I knew that diving into the world of gluten free baking would be a challenge. I knew this, I swear. Let me tell you what I have learned for sure this week: there are A LOT of crappy gluten free recipes out there. Holy moley. Our compost bin is quickly filling with these horrible, horrible experiments. This week I tried making zucchini bread (two different versions) and a pizza dough recipe with gluten free substitutes.
It looks innocent enough–just don’t eat it. Unless you like the taste of paste. And the texture of cooked paste. Yuck. This definitely does NOT pass the “can’t taste like something you would feed a horse” rule.
Luckily I am a very determined (some might call it “stubborn”) woman and I refuse to give in to the quandary of the world of gluten free. So as it turns out, our friend gluten does some pretty magical stuff. It is a protein that binds with other ingredients and creates stretchy structures that create the chewy texture of foods like bread. After failing miserably with my recipe trials this week, I thought it might be time to start digging into the science of baking and how possible substitutions might be used in similar applications.
I’m assuming all of this has been done before but there’s just too much information available for me to really wrap my mind around the process. De-mystifying gluten free cooking will have to be a trial and error process for awhile until I discover which substitutions work easily and without notice. I figure it will behoove me to remain a little in the dark about the wealth of recipes available and attempt to come up with my own solution. I’m certainly no stranger to the world of special diets–I have worked in the kitchen of one of the largest co-ops in the west for the last three years and we cater to all kinds of goofy eating habits. But gluten free cooking–make that GOOD gluten free cooking–still remains a mystery to me.
Here is what I have discovered so far:
- rice flour is really grainy–a little too much so for my taste
- rice flour also makes HORRIBLE pizza dough
- there are a lot of binding agents out there but so far all of the ones I have tried leave a bitter aftertaste.
Since gluten is a protein, I am wondering if a flour substitute that contains protein would work in a similar manner. Rice flour is made from the hulls of the rice and is thereby stripped of its nutritional quality, as is the case with many of the alternative flours. Quinoa may be a good choice to investigate since it is a complete protein on its own and I can easily throw it in the food processor to make it into flour, which makes it pretty easy to come by.
As far as binding agents are concerned, arrowroot will be my next attempt along with a trial using soaked chia seeds. Chia (yep, like chia pets) is one of the most nutritious things that you can eat–even better for you than flax seeds and you don’t have to crack the hulls to reap the benefits. When you soak chia seeds they form kind of a gelatinous goop which is commonly used as an egg substitute in vegan dishes. I am curious to see if it will help bind my flours as well as kick in an extra boost of nutrition.
Plus Chia Pets are cool. We’re still looking for a Jerry Gar-Chia if you should happen to run across one at a thrift shop or yard sale sometime.
I’ve also read that tapioca starch imparts a “chewiness” to breads so I’m pretty eager to try that out as well.
Being that the gluten free version of my favorite pizza dough was a complete disaster, here is a polenta crust recipe that will really knock your socks off. Sans gluten, of course.
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Grilled Polenta Pizza Crust
2 1/2 cups water
3/4 polenta (yellow cornmeal)
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 Tablespoon butter
In a 2 quart saucepan, whisk the cornmeal, salt, and water together until there are no lumps. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to a simmer; cook, stirring constantly, until the polenta leaves a clean path when you scrape the bottom of the pan (typically 20 -30 mins according to most cookbooks though I find it happens much more quickly). Add butter, stir it in as it melts.
Dump the mixture into an oiled 8×8 baking pan and press down with a spatula or back of a spoon to cool. This creates the shape of your crust and it should be about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cool until the polenta is about room temperature and very firm to the touch. Fire up the grill to a medium / medium-high heat. Indirect grilling is best if you are using a charcoal grill.
Remove the polenta from the pan, being careful to keep it in one piece, and oil both sides. Grill one side of the polenta until crisp and grill-marked (only takes a few minutes). Pull the polenta off the grill and put your sauce, toppings, and cheese on the side that has already been grilled. Put the whole kit and kaboodle back on the grill and continue cooking until the cheese melts and the outside of the crust is crispy.
If you don’t want to grill it, you can cook the slab of polenta in a bit of oil in a frying pan until it becomes crisp and golden brown. The outside will be crisp and the middle will be creamy and polenta-ey. Mmm.
