Blueberry Muffins - without rice flour

I might be a little obsessed with blueberry muffins, but they are an easy go to. I certainly add other fruits - apples, raisins, cherries, raspberries. But when I'm trying out a new flour blend, I stick with my favorite.

1/2 cup and 1/3 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup and 1/3 cup gluten free oat flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons chia seeds (optional)
1/2 cup full fat yogurt
1/2 cup butter melted and cooled (1 stick)
3 large eggs
1 cup blueberries (or other fruit)

Blend the flours and dry ingredients together and then mix in the rest of the ingredients. I mix in the fruit last. Spoon into 12 paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Gluten Free Pineapple Zucchini Bread

Welcome to August's Zucchini Bounty

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup sunflower oil (or softened ghee)
2 eggs (or 3 tsp egg replacer and 3 Tablespoons of water)
1 cup grated zucchini
1/2 cup grated carrot
1 8-oz. can of crushed pineapple with juice
1/2 cup water
2 cups gluten free flour mix
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a ceramic bread pan and line with parchment and grease again. (See baking notes below for more information)

Mix the sugar, oil and eggs together until smooth. Add the zucchini, carrot, pineapple with juice, and water. Mix until incorporated.

Sift together the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and allspice. Blend well with the wet ingredients. Fold in the nuts if you are using them and spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 90 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pan. Serves about 10-12.

Baking notes: I use ceramic pans like a Emile Henri because it seems to allow a gluten free loaf more even baking - not burning the crust before the center is cooked. When I used to bake large wedding cakes, I found Magic Strips to be essential for keeping the baking even. Ceramic pans seem to do the same for the dense nature of gluten free breads. I also use Corning glass with great success. However, if you choose to use a metal pan, reduce the baking temperature by at least 25 degrees - go slow and observe what your oven does. Magic strips might also be useful in this circumstance. I find an oven thermometer to be an essential piece of equipment even if I trust the temperature of my oven. It simply confirms that the temperature that I expect the oven to be.

I should also note that I bake my bread using convection baking setting. My operator's manual suggests that I should reduce the normal baking temperature by 25 degrees when I use convection, but I haven't found this to be the case with gluten free breads.

Variations: This recipe can be made without the pineapple. If you opt to remove the pineapple and replace it with more veggie material - make sure to add a Tablespoon of vinegar to help the loaf rise and to neutralize/buffer the baking soda.

I love this loaf for using up zucchini in the garden, and can be made 100% zucchini or summer squash, no carrot. I've wanted to try shredded raw sweet potato as well. I'm sure raisins would be wonderful in this instead of nuts. Or with the nuts - which I think might be the recipe for one of my favorite little Saturday morning haunts who make an amazing "Morning Madness Muffin" that's delicious with a cup of earl grey tea. Yes, this would make great muffins, but I'm not sure how many muffin cups it would fill.

Sugar: This bread is on the sweet but not sticky sweet range of quick breads. I heavily reduce sugar when I can. Adjust for your personal taste. And if you don't have coconut sugar, substitute brown sugar.

Another Gluten Free Muffin Recipe

As I've posted before, I've been tinkering with a basic gluten flour mixture that I had used as a base for my Sandwich Bread.  And having success with both the bread and with pancakes made using it, I decided to try adapting a basic muffin recipe.  This one happens to be dairy free also.  The original recipe came from a 1992 version of the Betty Crocker's Cookbook, and I used the Popular Muffins version.  Below is the recipe as I modified it.  I did use olive oil this time, I was out of applesauce.

*GF Flour mixture:
3 cup brown rice
2 cup tapioca starch (you can use cornstarch)
1 cup glutinous rice
1 cup garfava flour
1 cup fava bean flour
1 cup masa harina

Muffin Ingredients:
1 egg
1 c vanilla almond milk
1/4 c oil
2 c GF flour mixture*
1/4 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t xanthan gum
1 t salt
1 c sprouts (this time I used fenugreek sprouts & a 1/4 t dill seeds. I'll leave the dill out next time!)

Heat oven to 400°.  The recipe calls for greasing bottom of muffin cups, I didn't have to.  I also used both a medium muffin pan as well as a muffin top pan.  I wanted them for breakfast egg sandwiches.  In both cases the muffins either fell out of the inverted pan or popped out with light pressure from a fork.

Beat egg; stir in milk and oil.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until completely moistened.  The original recipe says batter should be lumpy, but I never have good luck with a GF batter that isn't reasonably well blended.  (The lumps usually come from the starch not being fully blended.)  Then stir in sprouts. 

