Pumpkin Pie - Oh yum!

The pumpkin pie turned out particularly yummy this year so I'm recording what recipes I used to make sure I have it for next year.

For the crust, I used Pamela's Artisan flour blend and this recipe from Pamela's website:

Ingredients:

• 2-1/2 cups Pamela's Artisan Flour Blend
• 8 TBSP shortening- well chilled
• 8 TBSP unsalted butter- well chilled
• 1/3 cup ice water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• Cream for brushing pie dough before baking (optional)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425°.

Cut cold butter and shortening into 1/2" cubes. In separate bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, pastry blender, or using fingers, cut butter and shortening into dry mixture until pea sized crumbs are formed. Add ice water and mix until dough comes together. Use up to 1 TBSP additional water if needed.

Roll out dough between 2 pieces parchment or plastic wrap and fix in greased pie pan. For pre-baked shell: bake for 15 minutes at 425°, then turn down oven to 375° and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes or until brown. If filling, bake according to individual recipe (top with another sheet of rolled pie dough or decorative lattice). Brush the crust with cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar before baking, if desired.

The crust was easy to make and easy to work with. It makes 2 crusts, which in this case made 2 pies.

For the filling, I used a recipe off the can, which was different than what I've tried before, but it worked very well so I'll make it this way again.

For 2 pies (this is my version of what was on the can):
1 29 oz can pumpkin
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
unsweetened vanilla almond milk (fill up the sweetened condensed milk can and pour it in)
1 cup egg beaters (equivalent of 4 eggs)
2 t cinnamon
1 t pumpkin pie spice
1/2 t salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Pour the filling into pie crust. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Then reduce oven to 350 and bake 45 minutes until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Oh my yumminess! And notice that I cut the sugar in half by using only one can of sweetened condensed milk and unsweetened almond milk instead of 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk. It works better for my milk-sensitive stomach as well.

I hope this works for you too!

The Best whole grain sandwich bread....

This is a recipe I found online. I LOVE it! I've made it many times and have had good results each time. It's so yummy!

This is the link to the recipe so I'm giving the creator proper credit.
http://aprovechar.danandsally.com/bread-for-the-first-time-in-a-long-time/


Delicious Gluten-Free, Vegan Bread
Recipe for 2 loaves—it is okay to halve the recipe if you want to make just one
Note: If you are using a mixer that doesn’t have a great engine, you may want to mix it by hand at the end to ensure it’s all mixed.  Since there’s no gluten to get tough from overmixing, you can mix until you’re confident.
In a large mixing bowl combine:
1 1/2 cups millet flour
1/2 cup teff flour
1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup cornstarch (or double the potato starch if you can’t eat corn)
1 cup potato starch
1 cup tapioca flour
4 tsp xanthan gum
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp active dry yeast (not rapid rise)
Add:
4 tsp olive oil
3 1/4 cup warm water (not hot)

Mix with electric mixer–using paddle attachment, NOT regular beaters or bread hook–for two minutes.  The bread dough will be more like cake batter than traditional bread dough.
Two options for the rising:
For the best rising: While mixing the bread, create a proofing box from your microwave. Microwave a small mug or ramekin with water until the water boils.  Leave the water in the microwave.  Pour the bread dough into two nonstick or well-greased pans.  Tuck the loaves into the microwave with the water—the container of water should not be touching the pans. (I have to remove the turntable in my microwave to do this.) Allow to rise until batter extends a bit over the top of the pans–generally 30-50 minutes.
Standard method: Pour into two nonstick or well-greased loaf pans, place on a warm surface (such as on top of the pre-heated oven), and cover with a towel. Allow to rise until batter extends a bit over the top of the pan–generally 50-70 minutes. (Batter should take up about half the loaf pan before rising.)
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove loaf pans from oven and cover with aluminum foil. Return to oven and bake for an additional 35-45 minutes, depending on your oven. (Insert a toothpick or knife into the center to see if it comes out clean or doughy, if you aren’t sure when you pull out the bread.)
As with most breads, it is easiest to slice if you allow it to fully cool. But who can wait that long? I usually let it cool for a little bit, and then remove the loaves from the pans and place them on a rack to cool more while I slice it up. The bread tastes delicious warm, dipped in olive oil and herbs or spread with honey and ghee. It also works well for sandwiches after it has cooled. If you won’t be eating it within 2 days, after it’s cooled, slice it, wrap it in a couple of layers of plastic wrap, and freeze it.  Never refrigerate this or other bread—it will get dry and hard if you do. If you leave the bread on the counter (wrapped), it will be good for all purposes for a couple of days.  After that, it will be best used for bread pudding, French toast, croutons, etc.

