Baker to the core, gluten might be my best friend. Hand in hand, we skipped through bread hills on the regular. Even during the vegan days, gluten was a food source shaped into lumpy chewy chunks called Seiten and dried chips of TVP (texturized vegetable protein) were stirred into soups and stews. All those chewy strands of protein keep my breads happy and pop up just delicately enough to hold together cakes, cookies, muffins and scones. Now with the carb heavy and wheat-centric diets of most of north america, gluten has gotten a little too big for its britches…and dangerous for those three million American’s who have been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Sadly, still 95% of Celiac sufferers are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed with other conditions. A gluten-free diet might be better for digestion, even for those who can tolerate gluten. I’m always one to want to try natural approaches to health, diet and the ways food we eat directly reflects on our health and well being.
Gluten-free folks get my total support as I know how trying a medical condition that makes you alter your food and eating can be. Here’s a little piece I wrote for all those out there trying to work some gluten-free magic in their own kitchens….
Baking Gluten-Free From a Pastry Lady
Having been a baker for as long as I can remember, my course of real kitchen work started at a Vegan and organic cafe and co-op. There I did a great deal of vegan baking and started getting requests for gluten free items even back in the early 2000′s. Over the course of more health food store baking, gluten-free was needed on the shelves everyday. As more and more people are finding out about sensitivities to gluten and wheat, it is more important than ever to me to share what I have found with gluten free baking. Currently much of what interests me outside of all the pastry I play with day in and day out are gluten free goodies that give people hope in enjoying their favorite treats again in a new safe and gluten free way. Let me share a few tips and background on gluten and baking with you.
Why does gluten matter in baking anyway? Gluten is a protein that is found in mainly grains such as wheat, spelt and barley to name a few mainstream ones. Made of glutenin and gliadin (two proteins), gluten develops when mixed in doughs into a network of structure and cause the dough to rise, swell and develop that chew and fluff we know of traditional baked goods. Gluten is more needed in items like breads and less needed in items like cakes and cookies, where a tender crumb is desired. Baking is relatively simple if you can follow a recipe and use a typical all purpose flout….the issues come when you take the gluten out as many of you out there know.
Simply substituting a gluten free flour will not make a very desirable baked good. A blend of flours, gums and starches is the easiest way to get each of the desired characteristics that mimic wheat flour. Think one for texture, one for structure, one for chew, one for moisture content, etc. I completely support items in stores that are called “gluten free flour blends.” Companies spend time, money and research to achieve a balance in these blends that has been tested for using in traditional recipes. There is no shame in using a major companies hard work for your benefit! There is no guarantee that a 1 to 1 substitution of these will be the same as your old recipes, but play around with these if you want. Here is a flour blend I also use and have had success with many times:
Gluten Free Flour Blend
2 cups rice flour(I use white, brown is more gritty.)
2/3 cup potato starch(not potato flour or flakes)
1/3 cup tapioca flour(sometimes called tapioca starch)
1 teaspoon xantham gum*
*this gum is pricey but well worth it if you plan on baking more gluten free and you will need to add a little more to recipes outside of what is in this baking blend…for example, a cookie might require 1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon more xantham gum. Cakes or quick breads need more such as 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon more and breads or yeasted doughs could require up to 1 teaspoon of more xantham gum.
TIPS & TIDBITS!
1. Use a light hand with your flour blends and store your flours or flour blends in the freezer for the freshest products. Bring to room temp when baking. GF items can be hockey pucks and something dry is never that appealing….
2. Look for recipes that are high in moisture to begin with, such as items made with sour cream if it’s a cake, coconut, carrots, zucchini, pumpkin, etc. Breads and cakes that are moist make good options for trying GF. Sugar holds moisture as well, so trying a low sugar recipe might not be the best idea. Natural sweeteners such as turbinado, honey, maple syrup or sweet ingredients like banana can be used as well.
3. Though moisture is important, GF can sometimes be super gummy if an incorrect ratio is used with the GF flours or there is too much moisture. A balance will come with practice and time.
ABOUT: Xantham gum is used to add volume, structure and viscosity when there is no gluten present. It also stabilizes and emilsifys. When used too much will make a very gummy product, that is sticky, slimy and heavy. It does lose its gumming properties the longer it is mixed in the beginning which I saw when making a gelatin free mousse over the past year. It is used in items such as salad dressings to make them come back together when shaken and then served. From corn, if you have a corn allergy as well, avoid this and try a different gum such as guar gum.
4. GF batter and doughs can be gummier and stickier, so make sure to scrap the sides of your bowl down well as you mix and blend. Using a mixer is usually preferred over a spoon as you can get a smoother texture and avoid lumps in your batters.
