Soft Pretzels (B&P22)

Baking & Pastry Project #22 - Soft Pretzels

Holiday weekends are made for savoring. Long sunny days, bbq grills, just picked vegetables, and just a touch of home improvement. Perfect.

These pretzels turned out to be an exceptionally wonderful treat. I served them with a dark mustard, salami and a cold Bard's Tale beer. Fabulous.

Recipe
Yield: 6 pretzels
Protein Content:
Original Version: 40.43 g
GF Version: 40.20 g

Dough

50 g brown rice flour (4.5 g)
40 g sweet rice flour (2.4 g)
40 g arrowroot starch (.12 g)
60 g sorghum flour (7.2 g)
115 g white bean flour (24.725 g)
6 g chia seed meal (1.26 g)
4 g agar agar powder
25 g instant dry yeast
6 g sea salt
270 ml water
16 g butter, soft & cubed
7 g sorghum malt syrup
35 ml agave syrup

Lye Solution

960 ml Water (105 degrees F/41 degrees C)
35 g Sodium Hydroxide Pellets
Coarse Salt, as needed


1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir together. In a medium bowl, pour in the water, butter, malt and agave syrup, then blend. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir together. Dough should be slightly firm yet still sticky.

2. On a sheet of parchment paper sprinkled with sweet rice flour, divide the dough into 6 pieces of equal size. Beginning with the first piece, work the dough in the sweet rice flour by pressing down and folding over the dough until it has a silky texture. Then roll out the dough into a long tube 12 in/30 cm, it should be tapered at the ends yet still fat in the middle. Cross the ends over each other then twist over once again. Then slide a slotted spatula under the cross ends and flip the twist upside down, so that the ends are now over the middle of the tube. Transfer the pretzel to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with sweet rice flour. Finish shaping the pretzels in the order in which they were divided. Set the pretzels in a warm location and allow to rise for 1 1/2 hours.

3. Prepare the lye solution in a bowl, one that is deep with tall sides. Slide the slotted spatula under the pretzel and then dip the pretzel into the lye solution, while keeping the pretzel on the spatula. Hold it over the bowl for a little bit and allow the excess solutions to drip off. Place the pretzel back on the parchment and allow it to drain. Sprinkle the pretzel top with coarse salt. Repeat with the rest of the pretzels.

4. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F/246 degrees C. Place the pretzels in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Allow the pretzels to cool before removing from the parchment paper. You will need to gently ease the paper away from the pretzel as the lye solution will cause them to stick to the paper.

Beer & Cheese Batards (B&P-11)

Baking & Pastry Project #11 - Beer & Cheese Batards

It's been an interesting and puzzling week at my house. Here I am blogging and baking away gluten free and yet I am having to eat wheat. It actually turned out to be harder than I thought it would be to do. You see my house is gluten free and the only item in the pantry that has wheat in it is a package of cinnamon Twizzlers and those belong to my husband.

It all began early this week when my doctor announced that she wanted me to take another celiac blood test. Although I'm not thrilled that I've had to eat wheat again so I can take the test, my doc's got some excellent reasons for me to do it again. This whole eating wheat thing has been just a bit more challenging than I thought it would be. We've been eating out, so I won't have to deep clean the kitchen again in order to get the wheat out yet again.

Thank goodness I took that test this morning and I can go back to my comfy and yummy gluten free diet. No more milling around the train station eating baguettes so the wheat doesn't get into the car, eating out every meal or sleeping badly because I'm not eating gluten free. I can go back to eating and cooking at home, getting some good rest and eating gluten free beer and cheese bread.

This turned out to be a moist and tangy bread with a slightly crisp crust. We opened some Bard's beer and then made melted ham and cheese sandwiches to celebrate returning to our gluten free status.

Up for a Bard's conversation starter? Located under the bottle cap, mine was: "Would hamsters prefer little rowing machines?" What do you think?

