Gluten Free Pull-Aparts: Garlic & Parmesan or Pizza Pull Aparts

I have a confession to make.  I’m addicted to Pinterest.  I haven’t started a Gluten Free Board – YET! – because I know once I do, it will just all be downhill until then.  I will never have to get off my duff to be creative again.  But you know what? … It is perfect reading and browsing for those of us with insomnia (or who can’t fall asleep at night because… well.. because our brains don’t shut off…).

(For those of you who are uninitiated, Pinterest is a visual version of adding bookmarks to your computer – but they remain online and accessible from wherever you have internet access.)

The truly addicting part for me, however, is NOT that I can bookmark my favorite things to do (a bucket list of crafts is what I’m accruing there) and/or teaching ideas (of which there is plethora of great ones, for those of you who teach) but several of my friends whose boards (bookmarks) I can “follow” (much like twitter or Facebook) are pinning some amazing looking food from bloggers.  And OH MY – the lemon bread?  Yes!  It was easy to convert to gluten free so it started the ball.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of “pins” (as they are called) for pull-apart breads.  Exactly like a Monkey Bread (I have an early (2007) gluten free recipe for a monkey bread here).  The difference is mainly that pull-apart breads seem to be savory rather than sweet (although I recently made one to taste like lemonade for the girls – OH MY – do that again soon!).  I knew with my previous monkey bread experience that this was totally do-able, meaning: easy for me to convert to gluten free!

The recipe below we have used for the following flavors of Pull-Apart breads and is truly only limited by your own imagination and taste buds:

Garlic and Parmesan (was a great accompaniment to our pasta: recipe below)
Lemonade (fresh lemon, lemon juice and drizzled with grated candied lemon peel and icing)
Turkey & Cheese stuffed pull Aparts (topped with garlic and parmesan)
Pepperoni Pizza Pull Aparts (stuffed with pepperoni slices and cheese, topped with pizza sauce and more cheese)
Dill and Feta Pull Aparts (added tons of dill and a bit of feta to the dough, topped with garlic and drizzled with butter)
etc….

Pepperoni-Stuffed Pizza Pull Aparts (Kid-Created:  They made the dough, I stuffed, the topped)

You see the drift here:  Basically whatever you want.  I can’t wait to see what you guys will do with this.  Please be sure to come back and inspire me too!  Let me know what you make.  Everyone can use the kitchen-inspiration.  😀

Gluten Free Garlic & Parmesan Pull Apart Bread

Makes one standard pie-plate of pull apart bread (about 12 balls that are 2 inches in diameter or so).  Download/Print a PDF copy of this recipe here.

Basic Recipe Ingredients:

1 cup warm milk (or water or soy milk or rice milk), between 110*-115*F
1 Tablespoon yeast
1 Tablespoon honey
4 Tablespoons melted butter (for dough) + more (for rolling dough balls in)
1 egg
2 1/4 cups Gluten Free Flour Mix (70% whole grain/30% starch)
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

For Garlic-Parmesan Pull-Aparts Add:

1 1/2 teaspoons granulated garlic
1/2 cup shredded parmesan

Directions:

1. Flip your pie plate upside down onto a piece of parchment paper.  Trace the outer edge.  Cut the parchment to fit your tracing.  Flip your pie plate right side up.  Lightly butter the inside bottom of your pie plate (to help the parchment stay in place).  Press the now circle-shaped parchment into the pie plate.  The edges will wrinkle up a bit, but they will make it so much easier to get the pull apart out of the pan when you are done.
2. Preheat your oven to 375F.
3. Mix together your warm milk (110*-115*F), yeast and honey.  Set aside to proof.
4. In the bowl of your mix, blend your dry ingredients:  GF Flour mix, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt.  If you are making the garlic parmesan version, add the granulated garlic now.
5. Add your wet ingredients:  egg, melted butter and proofing mixture (it should have foamed up by now) of milk/honey/yeast.
6. Mix on low until blended.  Then turn mixer up a little faster (#4 on my KitchenAid is our standard with little people helping) and mix for an additional 2-4 minutes.  This is what your dough will look like.