Thank you to Sally for the recipe.

New apple muffin recipe

My sweet husband pruned our trees last year, which resulted in a large crop of apples this year (well, for us and our two trees worth). We don't spray so usually the worms get most of the apples and the neighbor kids get the rest. But this year, we've made applesauce, dried apples, and now apple muffins.
Yum!
So here's my new recipe. These were just right and dare I say light and well, the kids and I easily finished the 12 smallish muffins for breakfast....

The BEST Apple Cinnamon Muffins

1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
2 egg whites
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 apple, peeled and grated

Combine ingredients. Put in muffin pan and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. These are 12 smallish muffins - they're probably 2/3 muffins.

As posted, this recipe is dairy free, gluten free and egg yolk free. If you want it to be vegan, you can use 1/2 cup (instead of 1/4 cup) unsweetened applesauce and omit the egg whites. Make sure you cook them long enough so they're not mushy!

Grain Free Gluten Free Waflles

My mom was visiting last week and she is allergic (not sensitive or intolerant but seriously allergic to all grains, including the gluten free ones).  She can't have corn, wheat, or rice.  She's also allergic to all tree nuts so no almond flour either, but I was determined to make her some fun things to eat.  This is one of the recipes I came up with.

Notice I use quinoa flour - quinoa is considered a grain, but technically it's a seed so we did a little experiment and she can have quinoa.  Yeah.

I was surprised at how great the texture is on these - there's no heaviness, no grittiness..  They're perfectly smooth and crispy at the same time.

Here it is: 

1 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 t guar gum

Mix these dry ingredients together.

Then add:
1 cup milk (I use almond but my mom uses regular milk - either works great)
1 cup water
2 eggs, beaten or 1/2 cup of egg substitute
4 T coconut oil
1 T honey
1 t vanilla

Mix all together and put in sprayed waffle iron.  You'll probably need to re-spray your iron about halfway through.

Yummy!

Blueberry Muffins

This is lightly adapted from a book called Special Diet Solutions by Carol Fenster.  I have had good results with these.

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
2/3 cup tapioca starch

OR

2 1/3 cup of a premixed flour blend

1 t xanthan or guar gum
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt

1 cup milk (cow, rice, almond all work)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs or 1/2 cup egg subsitute
2/3 cup sugar or 1/3 cup honey (either works great)
1 t vanilla extract
2 t grated lemon peel (optional but yummy)

1 cup blueberries


Glaze: (optional)
2 T powdered sugar or 1 T honey
2 T lemon juice


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease or line a 12-cup muffin pan.

Put milk, oil, eggs, sugar or honey, vanilla, lemon peel in a mixer and mix together.  Then add the flour(s), xanthan gum, salt, baking powder and mix.  Stir the blueberries in gently.  Spoon into muffin tins. 

Bake approximately 25 minutes or until tops of muffins are lightly browned.  Remove from oven.  Combine powdered sugar or honey and lemon juice to form glaze.  Brush or drizzle over warm muffins.

Makes 12 muffins.

Zucchini Pineapple Muffins

I altered this recipe from a recipe I found online for zucchini bread.  My grandma used to make zucchini pineapple bread and I've been wanting to figure out how to make it gluten free.  Turns out, it's not very hard at all.  I made muffins tonight because I didn't have a lot of time for baking but I will try baking this as a loaf and let you know how much time it needs.

