What is Creaming Butter and How is it Done?

September 30, 2011 Leave a Comment
Creaming Butter

A creamy, fluffy consistency is just what you want when creaming butter.

Creaming butter is basically beating it together until it is lighter in color. With white sugar, the final color will be yellowish white. With brown sugar, the final color will be a sort of tan. An electric mixer is the best tool for creaming butter. The purpose of the creaming is so that air may be incorporated into the butter to add a ‘fluffy’ consistency to the final product. Creaming the butter will also soften it and make it easier to blend with other ingredients.
To get the best result, start with cold butter. Softened butter may be used, but make sure it is still colder than room temperature. Beat in the sugar until the mixture is the desired color.

Filed Under: gluten-free recipes, Gluten-Free Tips, living the gluten-free diet Tagged With: , , , ,

Gluten Free Flours and How to Use Them

September 30, 2011 Leave a Comment


Gluten-Free flours can be hard to work with. It is difficult to make them replace wheat, especially in breads, because of the lack of gluten. Wheat, rye, and barley all contained gluten and therefore cannot be used. Most of these flours can be ‘exchanged’ with another if you don’t have that flour available. Oats are sometimes contaminated with gluten, but if they can be found gluten-free, they can be useful in gluten-free cooking. Below is a chart of all the flours I commonly use and what they do in a mixture:

 

Flour: About: Texture: Substitutes:
Rice Flour Rice flour, next to oat flour, are the two flours I use most in gluten-free cooking. It can sometimes have a rather gritty taste, however, so must be used with starches. It is useful in most gluten-free recipes and can be found fairly easily gluten-free. Brands we use are: Lundberg, Bob’s Red Mill. If you have a grinder of some sort, you can make your own flour by grinding gluten-free rice. gritty Can be exchanged with corn flour, sorghum flour, and oat flour.
Corn flour I do not use this flour very often, yet it can sometimes substitute for rice flour if I don’t have any at the time. gritty Can be exchanged with any of the ‘gritty’ flours.
Cornmeal This is not really a flour. I use it for cornbreads and for the surface of a pan (Cornmeal on the surface of the pan will cook into the dough and give it a nice crunchy crust). It can be ground to make corn flour as well. Gluten-Free cornmeal can usually be found at the local grocery store, just be sure to check the label. very gritty. Cannot be exchanged.
Oat flour Oat flour is one of my favorite flours. It has a nice consistency and makes very good baked goods. I have lately been using oat flour quite a lot because it seems to work better than most other gluten-free flours. gritty Can be exchanged with millet flour, rice flour, or sorghum flour.
Buckwheat flour I don’t use this flour very often because of its coloring, yet it has a good taste and could replace rice flour. Again, be careful about the gluten, and be sure to thoroughly check the label. gritty Cannot be exchanged
Cornstarch I use cornstarch the most of all the starches, simply because it can be found easily at the local grocery store. Be sure to check the label for gluten-free. Though commonly used as a thickener, cornstarch surprisingly makes a fairly good gluten-free flour, and may even be used by itself in some recipes. It adds a nice, fluffy consistency. starchy and fluffy. Can be exchanged with tapioca or potato starch in gluten-free baking unless stated clearly otherwise in the recipe, but it cannot be replaced in sauces, and in some pies. Tapioca and potato starch will form gummy lumps, whereas cornstarch will only thicken a sauce.
Potato starch Potato starch can create a rather gummy consistency if it is used alone in a recipe. However, mixed with rice flour or some grainy flour it adds pleasant fluff. Starchy, (difficult to distinguish between cornstarch and tapioca.) Can be exchanged with cornstarch or tapioca starch except in sauces and sometimes pies.
Tapioca starch Tapioca starch is commonly used with potato starch in recipes. It, like potato starch, does not stand well on its own in a recipe. starchy Can be exchanged with potato starch or cornstarch except in sauces and sometimes pies.
Sorghum flour Sorghum has a good flavor, and can replace several of the other gritty flours. It tastes good in breads. gritty Can be replaced with rice flour, oat flour, or millet flour.
Millet flour Has good flavor, and a consistency rather like cornflour. It could replace several of the other gritty flours. gritty Can be replaced with sorghum flour, corn flour, or rice flour.
Teff flour Teff flour should only be used in small quantity because of it’s color and that too much of it will give a rather bad taste to the baked good. It has a nice taste when used in moderation and gives a rather multigrain flavor to most breads. gritty This flour can be replaced by rice flour, meaning the rise and consistency will not be changed. The taste and color, however, will be slightly changed, though not usually in a bad way.

 

Filed Under: gluten-free recipes, living the gluten-free diet, safe gluten-free foods, using gluten-free flours

Learning to Bake Gluten-Free

February 2, 2009 4 Comments

 

My name is Binner, and I am eleven years old. I have always loved to cook. When my family of 9 (I have six sisters) discovered that most of us were celiacs, I learned to cook the gluten-free way.

When we discovered our celiac disease, my mom had us just eat fruits, meat, and vegetables. She found that many products in the store that were labeled gluten-free still made some of us sick, so for a few months we just ate fresh fruit, veggies, beef (that we raised), chicken and fish. This was a good way to start out because that way you know you are eating gluten-free, and you can start feeling better pretty quick.

But after a while, fruits, veggies, and meat can get a little old. My sisters and I started dreaming of pizza…and brownies…and cookies.

But all these things are made of flour, and the only way we knew how to make these things was with wheat flour. Now, we use all kinds of flours instead of wheat: rice flour, corn flour, potato starch flour, Montina flour, and tapioca flour.

I’ve gotten pretty good at making things out of these flours. Now, whenever I want to, I can make a Pizza. Or I can whip up a quick batch of brownies. People tell me the stuff I make is pretty good. The gluten-free life isn’t so bad once you have some recipes!

Sometimes, I might like it if one of my sisters had some steaming gluten-free pancakes sitting on the table for me when I get up in the morning (instead of the other way around). I just wonder what that might be like. Me, my Mom, and my Dad, are the only ones in this family that cook a lot. But I’m the one that makes all the stuff out of flour.

I have always liked to help people, who, like us, are gluten intolerant. If you need any tips, I would be more than happy to give them, and if you have some recipes or tips I am always excited to try new things in baking gluten-free!

~ Binner.

Filed Under: living the gluten-free diet

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