Maria and I recently went to a gluten-free cooking class in Atlanta, Georgia (US) that was sponsored by our local GIG chapter and taught by Beth Hillson. Beth is a chef and cooking instructor who founded the Gluten-Free Pantry and created the pantry’s gourmet baking mixes. She is the food editor for Living Without magazine and editor of a weekly free e-newsletter for www.glutenfree.com. Beth’s latest cookbook, Gluten-Free
Makeover,has more than 175 recipes from family favorites to gourmet goodies.
She prepared the following recipes during our class: broccoli cranberry salad, focaccia, potato and cheese pierogi and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
Beth told our class that her three favorite gluten-free flours are amaranth, quinoa and sorghum (in that order). She also uses millet flour. She likes amaranth flour for pizza and pie crust. For cake flour, her formula is 1/4 cup of corn flour for each cup of Bob’s Red Mill All–Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Mix. For pastry flour, she combines 1/4 cup or two tablespoons corn flour for each cup of her own basic blend. She likes Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur Flour brands of gluten-free flours. Gluten-free Pantry’s brand of all-purpose flour contains salt and xanthan gun, so she does not recommend using it in her
focaccia recipe.
Beth’s Basic Flour Blend
• 2¾ cups rice flour
• 1¼ cups corn or potato starch
• 1/3 cup tapioca starch
Other class tips from Beth included the following:
• Use cookie (aka ice cream) scoops of all sizes for cookies, muffins, mini-muffins and other goodies.
• Make sure the oil sprays you are using on your pans do not contain wheat flour.
• Don’t put yeast on top of your salt when you are making breads; the salt will burn the yeast.
• For yeast breads, begin with all ingredients at room temperature.
• For food demonstrations, leave nuts out of recipes in case your audience includes people with nut allergies.
• Protein flours have stronger flavors and will produce darker crusts and cookies.
• Use Earth Balance or butter in your baking. Earth Balance is salty, so decrease the salt in your recipe if you add it. Cookies made with Earth Balance will spread more and brown less.
• For sweeteners, Beth likes stevia in the raw, coconut crystals and date sugar.
Baked goods made with stevia in the raw will bake faster and shrink; decrease
baking time by five minutes. Use 1/2 to 3/4 of stevia in the raw as you would
sugar in a recipe. Date sugar will make baked items darker.
• Get a Beater Blade with a flex (scraper) edge for your Kitchen Aid mixer so you do not have to stop mixing to scrap down the sides of the mixer bowl.
• To add some “glue” back into gluten-free recipes, Beth uses xanthan gum, guar gum, agar-agar or potato flour. Substitute one tablespoon of potato flour for 1 teaspoon of agar-agar or xanthan gum. Xanthan gum is going up in price so this is a useful substitution.
• Use plastic wrap to press focaccia dough into the pan, and leave the plastic wrap on top of the dough while it is rising.
• Pipe cream cheese and other frostings onto cupcakes using a disposable plastic decorating bag instead of a cloth icing bag. It will work better.
• Calm the flavor of raw onions by soaking them in cider vinegar for a few hours.
Maria and I suggest you read some of the reviews on Amazon before purchasing either the beater blade or the disposable decorating bags. Reviewers had mixed comments that will inform your purchasing. The beater blades come in various sizes and styles to fit specific models of Kitchen Aid mixers. The decorating bags are also called icing, pastry and piping bags.
We are giving you a link to Beth’s pie crust recipe and sharing her Fabulous Focaccia recipe that she made for the class, adding fresh rosemary and garlic for her seasonings.
Beth’s Dairy-Free Flaky Pie Crust (makes one 9-inch crust)
Recipe uses a high-protein flour blend that includes amaranth flour.
BETH’S FABULOUS FOCACCIA**
Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 15 minutes, plus 30 minutes to rise
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes
INGREDIENTS
• 2½ cups Basic Blend (see above)
• 1/2 cup potato flour
• 1 tablespoon xanthan gum
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 4½ teaspoons instant active or active dry yeast
• 1¼ cups warm water (105° to 110°F)
• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil or herb oil*
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese or cheese substitute
DIRECTIONS
Lightly brush a 9”X13” pan with olive oil. In stand mixer bowl, combine flours, xanthan gum, salt and yeast. Briefly beat to blend, using paddle attachment. Combine water, eggs and oil and add to dry ingredients. Beat on medium speed for 10 minutes. Press dough into prepared pan. Let rise in warm, draft-free area for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Brush top of dough with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cut focaccia into strips and serve warm.
*For herb oil, combine 1/4 cup olive oil with a blend of fresh or dried herbs (e.g.,
oregano, rosemary, thyme) and crushed or finely chopped fresh garlic or garlic
powder to taste.
