Crossing my Fingers...

You know a loaf of bread is going to be good when you can't stop licking the dough off your fingers. At least, you do when you're baking with normal flour. With gluten-free I'm never quite so sure. With traditional bread I could tell by the feel of the dough in my hands if it needed more flour; I could watch it grow smooth and glossy as I kneaded.

With gluten-free, I find myself often staring at a mysterious gob of Play-dough under my hands, wondering if it needs to be a more liquidy Play-dough, or a stiffer one. And more often than I'd like, I pull a loaf out of the oven to find it crumbly on the edges and too gummy in the middle. And the yeast... never seems to do anything. Without the gluten, there just isn't much there to hold the air bubbles in and make the bread rise like I want. It's more like a quick bread - think banana or cornbread, without the banana or corn.

Today, though, as I started up a big pot of soup, I decided I really, really wanted some Russian Black Bread. And so I started searching the wide realm of the internet for a gluten-free recipe. I found one on an ancient message board, posted back in 1996. It has several different dough additives that I haven't experimented with yet. Gelatin, for one. I've seen that in a few recipes before, but never tried any of them. And fruit pectin, for another. (That's the stuff that helps make jelly gel.) And a lot more xanthan gum than I would normally use. This bread is going to have Structure with a capital S.

I just finished mixing and kneading, and I've just popped it in the oven to let it rise. I'm a little nervous. It tastes great - bursting with caraway seeds and the rich flavors of coffee and cocoa powder. But it's a little rubbery. I have no idea what the texture will be like once it's bakes.

BUT! The dough behave more like gluten dough than anything I've tried before. It feels, for example, more elastic, and it pulls cleanly away from the bowl with a certain feel that is... well, I can't say it's anything but reminiscent of gluten dough. Really. I mean, sure, get your gluten-free dough dry enough, and it will also pull away from the sides of the bowl. But the texture just won't be the same, and don't kid yourself hoping for it.

So... updates to follow soon. Wish me luck. Continue Reading!

The Celery Blues

I'm generally known for having a penchant for odd vegetables. Some of my friends appreciate this, but there are others who run screaming every time I suggest making Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, or whatever else happens to be on the menu. Which is why I find the following conversation even more amusing than it would otherwise be:

I'm standing in my friend's kitchen. I've just pulled a celery stalk from the bunch I purchased moments before at the supermarket. I'm pretty excited, because I haven't seen a celery bunch in many months. Living in California, the land of year round greens, I never realized that celery is a highly seasonal vegetable in other parts of the world.

Me: (crunch. crunch.)
Friend: What are you eating?
Me: Celery.
Friend: Celery? I don't think I've ever seen that before.
Me: Really? I know I can't find it very often, but you've never had it before? Here, try a piece.
Friend (crunching thoughtfully): Ugh! It's so bitter! It's even more bitter than celery root!
Me: Well, yeah, but... it's crunchy. And, um, it's not really that bitter. I mean... it's sort of salty and tangy, too.
Friend: Are you sure you're supposed to eat it raw?
Me: Of course! This is a totally normal American snack food. You should try it with cream cheese. Or peanut butter! (pause) Oh, man, I wish I had some peanut butter.
Friend: You eat that with peanut butter? Really?? God, you Americans eat some strange things.

Upon further consideration, I understand why it isn't a very popular vegetable over here. All the celery I've encountered thus far has been painfully sub-par. The stalks are somehow the wrong density; they end up too watery and stringy, and they're more tough than crunchy.

The flavor is there. It still works as a soup additive. But I really can't blame anyone for not wanting it on their veggie platter. Continue Reading!