Tag Archives: Gluten-Free

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Our Adventures In Baking ~ Gluten-Free Oat Quick Bread

This morning I made a ‘Gluten-Free Oat Quick Bread’ after reviewing a number of recipes, and modifying today’s recipe to such an extent that it didn’t resemble any of them in the end ~ and it tastes delicious! 🙂 I’ve been wanting to create a proper gluten-free sandwich bread, and this recipe I came up with today is the closest I’ve gotten to perfecting one.

While this oat quick bread won’t hold up as a proper sandwich using two slices of bread, it will do perfectly well as an open-faced sandwich eaten with a knife and fork with your choice of toppings.  For toasting, I suggest using a toaster oven instead of a toaster.  The texture and flavor is very hearty, and wonderfully full of ‘oaty goodness,’ and it didn’t pick up the specific flavors of honey and pure maple syrup I used in the recipe which surprised me.

The recipe has no eggs or sugar in it which is also surprising, and doesn’t taste ‘cake-like,’ but just as a nice hearty sandwich bread would.  It’s nicely neutral yet flavorful in taste, and I’m planning to use it for open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches, as well as, for traditional sandwiches like cold turkey sandwiches after Thanksgiving.

I cut thick slices from today’s loaf to keep them together as the crust especially can easily break away, but the slice itself holds together well if handled carefully.  I carefully wrapped the individual slices in cling film and put them into a freezer bag for freezing, and enjoyed one slice today with just a spread of butter.  Excessive handling or attempting to make a sandwich with two slices of bread definitely won’t work in this case.  So here’s the recipe I used for today’s oat quick bread:

–  Mix together in a large mixing bowl:

1 and 1/2 cups of rolled oats

1 and 1/2 cups oat flour (I made my own oat flour from pulsing rolled oats in the food processor)

1/2 cup ‘gluten-free 1 to 1 flour’ (this was all I had available for today’s recipe)

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

–  Combine together in a 2 cup measuring cup:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used Canola Oil)

3 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1 and 1/4 cups milk (I used 1% milk today)

–  Add the liquids to the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl, and stir well (if the mixture is too loose add oat flour, if it’s too thick add more milk, until it’s firm enough to spoon out into a buttered loaf pan)

–  I baked mine for 30 minutes at 400 deg F, letting it cool 10 minutes afterwards in the loaf pan before turning it out onto a cooling rack – wait until entirely cool to slice

Here are a few photos of today’s efforts ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

 

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Our Adventures In Cooking ~ Gluten-Free Apple Oat Cakes

I wanted to create a simple recipe for ‘Gluten-Free Apple Oat Cakes’ without all the fuss and bother some recipes go to, in order to have a tasty breakfast or lunch treat that’s fast and easy to make.  The flavors of apples and oats are deliciously perfect together at any time of the year, especially in the fall with a sprinkling of cinnamon, so that’s the flavor combination I was going for.

I make my own oat flour by pulsing rolled oats in the food processor, which isn’t nearly as pure-ground as the store bought version, but it works well for me as I like the rustic consistency.  Oats soak up lots of moisture, so I made sure my recipe would provide a consistency that was neither too thick, or too thin ~ just right.  So here’s the simple recipe I came up with:

– Combine 1/4 cup of oat flour, with 1/2 cup of applesauce, a pinch of salt if desired, and a sprinkling of cinnamon ~ that’s it

Melt a pat of butter in a frying pan over medium heat, and then cook these apple oat cakes as you would pancakes.  My batter made 3 medium apple oat cakes, and I served them with butter and pure maple syrup ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

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Our Adventures In Baking ~ Gluten-Free Applesauce, Oat and Cinnamon English Muffin

I modified a recipe this morning that my wife found online at ‘The Big Mans World dot com’ for ‘Microwave English Muffin’ ~ and it was a real treat!  Who would think you could make a believable English Muffin in a microwave in a few minutes, and then toast it?  Check out his amazing recipe and website, and I’ll give you my version, as well.