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Sounds good, doesn’t it? Now that’s a gluten free recipe that nobody will even think twice about.
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don’t give up! there are edible gluten free foods out there! a couple of hints -
about rice flour (or any flour), not all brands are created equal. Some are not ground as fine as others and are therefore very gritty. Bob’s Red Mill generally has good flour (in my opinion). I’m not sure what that picture in your post was for (pizza?), but generally, gluten free “dough” ends up looking more like a batter until it is cooked. You’ll think it has too much liquid in it, but it really doesn’t. Don’t try to get it to look like normal dough. You can take a look at my blog and search for my pizza dough recipe – it shows the step by step. So hang in there and I promise, it will get better!
Karen
Thanks for the encouragement, Karen! I really appreciate all of the help that folks have been offering with the challenges of cooking gluten free. I am a big fan of the Bob’s line, but the major flaw is that they are not organic. We are being pretty tight with what we’re feeding the boy during these early years so organic is an absolute must. Our food supply has been so tainted with genetically modified organisms and chemicals that we just don’t trust feeding them to a being whose brain is doubling in size during the first two years of life.
It’s ok if our paranoia is in vain and Nico does develop allergies, asthma, autism, or whatever else might happen. We just want to make sure that we are covering all of our bases by doing everything that we possibly can to give him a healthy start. He is going to be who he is meant to be regardless of our efforts and we will love him all the same. We’ll start to ease up a bit as he grows and one day he’ll be drinking green Kool Aid just like all the other kids.
In moderation of course…lol.
Thank you so much for your advice–the texture of the gluten free substitutes is really throwing me off. It’s good to know that it’s supposed to be soupy. I had added a bit more flour because it just looked wrong to me. I’ll check out your recipes and thanks again! Julie
You’re giving gluten free a bad name here! I had to post some tasty recipes to balance out the energy. Ha
No, keep it up. You’re really determined, you’ll get it.
I’m glad you’re posting some good stuff because the recipes that I tried this week were just NOT edible.
This is probably the process that most folks have gone through when learning about gluten free baking and it’s the main reason that I’ve never tried it myself.
I’ll get there pretty soon–I’ve been doing some reading and it looks like I’m on the right track with my theory on protein. The reason that the mix that I used for the banana bread on my first post turned out so good is because there was a protein present. And a good balance with the rice flour.
Thanks for the encouragement!! It was a tough week for me. Julie
Hey! What the heck did I do wrong!? This recipe came out a goopy mess. It thickened really fast even though it was just simmering. How long do you think you let it simmer? It didn’t work on the grill, so, I have it in the oven and it’s turning crispy on the outside but not so much on the inside. Anyway, thanks! I don’t expect I ‘ll hear back from you for awhile. Sounds like you’ll be sewing. Good luck!
Oh goodness. Polenta can be a testy little bugger. My guess is that the heat was a bit too high and it didn’t have time to coagulate properly. A common issue. You want to stir it continuously for at least 15-20 minutes. When it’s ready it is a very firm gloppy mess that you can press into a pan with your fingers…the texture should be a bit like play dough. But kind of sticky.
You can also eliminate all of that hassle and buy polenta in a tube, which may or may not be gluten free. Sigh.
The end result should be chewy in the middle and crispy on the outside. Mmm. Polenta is an animal in and of itself and is absolutely nothing like pizza dough. Probably should have let you know that.
Once I’m done with the sew-a-thon I’ll post some pics of the process for you. Sorry you had trouble!! Julie
I’ve been gluten free for 3 1/2 years and it still irks me how so many gf products taste like sawdust. Yet our local gluten bakery that does make about 4 different gf products too, makes incredible tasting items. They have an Italian Creme Cake with a nut crust, Lemon Poppyseed muffins, chocolate chip cookies that don’t taste and look freaky and they make an incredible chocolate cake. I think the problem with gf recipes is that most of the books come from people who are not chefs. Have you discovered the cookbook by the French chef? It is amazing and nearly all the recipes just use proper food instead of weird substitutes.
Oh, Lordy. Thank you! Just what I have been trying to do!!
Thanks for the reply. I must not have simmered it long enough.
Ah, well, next time.
B