5. Properly spray, butter or line pans with parchment to insure your products do not stick to their baking pans. Cookies work best on a parchment lined baking sheets.
6. GF items need more leavening also, so increase baking powder and baking soda. NOTE: Don’t forget how baking soda works… it is alkaline and will react with acid ingredients such as buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt, bananas, cocoa and any vinegars in a batter.
7. Speaking of baking powder, make sure you have a GF one. Check other ingredients such as Vanilla and Chocolate chips, as these are NOT always gluten free. Read labels or call companies if you have any questions or concerns. The same goes for vinegars and mustards in your other cooking and/or baking.
8. Increase vanilla and other spices for the best full flavor in your GF baked goods. Find a good gluten-free vanilla and use it as much as you like.
9. Watch out for Oats… there can be cross contamination in the growing process or flour facilities though some gluten free folks can tolerate oats. You know your condition better than anyone else. If you want oats, there are GF bagged oats available, or experiment with coconut chips (unsweetened and dried) or quinoa flakes for a crunch. Puffed rice cereal is also fun to make bars or cookies with for some GF crunch and crisp.
10. There are many flours that some forget about trying out such as Quinoa flour and Coconut flour. Try these if you’re in baking mode!
Other safe options include:
Amaranth flour, arrowroot, brown and white rice flour, buckwheat flour, corn meal, millet flour, chick pea or garbanzo bean flour, potato flour and potato starch, soy flour, sorghum flour, tapioca flour/starch and teff flour.
If you include soy in your diet, soy flour is a great option due to its higher protein content. Many of these flours are not ideal on their own and some, such as potato flour (not potato starch) and millet flour really do not do any good in GF baking, ever.
11. Like with regular baking, make sure you have all your ingredients before baking and bring eggs, milks and butter to room temperature for proper mixing. Wash hands and make sure you are not at risk of crossing gluten containing ingredients if you are baking in a kitchen that has not-gluten-free items stored in the same cabinets. Preheat your oven, roll your sleeves up, pull hair back and get set to create!
12. Keep a sense of humor, an open mind and an open palate. These baked goods may not taste exactly like your old ones but they can be just as (and sometimes MORE) delicious as their wheat counterparts. You might not always have success, but trying it will give you experience and the more you see how ingredients work in your own kitchen and in your own recipes, the better luck you will have overall.
Compile a list of safe and great recipes as you find them that you know you can turn to and get the results you desire. Write any and all notes of what you did to make the recipe so ideal. Pastry chefs have to do the same thing when we’re developing recipes so that anyone can make the same recipe again which means ingredients are weighed in grams or ounces and technique is noted accurately from time of mixing to which spoon used or how many folds of a batter. There is nothing worse than getting a recipe perfectly and then never being able to do it again.
Going gluten free is not the end of your baked goodies, but the beginning of a new time and new tastes! My best advice is to stay true to your tastes in the end and accept your condition with an open heart. What I saw the most from gluten free customers was wanting things out of just not being able to have them. So if you were not into cakes before going gluten free, it might not be the most ideal time to want to start eating cakes. I also think finding things that are “accidently gluten free” is a great option. Flour-less chocolate or nut tortes are simple to make and gluten free. Nut flour based cookies and cakes are also gluten free. Meringue cookies, jelly candies or other egg based based custards, mousses and puddings are all sweet, delicious and gluten free treats.
Here is a cake I had early success with and it is delightful with almond extract or made into a lemon cake with lemon juice and zest. This is the simple basic yellow vanilla version. Do not let the mayo frighten you, as it works much like butter or oil and is a secret ingredient in some of the top chocolate cakes used in restaurant desserts. It is also dairy free if you use a good full fat soy milk and Veganaise (a vegan mayonaise.) Also, try to use local and/or organic eggs.
More gluten free baking recipes to come… up next? A gluten free chocolate chunk cookie with a nutty version, too!
Gluten Free Yellow Cake
Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease 2 (8-9 inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment rounds in the bottle and grease that as well.
Mix in large bowl with a whisk:
1 1/2 cups rice flour (white is lighter)
3/4 cup tapioca flour
1 tablespoon potato starch
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xantham gum
Combine in another bowl with a mixer until fluffy and creamed:
4 whole eggs
2/3 cup “mayo” or Veganaise
1 1/4 cups sugar
Have ready:
1 cup milk (dairy or soy)
1 tablespoon GF vanilla
Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk (IE: add 1/3 dry, 1/2 wet, another 1/3 dry, the rest of the wet, and ending with the last 1/3 of the dry.)