Zucchini Pineapple Muffins - Gluten free, dairy free

2 eggs or 1/2 cup egg beaters or egg replacer
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup coconut oil (heat in microwave about 10 seconds so it's liquid)
1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, or sugar of your choice
2 t vanilla

1/4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup corn starch
3/4 t guar gum (helps it stick together - I'll try it without next time & see if it's necessary)

1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup crushed pineapple (drain a little juice, but you don't have to squish it out)

There was supposed to be 1t cinnamon but I forgot it.  They were great without so I guess that's optional.

Mix the liquids together.  Then add the dry ingredients and mix.  Add the zucchini and pineapple and mix everything together.

The texture was perfect, in my opinion!
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until slightly golden around edges.
Makes 12 muffins or 1 regular sized loaf.

Conference treats

I skipped the usual General Conference** cinnamon rolls this year and made teff muffins and gf english muffins instead.  I also made awesome brownies, not to brag or anything...it's not my recipe!

Here are the recipes:

teff muffins from Bob's red mill (I tell my kids that these are brown sugar muffins since they do kind of have a brown sugar taste and color.  Teff flour is medium brown & makes everything look chocolate! :) I  left out the hazelnuts because I don't have any and used 2 eggs whites & 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce instead of whole eggs.  These are kind of dense.  The second time I made them, I added an extra 1/2 t baking powder.  They were still too dense, but the flavor is really good and eating them fresh helps.  I'm not sure how to make them lighter....Suggestions?

Ingredients

1/2 cup Brown Sugar 1/2 cup Arrowroot Starch 3/4 cup Brown Rice Flour 1-1/2 tsp Baking Powder 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 1/4 tsp Sea Salt 2 Eggs 1/3 cup Olive Oil 2/3 cup Water 1/2 cup Hazelnuts, chopped 3/4 cup Teff Flour

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease the muffin pans and set aside. Combine the sugar, flours, arrowroot, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, oil and water and add to the flour mixture, mixing quickly. Fold in the nuts. Fill the greased muffin pans 3/4 full. Bake for 25 minutes. Makes 8 muffins. *Sweet White Rice Flour can replace Brown Rice Flour if desired. Gluten free English muffins from gluten free goddess.  I love these!  And they're pretty healthy.  I make them in a regular muffin pan.  It's very confusing to the taste buds.  Tastes like an English muffin, looks like a regular muffin.  Someday I'll spring for a real english muffin pan. http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/04/gluten-free-english-muffins.html The best gluten free brownies!  I've used this recipe for 6+ years and it's always yummy.  Very easy to sub out ingredients too. This time I made a double batch and put dark chocolate mint M&M's on top of one batch and 60% cacao dark Ghirardelli chopped pieces on the other.  I think the mint ones were the favorite, but both batches are pretty much gone. Can't Eat Just One Brownies 1/4 c rice flour 1/4 c cornstarch 1/3 c cocoa powder 1/2 t xanthan gum 1/4 t salt 3/4 t baking powder 1/2 c margarine or butter, melted 1 c white sugar 2 eggs 1 t vanilla Mix wet & dry ingredients separately, then combine. Pour into an 8x8 pan. I usually double it and make a 9x13 pan. Bake 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. You can add chocolate chips or other chips if you want. Here's the best part! Frosting (optional) 3T margarine, soft 3T cocoa powder 1 c powdered sugar 1/2 t vanilla 2 T milk or milk sub Combine margarine and cocoa powder. Add powdered sugar. Then add the powdered sugar &milk until you get a good consistency. Spread on warm brownies. **If you don't know what General Conference is, you can find out here! http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng

Yummy cookies - success!

I posted before about Hodgson Mill cookie mix.  I like it.  It's cheap ($2.xx at Walmart & WinCo), and it simplifies gluten free cookie making.  This mix includes the dry ingredients. You just add the wet ingredients.

Tonight I tried something new with it.

I followed the directions on the box for making peanut butter cookies.  I left out the egg yolks since I'm allergic and just used the whites and applesauce.

To the mix, I added:
1/2 cup butter, softened (I used 1 Best Life stick because it doesn't have dairy)
2 egg whites
1 1/2 T unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for about 14 minutes per batch.  Makes about 24 cookies.

