Back to Basics: Sandwich Bread (GFCF)

2014 has brought evolution to our family and to our kitchen.  We're trying out a gluten-free, casein-free (read: pretty much dairy free) diet in addition to the dye-free efforts we've made over the last year or so.  Between my daughter's dairy sensitivities and my oldest son's ADHD/potential spectrum issues, we're trying whatever might work.

Initially, when we decided to try this GFCF thing, I felt...well...overwhelmed.  Like I might have to quit my part-time job (which I LOVE) and pull Boy #1 out of preschool (which we DID NOT want to do) to make it work.  Because it means giving up my easiest, no-work meals, it means having practically no backup take-out options when I, say, forget to put dinner in the crockpot, it means cooking and providing every single bite my kid is going to eat whether he's at home, school, a birthday party, soccer practice, what have you.

 <--this was me thinking about all of that

Given a few weeks to plan however, I'm back on the prep-ahead, freeze-ahead horse with some new recipes in tow, confidence that we can make this work and hope that it helps my kids and their various *stuff*.

There are many, many, many blogs out there dedicated to GF/CF/Whatever-F cooking out there.  I do not intend to duplicate those efforts.  My focus, as ever, is the prep-ahead aspect.  What works to make in advance. What works to prep in advance to finish later. How to plan and shop and work ahead to make dinner (and lunch and breakfast and snacktime) happen on time, healthfully (as we now define it), and without making your brain explode.

So here we are.  In some ways, doing the same-old-same-old (there are an awful lot of natively GFCF/DF recipes, many on this very blog...if I get a chance to breathe, I'm going to try to go back and add appropriate tags/pins), and in some ways relearning the basics.

Like bread.  The Holy Grail in many ways of GF baking.  When you think of "bread" (yeast breads in particular), you probably have the sense-memory of the chew, the toothsome pull of each bite.  That's the gluten.  Even with a soft yeast bread like a Parker House roll, there's a particular flavor that comes from the wheat.  Yes, wheat has a flavor...you don't realize it until you're eating a roll made without wheat, but wheat has its own distinctive flavor.  Wheat is such an omnipresent grain in our cooking culture that it's like wallpaper...you don't notice it until it's gone.

So the downside to GF baking is that it's just not going to be the same.  It might be close with a really good recipe and set of ingredients, but it's not going to be the same.

The upside, however, once you reset your expectations for the final product, is that there is no gluten to worry about.  No need for extensive kneading or long double and triple rises to develop gluten in a bread, and no worries about overmixing causing too much gluten development (and therefore toughness) in quick breads and cakes.  No pull-back when you shape dough.  No need to let a pizza crust rest before rolling it out.  It's really quite brilliant.

One of the "downsides" to GF bread--namely how quickly it dries out and gets stale at room temperature--is ideal for my purposes.  The solution is to bake bread ahead and freeze it (although so far, the bread I've made is eaten up by my family of 5 so fast, it hasn't needed to last more than 24 hours fresh anyway).

As far as shopping for this goes, you do need some "unusual" flours and ingredients.  Fortunately, it's not hard to find them.  All the major grocery store chains near me carry these items.  Bob's Red Mill is the brand that's most prevalent.  Some stores carry them on the regular baking aisle and dairy case; some have them in a "specialty diet", "organic/natural foods" or "gluten free foods" area.  If you don't see what you need, ASK.  I bet they have it somewhere.

One last thought...the first rule of GF baking is You Don't Talk About... No, that's not it, just kidding.

The first rule of GF baking is Don't Change the Recipe.  You can't just take a gluten-based recipe, sub in some GF flours and have it work.  You need thickeners, binding agents, extra leaveners and a lot of trial-and-error to start generating a workable GF recipe out of thin air.  You also need to be mindful about whether you inadvertently add gluten to a recipe by switching ingredients (there's a lot of hidden gluten in the world).

So I'm not changing anything about the GF baking recipes I try.  I'm going to link to the original recipe found wherever it originally lives on the interwebs, and post my notes about how it worked for me.  With pictures of course.