OPTIONAL. Coat the bottom of the cake pan with chopped pecans or sliced almonds. This adds a layer of complexity and makes a nice little snack cake that way.
Divide batter between prepared pans evenly.
Bake until fluffy and tests done. The cake will be springy. Do not brown too much as the edges will become dry and hard.
Simply sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with cooked fruits or ice with your favorite icing.
Gazing over the edge of the counter at my mother’s friend’s home, I could barely reach my arms up enough to break off pieces of a large brown cookie that was spicy and soft. I had no idea what it was, had never had it before and was not even sure if I liked it that much. The icing edges were yummy though as a food centric child, anything that even smelled like sugar was good to me. Reaching up again, intent on snatching a bite to confirm if I liked this “cookie”… 
Earliest recipes include boiled mixtures of honey, wine, bread crumbs and spices. Sounds pretty gosh darn delicious, eh? I have a feeling I know why the recipe has changed so much. Ginger was found to be a preservative early on and was added to many cookies and cakes to keep these food stuffs fresh, or fresh enough if we stop to think about this original recipe’s final product. The name comes from “gingebras” an Old French word from an adaption of the Latin word “Zingebar,” meaning spice. First applied to a cake version of gingerbread, and cookies even were once called fairings in England in reference to the buying of gingerbread at fairs in myriad shapes. Story has it England required unwed women to eat gingerbread men at the fair like husbands as it would increase their chance of meeting a real man. If it were only that easy ladies. Some other similar yet not gingerbread men versions are listed below. 
Taking a Dickens -esc turn, the Victorian households valued Christmas and all the goodies that went along with it. This is where my introduction to gingerbreads became more formal and bridged the childhood cookie discovery with flavor and taste of ye ole gingerbread man. My aversion to molasses. was also born out of this dive into the role of gingerbread in the Victorian era. Crafting a traditional Victorian Christmas for a 9th grade English project I was much too overzealous about (hey, I tied baking into a literary class. I could not have been happier doing 50 times more work than was needed,) I set out to make period accurate gingerbread. Obtaining a recipe from the Old Capital Museum in Jackson MS on a (you guessed it) Victorian Christmas tour with traditional ciders, toys and a giant period decorated tree. The recipe was touted as what would have been served during those chilling to the bone cold days in England. Very Dickens -esc to me and I happily whipped up the cookies, heavy in molasses. Strong and over powering, I was not a fan from the first bicep-heavy opening of the jar. What is this black brown sugar-lard, I thought as I poured it into my batter, the heavy aroma taking me back to the taste that almost turned me off from gingerbread during that initial counter encounter so many years before. Baked to a mahogany colored hard round, I was not a fan from the get go with this Victorian approach and almost gave up on gingerbread for good. Oh, they tasted traditional, if that means a spice laden molasses cookie. I wanted a more clean flavor, spiced right, and a more appealing texture somewhere between crisp and soft; not too much chew with a melty buttery pleasure that really spoke of times now and not the gingerbread cardboards of old. Much like fruitcake, I started to wonder if gingerbread men really should be shunned from all holiday baking? Let’s not kid ourselves, most gingerbread tastes like crap. I blame the molasses, too many spices and incorrect baking times but you might have your own concerns to discuss with the gingerbread man outreach association, if there was one of course. Thinking back on the rich and happy life of gingerbread, I could not help but want to bring a refreshed take on gingerbread men and bring him out of holding and onto cookie platters everywhere again. 
Oh pancakes make people happy. 
When nothing but chocolaty comfort will do, I prefer to reach no further than a big fudgy brownie. Deep and rich, crowded with a haggardly top, I am suddenly taken back to childhood parties, and hugged from the inside out. Brownies have been elevated by many pastry chefs to new levels, while at the same time being bastardized by a world of boxed mixes promising the perfect quick treat. Lost in the shuffle is the classic fudge brownie, in its simplistic glory. The ingredients are few, and this is the one area I stress a little change from tradition. Buy good butters, eggs, and chocolate. Brownie recipes vary so much, with everyone pushing for the perfect brownie, but really, why mess with something that delivers every time, and is quick to make. Brownies are something that scream to be homemade, cut haphazardly, and can I say I love to everyone from 8 to 80.
Preheat the oven to 350. Line an 8 inch square pan with foil and butter the foil. Set aside.
