My gluten free baking was a disaster at the very beginning. I was quite lost and I had no idea where to look for advice or tips that might help me with this whole gluten free topic. I was in London back then (when I was told I have the celiac disease), and I remember entering a bookshop and discovering a huge shelf of books about gluten free diet. I was very happy to see so many options and so many "textbooks" that I might use from now on. I bought at least three books right on the spot and started digging into them immediately.
The excitement and happiness was gone the minute after I went through most of the recipes and realised that I will definitely not use any of them. I don't know why it is so, that all those recipes had to include some exotic ingredients which are only available online or in some very special stores that you definitely cannot find around the corner. It didn't make any sense to me. Is it really that impossible to bake gluten free using more "normal" ingredients..? I have spent days going through different books, websites and blogs, and finally I found some niche blogs and websites that were helpful (most of them are polish). So it turned out one does not need to have all those fancy flours that are ridiculously expensive. Rice flour, corn flour, potato flour, buckwheat flour and the fanciest one - amaranth flour are the solution! Of course I understand if people want to experiment with different ingredients, but for me it really was a problem to find them all and most importantly, they would probably completely ruin my home budget..

So, here is a proof of what one can do with rice flour. I promise, you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients:

160g rice flour

120g sugar

4 bananas (middle size)

80g lactose free butter (at room temperature)

2 eggs

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla sugar

200g frozen cherries

a pinch of salt

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (top and bottom heat) and line the muffin tin with muffin cups.

2. Beat butter with sugar and a pinch of salt, then add the eggs and mix together. 

3. Mix rice flour with baking powder and vanilla sugar and add gradually to the butter and eggs, then mix them together.

4. Mash up bananas and add them to the dough. Mix thoroughly. 

5. Fold in the frozen cherries (with a spoon, not the mixer).

6. Fill the dough into the muffin cups and bake for 35-40 minutes.

(I have taken these out a bit too early - patience is not my strongest virtue... but they still tasted perfect! Although I didn't let them grow up much:) )

Recipe from: here

Chocolate mousse cake (gluten free + lactose free)

My cravings for chocolate, sweetness and warmth have officially peaked lately. Who doesn't need chocolate when we have Autumn outside..?! Coming home from a long day spent at work or school is so much better when you know a chocolate cake is waiting for you. I have spent the last weeks on trying out different recipes and soon you will see some results of those trials here. Going on the gluten free diet is not an easy thing, when one was used to baking cakes and cookies all the time. Now I am trying to figure out the ways to make everything I love most in the gluten free way. Hopefully I will succeed with at least some of my favourite things. For now, I am leaving you with this chocolate cake, which definitely has the best chocolate mousse frosting I have ever tried. It is so delicious and so easy to work with while decorating the cake! You have to try it out.

Ingredients: 

Cake base:

4 eggs 

100 g sugar 

80 g rice flour 

50 g cornstarch 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

pinch of salt

Chocolate mousse:

100 g milk chocolate, chopped

100 g dark chocolate, chopped

300 g softened butter (lactose free) + a tiny bit of salt, or you can use the salted butter

90 g powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder

pinch of salt

Tiny meringues:

2 egg whites (around 70 g)

pinch of salt

130 g sugar (crystal or powdered)

pinch of cocoa powder

Preparation:

Cake base (16 cm baking form)
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, top and bottom heat.
2. Separate the egg whites and egg yolks.
3. Beat the egg yolks with around 40 g of sugar in a bowl.
4. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until half stiff then add a pinch of salt and the remaining sugar, beat until stiff.
5. Gently fold in the egg yolks into the beaten egg whites, preferably using a wooden spoon.
6. Sift in the flours and the baking powder in three portions, mixing gently (by hand, not with a mixer).
7. Line the base of the baking form with baking paper and pour in half of the batter. (If you have 2 baking forms, bake them together at the same time. I only have one, so I had to do this twice)
8. Bake for around 25 minutes. Then switch off the oven and open the oven door slightly, letting the cake cool down slowly. When it is colder take it out and remove from the baking form.

