I’ve been working on going gluten free for a while now.  For the most part it isn’t a big deal. I’m not a big bread or pasta eater.  Other than the occasional desire for pizza and/or croissants which happens rarely, and which I satisfy even more rarely there is little need to come up with gluten free versions of what I eat.  The only problem comes in the form of Shabbat.

One of the characteristics of Shabbat is that one eats three meals on Shabbat.  What makes a meal?  Bread.  And what makes bread? A food that has water as the main liquid and flour from one of the 5 grains as the main dry ingredient.  What are the 5 grains? Wheat, Rye, Spelt, Barley and Oats.  You can see where this runs into a bit of a problem with the “no gluten” plan.

I tried making the gluten free bread recipe from Healthy Bread In Five Minutes a Day, which worked for having something bread-like, but didn’t solve the “How do I have a meal on Shabbat?” problem.  Then I found out a cool fact.  Oats naturally are gluten free.  The problem is Oats breed easily with wheat and then you get gluten in your oats.  However, as of late there have been growers who have been specifically growing gluten free Oats.  A solution was in the making.  I started adapting the Gluten-Free Crusty Boule recipe by replacing the rice and  sorghum flour with oat flour.  It worked but wasn’t entirely satisfying ( thought it tasted terribly bitter. My husband enjoyed it but I was pretty meh about it.)

I kept on playing with recipe adjusting what went in and how much water and the like and finally this Shabbat I had a batch that I actually enjoyed.  Our guest said it was the best bread she’s eaten in a long time so I think I may be on to something.  On that note, I thought I would share my adapted bread recipe in case there is anyone else there looking for gluten free bread that qualifies as bread according to Jewish Law.  (And for those who are concerned about such matters consult your local Rabbi about how much must be eaten to be able to say Birkat Hamazon. (a specific set of blessings said after a meal.))

Gluten Free Oat Bread

3 1/2 cups gluten free oat flour
2 1/2 cups tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch)
1/2 cup Sweet Sohrghum flour  plus some extra
2 Tablespoons granulated yeast
1 Tablespoon sea salt
2 Tablespoons xanthan gum
1 3/4 cup lukewarm water
4 large eggs
1/3 cup neutral-flavored oil
3 tablespoons honey
Some olive oil

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a big bowl (everything before the warm water.)
2. Combine the liquid ingredients and whisk together.
3. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well with a spoon or in a mixer with a paddle attachment.
4. Continue mixing by hand (essentially kneading but without the gluten being formed.) Until it is reasonably smooth.  If the dough is really sticky I add some more sorghum flour until it isn’t sticking to my hands in large gobs.  Once it is just sticking somewhat I pour olive oil on my hands (literally I pool a little in my palm and then coat my hands) and continue mixing until I’m satisfied and I form it into a ball.  (I’ve never gotten it completely smooth – I may just be impatient, but it may be the nature of the bread.)
5. Cover bowl with a wet towel (that has been made wet with warm water) and let rise for about an hour.
6. Using a serrated knife cut into loaf sized portions.  I usually make 4, you could make more or less depending on how big you want them.
7.  Using a bit more olive oil on my hand I form them into individual balls and then roll a little to make little oval loaf shapes and put them on parchment paper on a baking tray.
8.  Wet your hands and use your damp hands to smooth the surface of your loaf.  You don’t want to make them totally soggy but use enough water to smooth them.
9. Cover loaves with your damp towel and let rise for another hour.
10. At about 30 minutes before the rise is done pre-heat your oven to 450.
11. Before placing in the oven use a wet serrated knife to make incisions across the top of the loaf (side to side).  I tend to do 3.
12. Put the loaves in the oven and bake until done.  I tend to set the timer for around 22 minutes, and the check the loaves and if needed cook a little longer.  (Pick up loaf, tap bottom, if it sounds hollow it is done.  If not bake it a bit longer.)

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving is on the horizon, and I’m putting together the shopping list for the annual feast.  It is funny how some meals become so tied to tradition.  Certain holidays, like Thanksgiving just have so much tradition and memory.  Perhaps there is a desire to keep the connection with the past or perhaps it is rather a desire to have a familiar moment in the year as we face so many challenges.  I understand that many have memories of Rosh Hashanah, “Of course there is a brisket”, or other holiday meals.  In our house it was Thanksgiving.

