Monday, October 3, 2011

Crust-a-thon


This last week had me trying to find a gluten free solution to lunch time.  Feeding The Bee gluten-freely is pretty easy.  I mean she could happily eat some combo of applesauce, waffles, grapes, carrot "coins," yogurt, and grilled cheese for every meal.  I'm the problem.  I found out last week that I need to be off gluten as well.  Sadly I'm not as easily impressed.

I need a quick easy lunch, and what fits the bill better than pizza?  I kind of hated the grocery store GF crusts I tried while nursing The Bee and being on the diet.  I decided to take matters into my old hands.

Thin Crust:
It occurred to me that the goldfish recipe could be tweaked to make an easy to roll thin crust.  That was my first attempt.  Basically the role of cheddar was played by parmesan (and I used half as much: 1/2 cup).  I rolled it all out into a big round disc, baked, topped, baked a few minutes more and devoured.  Delish!!!!

Deep Dish:
The next day, I made the brazilian cheese rolls below but with mozzarella and decided to pour the extra dough into a greased raised sided pan and bake.  I then topped the deep dish pie with red sauce, parmesan (since plenty of mozz was already involved), herbs, and pepperoni.  I broiled it until the pepperoni crisped.  Again, amazing!

Quiche Crust:
Finally, I needed to make a quiche for a friend.  Again, I tweaked the goldfish recipe.  Instead of cheese, I used shredded potato (Simply Potato brand).  I rolled it into one circle big enough to fit a 9 inch pie pan.  I pierced the dough and baked it for 10 minutes until it started to brown.  After it cooled, I filled it with quiche lorraine goodness and baked it again.  PERFECT!!!!

Best. Dinner Rolls. Ever.

I'm in love.  We had a friend come to dinner tonight and I felt the need to have bread.  Since it was a last minute thing, I needed a quick and easy recipe.  I found this one from Jeanne Sauvage and am never going back.  They were amazing!!!!  Just don't skimp on the butter.



Gluten-Free Dinner Rolls for Thanksgiving
By Jeanne Sauvage of The Art of Gluten-Free Baking
Makes: about 20 rolls
Ingredients
3 C (420g) Jeanne’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix
2 tsp xanthan gum (this is in addition to the xanthan gum in the mix) 
4 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp salt
1/4 C (50g) sugar
2 TBL active dry yeast (I use Red Star)
2 C (475ml) warm but not hot milk (or milk substitute, or water)
2 tsp vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
2 large or extra large eggs
1/4 C (60ml) olive oil (or neutral vegetable oil)
melted butter (or butter substitute) for pans and for brushing tops of rolls

Butter muffin tins.

In a small bowl, whisk 1 TBL of the sugar into warm milk.  Add yeast, whisk to dissolve; set aside to proof (start the yeast working)–it will get foamy on the top.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, the remaining sugar, and salt; set aside.
In bowl of mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together eggs, vinegar and oil.  Add yeast mixture, beat to mix.  Add flour mixture, beat on low to combine, then beat on high for about 3 minutes.
Spoon dough into prepared muffin tins–filling about 3/4 of each cup.  With a sharp knife that has been dipped in tapioca flour, cut a deep slash in the top of each roll


Turn on oven to preheat to 375 degrees.


Let rise until doubled in bulk–about 40 mins.  I put muffin tins on top of stove to let dough rise in proximity to warmth of the preheating stove.
Once rolls have risen, brush the top of each with melted butter.  Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes–until the tops are a nice golden brown.  If they start to brown too quickly, loosely tent the rolls with aluminum foil.


Remove from oven.  Release rolls from tins–I often put them into a tea-towel lined basket to keep warm.
These rolls keep well, although you’ll probably eat them all the day you bake them! I have put them on the counter, unwrapped, overnight to see what they would be like the next day–and they were yummy!