Oh the brilliant peach. Ripe and plump, the peach can be virgin like purity cloaked in a temperature sensitive skin. Precious and untouched as it hangs from an unassuming protective tree blushing, the peach hides a soft and aromatic flesh that loves you back once you bring her on down. Possibly the forbidden offspring of royalty in my mind though sadly, the peach is rarely found in the perfection it should be. Russ Parsons made note of this as a reflection of our entire food system's lack of "seasonability" in How to Pick a Peach. We are eating the idea of a peach usually if we buy it in the winter from produce bins across the country. Worst yet is the fact that peaches take very well to be laced with sugar and canned. When buying them in Alabama at road stand during July once I was reminded of what a real peach was. In season, born in the correct region, I was smitten and ate four in the car while driving home.
The peaches sat until in a whirl of peach scented urgency I grabbed the bowl and started slicing them away to make a quick jam. A texture soft and serene, I sliced them all into a stock pot, juiced a lemon into the mix and poured in cane sugar. The concept of adding equal parts of fruit and sugar to jam destroys my clean conscious when I will later eat this jam with a spoon from straight from the jar, making me keep a conservative hand with the sugar scoop. Sugar does help preserve things so it must be there, serving as thickening gel as well as I throw rules to the wind and add no pectin to the boiling jam. Which became more of chunky preserves than jam. This was the only answer I thought as I tilted my head down and kept slicing. Keeping them to sit and cough out their last few breathes of life in a bowl for my selfish olfactory enjoyment would be doing a disservice to the peaches. They wait all season to make their debut and upstage the just passed crop of berries. With most only knowing peaches in the way I grew up knowing them, a true peach wants and needs to be loved. Admire my beauty, smell my untouched scent and eat me right off the tree as my fuzz gets all over your hands, the peach would say to those naysayer who want nothing more than a fruit cup of little peach cubes. Taste me and know what a peach is supposed to taste like it.
Long ago and not so far away, Fair Trade was the hot topic. People oogled over where coffee came from, searching for a tiny emblem that signified if it was fair trade certified or not. Fair traded seemed to be a move in the right direction; give workers and subsistence farmers in other nations what was "fair" and everyone wins. We get our coffee, chocolates and olive oils. They get "livable wages." Then the back lash appeared as fair trade turned out not to be so fair. All the while the local sustainable movement was gaining strength. Though the two are rarely to ever spoken about in the same conversation, anyone fighting for good food for all should have some idea of why each matters in its own right as well as a whole.
Though both systems are flawed in that many farmers do not want your money but your time, support and what I call "customer aid" where helping with a crop turn over would be more beneficial than waiting for a solo farmer to harvest an entire crop and you pillage through it at the market, bartering for lower prices on the peaches. Give help where help is needed and wanted. In fair trade, the specific need was found. With food production being a worldwide industry currently, America can easily think with tunnel vision that we are the only people existing. Even our main stream media and news outlets speak of world issues but focus on us. We hear of wars and bombs, death and dealings, yet the day to day lives of people in foreign lands is rarely made much ado about. Food, who has it and who does not along with who is producing which items, can be shuffled under other stories and information. Fair trade sought to help those who were not being seen through the course of middle men, buyers and companies that work together to import and export food goods.
Is all fair in love and chocolate? 
Gather round now and get your skillets ready… I’m going home! Alright only to visit but it will be a productive and intense time of talking to people, visiting places and eating the fares all in the name of food. Good fair food for all… I can’t wait to get to MS and see what is going on. Progressive for a small state with a sad state of health (see the MS Burning post) when I moved away, I know more has been happening! 
Wondering if I should use ham hocks or bacon grease, or really take some liberties and use the pancetta I have in my refrigerator, I reached for my old cookbooks. The ones that are self published, regional and yellow with age. Many a found recipe is tucked into the pages, notes from my grandmother scribbled in between the measurements of others and all echoing of a time gone by. Some of my redneck royalties were there made with cool whips and canned fruits, yet others made me about as happy as could be on a Brooklyn morning. I can't help but want to make chocolate chess pie. And gallons of iced tea. And fry some okra, slice some fresh tomatoes and find some really good mayonnaise for proper tomato sandwiches. When the Southern movement hits, I have to take it and run with it because it holds some honesty for me in the northern-southern-food-love. Southern food is hot right now. Biscuits and greens have made a comeback in the biggest way, and gosh darnit' people like it. Of course they do. We know food and we know good eatin' (some of our waist lines reflect that.) We even have an entire delicious and home grown culture around food. Food for weddings, birthdays, funerals and every day that could have a meal be made. Which, as we all know, is every day. There was a time I tried to deny being all that Southern. I am not sure who I was trying to fool as I was not from Virginia or even a coastal Carolina's town… I was from the pit of the deepest southern state: Mississippi. Oh, maybe I had escaped living on our family's "big house" (a plantation house with wrap around porches) and I never had to run barefoot on dirt roads, but the fact could not be denied. It took getting some used to as well to think that maybe the line between southern debutant and knee slappin' red neck were not that deep.
