Saturday, August 26, 2006
Gluten Free Baking
Chloe is not a breakfast person. Most mornings, we are lucky to get her to eat a couple bites of fruit, and a few pieces of rice cereal. The rest gets pelted at Maverick. He is not complaining. But...if we are going to ever get this kid off formula, she needs to eat.
So, I started searching for recipes for a yummy breakfast concoction that would be enticing enough to get Chloe to fulfill some key protein and fat requirements. The challenge: I cannot use any dairy, eggs, gluten containing grains (wheat, rye, barley, oats), or soy.
I found a recipe for rice/millet waffles a couple of days ago, and tried using it for pancakes. Ingredients: rice flour, millet flour, potato starch, applesauce, liquid (I used unfiltered apple juice), oil, more oil, baking powder, and xanthan gum. Wait, Xanthan Gum? Who cooks with that? I looked it up, and turns out it's pretty much required for gluten free baking. This cooking novice had no idea that gluten serves a key purpose in holding the dough together. Without that, you need something else to do the job -- Xanthan Gum.
Anyway...My first attempt wasn't very pretty. The pancakes burnt onto the pan, and then when I went to flip them, it was still liquid inside. I was pretty irritated at the xanthan gum for not doing its job. But, I persevered, and made scrambled pancake batter with half of it, and threw the rest in the oven to make pancake like biscuity things -- Not something I would serve to guests. The good news though, was that Chloe loved it! She ate the equivalent of an adult size pancake, as well as two biscuits. So, either she was having a major growth spurt, or I was on to something.
More searching...different pan...
Today I made a similar recipe, and it worked! Not only did the pancakes work, but they were tasty enough that we all sat down and ate them for breakfast. Next time I'll throw some blueberries in them, and I bet I could even serve them to guests. Woo hoo!
Next up: Zucchini bread.
So, I started searching for recipes for a yummy breakfast concoction that would be enticing enough to get Chloe to fulfill some key protein and fat requirements. The challenge: I cannot use any dairy, eggs, gluten containing grains (wheat, rye, barley, oats), or soy.
I found a recipe for rice/millet waffles a couple of days ago, and tried using it for pancakes. Ingredients: rice flour, millet flour, potato starch, applesauce, liquid (I used unfiltered apple juice), oil, more oil, baking powder, and xanthan gum. Wait, Xanthan Gum? Who cooks with that? I looked it up, and turns out it's pretty much required for gluten free baking. This cooking novice had no idea that gluten serves a key purpose in holding the dough together. Without that, you need something else to do the job -- Xanthan Gum.
Anyway...My first attempt wasn't very pretty. The pancakes burnt onto the pan, and then when I went to flip them, it was still liquid inside. I was pretty irritated at the xanthan gum for not doing its job. But, I persevered, and made scrambled pancake batter with half of it, and threw the rest in the oven to make pancake like biscuity things -- Not something I would serve to guests. The good news though, was that Chloe loved it! She ate the equivalent of an adult size pancake, as well as two biscuits. So, either she was having a major growth spurt, or I was on to something.
More searching...different pan...
Today I made a similar recipe, and it worked! Not only did the pancakes work, but they were tasty enough that we all sat down and ate them for breakfast. Next time I'll throw some blueberries in them, and I bet I could even serve them to guests. Woo hoo!
Next up: Zucchini bread.
