sandwich bread, indian-inspired flatbread, and bar cookies

So, like I said, I've been baking a lot lately. Tonight I made this bread from Kate at Gluten Free Gobsmacked. It turned out absolutely amazing. I will definitely make it again. It was super soft, moist, yeasty, not heavy, and deliciously flavorful, but would be great for sandwiches. The only things that I changed were I used egg replacer, and I had to substitute a little. I was low on quinoa, so I used about 1/4 cup quinoa flakes, 1/2 cup oats in stead of 3/4 cup of one; also I was low on sorghum flour, so I topped off that with millet (probably about the same proportions as the quinoa-oat mix). I also used arrowroot starch and potato starch instead of the tapioca and corn starch because I'm out of tapioca and don't do corn. I also used the "quicker, no-sponge" method.



S.J. visited tonight after a very stressful day, and she said that the bread was awesome, and a great comfort food. I took this very sexy picture of her.



The other day I was in need of bread quickly, so I whipped up a batch of flatbread dough. I did it a little differently though. I had just been to the Indian market (Om, it's in henrietta and the lady that own/runs it is so sweet and nice and helpful) and had been looking at my Indian cookbook that I got for my birthday. I decided to take this opportunity to try out some of the new flours that I bought there.



Using my favorite flatbread recipe (which here is in doubled quantity, the recipe I describe following is for a single batch), I subbed the flour and starch with 1/2 cup Mathia flour- a blend of lentil and pea flour, 1/2 cup samo flour, a starchy flour in between a starch and sweet rice flour made from a grain similar to tiny tiny rice (she showed me what the grain looks like too), and 1/2 cup rice flour. All of the mixing is the same, but then....

Once you have it mixed heat a griddle to a steady medium heat.

Take a hunk of coconut oil and generously coat your hands so that the dough won't stick. Throw some coconut oil on the skillet too so that it gets nicely coated too.

Now grab a handful of dough and form it into a ball between your hands, like you were making rolls. Then hold it in one palm and lightly press and stretch the dough with the heal of your hand. You will want to switch off hands and make sure your hands stay well oiled. Flatten it until it is about as thin a flatbread or a pancake.

Carefully place it on the griddle, trying not to trap too much air under it. Flip with a spatula after a few minutes. It should be a nice golden color. After mine were done rubbed them with a little more coconut oil and sprinkled them with a rosemary herb blend and a little salt. One batch of bread makes 6-9 little grilled breads, depending on how big they are.



The final recipe that I share with you tonight is originally here. It is for a recipe called "Pecan Joys." It is a bar cookie with pecans, coconut, and chocolate chips. I made a few alterations though, so I will give you my recipe too.

The original recipe called for a Jiffy cake mix, but I don't use them because of allergens, so I made up a cake mix, and it worked really well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together:
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Sorghum
1/4 cup Arrowroot starch
1/2 cup Mathia Flour (see above)
1/2 tsp Xanthan gum
1/4 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Egg Replacer

Stir together and add to dry ingredients:
1/3 cup melted Coconut Oil
Prepared Egg Replacer for 2 eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
2/3 cup Pecans
2/3 cup Coconut flakes (I used moist sweetened shredded coconut)
1/2 cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup Raisins (I added these because I love raisins and jumbled up cookies, and it made them "healthier"... right?)

Scrape into a lightly oiled 9x9 pan.

Bake until golden on top, about 15 minutes.

Let cool. I sliced mine and left them right in the pan. They were quite tasty. They would probably also work as drop cookies.