For another year, Mississippi has been named the fattest, most unhealthy state in the country. Adult obesity is highest (32.5%) for the fifth year, and leading the way in childhood obesity (44.4%.) Statistics that are staggering. The result of socioeconomic status, race and cultural norms according to news and media. Yet could unacceptable food products that make it cheap and easy to become obese also be part of the problem? Let's break this down as to why my home state is in such bad shape and what it has to do with you.
Southern food is not by nature bad for you. Sure we like fried things and make plenty of butter and ham hock laced dishes. The fight is not for food item but for quality of item, ingredients and the allure of cheaper more processed fake foods being so easily available in this economically depressed state. The area is a booming market for cheap fast food spots that now shine musty shades of red and yellow in the oppressing Mississippi heat. These restaurants look out of place in a spot where their colors fade and the grease multiples by itself as if to be sweating. This is also the case in many small towns in the United States, not just Mississippi. Sadly though, my state is taking the brunt on the health side with the alarming statistics noted at the start of this piece.
Mississippi holds a special place as an important example for the rest of the country at large as it rarely does much good, and yet I fully believe will beat this battle. The state of the segregation beat old mentalities and turned a new leaf. If my bottom of the barrel state at a complete disadvantage can make change, certainly the rest of the country can. You have already seen Mississippi make the case for a state that suffers from little money and little good food (meaning affordable or accessible healthy choices.) Mississippi will take the fall and stand as an example of why we must change the way we supply food, how we price it and where we place it.
Enter The Blueberry… the best little berries out there.
So that was where I started. I knew if I was going to berry pick, I was going to have to get there early. As faith would have it, arriving in Florida had my sister and niece with the same idea! My sister's cousin who lives locally was planning a big berry and jam –a- thon. This was exciting news for blueberry loving me, and I was deeply touched I was invited. A big berry of a gift if I do say so myself. Now, before I go into the little-sleep-and-excitement induced hang over ride to the berry farm, the beautiful clear Florida sun starting its beat down right as I stood in the long rows with my bare shoulders and glistening back, and the resulting day of jam making and hot jar lids, all taken care of my "asbestose" hands and a team of all three of us… let me take you back to the blueberry I used to be.
Dreadfully nervous about going alone, I woke at the first wake up bell that day and recall the awkward moisture and chill of the morning even with the heat of Mississippi in July. Putting on the proper long sleeves and jeans (hello, bugs folks) I was a sticky youngster with sleep laden puffy eyes as I went on blueberry pick number one. Standing in the rows and watching the sun rise over the thick rows of plants and the farm as a whole, of course, I got sweatier and more self conscious… but I also tasted my first berries off the bush. Some were little princesses of sweetness and others wayward tart suitors. Either way, I was smitten. I would pluck one or two off and examine them, saying to myself, this looks like periwinkle, as their powdery blue skins touched mine. A bucket full later, it was time to reap the harvest with our oatmeal that same morning. So fresh. So close at hand. So close at heart, sitting down at the breakfast table that day I stirred blueberries into my oatmeal with brown sugar, butter and milk… not knowing if that was even how to do it or what it would taste like. Close to heavenly was the result. In that “first time” sort of way…where you don't know what it is, but you know you like it…and you want some more. I even got to stand up in front of the whole camp cafeteria to show I had picked berries that morning, with plump thighs holding onto each other for support and to help me know it was ok to claim some attention. My berries have not hidden themselves since.
Oh, the gift of life that is held in blueberries. Such true words, and not only because I adore them, but also for the wealth of nutrition in those little dark orbs that come to me in the sweetest of moments. Finding out they were my father's favorite fruit years into my adulthood. Seeing a child on a set I catered for use the berries to "swim" through his pool of salad dressing. Eating them at bed and breakfast trips with my mother in toe, and claiming the frozen ones as my own when visiting family for Christmas. Making blueberry jam with my sister's hands that are but a smaller version of my own and both reflections of our father's…and then packing that jam with the doubters heckling me all the while, into my suitcase from Florida to New York… to hand deliver it to a fellow blueberry lover. Who happens to be quite the precious blueberry fan himself, more than worthy of my picking, my time, my berries and my jam. Blueberries make me smile with the way they make plunking noises when poured into bowls and pop in your mouth when you eat them. Their size if ideal for play or eating one by one, though who can do that. The way they hide under the branches in the middle of the trees and almost taste like pie when eaten off the top branches that soak up the sun.
So get to picking, get to jamming and get near a blueberry soon.