Adventures in Gluten Free... to be continued

Granted, it isn't the best photo ...and I forgot to take an 'after' photo. 

Today I felt adventurous and attempted to make uh, fat bread. I honestly have no idea what the name is really. I changed it to "Quick Brazil Nut Bread" because I used Brazil nuts. I would love to have used macadamia nuts but alas, they were not be found at the stores I went to. As it is, the Brazils were $5 for a cup! Spendy loaf of bread...

Here are two images I found online of this bread, before baking and after. {They're pinnned to my Food & Drink board at Pinterest.}

My before and after somewhat resemble these but are different, of course. Things never turn out like the pictures! And their's call for macadamia nuts or almonds {or is it both?}.

Here's what I did:

Ingredients: 

5 large eggs

1 cup Brazil nuts, ground in the food processor until 'butter'

1 cup coconut flakes, ground in the food processor until they were fairly fine {but not 'butter' like; I just couldn't get it to do it}

1/2 tsp salt

2 TBS lemon juice

1 heaping tsp baking soda

In the processor I dumped the nuts and blended away until there was butter. When it was really smooth, and churning along nicely, I cracked an egg open and dropped it down the chute. I let it churn. Then I did the same with the second egg. Finally, I added the remaining three eggs and just let it mix. Then I dumped in the coconut flakes and salt, and let it blend even longer. {In retrospect, I'd put the coconut flakes in before the eggs since I didn't have coconut butter.} I turned it off and added the lemon juice, then gave it a pulse to mix some. And lastly, in went the baking soda with a last good churn, to make sure it was all mixed. 

I sprayed a glass bread pan with cooking spray and poured my batter into it. I think mine was more liquidy than the others I've seen. The bread baked for 35 minutes at 350*F. I think I would bake it for 40 minutes if I were to make it again. 

It rose about an inch...maybe. It smells like scrambled eggs. Fortunately, it doesn't taste like scrambled eggs! I'm tired of eating gluten free only to have egg-everything take it's place. 

The texture is a little spongey and it's a short loaf. I really can't see this being good for sandwich bread but it's perfect for how I ate it, with fresh peanut butter {grind-your-own from the store}. That photo up there is only the remaining half of the slice, just so you know.

If you're interested, here's the breakdown from Calorie Count, nutrition wise. I figured it can be sliced into 20 small pieces {that's what I'm going to do with it anyway}.

**and totally unrelated to bread.... I *love* Picmonkey!!**

Life Skill–Making Bread

Life Skill- Making Bread

When my dd was fairly young my mother in law began collecting magazine articles that she thought would be of interest to me. She also would pass on things that she had used in her own home when her kids were younger. One of the things she passed on, that I have really appreciated, is her list of Life Skills.

My dd last year took an interest in this list and lightly edited it to reflect what she felt to be of most importance. I do not have the original by my side or I would compare. As I read through this list I see that making bread isn't on this list. (But #3 is "Prepare a complete dinner")

But it is a life skill I want both of my children to have. I think it is important. It only takes a few ingredients and some time to make bread as opposed to buying one single loaf for a couple dollars. If it were to come down to them not having a store bought loaf and needing some bread- I want them to be able to make it on their own. With flour, yeast, and oil (or a ‘fat’ of some type) they can make many loaves of bread. The salt and sugar are optional

I learned to make bread after I moved out on my own and was married. Although there is nothing wrong with learning it later, there’s no harm in learning it early

Life Skills

And here is a photo of rolls that my kids made for a “Thanksgiving” dinner for our church tomorrow afternoon. They did it all but to shape the rolls (they were busy forming other “loaves” {that were not really loaves lol} that I didn’t get a chance to photo).

Oh! and one of each of them in the aprons I made for them about four years ago:

   

Baking… and then some.

Sourdough starter- 2

Me- 0

Yeah, it isn’t going so well with the sourdough starter bread. It seems to rise in the bowl but when it is shaped into a loaf…fizzle… or rather no fizzle. I would think with *fizzle* there would be bubbles and bubbles lead to rising. There is no rising. And it is super sour.