My ‘Gluten-Free Applesauce, Oat and Cinnamon English Muffin’ was made with what we had on hand:

3 Tablespoons of oat flour

1/2 Teaspoon baking powder

2 Tablespoons of apple sauce

1 Egg

2 Tablespoons of milk

Cinnamon sprinkled liberally

Pinch of salt

I buttered a 5.5″ (interior dimension) flat-bottomed glass microwave bowl, mixed the dry ingredients together, and then added the wet ingredients, stirring well.  I microwaved the batter for 3 minutes in the microwave, watching as the batter firmed up and pulled back from the edge of the glass bowl at 2 minutes.  The English Muffin fell out of the glass bowl easily when tipped over onto a drying rack to cool.

After a few minutes I baked the muffin in a toaster oven for about 3 minutes to give it the look and feel of a baked muffin, prior to slicing it in half once it was cool.  I then toasted the slices in the toaster like a regular English Muffin, and ate it with butter and jam ~ delicious!  I think this English Muffin without the cinnamon, would work out great for cheese sandwiches with a slice of Provolone or Swiss cheese in the frying pan.  Here’s a couple of photos ~ enjoy!

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Our Adventures In Baking ~ Gluten-Free Peanut Butter, Brown Rice Flour, Oats and Chocolate Chip Cookies

As a resourceful baker, I decided to make up a batch of ‘Gluten-Free Peanut Butter, Brown Rice Flour, Oats and Chocolate Chip Cookies’ this morning using what we had on hand in the pantry, and loved the result! 🙂

I rarely follow recipes very closely, adding this and that into the mix to experiment and engage my baking creativity, so today I just decided to go rogue and make something up from scratch – here’s the ingredient list I used, just combine together:

  • 2 eggs
  • 2/3 cup of light brown sugar
  • 1 and 1/4 cups of white sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1 and 1/3 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 2 cups of smooth peanut butter
  • 1 and 1/2 cups of brown rice flour (ground myself in a coffee grinder, but I recommend a commercially processed product for a finer consistency)
  • 1 cup of oat flour (pulsed myself in a food processor, which works perfectly well for me)
  • 1 cup of rolled oats
  • Approximately 1/3 bag of chocolate chips (enough for 2 chocolate chips per cookie)
  • A pinch of salt
  • 1/3 cup of water (the dough was very stiff, so I added water to moisten it)

I used a 1″ cookie scoop to portion out the dough, added 2 chocolate chips and gently pressed down on each cookie, and then baked the cookies for 11 minutes at 350 degrees.  This batch made 83 delicious 2″ cookies ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

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Our Adventures In Baking – Gluten-Free Potato Oat Flatbread

In an effort to purge wheat from my diet and still enjoy eating bread, my wife and I made a fabulous ‘Gluten-Free Potato Oat Flatbread’ today, by modifying a recipe called ‘Everything Mashed Potato Flatbread’ found at ‘Officially Gluten Free dot com.’  Not only did our resulting flatbread exceed my expectations, but it completely fills the square for eating bread in sandwiches, cheeseburgers and pizzas for me from now on! 🙂

I make my own oat flour by pulsing rolled oats in the food processor, and try to substitute it as often as possible in recipes calling for regular flour.  This recipe called for rice flour however, which we didn’t have, so I used an equal portion of my oat flour instead with the best results ever.  The flatbread turned out perfectly, and tasted wonderfully – just like eating regular bread in the salmon salad sandwich I had for lunch today.  I cut my sandwich in half before picking it up to eat, and the flatbread didn’t crack, split, crumble or fall apart like a hamburger bun often does – yet it retained a soft, delicious texture that was a joy to eat! 🙂

One recipe made eight individual flatbreads about 6 inches across, and I’m planning on making larger ones in the future as individual pizza crusts using Parmesan, Oregano and Italian seasonings instead of the recipe’s sesame seed topping.  My wife thinks we’ll pre-bake the pizza flatbread crust for about 10 minutes prior to adding the pizza toppings, and then finish it back up in the oven until the cheese melts.

I’ve frozen the additional flatbreads for future sandwiches, and here’s a couple of photos of my salmon salad sandwich, and the individual baked flatbreads ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

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Our Adventures In Baking ~ Peanut Butter, Oats and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today I made a batch of delicious ‘Peanut Butter, Oats and Chocolate Chip Cookies’ based on a recipe my wife found on ‘Averie Cooks dot com’ called ‘The Best Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies.’