I promise that applesauce is the secret to great gluten-free cookies.  It makes them moist but not sticky and takes away some of the gritty-ness that gluten free cookies sometimes have.  I think peanut butter helps too.  I can't taste the peanut butter strongly in these, but compared to this mix made without peanut butter, the texture is definitely better!

Don't they look like real cookies?  Go make some!

THE BEST multigrain pancakes

I adapted these from the Gluten Free Goddess' recipe because I'm allergic to some of the ingredients in hers.
She's a genius.   If I could eat all of her recipes as they are, I would!
These are egg yolk free & dairy free. 

Mix dry ingredients:
1 3/4 cups brown rice flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3/4 t xanthan gum

Mix wet ingredients separately:
1 cup almond milk or another milk or orange juice
1 cup water
2 egg whites
1/4 cup applesauce
4 T melted coconut oil
1 T agave
1 t vanilla extract

Add wet & dry together.  Mix until smooth.  Cook like regular pancakes.

Makes about 20 4" pancakes.

When I made these with orange juice, they didn't rise as well so I added 1/2 t baking soda and an extra 1/2 t baking powder and they were delicious.  Really, like a mild orange creme pancake because of the vanilla in there!
My kids like these with chocolate chips cooked on top.
If you can't have egg whites, try subbing energ egg replacer for 1 egg and still keep the 1/4 cup applesauce for the other.  (The original recipe called for 2 eggs.)  I find that using 2 different egg substitutes works better than just 1...

THE BEST Gluten free egg yolk free CAKE POPS! (dairy free option)

Yep, that's right.  Even with multiple food allergies, you can have cake pops!  And they are so good!  Trust me, I ate more than a few!

This is a cute little guy my husband made.  There are a couple of fancy pops in the background (I wish I had gotten pictures of them), including a cake pop dipped in smashed candy canes

For the cake part, use :
1 Betty Crocker gluten free cake mix (I used yellow)
1 package pudding mix (I used chocolate, pudding mix is dairy free)
1 cup almond milk (or regular milk or your favorite milk sub)
2 egg whites
1/2 cup applesauce
(if you can have egg yolks, you can use 3 whole eggs instead of the egg whites and applesauce)
1 stick of the Best Life margarine (this is dairy free)

Mix all ingredients together and bake in a cake pop maker.

Now, for the dipping part.  Your food allergies will determine what you can use.  I used almond bark.  It does have dairy in it.  If you need to be completely dairy free, consider dipping these in dairy free or dark chocolate chips (you can use a little melted shortening to thin it if you need to).
Make sure your sprinkles and toppings are gluten free and go for it.

THE BEST Sugar free dairy free egg yolk free gluten free banana muffins

These came out so delicious.  I'll admit to start out with that when you add chocolate chips, these are not sugar free, but the muffin itself is, and I'm so excited about that!

Here's the recipe:

1/2 c rice flour
1/2 c sorghum flour
1/2 c corn starch
1/4 c agave nectar
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
2 egg whites
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 c oil
1/2 t vanilla
3 mashed bananas
chopped nuts (optional)
chocolate chips (I used 1/4 cup in these)

Mix wet ingredients together.  Then add dry and mix again.  Add optional ingredients (nuts, chocolate chips).  Bake about 20 minutes at 325 degrees.
Makes 12 regular (but generous) muffins.

the BEST vegan gluten free banana muffins

I've been playing with this recipe for a while, and today these came out just right so I'm writing this down!  My son, who won't eat muffins, ate these and said they were delicious.  He's not gluten free, but I am...and dairy free....and egg free....

1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup almond milk or other milk replacer (coconut would be delicious, but I'm out)
1 1/2 t egg replacer mixed with 2T warm water
1 t vanilla
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
3/4 cup potato starch
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1 t xanthan gum
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray muffin pan with nonstick spray.  Mix wet ingredients, then add the dry ingredients. 
Bake muffins 20-25 minutes. Makes 12 regular (but generous!) muffins.
I'm really loving coconut flour.  It only takes a little bit, but it adds moistness and richness to gluten free baked goods, which they really need without eggs & dairy!
I'll keep playing with these to see if I can reduce the sugar and still have good results.  I think there are only so many things you can take away from a recipe and still have it taste good though!!!