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  As with most gluten free baked goods, remove immediately from the pan to cool.   The recipe says it yields 12 muffins.  I actually made a double batch, which gave me 12 regular muffins and 8 muffin top muffins.

I can hardly wait to try this with blueberries or the cranberry-orange version!  And sorry, no picture, I leave that to my gifted co-blogger!

Rustic Pan Continental

I love quick breads when it comes to gluten free baking. Partially because I've had so much success with them. Today I made the Sandwich Bread recipe which is wonderful and has the traditional yeasty bread flavor to it. Problem was, I didn't put parchment on the bottom of the pan. Despite my best efforts, I tore the bottom off of my loaf. So I wasn't happy with taking a picture of it and the broken piece was the demise of the loaf. It was like a couple of drops of blood in shark infested water. I nibbled at the crunchy goodness of the crust, and before I knew it, half of the loaf was gone. Then my husband came in to find out what I was eating and he took a couple of thick slices with butter and strawberry jam. Oh, bliss. But so much for having some bread for the week. And I was out of the rice flour so I started to dream up a new idea. What can I do with that teff I have hanging around?

Grains from Asia (buckwheat), Africa (teff) and South America (quinoa)
The flavor reminds me of pumpernickel.

Porridge:
1/2 cup whole grain teff
3/4 cup apple juice (unfiltered)
3/4 cup boiling hot water

Dry Ingredients:
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
2 Tablespoons tapioca flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
2 Tablespoons ground flax meal
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder (use a GF brand)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:

2 eggs
1/4 cup light oil like olive oil
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1/2 cup apple juice (unfiltered)

Extras:
1 teaspoon caraway seeds, slightly crushed (optional)
1/2 teaspoon powdered cumin seed (optional)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds (with additional to sprinkle on the top)

First start with the porridge.  Using a heavy bottomed pot (iron pan in my case) brown the teff so that it is popping and you can smell a nice toasty aroma from it. While stirring pour the boiling hot water into the toasted teff being careful not to let it splash you.  Keep stirring to keep the lumps out. Now add the apple juice and continue to cook until it is a nice thick porridge. Set aside.

Sift together the dry ingredients. Whisk together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. When the oven is preheated, mix half the porridge and wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Add the extra spices and sunflower seeds if you wish now. Now add the remaining wet ingredients and porridge. Mix until evenly combined. Do not worry if the mixture looks "too wet for bread" Pour into a heavy loaf pan that has been well greased and add parchment if you are concerned the loaf may not lift out of your baking dish easily. I prefer Pyrex or a ceramic loaf pan like Emile Henry. Smooth the top. Sprinkle on more sunflower seeds if you wish. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Turn out of the pan and allow to cool.

Awesome Gluten Free Banana Bread

The biggest problem I've had with this bread is that it disappears so fast that I don't have time to get a picture of it.

3 mashed very ripe bananas (roughly 1 cup)

2 large  eggs

1/4 cup light oil, coconut oil or ghee

3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup  sorghum flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup either quinoa (lighter texture) teff (nutty flavor) or more sorghum (very moist consistency) flour

2 tablespoon ground flax seed

2 teaspoons baking powder (make sure brand is GF)

3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup walnut pieces(optional)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9-inch ceramic or glass loaf pan. Sometimes lining with parchment will help lift the bread out of the pan. I cannot say enough about using a heavier pan so the batter bakes more evenly. And I don't usually use the parchment, just make sure it is greased well.

In a mixing bowl, beat the mashed bananas with the eggs, oil and brown sugar till combined. Add the sorghum, tapioca starch, the other flour (quinoa, teff, or more sorghum) ground flax seed, GF baking powder, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and beat until a smooth sticky batter forms. Stir in the walnut pieces by hand.

Scoop the batter into the loaf pan and spread evenly. Stud the top with some extra walnut pieces, if desired. Bake on the center rack for 55 to 65 minutes, if necessary, until the center is done (a wooden cake tester should emerge clean). Ovens vary, so check the loaf at 50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. 

I've made this bread for non GF people and they also love it. I've also played around with the flours, baking different loaves and lining them up next to each other. So far the favorite in these taste trials has been the quinoa version. Just using sorghum and tapioca makes a very moist, sort of gummy loaf. The quinoa adds a sort of malty flavor and makes it less gummy. The teff is a nice variation and seems to add a nutty note. Just some observations. I don't think I would increase the tapioca beyond 1/2 cup.

Trial and Error with the Soyabella

I admire all the bloggers who have success after success in the kitchen with gluten free cooking. For me, it's turning out to be much more of a learning curve. I can attest by this last picture of my favorite waffle iron.