1. Melt a couple of Tablespoons of butter into a cereal bowl.
2. Divide your dough into 12 balls (about 2-2 1/2 inches in diameter).  Roll each in the melted butter than place into your parchment lined pie dish.  Continue until all the balls are coated and placed into the pan.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
3. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes until the crust of the balls are golden brown and the internal temperature registers between 195-204*F.   (See the picture above)
4. Serve warm with an appropriate dipping sauce (if you’d like).  We ate these like garlic bread (the garlic-parmesan, obviously) while our kids liked dipping them into pizza sauce and/or their favorite dipping sauce.

Enjoy!
Kate

GF Flatbread and Cracker Recipe and a GIVE-AWAY!

Gluten free Feta & Dill crackers (with homemade hummus)Photo by Kate Chan

My girls have been asking for “pies” in their lunch boxes lately.  I couldn’t figure out what they wanted.  (Yes, I am the only one who packs their lunches…so yes, I’m … slow.  LOL!)  They assured me that they had eaten peanut butter and jelly pies with lunch.  I was convinced they got snacks at day care.

Turns out they were right.

I have been buying some of the thin, round sandwich thingies at the grocer every once in a blue moon (and especially when I didn’t have time to make bread for everyone).  They are not big bread eaters actually, so it’s been easy to maintain a gluten free house for the most part.  (Save for the ubiquitous box of Goldfish crackers.  I just can’t make enough gluten free mock goldfish crackers to keep up with their demand.  But as an FYI, the gluten free ones are preferred.)

Schools doesn’t break for summer vacation here until June 23.

And THAT seems very far away at the moment.  And thankfully so, I have a ton left to do at work.  But I can’t wait for some time with my girlies too.  I hope we have a warm (not hot) summer and they sun comes to visit.  (It goes missing for several MONTHS of the year here in the PNW.  If you ever hear me moaning about the lack of sunshine, really… I have reason.  I’m totally solar-powered.  This no-sun thing KILLS me.)

Recently, I also applied for a freebie sample of coconut oil from Tropical Traditions.  I did not receive payment for any review, but was provided with a sample.  They also offered a “give away” of one of their jars of coconut oil.  I think I actually like this stuff!  It is more expensive than buying traditional oils  Since so many people have been talking about using coconut oil in lieu of butters, etc, I thought I would give it a try.  We’ve made some fabulously light waffles with it (and the added benefit of coconut smell while oiling the waffle pan was great!  It was alike an invasion of summer.)  If you would like to try it too, please follow these guidelines:

Congratulations to Stephanie C – Winner!

 

Win A Quart of Gold Label Coconut Oil from Tropical Traditions!

 

INFORMATION FROM TROPICAL TRADITIONS:

“Tropical Traditions is America’s source for coconut oil.  Our Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is hand crafted in small batches by family producers, and it is the highest quality coconut oil they offer. You can read more about how virgin coconut oil is different from other coconut oils on our website:  What is Virgin Coconut Oil? Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil. Visit our website to check on current sales, to learn about the many uses of coconut oil, and to read about all the  advantages of buying coconut oil online.  Since the FDA does not want us to discuss the health benefits of coconut oil on a page where it is being sold or given away, here is the best website to read about the health benefits of coconut oil.”

ABOUT TROPICAL TRADITIONS COCONUT OIL:

HOW TO ENTER:  For each ENTRY, post ONE comment below.  You may receive an “ENTRY” by doing any/all of the following.

Just remember to post a new comment for each – sorry, but it’s the easiest way to track entries!

• COMMENT BELOW and tell me your fave idea or current use for coconut oil.
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GIVE AWAY ENDS Friday, June 23, 2012 at midnight.  What a way to kick off summer for me!

A winner will be chosen using RANDOM.ORG.  The winner will be contacted via email to obtain a mailing address for Tropical Traditions.  Tropical Traditions will be mailing/supplying the quart of coconut oil.  Good luck!

So……

Now that you are jazzed to try coconut oil…. here’s a recipe you can start with.  (If you don’t have coconut oil on hand, you can use olive oil or butter.)

