A New Baking Adventure Week 1 - Beans & Bagels

Baking & Pastry Project

I am a very lucky woman. My anniversary and birthday present this year from my family was a set of the Culinary Institute of America's (CIA) Culinary Arts and Baking DVDs. I was beyond speechless and praying that sounds reminiscent of a preteen girl at a Jonas Brothers concert wouldn't suddenly erupt from my mouth. Wow! My family knows me so well and couldn't have given me anything that would have pleased me more.

After watching all the DVDs, I decided that I wanted to work my way through the CIA's Baking and Pastry book. They are so many skills that I want to develop and work on. Plus, I thought some of you might be interested in sharing my journey with me.

Starting this week, I will begin baking my way through the book starting with breads. On Sundays, I will post the baking schedule for the week along with a shopping list with resources. The two recipes I tackle for the week will be posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Schedule for the Week of March 29th

Tuesday - Lean White Bread
Thursday – Bagels

Shopping List

Brown Rice Flour (Fine or Superfine grind)
Sweet Rice Flour (also called glutinous rice flour)
Arrowroot Starch
High Protein Flours such as: Soybean, White Bean, Quinoa, Millet, Sorghum
Instant Dry Yeast
Salt
Binding Agent such as: Xanthan gum, Guar Gum, Chia Seed Meal
White Sorghum Malt Extract (Gluten Free & High Maltose)

Resources

Flours & Binding Agents:

Authentic Foods
Barry Farm
Bob's Red Mill

Instant Dry Yeast:

Barry Farm

Briess White Sorghum Malt Extract:

Midwest Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies

Equipment

Kitchen Scale
Measuring Cup (with fluid ounces or mL)
Large Pot (i.e. Stock Pot, Dutch Oven or Wok)
Baking Sheets
Digital Thermometer
Parchment Paper

Fruit Pastries Gluten-Free

My children dearly love Pop Tarts. I think they have too many additives that their growing bodies don't need. Replacing Pop Tarts with a nutritious fruit pastry recipe is becoming quite important at my house. So, I tried my hand at making mini gluten-free fruit pastries.

First, I selected which fillings my children would like the most...strawberry and mixed berry jams. Then I needed to select a crust recipe. My inspiration for the crust of the fruit pastry came from the Almond Pastry recipe at the Paleo List.

Oats & Almond Pastry Crust

2/3 + 1/4 cup ground oats
1/3 almond meal
2/3 cup shortening
1 tsp Montina Flour, rounded
1 tsp ground Flax Seed, rounded
Pinch salt
just less than 1/4 cup water
2 tsp sugar

Use only as much water as will make a crumbly dough. Roll out between two sheets of parchment paper. Peel off one side and use biscuit cutter to cut out Pop Tart pieces.

Place on a parchment paper lined pan. Put a small scoop of jam in the center of one side of the dough. Place the other half on top and press sides to keep jam from oozing out.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

The mini Pop Tarts came out beautifully. The kids and I really liked them, but my husband felt that they were tasty yet crumbly. The crumbly aspect of gluten free baking really bugs him.

Amaranth Pie Crust - Gluten Free

I have wanted to try making homemade gluten-free fruit pastries like Pop Tarts for a long time. The real thing has too many ingredients that I prefer my children not eat. Plus, my son loves Pop Tarts, so I need to come up with a healthy alternative.

I chose as my basic crust recipe the gluten free Amaranth Pie Crust Dough at Bob's Red Mill, which I altered slightly. This is what I did:

Recipe

3/4 cup Amaranth Flour
1/2 cup Tapioca
1/4 cup Almond Meal
1/4 tsp Celtic Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
3 Tb Coconut Oil
3 - 4 Tb Water (I ended up needing 6 Tb)
2 tsp Agave Syrup

I mixed it up with my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. Then rolled the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper. I used my biscuit cutter to make the shapes. Since they were small, I used the following items as fillings: mixed berry jam, strawberry jam, pumpkin butter, lemon curd, orange marmalade and apple sauce.

My Mom always used make little cookies out of the left over pie crust. She'd place them on a cookie sheet and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on them. They were always my favorite part of any pie baking. So I did the same with the Amaranth Pie Crust. They turned out great. There weren't any left for taste testing though.....the cook turned into a little piggy.

The final fruit pastry turned out beautifully. Now, to try them on the kids.... My son said, "Ick, ick and double ick." My daughter thought the ones filled with the mixed berry jam were the best and orange marmalade was totally disgusting. I thought the ones with pumpkin butter and lemon curd stood up best to the taste of the dough.

The amaranth flour had a raw grassy smell in the package and tasted if possible even grassier in the uncooked dough. The cooked version was milder, but still might have too strong a taste for some. The cinnamon and sugar pie crust cookies were the best tasting of all.