Dow Goes Gluten-Free!

Pop the bubbly, and get ready to celebrate! (Most likely!)

I’m excited to share some great news for the gluten-free world! Dow has gone gluten-free and has come out with a new vegetable cellulose based food product that closely mimics the texture of gluten in baked goods. It’s plant based and could really bring some new fresh tastes to our plates! Who needs gluten anyway?

I say way to go Dow, and way to go Dad for giving me the heads up awhile back. Since he works for Dow, he navigated me towards the website about the beta product a few months ago. I’m so glad it’s finally hitting the gluten-free community soon! Check out the gluten-free goodness! (I did notice they got some of the gluten intolerance vs. celiac disease facts a little wrong as far as numbers and explanations between the two different reactions go. Celiac is about 1 in 110 these days and gluten intolerance is about 1 in 10 last I read).

What do you think? Will you be trying products containing the new “gluten” replacement? Let me know!

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Sunday

March 2012

Cinnamon Almond Flatbread

This homemade Cinnamon Almond bread is super easy to make. My inspiration came from Elana at Elana’s Pantry, which is a fabulous and beautiful site. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly suggest you do.

I tweaked Elana’s basic recipe just a tad to accommodate the fact that I wanted to try a basic bread with my homemade Unblanched Almond Flour, and I wanted an oval shaped, flatter bread. Almond flour (or almond meal) that is unblanched creates a more dense and hearty texture which I absolutely love. I also believe cinnamon makes just about anything baked 10 times tastier, so I added a good amount of ground cinnamon. This is pure comfort food.

Cinnamon Almond FlatBread

This recipe is free of: Gluten, Soy, Peanuts, Legumes, Dairy, Wheat, and Yeast.

2 1/2 cups Unblanched Almond Flour (or almond meal).
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 or 5 good shakes of organic ground cinnamon (I like a lot of it!)
1 1/2 tablespoons Agave Nectar (Stevia can be substituted here).
3 eggs
Pinch of finely ground Sea Salt
1/2 teaspoon of organic Apple Cider Vinegar

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until well combined. I used a greased oval ceramic baking dish to bake, but any traditional bread pan may be used. Bake at 300-325 degrees (depending on the oven) for approximately 45 minutes. When a chopstick or knife comes out clean after inserted into the middle, the bread is done. Fabulous served with a drizzle of raw local honey.

Before the bake.

During the bake.

Warm tasty goodness, after the bake.

What is your favorite gluten-free bread recipe?

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Thursday

March 2012

Gluten-free Dark Chocolate Brownies (low glycemic)

A big thanks to Happy. Healthy. Balance for the inspiration and recipe!

This recipe is Soy free, Gluten-free, Dairy free, Sugar free and Yeast free.

Just before baking in the oven.

A few days ago I made my first from scratch brownie expedition…complete with homemade unblanched almond flour! I followed a basic recipe from here (Thanks Dawn!) and watched the dark chocolatey goodness unfold.

I made a slight variation from the otherwise low glycemic (sugar) recipe by adding Enjoy Life’s Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, which added just the perfect hint of sweetness without being too sugary.

Dark Chocolate Brownies, 72 degrees in March, AND it’s my last day at a terrible dead end job?? And a phone interview with a kick butt company next week?? Things are looking good.

What could be better than chocolate and new chapters in life?

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Monday

March 2012

Homemade Almond Flour (unblanched) and Cacao & Spiced Almond Milk

After making a few batches of Almond Milk (check out the recipe and process here!), I’ve been left with a big lump of almond pulp which has been patiently chilling in my fridge for a few days. I decided to grind up the meal/pulp into a finer flour that I can go on a baking spree with. Making your own almond flour really saves a huge sum of money, as store bought pre-ground flour can cost upwards of $14.99 a pound. I buy my own almonds at about 5.99 or 6.99 per pound and not only get 64 ounces of milk out of each 2 cups of almonds, but then I have 2 cups of almond flour after each batch of milk I make.

The process is fairly easy, and all you need is a high speed blender or food processor. After making the nut milk, dry out the leftover pulp for at least a few hours until the clumps break apart easily. You’re left over with something that looks like this:

Pour the almond pulp into a blender or food processor and blend on the highest speed for a few minutes. You may have to stop a few times to shake around the flour from the sides of the blender, or gently shake the base of the blender.

After blending the pulp finer, you can use it how it is, or sift it through a wire colander to get an even finer flour. But since this time I had unblanched almond meal (with the skin still on) it’s meant to be a little grittier and courser in texture. Do keep in mind there are certain recipes that only call for blanched almond flour. The process for blanched flour is very easy too and basically instead of making almond milk, you take a cup or two of raw almonds and drop them into a boiling pot of water for about 1 minute. After taking them out of the water, rinse them and the skins or peeling comes right off. Those are the blanched almonds, which then can be ground into flour directly in the blender or food processor.

Almond flour is the best flour replacement I’ve found for wheat flour so far. It’s Gluten-free, low-carb, high in protein, and doesn’t have to be mixed with 18 other flours for the right consistency in baking. It’s a great stand alone staple to keep in the kitchen at all times. We’ll be making an almond flour cake later this week, so watch out for the recipe coming soon.

I also made a Cacao and Spiced Almond Milk that turned out fabulous. Follow my basic Almond Milk recipe here, and then add 2 tablespoons of Navitas Naturals Raw Organic Cacao Powder (or powder of choice), a few shakes of organic cinnamon, and 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (or to taste).