Gluten-Free Tips

Double Boilers, and How they are Used

January 18, 2012 Leave a Comment

I use a double boiler in a number of recipes, especially ones that contain cream cheese, since cream cheese would be burned if melted in a saucepan on the stove-top. “Mom’s Cream Cheese Frosting” uses a double boiler, as well as the “Gluten-Free Cheesecake.” Another thing that you would want to melt in a double-boiler is chocolate, which can burn fairly easily. These are only two examples of things that will burn fairly easily and a double boiler is handy for.

Though there are actual ‘double boilers’ you can buy, there is a simpler, less-expensive, homemade version:

Place water in a small saucepan, at least an inch thick, so that the water will not boil away. Place a stainless steel bowl on top of the saucepan, big enough that it won’t touch the water. Put whatever you need to melt/cook in the bowl on top and heat the burner to high.

The water will boil underneath the bowl, and the steam will rise and heat the bowl, therefore slowly and evenly heating the contents. Cook/melt contents for as long as the recipe says. In the case of the cream cheese or butter (butter can melt in a microwave or a saucepan on medium low heat, but you can also use a double boiler), only until the cream cheese is soft enough to blend or butter is melted.

A Quick Way for Softening Butter

October 7, 2011 Leave a Comment

To cream butter, you are going to need soft butter that is just a little bit colder than room temperature (see ‘creaming butter’). It is easiest to put the butter on the counter and soften it ahead of time, but sometimes we just don’t plan that far ahead. Here is an easy way to soften butter quickly.

Butter under wax paper sliced in half the long way

Cover your work surface with piece of wax paper about 10×10”. You don’t have to go by this exact measurement; this is just to give you an idea how big you want it to be.

Set another piece of wax paper about the same size aside.

Pressing the Butter Down

Place the butter that you need to soften on the first piece of wax paper. It is best to cut the butter in half the long way, so as to make it easier to press. Place the second piece of wax paper over the butter. Push down on butter with the palm of hour hand. Continue to press it until his is only about 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Remove the wax paper from the top of the butter and cut the butter into little chunks with a knife.

Continuing to press

Peel the butter off of the wax paper and into your bowl.

Cutting the butter

Filed Under: Gluten-Free Tips

Gluten-Free Cake and Cupcake Tips

October 4, 2011 Leave a Comment

Here are a few tips for making tasty gluten-free cakes and cupcakes.

Moist and soft, this is the Chocolate Coffee Brownie

Do Not Over Cook!

There are a lot of notices like this in cake and cupcake recipes on this blog. This is because a gluten-free cake or cupcake can get dry fast. You might find that eating it makes you want a drink of water, or the cake/cupcake is very crumbly. This is probably because that baked good has been over cooked! Here are a few things to know when a cupcake or cake is cooked:

-When you take them out of the oven, they should not wiggle at all.

-If they have cracks in the top (Unless if it is a cheesecake), it is definitely overcooked.

-If it feels really firm, it is overcooked.

-When you touch it with your finger and the place you touch makes a hole, it is not cooked.

This toothpick has several dry crumbs on it

-A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with dry crumbs on it, meaning that these crumbs should not be smeared all over the place. If the cake/cupcakes contain chocolate chips, then expect melted chocolate as well.

-If the dough is runny, it is definitely not cooked.

-With cupcakes, if I have an extra one, I usually break it open just to check.

Does it Stick in Your Teeth?

If the cupcake or cake sticks in your teeth, there’s a problem.

A good way to take care of this problem is by using a little less xanthan gum. If it crumbles too much, however, then you are using too little xanthan gum. If it sticks in your teeth, this may also mean it is slightly under cooked.

Make Sure You Have All The Ingredients:

We live about an hour away from a store, so when I bake I need to be sure that I have all the ingredients. This doesn’t just apply to cakes and cupcakes. It applies to any recipe that you bake.

Is it Sticking to the Pan?

A good way to make cupcakes is to use wax paper liners. They are available at the local grocery store and keep the pans clean and the cupcakes nicely contained. For cakes, if the dough is sticking to the pan, try adding a little more butter/oil to the pan when you make it. Also, if the pan is even slightly wet, the dough will stick badly. I learned this the hard way once when I made brownies in a wet pan. It was virtually impossible to get them out.

One way to make sure it doesn’t stick is to cut out the edges around the pan before it cools. When it cools the edges may harden to the pan, so if you cut them loose beforehand, they wont stick.

If none of this works, line the pan with wax paper.

Filed Under: cakes, Gluten-Free Tips Tagged With: cake, cakes, cupcake, cupcakes, gluten-free cake, gluten-free cake and cupcake tips, gluten-free cupcake, gluten-free tips, tips

How to Get Rid of Crumbly Gluten-Free Foods

September 30, 2011 Leave a Comment

Sometimes you might get sick of dry, crumbly breads that won’t hold together, or cakes that fall apart as you cut them.

Here are some ways to prevent those things!

Xanthan Gum and Guar Gum

Derived from corn sugar, xanthan gum is used as a thickener, stabilizer, and emulsifier. Xanthan gum can act as gluten does in a gluten bread. Gluten will add stretch, holding the bubbles and cause bread to rise, and add a sort of ‘stickiness’ that keeps the bread together. Xanthan gum or guar gum will put all those things in your cakes, breads, and other gluten-free foods, preventing crumbling. If a recipe turns out too crumbly the first time, add a pinch more xanthan gum. Xanthan gum should be used in small quantities because a little bit can go a very long way and make possibly over-sticky foods, creating little gummy parts within your baked goods.

Overcooked?

Your gluten-free foods might simply be overcooked. Some things will overcook very easily, and this can result in dry, crumbly foods.

Filed Under: gluten-free recipes, Gluten-Free Tips

What is Separating Eggs and How is it Done?

September 30, 2011 Leave a Comment

Set two small bowls on your work surface. Crack the egg gently on the side of the bowl or on the counter. It is best to get the egg to crack right in the center. Working over one of the two bowls, carefully pry the halves apart with your thumbs. Hold one half of the egg so that the yolk settles in that half. Let the egg white run over the edges and into your bowl. When this is done, drop the egg yolk into the other bowl.

The important thing is to make sure none of the egg yolk gets in with the egg white. This is not hard, just so long as you keep the yolk from breaking. If the egg white gets contaminated by egg yolk, it will not stiffen like it is supposed to when beaten with the electric mixer.

Filed Under: gluten-free recipes, Gluten-Free Tips

What is Creaming Butter and How is it Done?

September 30, 2011 Leave a Comment

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: cream, creaming, creaming butter, gluten-free, gluten-free creaming butter

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.