Since we ate at home so rarely common meals at home were fancy with Spanish foods or perhaps Middle Eastern fare.  However, for Thanksgiving it was pure (US) American tradition.   Our meals usually were:

• Turkey (of course)
• Stuffing
• Whipped mashed potatoes
• Sweet potato/yams with marshmallows
• Green beans with slivered almonds
• Cranberry Walnut Relish
• Pearled onions in cream sauce (no we didn’t keep Kosher, and no I never ate this.)
• Pecan Pie
• Pumpkin Pie

The Thanksgiving meal I make is usually similar to the above, without the onions and usually only pumpkin pie.  The cranberry relish became a family tradition and probably was clipped from some recipe section in some newspaper.  My grandmother liked it so much she asked for the recipe and made a very interesting variation on it, but that’s a family story I’ll skip for this year.  I mentioned the cranberry relish on Twitter and some folks thought it sounded good, so I thought I’d post the recipe here.  It’s super easy to make and really quite yummy.  Usually I have it on toast for quite some time after Thanksgiving, and somehow it is only made for Thanksgiving.   Without much more ado, here is the recipe:

Baked Cranberry-Walnut Relish

1lb cranberries
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup coarsely broken walnuts
1 cup tart orange marmalade
Juice of 1 lemon or lime

Wash & drain the cranberries.
Put in a shallow baking pan & stir in sugar.
Cover tightly with lid or foil and bake in a moderate ove (350º F) 1 hr.
Put walnuts on a tray and in the same oven to toast during the last 10 minutes of baking
Add walnuts & remaining ingredients to cranberries.
Mix well & chill.

Enjoy!

Tonight we had the worlds best pasta sauce.  In one of my new cookbooks, Levana Cooks Dairy-Free!, she has a puttanesca sauce that is absolutely wonderful.  It is rich and flavorful and rather than being a liquidy sauce is thick and filled with tasty vegetables.   I think that Levana is one of my favorite cooks.  Every recipe I’ve tried has been absolutely wonderful.   If you keep Kosher, you’re in luck her cookbooks are kosher, if you like food, you’re in luck because her cookbooks make wonderful gourmet meals that just work.  Her cookbooks also have wonderful pictures and wonderful stories and give you a real feel for the food.

Her website is: Levana Cooks.

And to give you a feel for her flare let me point you to a video of her’s that favorited on You Tube,  Levana Cooks Oatmeal.  Yes oatmeal, the stuff everyone knows how to make – but she takes it and transforms it into a full cooking lesson on cooking and seasoning in general.

Bon Apetit!

And now for the finally of the 3 part video – cookies or the making of Biscotti. This is the same recipe as documented below.

Here is the video wherein I make soup.

So viddler switched their contest from MeToday to MealToday. Yes, the premise is making a video about what you ate or made to eat on a day.

Here we have making Challah, part 1 of a three part series.

A lot of people seem to think that Biscotti are some exotic thing to make. In our house it is actually one of the more frequently baked goods. I thought I would share my recipe and provide some pointers for those less comfortable in the kitchen. This recipe is based on the one provided over on Espresso, My Espresso

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Ingredients:
2 eggs
1c (240ml) sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp (5ml) vanilla
2 tsp (10ml) baking powder
pinch of salt
2 cups (480ml) flour
1 cup (240ml) of nuts, chocolate chips or whatever sounds good to add to a biscotti

Preheat the oven to 375f (190c)
Cream the eggs and the sugar.
Add the oil and whisk until smooth.
Add vanilla, baking powder & salt and whisk in.
Stir in 2 cups of flour
Add in nuts/chocolate chips or whatever your add in is. The dough should sticky but not so much that you get large globs of dough stuck to you. If it is overly sticky put a light dusting of flour on the dough and mix it in and see if it is now just sticky (a little dough sticking to your hands.)

Oil a cookie sheet or use parchment paper.
On the prepared cookie sheet make 3 loaves. Squish them down to be as wide as you want your biscotti long.

Bake for 20 minutes. When they come out they should be lightly golden brown.
Let the loaves cool for a few minutes until they are touchable.
Turn the oven down to 325f (163c)

Slice the loaves into individual cookies (about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in width – thinner cookies are crunchier, wider makes for chewier insides.) and put the cookies on their side (cut side down) Put them back in the oven and cook 15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

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If you went and looked at the recipe this was taken from you’ll see they cream the oil and then add the eggs. This also works, it make a coarser biscotti. I like the biscotti a little lighter and by combining the sugar with the eggs you get a lighter biscotti.

Now with olive oil it is important to note that there is a great variation in the taste of olive oil. Before you add the olive oil give it a smell. That smell will come out (in much subtler form) as a taste in the biscotti. Depending on what olive oil we have in the house I may actually do a 50/50 blend of olive oil with canola oil to lighten the taste. Feel free to experiment with the oil used.

I know a lot of recipes talk about the importance of sifting the flour before using it. I used to meticulously sift and measure flour for each recipe that I made. I have since discovered that this meticulous precision is not required. Sifting flour does not make a significant difference, so don’t sweat it.

As for the tools used in making the recipe, I use a whisk and spoon. The whisk is nice because it mixes the ingredients well. As a general note, if you are making a recipe that has you combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately a whisk is great for mixing the dry ingredients. (Just be sure the whisk is dry if you are using it in dry ingredients.) For the biscotti I whisk in all the ingredients that I can (everything before the flour) and then I switch to a spoon for adding the last ingredients as you are making a cookie dough and it will get too thick for the whisk.

For the add ins, you really can use anything you like. Sometimes I’ll use rolled oats as an add in for a more substantial cookie, but other add ins that I’ve used include candied ginger, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, various nuts. So feel free to experiment.

Enjoy!