Udi's bagels

I found these at Winco too.  The taste is bagel but the texture is kind of crescent-like.  I'm not complaining!

2 new fun finds

On a trip to Winco, I found these two mixes that were reasonably priced and delicious.

Hodgson Mill cookie mix & pancake mix.

The cookie mix only makes 1 batch of cookies but I think it was $2.xx so not too bad.  The cookies have a little bit of a biscuit texture.  I actually like them better frozen, but the flavor is good.  I just make chocolate chip cookies with these (with dark chocolate non-dairy chocolate chips from the Winco bulk foods section).  I also used Nucoa (I think that's what it's called) margarine that doesn't have dairy in it and egg whites instead of whole eggs to make these completely safe for me to eat.  They have other cookie variations on the package  - peanut butter, etc.

The pancake mix ($3.xx) makes several batches of pancakes or waffles.  I LOVE that they are whole grain and not just white starch like the Biquick ones.  Again, I varied from the directions a bit - rice milk instead of regular milk & egg whites instead of whole eggs, but they turned out great.  These are definitely the best gf pancakes I have had.

I think I tried the Hodgson Mill baking mix once and thought it was gritty so I'm not endorsing all of their products quite yet (if you look on the Hodgson Mill site, they actually have a lot of gf mixes) but these were great!

Fun favorites

If you're looking for some donuts that taste as good as the real thing, try KinnickKinnick maple glazed donuts. They're amazing. They're in the freezer section.

If you're craving Oreos, try Kini-Toos. They come in chocolate or vanilla. The chocolate ones are definitely better, but they're both very edible. They're dairy free, egg free, etc. in addition to gluten free.

I posted before about Betty Crocker gluten free cake mix. I've discovered a better way to make it. Try adding 1/2 cup applesauce, and 2 egg whites to the dry mix in place of the 3 eggs that the back of the box calls for. Add the other ingredients as listed (I think it's 1/2 cup butter & 1 cup water). According to my not gluten free husband, this melts in your mouth. I tried this because I'm allergic to egg yolks, but really it's just better this way. I tried using EnerG egg replacer in place of the eggs and it was super dry - stick with applesauce! :)
Here's another way to use the Betty Crocker gluten free chocolate cake mix - use 1 package cake mix & mix with 2 eggs and 1 can of cherry pie filling. Bake in a 9x13 pan at 350 until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean (approx 25-30 min). I tried this with 1/2 cup applesauce instead of the eggs and the middle was very gooey (the edges were amazing) so you might have to increase the cooking time to make sure the middle is done. My toothpick came out clean, but it was still gooey so I'll have to experiment more with this.

The BEST Waffles/Pancakes from scratch

This is the best pancake/waffle from scratch recipe I have tried. I started out with a recipe from online and altered it for my additional food allergies and tastes. I hope you like it too.

1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1 T and 1 1/2 t corn starch
2 T and 2 t potato starch
3/4 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 t xanthan gum
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 T canola oil
1 cup milk or milk substitute (I made these with soy milk)

Mix the dry ingredients. Then add the wet. Mix again.
I also added 1/2 cup frozen blueberries when I made pancakes. I left out the oil for the pancakes and it still worked great.

The waffles were amazing - golden and crisp on the outside, soft inside. The perfect texture in my opinion!

I want to experiment with making a large quantity of dry mix for these so it's easy to add the wet in just a few minutes. When I figure it out, I'll post the quantities

The BEST gluten-free flour tortillas (from scratch)

Here's a recipe I posted on my family blog a few years ago and I'm resurrecting it.

