GF Carrot Cake Bake-Off

Posted on April 2, 2012 by HSG

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Bake-off

March 30, 2012

Apparently when I’m feeling a bit down, I cook. Seem to be doing alot of it lately. A few days ago I needed some dessert and couldn’t decide between two GF carrot cake recipes. SO, I made two 9″ round cakes, one of “The Best Carrot Cake” from Beth Hillson’s Gluten-free Makeovers, the other from Annalise Roberts’ Gluten-Free Baking Classics . I calculated a half-batch of each recipe, baked them both at the same time, and then compared them both with and without a basic powdered sugar frosting.

YUMMO!!

Unfortunately for those wanting recipes, I didn’t make enough changes to the original recipes to feel justified in posting them here. Both cookbooks were readily available at my public library (though I now own Roberts’ book and will probably buy HIllson’s soon as well).

For now I will try to describe the recipes in enough detail for you to know whether you would like to pursue them . . . trust me, they bake up good enough for non-GF-folks to eat!

Hillson’s recipe uses a flour blend of sorghum, rice flour, and tapioca flour combined with relatively small amounts of gum, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, & cloves. These dry ingredients are combined with sugar, oil, and eggs. Grated carrots, crushed pineapple, raisins and walnuts are then stirred in.

Roberts’ recipe uses her Brown Rice Flour Blend (super-fine brown rice flour, potato starch, & tapioca starch); somewhat larger amounts (compared to Hillson) of gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. These dry ingredients are combined with sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Grated carrots, walnuts, and coconut are then stirred in.

The only modifications I made to the recipes were:

guar gum instead of xanthan gum
rehydrated unsweetened coconut instead of sweetened
reduced the amount of pineapple juice to adjust for moisture introduced by the extra 1/2 egg (half of 3 eggs became 2 eggs 🙂 )
baked for an extra 7 minutes because the centers were not firm after the listed baking times

I used my Farberware non-stick cake pans greased and lined with parchment circles. I also used my Velcro insulated pan wraps (which keep cakes from doming and worked equally well with these GF cakes as they did with regular cakes). In the picture above, the cake in the front-left is Hillson’s and the one in the back-right is Roberts’.

After tasting each of the cakes to make sure they were edible and compatible with each other, I stacked them and frosted with my Non-Dairy Coconut Powdered Sugar Frosting. (rather tricky after you’ve already cut into the cakes!)

Non-Dairy Coconut Powdered Sugar Frosting

1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I use Spectrum Organics Palm Oil Shortening)
2 Tbls Coconut Manna (I use Nutiva brand)
2-3 cups confectioners sugar; sifted if lumpy
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
dashes of lemon juice or water or “milk” substitute as needed to thin the frosting

Beat the shortening and coconut manna until light and fluffy. Add extracts and beat again.
Gradually add confectioners’ sugar and mix at low-medium speed until combined.
Add liquid, one teaspoon at a time, to thin the frosting enough to use.

Note: The coconut manna provides some richness to make up for not using the butter and cream cheese that would be in the traditional version of my powdered sugar frosting.

GENERAL NOTES

The recipe in Hillson’s book is VERY different from one you might find posted online (http://adventures-in-gluten-free-wheat-free-living.yumsugar.com/Beths-Gluten-Free-Easy-Carrot-Cake-2905567 ). I haven’t tested the online version.
Roberts’ recipe has been posted here http://www.theculinarylife.com/2009/easy-gluten-free-carrot-cake-recipe/
Overall, I preferred the texture and taste of Hillman’s recipe (lower cake in photo below) over Roberts’ (upper cake in photo below). Hillman’s was sweeter, moister, and spicier. Hillman’s recipe does not rise as much as Roberts (due to smaller amounts of leavening), so next time I would use Hillman’s recipe, but substitute the baking powder and baking soda amounts from Roberts’. I might also be tempted to toss in the unsweetened coconut as well. 🙂 Roberts’ cake tasted more like what I think of as “carrot/spice cake from a box”. Edible, even tasty, just not as rich as I wanted in a carrot cake.

