until I am done with academic job applications.