I didn’t throw away my failures three loaves but cut them (sliced like regular bread) and will chop them up in the food processor for bread crumbs. It will be perfect for when I make fish. I coat the filets with bread crumbs and usually use some lemon juice…but who needs lemon juice when the bread crumbs are sour? Well, that’s my thinking anyway.

Here’s the super simple recipe for the fish (in case your interested, it’s been modified from one that’s in “More-with-Less Cookbook”*):

Fish (sorry, I’ve no idea how much: I usually use 4 or 5 good size filets)
1/3 – 1/2 cup Seasoned bread crumbs (either buy them or make your own by using dry or old bread chopped in a food processor WITH garlic (powdered or fresh), basil, onion powder, salt, pepper, and any other spices you like –we use pepper flakes sometimes)
1 TBS lemon juice
Butter
To make: Grease a shallow pan (I use a 9 x 13 casserole pan) either with non-stick spray or with butter (that’s what I use). Pat dry the fish and then get wet with the lemon juice (not dripping, just moist). Dredge in the bread crumbs and then place in pan. Sprinkle remaining bread crumbs over fish. You can even put a pat of butter on each filet if you’d like. Cook at 350*F for 25-40 minutes (depending on the amount of fish you use). I’ve read it is about 25 minutes per pound. Use less butter if you are looking for a lower fat version.

I’ve also fried it and like it that way. You can see my post (with recipe [which is similar to the above] and photos) here.

But my mom has had great success with her starter making bread. Have a look here. She also has a recipe for starter here. I think I may have shared this before (can’t recall). My apologies if you are seeing it again (lol but if you’re like me it may be for the first time- yea, I know some of you will understand ).

I took photos of the loaves but cannot find them now…hmmm. I suspect that the loaves were disgraced and erased themselves… (it’s the only explanation I can come up with at the moment I’m sure it is a pathetic one lol). So I will move onto the other things I was going to share today.

Awhile back, Angie from Petra School shared her baking cabinet. I thought it was an awesome idea but at the time where I lived it wasn’t really feasible. Well, moving has a great way of allowing for necessitating rearrangement. I had to rearrange because the set up is different in this house.

Albeit my cupboard isn’t as neat as Angie’s (I don’t have my stock built up yet) but I’m liking that it is all in one place, easily accessible when baking. Or cooking in general really.

The jar you see on the cutting board (which is built in- wonderful, isn’t it?) is the first batch of sourdough starter.

The only thing is that, although I like have the mixing bowls and measuring cups here, there isn’t much room for the ‘goods’ (you know, baking ingredients). And I could not put my plastic measuring cups here. They are in a drawer in a different counter. I love having my cookbooks in a place that so much easier to get to. Before they were in a bottom cupboard that was in a little ‘hole’ near the refrigerator. You’d probably have to see it to understand (and of course, I’ve no photos). It was a hassle to get to them.

The very top shelf actually holds things that we do not use often (or ever lol). Such as two bowls that really should be thrown away but for sentimental reasons haven’t been. “Blossom Sauce” that expired in 2008 (yea, that’s totally garbage…chock it up to sentimentalism). And sushi plates- someday I will use those. The box on the right is actually the recipe box my husband had when he moved out on his own. It’s been with him for quite a while (before he and I got together- so it’s been a long time) and it is neat to look at his childish handwriting and the recipes he included. Perhaps when Lee moves out, she will ‘inherit’ it.

Oh, and on the door I have posted a metric conversion chart that came with my “Fix It and Forget It” 2011 Calendar*. You can see my ‘calendar’ beside my stove in the first picture. I’m not very savvy when it comes to converting.

Today, I think, I will make some yeast bread. We are down to one loaf of store bought. We have already eaten the two loaves I made not long ago.

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Sourdough … Ready or Not!?

Well, here is a photo of when my sourdough starter was doing what it was supposed to do:

  And then it looked like this (a day or so later):

Still ‘good’. Today, when I am supposed to be able to use it, it had the bubbles on top (but no where near as profuse) but no bubbles throughout the dough.