Friday Night Fish Fry

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

First a confession—I made this meal last Saturday (was too tired last Friday) and then didn’t get around to writing it up . . . better late than never.

Lent has had me craving fish fillets, so I looked for some recipes and found a couple that looked like they might work. One required GF breadcrumbs, which I was all out of (will try this one next time) . . . the other was a rice-flour-based batter which I adapted to be dairy-free as well. I put some clean oil in my Fry Daddy and put together a GF Fish Fry.

Menu Note: Due to my CFS (which greatly limits my ability to cook for a long time and/or do more than one thing at a time), I prepared everything except the catfish nuggets earlier in the day. The slaw & guacamole need to chill. The beans and rice can be reheated while you are cooking the fish.

Catfish Nuggets

Ingredients

1 pound catfish nuggets (or other white fish like tilapia; catfish nuggets come already chopped up and are cheaper than buying a fillet and cutting it up yourself)
1-1/4 cup rice flour (or other GF blend), divided
1-1/2 tsp chili powder, divided
1 egg
1/2 cup soy milk (or other dairy-free “milk”)
salt & pepper
oil for frying

Directions

Preheat oven to 200°F (for keeping the nuggets warm after they are fried)
Combine 1/2 cup of the flour and 1 tsp chili powder in a shallow dish for dredging.
In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, the remaining 3/4 cup flour, soy milk, salt & pepper, and 1/2 tsp chili powder. Add extra “milk” if the batter is too thick.
Heat oil (I’m guessing the Fry Daddy heats the oil to somewhere between 350°F & 400°F, but the beauty of the Fry Daddy is it keeps the oil at an even heat . . . the original recipe tells how to do this in a fry pan instead)
Dredge 3-4 nuggets in the seasoned flour, then run through the batter and carefully place the nuggets in the hot oil. Stir gently to make sure the nuggets don’t get stuck together. Cook for 6-8 minutes or until golden.
Remove nuggets from oil with a slotted spoon and place on a paper-towel-covered plate. Sprinkle with kosher salt and place in a warm oven to keep warm as you fry the remaining nuggets.

NOTES

If I made this recipe again, I would try it without the dredging step. I’m pretty sure the batter would stick without it and it made the coating too thick. Another option would be to make the batter thinner.
If you are frying on the stove or using a different type of fryer it would be wise to “test fry” a single nugget to see what the optimum frying time is for your setup.
If you have access to decent GF tortillas you can turn the above into delicious Fish Tacos. Warm a tortilla, top with rice, beans, a couple of nuggets, some slaw & a spoonful of guacamole. Fold & Enjoy! (I prefer just piling everything on a plate or in a bowl.)

Broccoli Slaw

Mix together:

10 oz bag of cole or broccoli slaw mix
1/3 cup GF mayo
1 Tbls white vinegar
1 tsp sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Chill at least one hour, stirring occasionally.

Guacamole

1 avocado, diced
1/4 medium red onion, diced
2 T cilantro, minced
1 large spoon diced tomatoes (fresh or saved from beans recipe)
1 T lemon &/or lime juice

Mix together and chill.

Quinoa & Sesame Bread

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

Quinoa & Sesame Bread

gluten-free, dairy-free, corn-free

Inspired by the recipe for “Quinoa Sesame ‘Wonder’ Bread” (in Gluten-Free Makeovers by Beth Hillson, 2011, DaCapo/LifeLong/Perseus Book Group, Cambridge, MA) I bought some quinoa flour and sesame seeds this week. I had no interest in the “Wonder Bread texture” mentioned in the recipe, so rather than using equal parts quinoa/cornstarch/tapioca starch, I added fiber with sorghum and millet flours, and cut back on the starches. (I believe this will also be the first loaf I have made containing NO arrowroot starch, the typical replacement for cornstarch.)

I also noticed that the ingredients and method (of Hillman’s recipe) were very similar to the High Fiber Bread I made a few days ago, so I decided to play a bit with my hand-mixing technique (still no stand mixer). (1) I mixed the yeast in with the other dry ingredients and added slightly warmer water (rather than proofing first) and (2) I borrowed a method from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible: mixing the dough without salt and letting it rest a bit before adding the salt and additional water. (Salt is known to interfere with the yeast action, so giving the yeast a chance to start working before adding the salt helps with the rising.) I really liked the texture of the dough going into the pan. Finally, to try to avoid the “holey sunken middle” problem, I worked more at smoothing the dough in the pan to remove any possible air pockets.