I’ve been making quick breads (like the lavash recipe) and others trying to get a speedy answer to lunch for me.  This one, Feta and Dill, is our current favorite.  I began making naan and other flatbread recipes several years ago.  Just as I perfected my recipe, our pizza stone broke.  Why does that matter?  Because all of the recipes that were the most successful had beautiful bread  that would puff up nicely on a pizza stone in the oven.  Without a stone, I rather went back to the drawing board.

Oh, the recipe still works beautifully, but I had to adapt it a little bit to adjust for the different baking/cooking techniques.  This dough can be flattened thinly used to make crackers (picture above) or formed into pita/naan/flatbread (into which I slide a thin sharp knife for sandwiches), etc.  Adjusting the baking times can be adjusted to add more flexibility (more moisture) or a light crisp airy crust (like the pita below).    I’ve even pan-fried them in a little olive oil with a generous sprinkling of sea-salt to make a nice crisp crust.

I love the fact that recipes are so versatile.  Makes for easier on-the-spot adjustment!

As I finish writing this post (which has taken forever this morning to get started!), I realize that we’ve now eaten the 8th or 9th batch with this recipe.  And today, I used my piece (thicker/pita-like) to have a turkey, avocado and sprout sandwich.  My Love used his for a pizza base and the girls ate the chips (above) with hummus.  Sweet deal.

You can also adjust the cheese (use parmesan or asadero or a gluten free bleu).  I suggest sticking to the dry/crumbly cheeses for this so you don’t have to mess with the liquid/dry ratio.

Gluten Free Feta and Dill Flatbread

Recipe makes 8-9 pita shapes or more if flattened thinly for flatbread/chips)

Ingredients:

PROOF:

1/3 cup warm milk

1 teaspoon sugar or honey

2 teaspoons yeast

DRY:

2 cups GF blend (rice, millet or sorghum based – or use GF Mama’s Almond Blend)

         (OR:  1 1/2 cup millet or sorghum or rice + 1/2 tapioca or potato starch)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 cup feta

1 1/2 Tablespoons dried dill

WET:

1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt

1 Tablespoon coconut oil (or butter or olive oil)

1 egg

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat your oven to 400F.
2. Mix together your proofing ingredients:  warm milk, sugar and yeast.  Set aside.
3. Into the bowl of your mixer, add your dry ingredients.  Mix.
4. Add the wet ingredients.  Mix again.
5. Add the proofing mixture (which should have puffed up by now).
6. Mix together on medium for 2-3 minutes.  The mixture will still be wet and sticky but you should be able to scrap it into a large mass within the bowl.
7. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.  Grease your hands (I coated mine with the coconut oil).  Take the dough in small balls/chunks a tiny bit larger than a golf ball and press them flat onto the parchment paper.  Try to do this evenly.  (You will have uneven browning spots if you are not careful… or if you are me.  😀 )
8. Bake – under a watchful eye as all ovens vary! – for 8 – 13 minutes.  (8 minutes for the thin cracker-bread and 10-13 minutes for the pita).
9. Remove an allow to cool (if you can) before storing (if you have any left over).

I have successfully doubled this recipe – but I did NOT add another egg.  Rather I adjust the moisture by adding more sour cream or Greek yogurt.  (Just an FYI if you find that it disappears quickly in your house as well.)

Happy GF Eats, Everyone!
And good luck with your Give-Away Entries!
~Kate

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Is soy sauce “safe” for people with Celiac?

Just recently my husband and I were talking about soy sauce.  I know, it’s not your typical lovey-dovey conversation, but really – who has those everyday and/or posts them on their blogs?    But in all honesty, our discussion has often bounced back to soy sauce in regard to Celiac/Gluten Free diet.

You see, the reality of my life is this:  soy sauce is in everything (well… almost everything) my in-laws cook.  And while we sadly have not been able to travel in years (read: 2003) to visit them, we would like to.  We want to bring these beautiful babies toddlers (!) we have back to see the rest of our family.  So we start talking about the added expense of traveling when you need to buy food and/or cook.