So off we go.  Please join us :)  And please point out my mistakes...I'm not new to allergen-sensitive cooking, but I am new to this particular (and rawther tricky) branch of food sensitivity.  So I'll try not to screw up, but if I do...holler!

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Sesame Almond Chicken Wings

Almond Sesame Wings with sauteed zucchini
and Sichuan Peppercorn Dry Drip

This is the wing recipe I mentioned a few posts ago regarding grinding almonds for pie crust.  I saved a few tbsp for this very recipe.  You don't have to make pie crust to make these wings though ;)

The original recipe is from the Frugal Gourmet's Three Ancient Cuisines, but I gotta say that the Frug was awfully stingy on his dredging mixture.  I've doubled the marinade, the wet dredge and the dry dredge for the same number of wings.  It was scrumptious btw.  The kids didn't want any, but they had Other Issues tonight and I think I could have served them ice cream covered cheese sticks with a side of cookies, muffins and bananas and they still wouldn't have touched it.  Whatevs, more for the grownups.

Rice flour is probably not a pantry staple at your household.  I have some b/c I had a fit of DIY-osity awhile back and thought I would be making my own baby powder.  I made some, it's great, but I don't need so much as to use up an entire 2 lbs. of rice flour.  Rice flour also makes meltingly tender shortbread and is a useful gluten-free wheat flour replacer.  If you need ideas for using up 2 lbs of rice flour.  Or you can use enough all-purpose flour and cornstarch to add up to the required amount of dredging material and skip the rice flour (conversely, if you want gluten free, you can skip the AP flour and use rice flour and cornstarch...also be sure to skip the soy sauce, if you do GF).

Last thought...if you fry these in a deep-fryer, you'll probably have a lot of sesame seeds loose in the oil afterwards.  You might want to consider frying in an electric skillet or making this the last use of the oil in the deep-fryer if you want to maintain pristine frying oil.  I screw up so you don't have to.

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Savory & Sweet Shortbread

I adore shortbread, store-bought, homemade, doesn't matter as long as it's got real honest-to-goodness butter.  And of course, the dough can be frozen ahead for later baking!

The savory shortbread here is from the Argo Cornstarch people, but I used brown rice flour instead of cornstarch for the wee bit of whole grain goodness it gives.  This shortbread is kind of like a biscuit, but more intense...a two-bite square is a good serving size to accompany a roast and something green or to serve as an appetizer.  The original called for twice as much cayenne pepper as I've indicated, but that turned out unpleasantly spicy.

The sweet shortbread is from Natalie Haughton's Cookies and, despite the similarity in batch size, does not make nearly as many servings as the savory...at least not at my house.

Pepper Parmesan Shortbread

Makes 36 servings

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup cornstarch or rice flour

3/4 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

1/3 to 1/2 cup sour cream

1 tbsp milk + 1 tsp coarse ground pepper for topping

Combine the flour, cheese, cornstarch or rice flour and spices in the bowl of a food processor.  Add cubed butter and pulse until the mixture looks like oatmeal.  Turn out into a bowl and stir in sour cream until the mixture just holds together.  Press into a 8x8 baking pan (disposable if you want to freeze ahead), or divide in half and form 2 1-1/2" diameter logs.  Brush the top of the dough (either form) with milk and sprinkle on pepper.  You can freeze either form now to bake later.  If you made logs, you'll need to at least chill them for a couple of hours before slicing if you aren't freezing ahead.

Thaw dough if frozen.  Slice logs, if using, into 1/4" slices.  Bake at 325F for 20 minutes for slices and about 45 minutes for the 8x8 pan. 

Scottish Shortbread

Makes 9 cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup rice flour

1 2/3 cup all purpose flour

Beat butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Add rice flour and AP flour.  Knead mixture together until no longer crumbly.  Press into 8x8 pan.  Freeze now or bake for 35-45 minutes at 325F. 

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