Ingredients

1 to 2 Tbls sesame seeds
1-1/4 cups quinoa flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup potato starch
3 Tbls brown sugar
3-1/2 tsp guar gum
2-1/2 tsp active dry yeast
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tbls oil
1-1/8 cup water, warmed to 120°F
1-1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. [I usually measure out my flours into a large bowl, take the eggs and any other refrigerated ingredients out of the frig, and let them sit on the counter while I do something else for 30-60 minutes.]
Grease one 8-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ loaf pan.
Heat a dry skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sesame seeds and stir continuously until they begin to brown. Remove from the heat and cool.
In a large mixing bowl, combine quinoa, sorghum, and millet flours, tapioca starch, potato starch, brown sugar, guar gum, and yeast. Stir/whisk together until everything is evenly combined.
Heat the water to 120°F (if you haven’t done that already—see NOTE).
In a separate medium bowl, beat together the eggs and the oil.
Add approximately 1/2 cup of the water to the dry ingredients. Stir well. Add the egg/oil mixture. Stir well.
Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the dough. [I reserved about 1 tsp of sesame seeds for the top of the bread, but the original recipe didn’t do this; we’ll see if they burn in the oven.] Stir everything together. At this point you should have a very rough dry-ish dough that almost holds together. If much loose flour remains in the bowl, add a bit more water and stir. Cover the bowl of dough and let it rest for 5-10 minutes. [This will allow the gum to absorb water and the yeast to start working.]
Sprinkle the salt and 1/2 the remaining water over the dough. Stir together. Decide if you need the rest of the water. Add and stir if necessary.
Spread the dough into the prepared pan. Use a silicon or oiled spatula to press the dough down and spread evenly in the pan. Spritz the top with a bit of oil and sprinkle any reserved sesame seeds on the top. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for 40-60 minutes or until the dough comes almost to the top of the pan.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the interior temperature of the bread is 200°F. Turn onto a wire rack and cool completely before slicing.

Note

There are a number of common methods for heating the water to the correct temperature (110°F if proofing the yeast separately; 120°F if mixing the yeast in with your other dry ingredients). If your hot water comes out of the tap at 120°F, you can use that; some folks prefer to use filtered water and heat it in the microwave (60 seconds is usually enough to get from room temp to 120°F ; if the water is over 130°F, let it cool before using) [I’m in this camp]; still other folks boil water on the stove and then add cold water to get to the correct temperature. Whichever method you choose, PLEASE use an instant-read thermometer to tell you the temperature. I don’t care if you raised 6 babies and know how to test liquids on your wrist, that may be good enough for babies, but it is NOT good enough for baking bread!!

Pictures

OMG! This may be my best-looking GF loaf EVER!!

[Later: I can now confirm that the loaf did NOT sink in the middle and does not have big holes in the center! Yippee!!—Still need to taste it, but have had 4 slices of bread today, so probably not until tomorrow.]

[Update 3/19/12: I can now verify that this bread makes a yummy sandwich!! I toasted two slices and made a tuna salad/lettuce/mayo sandwich. Very tasty! Except for the top crust (with all the sesame seeds) the bread is neutral in a good way—no overwhelming taste of a particular flour, just a nice hearty loaf. Definitely NOT the “Wonder Bread” of the original recipe . . . more like a “soft, light, wheat, sandwich bread,” but without the wheat 🙂 Yeah! we’ve got a winner with this recipe! ]

High Fiber GF Bread Made by Hand

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

I’ve just added this recipe to the “Bread Diary” but I’m also giving it its own post because it proves that you do not need a stand mixer OR bread machine to bake GF bread. My stand mixer broke on the last batch of GF bread dough (and I’ve never owned a bread machine) so I decided to throw caution to the wind and see how it would work to mix the dough by hand. I think one of the keys is that you need to allow the “gums” time to absorb moisture. In most recipes this is accomplished by mixing/kneading the dough (using a machine) for 5-10 minutes. I don’t have the strength to mix that long by hand, but gradually adding the ingredients and then mixing and waiting a bit and mixing some more seemed to work!