Primarily while staying at someone else’s home, I don’t want them to feel put-out that I don’t eat what they are serving.  At my parent’s house, I have no problem sliding in to the kitchen and cooking.  In fact, I love it!  But at my in-laws, the kitchen is laid out differently and they do a different style of cooking than what I grew up with.  It makes cooking for them a bit more of a hurdle.  Add to that the fact that food intolerances/allergies are truly not a common topic nor common in the general Asian population (aside from dairy/lactose which isn’t really in the main diet plan anyway) and well… it can lead to some hurdles.

So back to the soy sauce.

When we traveled in 2003, I just bought a bottle of San-J when we arrived for cooking.  It was a great conversation starter (lol!) as we talked about the salty (or non-salty) factor compared to the sauces they liked to use.  (Yes, each varies significantly in saltiness, thickness, etc.)  At one resturant, my father-in-law tried to help my by explaining that I can have wheat/soy sauce and he beamed with pride when the wait-staff and chef told him there was no wheat in what they made.  And then out came the wheat-puffed pancakes for the wheat-soy sauced laden Peking Duck.  (PS.  The “dao mew” – snow pea pods shoots – were AWESOME that night.)

Soy sauce is everywhere in the Asian diet.

And I don’t always trust the labels.

And then I found this study by Frederik Janssen on the GlutenTox blog.  (I am not associated with them, just found them via my search about gluten and soy sauce).  (Copy of the PDF is here:  Safety-of-Asian-soy-sauce-in-gf-diet).

Approaching the gluten free diet frustration of eating-out and the common exposure/concern of soy sauce, the study looked at the varying ingredients found in different soy sauce brands (European based) and analyzed them for their gliadin content.  Remember, the protein that causes the damage to the intestinal track for Celiac patients (like myself) is this protein.  Truly, it is a speck within the wheat grain.

From the anecdotal piece of their survey, Celiac patients who self-reported information regarding how they approach soy sauces responded with the following commentaries:

• avoided all products with wheat listed on the label
• consumed soy sauce with wheat listed on label with non-typical reactions that could not be attributed to the wheat/soy sauce
• consumed soy sauce with wheat on the label with “ease since they know the proteins in these sauces were almost completely degraded; consequently they did not experience any symptoms.” (p.56/Jannsen)

The report further states that “given the results of our analysis, it is quite remarkable that symptoms occurred in some coeliacs after these products were eaten.”

The scientific analysis appears to demonstrate that the levels of gliadin are slightly lower (on average) that the proposed levels (20ppm in the EU).  Most surprising to me was this statement:

“Given the amount of soy sauce used in Asian dishes this level might be irrelevant.   

and

“There seems to be no correlation between gluten content and the declaration of wheat on the product label.”

The attached PDF (referenced above) then continues on to discuss the types of labeling laws now required (and those not, like for wheat starch) in the EU as well as whether or not the methodology available for analyzing such materials is suitable for the hydrolyzed gluten proteins found in the fermented goods like soy sauce.

As a result of their analysis (please, read it for yourselves) are the following recommendations:

• that, as far as possible, Coeliacs should choose Asian soy sauces which do not include wheat.
• if such information (ingredient listing) is not available, they should not be worried about the ingestion of gluten as investigation have shown that hte level so fgluten are almost insignificant in relation to the safe dose as reported by Catassi…
• Coeliacs should, however, still avoid dishes with very high levels of soy sauce.

Truly I am awed.

I have always wondered.  And in all honesty, have not worried too much about soy sauce.  I have a good handle on food prep/recipes in Asian (mainly Chinese) foods and have felt fairly confident selecting my items with care.  But soy sauce remained one of those ingredients that I question.  NOT because I think it is “bad” but because I wonder what the levels truly are.  This paper has brought the conversation back to our dinner table.

I’d love for it to begin conversation here.

What do you think?  I’d love to collect some info/ideas from you all to post in a follow up post.  I will NOT share you personal information ever.  The results will be tabulated into a graph for sharing.  If you are willing, please click here.

Is soy sauce ‘safe” for the gluten free diet?

A little Celiac Awareness Video

I wish I knew these guys.  I ❤ their video.  😀

In light of the fact of my missing February, I’m giving myself permission to post this after some of you may have already seen it.

Enjoy!

(And be happy I – in my zeal – didn’t sing it for you!  LOL)

~kate