I've started reading about gluten free baking and have begun accumulating the various ingredients. From what I can tell, it's not a simple one-size-fits all replacement for wheat flour. People seem to use different blends for different purposes, although one can buy pre-made mixes.
I haven't ventured much beyond making things that are normally gluten free and the recipes on the various flour packages. The all-buckwheat pancakes came out ok, but weren't nearly as good as my usual ones. Today's buckwheat and sorghum pancakes were a lot better. I'll post a recipe when I have optimized everything.
On the back of a package of Bob's Red Mill* almond flour, there is a recipe for "Magically Moist Almond Cake". Despite the cheesy name, which makes me think of the movie Magic Mike (yes, my mind is in the gutter), it sounded really good - almond meal, coconut flour, eggs, butter, milk, vanilla, and sugar. The coconut flour is the only concession to gluten free. It otherwise seems pretty much like a flourless almond cake. I added a bit of almond extract for good measure.
The batter tasted great but the cake was just so-so, when it was still warm. After it had cooled completely, it improved greatly. It's very moist and almondy; indeed, you could describe it as magically moist, but given the ingredients the moistness seems pretty obvious. Perhaps magically delicious would be a better description. It would be great with berries and whipped cream. I'll definitely make it again. It was too tempting so I ended up taking most of it in to work for the grad students. I hadn't planned on taking them of my gluten free experiments because the ingredients are more pricy, but I had to get it out of the house.
Tasty Gluten-Free Almond Cake
1 1/2 cups almond flour (or grind your own)
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract (optional)
1/2 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9" x 13" baking pan. Mix dry ingredients together. Cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Add milk, vanilla, and almond extract, then stir in dry ingredients and mix.
Transfer batter to pan and bake for 30 minutes. Cake will be golden. Allow it to cool completely, preferably overnight.
*Bob's Red Mill, I love you! Not only do they have a ridiculous assortment of weird-ass gluten free flours, hot cereals, etc, are reasonably priced, and have good recipes on the back of the packages and on their website, Bob (yes there is a Bob) gave the company to his employees when he turned 81.
I love Bob's Red MIll products!! I use their oatmeal virtually every day and their whole grain pancake mix, which isn't helpful to you I know! :) And now that I know that last tidbit, I love them even more!
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