Baked on March 13, 2012
High Fiber Bread—gluten-free, dairy-free, corn-free
adapted from
Beth and Jen’s High Fiber Bread [p. 36 in Gluten-Free Makeovers by Beth Hillson (2011, DaCapo/LifeLong/Perseus Book Group, Cambridge, MA)]

I only recently discovered amaranth and have yet to try baking with amaranth flour . . . this bread is my first attempt. It definitely has that distinctive “amaranth odor/taste” combined with the equally distinctive “teff odor/taste”. Certainly hearty, like a good whole wheat bread.

The original recipe says: “Makes One 2-pound loaf or 16 slices” which is a bit confusing because it also says to use an 8-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ loaf pan (which is usually thought of as a 1 pound loaf pan). One more of the many confusing aspects of GF baking. I was tempted to use my 10″x5″ loaf pan, but followed the directions and was glad I did.

The ingredients were given in cups and grams. Due to all the substituting I was doing, I used the weights (because the same quantity of a different flour will weigh a different amount, it is generally recommended to use weight rather than volume, especially when substituting) . . . but took note of the volumes that resulted and listed them as well.

The final complication came from no longer having a stand mixer (broke it making the previous loaf of thick gluten-free bread batter) . . . SO, I went back to my old knowledge of mixing bread dough by hand and added a bit of gluten-free common sense (e.g., you do NOT want to try to “knead” GF “dough” by hand . . . much too sticky!). Here’s what I did:

Equipment you will need:

8-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ loaf pan
several mixing bowls of various sizes
a VERY sturdy wooden spoon or “Danish Dough Whisk”

Ingredients

1/3 cup millet flour (54 grams)
2/3 cup amaranth flour (65 grams)
1/3 cup teff flour (48 grams)
2/3 cup sorghum flour (80 grams)
1/2 cup arrowroot starch (65 grams)
1/2 cup tapioca flour (70 grams)
3-1/2 tsp guar gum
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3 Tbls brown sugar, packed, divided (46 grams)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tbls vegetable oil
1-1/8 cups warm water (110°F), divided
2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Directions

Lightly oil an 8-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ sandwich loaf pan.
Measure/weigh the six “flours” (first 6 ingredients) and combine in a medium bowl. Add guar gum, salt, and cream of tartar. Stir/whisk to mix. Measure the brown sugar, reserving 1 tsp in a small bowl for use in proofing the yeast. Sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar 2-2/3 Tbls) over the other dry ingredients.
Pour 1/2 cup of the warm water over the brown sugar in the small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the sugar water. Stir to dissolve. Allow to rest for 10 minutes or until foamy. Reserve the remaining 5/8 cup water.
Lightly beat the eggs and oil in a separate medium bowl.
Once the yeast is ready, put about 1 cup of the dry ingredients into a large sturdy bowl. Add the yeast mixture and stir with a heavy wooden spoon or “dough whisk”. Add the egg/oil mixture and stir. Alternately (and gradually) add the remaining dry ingredients and the remaining water (dry-water-dry-water-dry) stirring after each addition. The dough/batter will be VERY thick.
Allow to rest for a few minutes (the gum needs to absorb water) and then stir again.
Scrape the dough into the prepared pan. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place to rise for 40-60 minutes, or just until the dough has risen nearly to the top of the pan. Remove the plastic wrap. [Here in Minnesota this always takes longer than the recipes indicate! Be patient!]
Preheat the oven to 350°F while the dough makes its final rise to the top of the pan (if you’ve been letting it rise in the oven, here’s where you take it out!! 🙂 ). Bake the dough on the center rack for 40-50 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the loaf reads 200°F. [I rotate the loaf halfway through the baking time.]
Remove the pan to a wire rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Turn out and allow to cool completely.

See additional Notes below the pictures

Yes, the dough needs to be THIS thick, or it will collapse.