**From Gluten-Free Makeovers by Beth Hillson, GIG of Atlanta Cooking
Class, March 24, 2012
Please let us know about any creative versions of the focaccia recipe that you
develop. (Susan and Maria)
Makeover,has more than 175 recipes from family favorites to gourmet goodies.
She prepared the following recipes during our class: broccoli cranberry salad, focaccia, potato and cheese pierogi and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
Beth told our class that her three favorite gluten-free flours are amaranth, quinoa and sorghum (in that order). She also uses millet flour. She likes amaranth flour for pizza and pie crust. For cake flour, her formula is 1/4 cup of corn flour for each cup of Bob’s Red Mill All–Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Mix. For pastry flour, she combines 1/4 cup or two tablespoons corn flour for each cup of her own basic blend. She likes Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur Flour brands of gluten-free flours. Gluten-free Pantry’s brand of all-purpose flour contains salt and xanthan gun, so she does not recommend using it in her
focaccia recipe.
Beth’s Basic Flour Blend
• 2¾ cups rice flour
• 1¼ cups corn or potato starch
• 1/3 cup tapioca starch
Other class tips from Beth included the following:
• Use cookie (aka ice cream) scoops of all sizes for cookies, muffins, mini-muffins and other goodies.
• Make sure the oil sprays you are using on your pans do not contain wheat flour.
• Don’t put yeast on top of your salt when you are making breads; the salt will burn the yeast.
• For yeast breads, begin with all ingredients at room temperature.
• For food demonstrations, leave nuts out of recipes in case your audience includes people with nut allergies.
• Protein flours have stronger flavors and will produce darker crusts and cookies.
• Use Earth Balance or butter in your baking. Earth Balance is salty, so decrease the salt in your recipe if you add it. Cookies made with Earth Balance will spread more and brown less.
• For sweeteners, Beth likes stevia in the raw, coconut crystals and date sugar.
Baked goods made with stevia in the raw will bake faster and shrink; decrease
baking time by five minutes. Use 1/2 to 3/4 of stevia in the raw as you would
sugar in a recipe. Date sugar will make baked items darker.
• Get a Beater Blade with a flex (scraper) edge for your Kitchen Aid mixer so you do not have to stop mixing to scrap down the sides of the mixer bowl.
• To add some “glue” back into gluten-free recipes, Beth uses xanthan gum, guar gum, agar-agar or potato flour. Substitute one tablespoon of potato flour for 1 teaspoon of agar-agar or xanthan gum. Xanthan gum is going up in price so this is a useful substitution.
• Use plastic wrap to press focaccia dough into the pan, and leave the plastic wrap on top of the dough while it is rising.
• Pipe cream cheese and other frostings onto cupcakes using a disposable plastic decorating bag instead of a cloth icing bag. It will work better.
• Calm the flavor of raw onions by soaking them in cider vinegar for a few hours.
Maria and I suggest you read some of the reviews on Amazon before purchasing either the beater blade or the disposable decorating bags. Reviewers had mixed comments that will inform your purchasing. The beater blades come in various sizes and styles to fit specific models of Kitchen Aid mixers. The decorating bags are also called icing, pastry and piping bags.
We are giving you a link to Beth’s pie crust recipe and sharing her Fabulous Focaccia recipe that she made for the class, adding fresh rosemary and garlic for her seasonings.
Beth’s Dairy-Free Flaky Pie Crust (makes one 9-inch crust)
Recipe uses a high-protein flour blend that includes amaranth flour.
BETH’S FABULOUS FOCACCIA**
Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 15 minutes, plus 30 minutes to rise
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes
INGREDIENTS
• 2½ cups Basic Blend (see above)
• 1/2 cup potato flour
• 1 tablespoon xanthan gum
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 4½ teaspoons instant active or active dry yeast
• 1¼ cups warm water (105° to 110°F)
• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil or herb oil*
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese or cheese substitute
DIRECTIONS
Lightly brush a 9”X13” pan with olive oil. In stand mixer bowl, combine flours, xanthan gum, salt and yeast. Briefly beat to blend, using paddle attachment. Combine water, eggs and oil and add to dry ingredients. Beat on medium speed for 10 minutes. Press dough into prepared pan. Let rise in warm, draft-free area for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Brush top of dough with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cut focaccia into strips and serve warm.
*For herb oil, combine 1/4 cup olive oil with a blend of fresh or dried herbs (e.g.,
oregano, rosemary, thyme) and crushed or finely chopped fresh garlic or garlic
powder to taste.
**From Gluten-Free Makeovers by Beth Hillson, GIG of Atlanta Cooking
Class, March 24, 2012
Please let us know about any creative versions of the focaccia recipe that you
develop. (Susan and Maria)