I decided to use it anyway. I poured all but 1 cup into a mixing bowl (the 1 cup is for my next batch of starter), added about 1 teaspoon salt (most likely less) and two cups of flour. My starter was slightly soupy so I didn’t figure the water would be necessary (guess I’ll find out if I’m right!). After mixing in the first two cups of flour, I added one more. It became too difficult to stir with a spoon so I dumped it onto a 1/2 cup flour pile on my cutting/kneading board. I kneaded that flour into the dough and sprinkled about 1/2 cup more into it while kneading for 5 minutes.

Here’s the dough now:

I ‘wrapped’ a towel around the bottom of the bowl and draped the stripped towel over the bowl. It isn’t cold in our house but there isn’t a warm spot really either. I will check the dough periodically throughout the day…

I hope it turns out good!

I Made Bread!… and WWAT Days # 56 & 57

That is white/wheat bread. It is mostly white all purpose flour but it has some white whole wheat flour as well. It turned out bee-you-tee-ful! And tastes scrumptious! It was made with Red Star yeast and honey instead of sugar. It’s so nice when a loaf of bread turns out so well…feels good And for me, it’s been awhile.

I’m also working on the sourdough starter. Here’s a photo or two of it two days ago and now:

    

I’m itching to use it! But it has at least one more day. It finally is smelling sour and not just nasty

Made beans for dinner. And since I’m in the photo taking/sharing mood here’s a photo of them before being cooked (I think beans in water are pretty )

…and after…What a difference! (not so pretty but sure tastes yummy! )

I might add that I used spare chicken..uh, parts..(which I had to carefully strain out before serving –should have made the broth before the beans- note to self!) for flavoring the ‘broth’ and also a can of chicken broth, a good dump of garlic powder, some salt and Italian Seasoning…and a cup or so of precooked rice (added the last 20 minutes of cooking). Oh! and cut up baby carrots.

And now onto what was done for school today… The kids worked almost entirely on their own. There were narrations and “Mom help me with this please” a couple of times but mostly it was all independent.

And you know, I’ve no idea what day of school today is! I mark off each day on a chart that I have but I second guess myself all the time. I keep thinking it’s less than it is but count it to farther than we’ve gone. At some point I might actually count it all…not right now. So on to it-

Lee:
Bible: Reading (Duet. 7 & Acts 9), verse (Romans 6:1-23), Mark Commentary (started chapter 9), Mere Christianity
Math: Life of Fred Beginning Algebra (Lesson 75 & 76)
History/Geography: Western Civilization (pages 326-328), Heritage History Classical Curriculum (British Middle Ages- Plantagenet Kings- reading), The Life of Christopher Columbus (finished)
Language Arts: Excellence in Literature (The Diamond Necklace), NaNoWriMo preparations (using the High School workbook
Foreign Language:  First Form Latin (Lesson 21, worksheets 1 & 2)Gov’t/Economics/Civics/Logic: Utopia, Whatever Happened to Justice? (chapter 24)
Science: Biology (pages 104-107, vocabulary)
Composer Study: Listening to classical music every day

Fox:
Bible: Reading (Numbers 32 & Luke 7), verse (Proverbs 6:16-19), Saints & Heroes (John Wycliffe)
Math: Algebra the Easy Way (page 17-30, did exercises and end of chapter problems #2-34 even)
History/Geography: Heritage History Classical Curriculum (reading)
Language Arts: 30 minutes of reading (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow), The Age of Fable (1/3 chapter 33), The Hobbit (second 1/2 of chapter 12
Foreign Language: First Form Latin (Lesson 21 worksheets 1 & 2)
Gov’t/Economics/Civics/Logic: The Fallacy Detective (Lesson 2), Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? (chapter 12), Young Marines
Science: Murche’s (Lesson 23), The Story Book of Science (chapter 19)
Penmanship: Pictures in Cursive
Composer Study: Listening to classical music every day

And now…I’m going to get off of here. Goodnight!