Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

I've been through a handful of gluten free all purpose flour mixes and I'm still experimenting. I'm coming to the realization that it's hard to find a truly "all purpose" gluten free flour. Some baking, like cakes, require a lighter flour while you may want a heartier flour in bread. So with that said, I'm trying out a new flour mix from the Gluten-Free Girl. Her theory is you can use a variety of flours as long as you stick to the 40/60 ratio. You simply need 40% of your flour mix to be whole grain and 60% to be white flour or starches. She lists off gluten free whole grain flours and gluten free white flours or starches here. Pretty simple concept but a little math skill involved. You can also play with the flavor and sub some of the whole grain flour with a nut or bean flour, included in the flour list, which will change the flavor depending on how you intend to use the flour.

Another tip I've picked up is that it's better to weigh your flour. So yesterday my flour mix experiment/math lesson began! I wanted a total of 2,000 grams (based on how big of a container I wanted to fill) and chose my flours from the two lists.

Here's how I broke down my mix:

Whole Grain Flours:

Brown Rice Flour- 400 grams

Sorghum Flour- 400 grams 

White Flours/Starches:

Cornstarch- 300 grams

Potato Starch- 300 grams

Tapioca Flour- 300 grams

White Rice Flour- 300 grams

It's important to make sure you shake the flours together really well. It's better to mix them in a clear container so you can see that the flour mixes well into one color. The 2,000 grams I measured out filled a large 4.3 liter (about 18 cup) bowl. Since I didn't use a clear container, the first time I opened the bowl to scoop some out, there were still layers not mixed so I had to recover it and give it a few more shakes.

I tested out the new flour in a cupcake recipe. They turned out great and I can't wait to use my new flour mix in more recipes!

Chocolate Cupcakes

4 eggs

1 1/4 c. white sugar

2/3 c. sour cream

1 c. milk

2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 c. GF all purpose flour 

1/2 c. cocoa powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. xanthan gum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together eggs, sugar, sour cream, milk and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, baking powder and xanthan gum.

Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix well. Pour into 24 greased muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes. I used 12 muffin cups and an 8 x 11 inch glass pan. I baked the cake for an additional 15 minutes.

Wonder what happened to that half a cupcake? :)

Almond Graham Crackers

This graham cracker recipe was so easy and they turned out really delicious! My kitchen had a wonderful cinnamon smell as these cooked in the oven! They ended up being a little soft so they may be more like thin almond cookies but I may try cooking another batch longer to see if that helps, because there will be a second batch for sure. I'm not a paleo dieter but I took this recipe from a Paleo Kid Snacks cookbook. I like looking through paleo recipes because they are, number one, gluten free, but they are also free from refined sugars and highly processed oils. There are quite a few restricted foods on the paleo diet like cheese that I really dig so I couldn't go all out!  

Almond Graham Crackers

2 1/4 c. blanched almond meal (or finely ground almonds)

3 tbsp. coconut oil

3 tbsp. maple syrup

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl or stand mixer and mix on low until the dough begins to form a ball. Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper on a large cookie sheet.

Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough to an 1/8 thick. Pole holes in the dough every couple inches. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Remove from the oven and immediately cut into squares with a pizza cutter.

Cool and enjoy!!

Summertime Adventures

We are so enjoying how adventurous Sawyer has become! He just loves playing in any kind of water; the hose, puddles, pools, squirt guns, you name it! If it splashes, he's there!

He's just growing up so much and I love watching him grow and learn everyday! 

Back in June we took a trip to the allergist to have Sawyer tested for a wheat allergy and we were really excited to find out he didn't react! We proceeded to give him a couple noodles of wheat penne pasta that evening to test it out. But that night he cried the whole... night... and the next day came the diarrhea. So now we know he has a gluten intolerance not an allergy, but I am still hopeful that he will outgrow the intolerance over time. For now we will enjoy all the fun alternatives the gluten free life has to offer! 

There are so many things to be grateful for though! We had Sawyer's 15 month check up on Monday and he checked out healthy and pretty average on all the growth charts; weight: 23.3 lbs (54%), height: 32 in. (72%) and head: 18.5 in. (52%). Keep up the good work Sawyer Bug!  

  

We spent some time yesterday picking and eating apricots from the neighbors tree and today I canned a couple jars of raspberry apricot jam! Yummy! Here's a few pics from the adventure.

I made eight jars and that didn't even use up half of what I picked! I used the recipe on the jar of pectin and it was super duper easy. The neighbor's tree is still overflowing with apricots so I think they'll be a round two apricot jamming session. 

We made a trip to The Pie Pizzeria to check out their gluten free pizza for lunch! I wish I could explain how bad I wanted pizza after a huge "cauliflower crust" pizza fail experience last week. Should have blogged about that one! Let's just say soggy crust is a no go in my book. I actually have a picture of the crust before I baked it because it was so beautiful and looked so pizza-dough-ish. Not so after baking... But if you're curious, here's the link to the recipe I used. Maybe someone else will have better luck than I!  

But The Pie was amazing and hit the spot for sure! 

Back Again!

Well after almost exactly six months since my last post I've decided to pick up blogging again, this time with a new name! My blog is now called Gluten Free Cookin' Mama! After eliminating the top eight food allergens from my diet while nursing my son, we successfully added all foods back in, with the exception of gluten.

I've made some great, and some not so great recipes over the past few months and so many times I've wanted to start the blog back up to share them. Hopefully I can capture some great food tips, thoughts, and other randomness that will encourage and inspire you!

I'm so incredibly blessed to report that Sawyer has come such a long way from when we first experienced food intolerance issues when he was only six weeks old. Here's this guy at about six weeks:

And here's this guy now!

He's a gluten free champ, not by choice really, but I pray that some day he will outgrown his intolerance so he can experience all the foods God created for us to enjoy!