I had mixed up a batch of GF waffles, straight from a purchased mix. And it solidly glued my favorite waffle iron together. I broke the handle trying to pry it open, and the rice flour simply won't come off of the griddle. Oh well. I've been reading that you shouldn't use a pan or waffle iron that's been used with gluten products because of gluten cross contamination. But I was sad to see my 15 year old waffle iron go. I still could have used it to make waffles for my husband.

Instead of buying a new waffle iron, I bought an Aroma fuzzy logic rice cooker. I use it regularly and I really love it. And it was only $40. My favorite function is the delayed cooking option. I can set it so the rice is hot and fresh just as I wake up in the morning. Really nice.

Something nice in my tea still alludes me. Now I don't "have to have" my morning cuppa in order to be sociable. But there's something civilized in my mind about a cup of black tea with milk that I can't shake. I like milk (but that's out of the question) and I even like soy milk (but that's also out of the question). I've finally settled for rice milk. But sometimes it leaves an oily slick on the top of the tea. Ick. I've been racking my brain about making rice milk myself, but have balked at all the processing it takes. And then I thought I'd found a machine to answer all my prayers.

I purchased a Soyabella on Friday. I was very excited about the product as the lady in the shop assured me that it made rice milk and nut milk with great ease. I certainly won't be making soy milk with it. I looked Soyabella up on the web and was impressed by all the praises for the machine. So I went back at my earliest convenience and bought it. Sunday I actually got to use it for the first time. But I would say the jury is still out on this one.

My first batch of "rice milk" came out unfavorably. Now, I'm pretty used to having a learning curve on something new - so when I poured out the end product that looked like curdled milk, I chalked up my disappointment to "learning curve". Now granted, there are no instructions in the booklet about rice milk. Only "rice porridge". Ah, now looking at the mess I realized that I had made a version of congee, and a not too appetizing one at that. I can say this with confidence as I had just had breakfast of a delicious homemade congee (made in the rice cooker overnight) with mustard greens and pickled turnips. I strained the "rice milk" through a gold mesh coffee filter and put the thicker rice bi-product aside. I flavored the "rice milk" with some agave syrup and vanilla and moved it to the fridge with the hopes that I would like it better when cold. Frankly it is stodgy and gelatinous and I could never imagine putting it in my tea.



I rinsed off the unit and put the soaked adzuki beans in the "soy milk" basket. It was then that I noticed the remarkable difference in the hole sizes of the "rice porridge" basket from the "soy milk" basket. Hmmm. Now I'll have to try the rice in the "milk" basket next. Again I fired up the Soyabella according to the instructions. This time, a gelatinous beany goo issued forth, a strange purple grey color and none too appealing. Ok. Why do lovely little red beans transform into purple grey? Another mystery. I flavored that with a little maple syrup, but it really didn't appeal much to me at all. Into the fridge to cool down and see if there was some magical transformation. Alas, none transpired. Well, I'd read a couple of experiments with adzuki bean milk that had also ended in disappointment, so I will add to the list.

However, in trying to decide if I should chuck it down the sink, I opted to use it in my pancakes this morning. And what I will say for adzuki bean milk is that it improved the texture of my usual pancakes.

Usually there is a graininess to rice flour pancakes. I miss the somewhat chewy tooth of a wheat flour pancake. This morning, they were nearly indistinguishable from my old pancake recipe. Not to mention, the other minor gripe I have with GF pancakes is that they never brown quite like regular ones.


Maybe I just had a good pancake karma fairy this morning, or I've learned a little on getting them to color up, but they really had a nice golden color when they flipped over. So while I may not drink adzuki bean milk in my tea or pour it over my Rice Chex, I might be using it in some baked goods to see if it continues to add some magic.

GF Adzuki Bean Milk Pancakes

1/2 cup Arrowhead Mills GF pancake and baking mix
1 tsp ener-g egg replacer
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp blue agave syrup
1/2 cup adzuki bean milk (enough to make it the correct consistency for pancakes, pourable but not that thin up to 3/4 cup)

Fry on a hot greased griddle, flipping only once.

Makes five 3-inch pancakes

Wonder if there are any strawberries in the garden?

Blueberry Corn Muffins

The corn bread recipe makes a really good blueberry muffin with a couple of quick adjustments. Use the basic recipe and because I like these sweet, I add 1/3 cup more sugar to them. But it's only a suggestion. Just at the end of mixing the batter I add 1 cup of fresh (washed and cleaned) blueberries. I add 5 to 10 minutes on the baking time.