Gluten-free flour tortillas
1 c rice flour
1/3 c corn starch
1/3 c tapioca flour
1/3 c sorghum flour
2 t xanthan gum
1 t baking powder
1/2 t sugar
1 1/4 t salt (probably too much if you're adding salty toppings but really yummy plain)
2 T vegetable or other shortening (I used butter-flavored Crisco b/c it's what I had)
3/4 to 1 c warm water
Combine all of the dry ingredients, then cut in the shortening using a pastry blender.Add the warm water, starting with 3/4 c and mix well.Continue to add water until a soft, cohesive dough is formed. I stopped before it got sticky so it was still a little crumbly but stuck together when I pressed it.This is my secret to rolling out gluten free dough. I have a very large glass cutting board that I dust with corn starch. I sprinkle a little corn starch on top of the dough and then roll with a rolling pin also dusted with corn starch.Cook one at a time on a hot lightly greased or sprayed skillet until the surface bubbles & it has brown flecks.Turn only once, and cook until the second side is slightly browned. This doesn't take very long.For the pan size I had, this made four tortillas, about twice as thick as a wrap tortilla when cooked - more like a thick soft taco tortilla (like a gordita maybe?). They do thicken a bit when they cook b/c of the baking powder. For me, it was hard to get them any thinner and still get them in the pan w/o breaking.The recipe says that these will freeze in a plastic bag for up to three months. I'm not sure they'll last past tonight...

I haven't posted in a while because I found out in December that I have additional food allergies and then I found out shortly thereafter that I'm pregnant with my 5th child. So I really haven't been doing much cooking and baking, but I'm hoping to get back into it now that food actually tastes good again (well, some of it).

the BEST apple cinnamon muffins

1 cup rice flour (brown or white)
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup brown sugar (or less if you don't want them as sweet)
2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t xanthan gum
1/4 t salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup milk
1 apple, peeled & diced

Combine eggs, milk, and butter, then add dry & mix. Mix in apple. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes 12 regular-sized muffins.

The BEST peanut butter cookies

I forgot I had this recipe, but I love this one, and it turns out great every time. Very available ingredients too!

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup cornstarch

Cream butter, pb, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Then add rice flour, cornstarch, baking powder and soda.
If I'm in the mood for chocolate chip cookies, I add chocolate chips. You can use creamy or crunchy pb depending on your preference.
Bake 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes. I take them out while they're still soft (in my oven that's 9 minutes) and let them cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet. They're perfect!

the BEST bread I have made from scratch - my own recipe

Having failed miserably at several gf experiments lately, I've been considering just buying mixes for a while. It's just so frustrating when you find a recipe you like, make it again, and it doesn't come out the same or even edible. Ugh! And the wasted ingredients sometimes make me want to cry! My baby is also mobile now so I find myself getting distracted while I'm baking and losing my concentration while I'm trying to rescue her from whatever....also not good for results.

Today makes up for all the recent frustration. While the baby was sleeping, I decided to try my own recipe for rice bread. I combined a couple of recipes that I like pretty well and made my own. It wasn't perfect, but it's pretty close! The taste is better than either of the original recipes I was pulling from. The texture was very good, there was just a bit too much chew at the end, so I'm going to work on this a little more, but this bread is not only edible, it is really good!

Andrea's Rice Bread (I doubled this today)

1 3/4 c white rice flour (I grind my own super fine)

3/4 c tapioca starch

1/4 c corn starch

2 T sugar

2 1/2 t xanthan gum

2 t yeast

1 c warm water

1 1/4 t salt

2 t apple cider vinegar

2 T vegetable oil

3 eggs

Combine the yeast & warm water in a bowl with a sprinkle of sugar to proof it. In your mixing bowl (I use a Kitchen Aid to mix the bread), combine the vinegar, oil, & eggs. Then add all the dry ingredients. I added the yeast mixture last to make sure it was foaming. Mix until well blended.

Let rise for 1 hour. Mine doubled. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Cover with foil after 30 minutes to prevent it from getting too brown.

This makes 1 large loaf.

I think that next time, I'll use 1/2 c tapioca & 1/2 c corn starch and see if that makes it less chewy. Also, I wonder if I mixed it a little too long?

This bread is soft, not gritty, not bitter (sometimes I taste a bitter aftertaste with certain flours), slightly sweet in a white bread way, and not gummy! I'm so excited to have yummy bread to eat!