Chocolate mousse frosting
1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Set aside until it reaches room temperature.
2. Beat the butter until very pale and fluffy, then add sugar, salt and vanilla powder and beat together.
3. Add the chocolate and beat for another 3-4 minutes until the mousse gets fluffy.

Meringues:
1. Preheat the oven to 140 degrees and line a baking plate with baking paper.
1. Put the egg whites in a dry mixer bowl, add salt and beat until almost stiff.
2. Gradually, still mixing add sugar, spoon by spoon.
3. Beat the mixture until the structure is smooth. If using crystal sugar, it might take a while before it melts, so the beating process takes some time.
4. Put a tiny bit of the cocoa powder on the sides of the confectionary sleeve (inside), fill in the sleeve with the beaten egg whites and create small meringues (the shape will differ depending on the cake tip you're using).
5. Bake for around 50 minutes, then turn of the oven and leave them to cool down, before removing from the baking form.

Inspiration:here

Linseed bread (Gluten free + lactose Free)

I think it's time for a bread recipe here! So far I have really been struggling with finding a recipe that would not take ages to prepare and tons of luck to succeed. Of course I used the ready flour blends for gluten free bread, but I am not entirely sure what they contain and their price is a bit ridiculous. 

I came across this recipe on one of the blogs I've been reading (olgasmile). I tried it for the first time already a while ago, but I wanted to make it at least a couple of times to make sure it's this kind of recipe that always works out. So many times I've tried a new recipe and the result was terrible.. I don't want to waste kilograms of ingredients and hours of oven work just to realise the recipe works out once out of ten trials. So this one, I can assure you, is perfect! Healthy, tasty and gluten free. Doesn't get better than this. At least until I figure out a new recipe that could beat this one:).

 

Ingredients: 

1 ½ cup of buckwheat flour
1 ½ cup of rice flour
½ cup of amaranth flour
⅓ cup of potato flour
500 - 550 ml of water
3 tablespoons of linseed (ground)
2 teaspoons of dried yeast
2 teaspoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of olive oil + a bit extra for greasing the form
optionally: 1 teaspoon of your favourite herbs like oregano, basil, etc.

Preparation:

1. Grease a baking form with some olive oil.

2. Put the ground linseed in a bowl and pour in 200 ml of boiling water, mix with a spoon and leave for 5 minutes. Afterwards blend it with a hand blender to get a sticky and smooth texture.

3. In a bigger bowl, put all dry ingredients and mix them together, then add the remaining 300 - 350 ml of water, the linseed mixture and olive oil. Mix together until smooth. The dough should have a rather thick texture.

4. Put the bread dough into the baking form, cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 50 - 60 minutes.

5. Bake at 190 degrees (top/bottom heat).

6. Wait with slicing until it's cold, otherwise you might end up with a sad layer.

Breakfast in bed: Gluten Free toasts with avocado and tomatoes

For me, Sundays should be the lazy days, when we spend hours covered in blanket and reading books or watching our favourite movies, surrounded by food. Maybe not for the whole day... but I don't mind that at all! If only that was possible more often than it truly is. With all the duties, things to do and take care of, we don't really get a chance to stop for a moment and relax, doing simply nothing. So when we do get that chance, I always make sure it's used to the fullest. And my recipe for such time is always filled with good, simple food, litres of tea and no hurry. Last Sunday was like this for me, I could relax a little bit and slow down. After waking up, still wearing my pyjamas I heated up the owen, took out some bread I baked the day before and gathered other things I could find in my kitchen. And so we ended up with tomato and avocado toasts for breakfast. Great begining of a day!

Ingredients: 

7-8 slices of gluten free bread

1 big avocado

10 cherry tomatoes

a handful of olives (I used the ones stuffed with pepper)

3 tablespoons of grated mature cheddar (lactose free)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon of oregano

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. And line the baking form with baking paper.

2. Take the bread slices and brush some olive oil on top of each slice, then sprinkle oregano on each piece.

3. Wash the avocado, remove its skin and stone, and slice into thin pieces. Spread the pieces around all bread slices.

4. Slice the olives in half and spread around the bread as well.

5. Finally distribute the cheese on top of each sandwich.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, then put on the freshly slices cherry tomatoes on each toast and sprinkle with some salt.

Enjoy while still warm!