Since the recipe didn’t make a large batch of cookie dough, I added to the recipe as usual, and mixed in a half cup of rolled oats and about a quarter bag of chocolate chips into the dough.  After chilling the dough in the refrigerator overnight, I used a small cookie scoop to make 37, 2″ cookies – pressing down gently with my thumb in two directions to flatten them somewhat before baking for 8 minutes.

These cookies are the best ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

 

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Our Adventures In Baking ~ Baked Sour Cream Oat Flour Donuts

In my current goal of cutting wheat out of my diet, I’m experimenting with recipes where I can successfully substitute oat flour for wheat flour – and I’ve managed to do this with our favorite donut recipe – ‘Baked Sour Cream Donuts’ found on ‘The Semisweet Sisters dot com.’  I substitute oat flour for the wheat flour, and almond extract for the vanilla extract to make my version of this recipe.

I make my own oat flour by pulsing rolled oats in the food processor, but when it comes to substituting it for wheat flour, it doesn’t always work.  My coarse processed oat flour seems heavier, often doesn’t hold together well in a baked product and crumbles apart, and doesn’t rise much compared to wheat flour in baked goods like cakes.  So I focus mostly on cookie type recipes that don’t need to rise very much during baking.

I’ve made a couple of attempts now with substituting flours on our favorite donut recipe, and each time the donuts taste great, but easily crumble and fall apart.  This time, I didn’t fill the donut baking forms as full, which made for skinnier donuts, but ones that hold together nicely.

I freeze these as plain donuts after cooling, and then defrost two overnight in the refrigerator for breakfast the next morning, with 15 seconds in the microwave to warm up.  They’re then dusted with powdered sugar, and ready to enjoy! ☼ 🙂

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Our Adventures In Cooking ~ Chicken Parmesan Zucchini Boats

For lunch today, my wife made ‘Chicken Parmesan Zucchini Boats’ from a recipe she found online at ‘The Wholesome Dish dot com’ ~ and they were outstanding! 🙂

She used a generous amount of diced chicken we had left over from an earlier roasted chicken, along with spaghetti sauce, Parmesan cheese, shredded Mozzarella cheese and one zucchini per person.  We’re great fans of the versatility of cooking with zucchinis, and can’t wait to try the next recipe we find for them ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

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Our Adventures In Cooking ~ Pizza Zucchinis

My wife made ‘Pizza Zucchinis’ the other day using a recipe she found on ‘Sweet C’s Designs dot com’ ~ and they were a real hit! 🙂 This recipe turned us into true zucchini fans, intending to try many more zucchini recipes.

She washed and sliced the zucchinis, dipped the bottoms of the slices in olive oil, and baked them on a baking pan lined with aluminum foil and parchment paper.  They were topped with spaghetti sauce, Parmesan cheese and shredded Mozzarella cheese, and baked in a 350 degree oven per the recipe – and they were delicious! 🙂

Next time, she intends to dip each zucchini slice in olive oil, and then into Parmesan cheese to coat them, before adding the spaghetti sauce, and more toppings than we had available for the first try.  I’m sure this recipe will be part of our regular seasonal rotation from now on ~ enjoy! 🙂

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Our Adventures In Baking ~ Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

My wife found a gluten-free recipe for me to try called ‘Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies’ at ‘Build Your Bite dot com’ – so I gave it a try.  The recipe calls for maple syrup, which we didn’t have enough of to use, so I substituted honey instead as an option the recipe mentioned.  If I make this recipe again I’ll stick with the maple syrup, as I’m a great fan of chocolate chip cookies and maple syrup, but I’m not such a fan of the flavor of honey in chocolate chip cookies.

The peanut butter and honey combination made the cookie dough extremely sticky to handle, so I added more rolled oats and some oat flour to make it workable – with little effect.  I rolled out 1.5″ sticky dough balls in my hand and baked them off, but they didn’t spread out much while baking, so I tapped them down a little with a spatula to spread them out a little once they were out of the oven.

Although these cookies were delicious right after baking, and when eaten right out of the freezer, I found they absorbed too much moisture at room temperature.  So now I only eat these cookies from the freezer, which is my favorite way to enjoy chocolate chip cookies anyway.  This batch with the extra oats made 27, 2.5″ cookies – here’s a couple of photos, enjoy!