These have passed the "average eater" test. Nobody would have guessed they're gluten free. In fact, I brought them along to a lunch I was invited to. The hostess had encouraged people to bring something to share and I felt it would get me past the awkward "no bread for me, thanks anyway" thing. Everyone tucked in to the blueberry muffins with great delight. I find that grad students usually have no time to cook. However I noticed one person at lunch was politely avoiding the muffins. I casually mentioned that these were egg, dairy and gluten free. Her eyes lit up; "Really? You bake gluten free? I've been GF for two years now and I don't know anyone who bakes like this."

I have a friend who went to Culinary school. She said she didn't want to be rich like Bill Gates, but wanted to make people happy one cookie at a time.

I know what she means.

Corn Muffins

Also works nicely as a bread. I just wanted something small in my hand this morning for breakfast.

3/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup yellow corn meal
1 teaspoon xanthum gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer
4 Tablespoons warm water
1/3 cup vegetable oil (like canola)
1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil
1 Tablespoon vinegar (undistilled apple)
1 1/4 cup rice milk (but water may work as well)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (or 325 for a convection oven). Grease or line 12 muffin cups or a 8-inch square baking pan.

Combine the flours, sugar, corn meal, baking soda, zanthum gum and salt in a medium bowl.

Combine the egg replacer with the warm water. Mix until a little frothy.

Combine the rice milk, oils, and vinegar in a small bowl. Add the wet ingredients (rice milk combination and the egg replacer) to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Pour into prepared pans or muffin tins. Smooth the top, mounding up towards the center. I've found once you put this bread in, whatever pattern you leave in the top of the bread will bake that way.

Bake 20 minutes for the muffins or 40 minutes for the 8-inch pan.

Banana Bread - free from Gluten, Eggs, and Milk

My first Gluten Free Post!

I was tempted to make my new Zucchini-Pineapple bread again, but there were 3 overripe bananas on the counter begging to be used. How could I say no?

Juice of one lemon (or 2 small to make about 1/3 cup)
3 overripe (lots of brown spots) bananas - make the grocer happy, take the old separate ones if you don't have any of your own!
1/2 cup light flavored oil (I used a canola/corn oil)

1 cup Gluten Free baking mix
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed (I buy mine bulk and grind it in a coffee grinder)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped dates (about 8 dates)
1/2 cup nuts (I like pecan)

1 cup rice milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (350 for convection baking). Grease a 4x8 inch loaf pan. I used coconut oil.

Peel and mash the bananas. Add the lemon juice and mix thoroughly. Add the oil.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix until the brown sugar is only tiny lumps and the flours are well incorporated. If you use the dates, and slice them yourself, take a couple of tablespoons of the dry ingredient flour mix and toss the dates in it. It separates them from becoming a single gooey blob. Mix the banana, lemon, oil mixture in with the dry ingredients, dates and nuts. This should look crumbly and rather dry. When the lumps are about 1/2-inch in size start to add the rice milk in three 1/3 cup batches. This will be moist but very stiff batter.

When the ingredients are incorporated, turn into the pan and smooth the top. I even mound it up towards the center. I have found that whatever shape you make these breads - i.e. swirls left by the spoon, never smooth out and are immortalized in the finished loaf.

Bake for 1 hour or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Un-mold the bread and cool on a rack. Don't slice before it is cool.

Biscuits (almost like Grandma's)

My maternal Grandmother was locally renowned for her biscuits. I've tried for years to duplicate them. This morning I had some buttermilk to use and these came out almost like hers.

Note to self: need to try a gluten free version. Thinking of using coconut keifer for buttermilk by So Delicious.




4 cups all purpose flour
6 oz. cold butter (or 1 1/2 sticks - 12 Tbs)
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse meal. Sift in the salt, soda, and powder and then mix the buttermilk in until just moistened. Scoop out pieces about the size of a meatball, it should make 12. I placed them on the cookie sheet so they were touching (or it could be put in a pan). Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Banana Muffins

This made quick work of 4 bananas I needed to use up.


The muffins in the front are plain and without topping. The ones in the basket have a simple struesel topping.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a standard 12 muffin pan.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg
1/2 cup brown sugar lightly packed
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe bananas
3 Tablespoons oil
3 Tablespoons apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together the first 6 ingredients. Then whisk the rest of the ingredients together in a separate bowl. When the oven is ready, mix the dry and wet ingredients together in a few strokes, only until everything is smooth and moist. Do not overmix. (Overmixing makes your muffins tough and they end up looking like cone-heads instead of having a nice rounded top.) Divide the batter between the muffin cups. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan. If not serving hot, cool on a rack.