Left: half way through baking; Right: end of baking, already dipping in the center.

On the left is the millet-oat bread I made last week in the 10″x5″ pan; on the right is today’s bread made in the 8-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ sandwich bread pan. Goal: a 10″x5″ loaf that rises as high as today’s smaller loaf . . . I’m not really into “dainty” sandwiches! Still, this loaf didn’t taste bad . . . but definitely amaranth-y.

Notes

I baked mine for 50 minutes, but even though the internal temp was 205°F, the center didn’t look/feel “done” and looked like it would collapse. I tried turning off the oven and allowing it to cool for about 15 minutes in the still-warm oven. Won’t know how mushy the middle is until I cut into it some more. There has already been some collapsing a few hours later. [Note: the interior texture is a bit on the moist/tender side, but toasting takes care of that. No major raw or mushiness inside. Still looking for the GFBread Recipe that I can eat without toasting first!]
After much searching on the interwebs (and reading contradictory information in various cookbooks). I’ve decided that even if some people believe you no longer need to “proof” yeast, if I’m using active dry yeast, I will proof it. If I don’t want to bother with proofing, I will use RapidRise or “instant” yeast mixed in with the dry ingredients and slightly warmer water (120°-130°F).
BTW—getting GF bread dough to rise and then not collapse after baking are the two biggest challenges I’ve run into so far.

A Busy Day of GF Cooking

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

Pancakes, GF Millet & Oat Bread, AND Meatloaf!

[NOTE: This post from yesterday never got published, because in the midst of writing it I discovered a bunch of my other sites had been hacked. Spent the past 24 hours fixing that mess. Even more exhausted now than when I wrote this post about how busy yesterday had been—little did I know it had only just begun!]

Not sure what got into me today, but it’s been a busy day of cooking and blogging (with some napping and Twins Baseball thrown in for good measure 🙂

I started the day making GF pancakes (using sorghum flour, millet flour, potato starch, and almond meal).

Later I baked a loaf of GF Millet & Oatmeal Bread and wrote it up in the Bread Diary.

I also researched stand mixers (after mine broke trying to mix the Millet & Oatmeal Bread). I’m leaning toward the Kitchen Aid Artisan, but I’m open to suggestions . . . I’ll need to save my pennies for a while before I invest in one.

Finally, I’ve now got My Favorite Meatloaf in the oven . . . which is my mother’s recipe, but using GF Breadcrumbs and soymilk. Looking at it in the oven, I’m not sure the GF Breadcrumbs work quite the same way (as binder with the egg) as the traditional breadcrumbs, but we’ll see.

GF Meatloaf

Mix together:

1 lb ground beef
1/2 c. seasoned GF breadcrumbs (if your breadcrumbs are unseasoned, add 1/2 tsp Italian Herb Seasoning Mix—oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme and rosemary)
1 egg
1/4 – 1/2 c. soymilk (or other “milk”)
salt & pepper
dash celery salt
1/2 T. Worcestershire sauce
finely chopped onion (trace amt up to 1/2 c.)
dash garlic powder
1/4 c. tomato sauce

Form into loaf and place in 9″x13″ pan (DO NOT use loaf pan). Combine an additional 1/4 c. tomato sauce with 1/4 c. water and pour over loaf.

Bake at 350° for 1 to 1-1/4 hour. [I usually cover it for the first 45 minutes and then uncover for the last half hour.]

NOTE: I haven’t had much luck finding corn-free tomato sauce, so I often mix a couple of Tbls tomato paste (the concentrate that comes in a tube is usually JUST tomatoes) with an equal amount of water to make the tomato sauce for this recipe. I mixed about 4 Tbls tomato paste and 4 Tbls water and put HALF of this mixture in the meatloaf and then diluted the remaining half as indicated above to pour over the loaf. Because I wasn’t certain how this loaf would respond to/absorb the moisture, I only added half the tomato/water mixture before putting it in the oven, then checked it and added the rest after 30 minutes. I think it would be okay to add it all before baking.

I served the meatloaf with baked sweet potato and steamed broccoli. Other than needing a bit more salt, it tasted great!!