Pate Fermentee Recipe

Protein content is in parenthesis
Original recipe protein content: 36.79 g
Gluten free recipe protein content: 36.47 g

2.2 Tb/32 g brown rice flour (2.88 g)
2.1 Tb/30 g sweet rice flour (1.8 g)
2.1 Tb/30 g arrowroot starch (0.3 g)
.33 cup/78 g Anasazi bean flour (17.16 g)
.43 cup/100 g buckwheat flour (14.3 g)
2.7 tsp/13 g arrowroot starch (0.03 g)
1.26 tsp/6 g chia seed meal
.4 tsp/2 g agar agar powder
1.26 tsp/6 g instant dry yeast
1.05 tsp/5 g sea salt
1.09 cup/260 ml water
.40 tsp/2 ml agave syrup


* Mix together the dry ingredients and then add the liquid ingredients. Stir until a cohesive ball forms. Set aside until you need it for the Beer & Cheese Dough. Store the remaining pate fermentee in the refrigerator in a sealed container. You will need it for the next recipe, Belgian Apple Cider Bread.



Beer & Cheese Bread Recipe

CIA Baking & Pastry Book, page: 137
Protein content is in parenthesis
Original recipe protein content: 20.04 g (flour alone)
Gluten free recipe protein content: 20.07 g (flour alone)

2.45 Tb/35 g brown rice flour (3.15 g)
2.45 Tb/35 g sweet rice flour (2.1 g)
2.1 Tb/30 g sweet potato flour (.63 g)
.35 cup/81 g millet flour (9.3 g)
1.26 tsp/6 g chia seed meal (1.26 g)
1.05 tsp/5 g black bean flour (1.2 g)
1.47 Tb/21 g sorghum flour (1.47 g)
1.05 tsp/5 g cocoa powder (.95)
.4 tsp/2 g agar agar powder
1.89 tsp/9 g instant dry yeast
1.05 tsp/ 5 g sea salt
2.17 Tb/31 g cottage cheese
1.01 cup/273 g gluten free beer (Bard's)
1.35 Tb/20 ml agave syrup
.27 cup/62 g pate fermentee

Glaze


2 tsp/9.8 ml sorghum malt syrup
2 Tb/29.5 ml water

1. In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients and stir making sure the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Pour in the cottage cheese, beer and agave syrup mixing until combined.

2. On a sheet of parchment paper sprinkle some sweet rice flour and turn out the bread dough. Roll into a log and divide into 6 pieces of equal size. Shape each piece into a batard roll and using a sharp knife slice length wise down the center of the dough. Place onto a french bread loaf pan that has been covered with parchment paper sprinkled with sweet rice flour. Using a pastry brush, gently cover the tops of the batards with the sorghum malt syrup and water glaze. Cover the dough and allow to rise for 1 hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 460 degrees Fahrenheit/238 degrees Celsius. If you have a baking stone, place it in the oven at the same time on a shelf in the top third of the oven. Gather an oven proof bowl that can hold water, and a squirt bottle filled with water for steaming your bread. Place the water bowl on a shelf in the bottom third of the oven.

4. Slide the parchment paper with the batard rolls onto the baking stone. Squirt the sides of the oven with water and the top of the bread. Bake for 10 minutes Prop open the door of the oven and allow the bread to cook for 5 minutes more. Remove the bread from the oven, then let the bread cool about 1 hour before cutting.






Notes:

1. Bean Flour – You can purchase Black bean flour from Barry Farm or you can grind your own using a coffee grinder. Anasazi beans are available from Barry Farm and you will need to grind those into flour yourself. Make sure to sift your bean flour before using to make sure any bits that weren’t ground are removed.


2. Chia Seed Meal – You can purchase chia seeds from Barry Farm and use a coffee grinder to turn them into meal.

3. Agar Agar Powder - Is available from Barry Farm as well.




Other Baking & Pastry Project Posts


Baking & Pastry Project Week 6 - Beer, Cheese & Cider
Baking & Pastry Project #10 - Sunflower Honey Bran Bread

Baking & Pastry Project #9 - Black Bean Millet Pullman Loaf (mock rye)
Baking & Pastry Project Week 5 - Mock Rye & Sunflower Seeds

Baking & Pastry Project #8 - Cocoa Chia Whole Grain Pullman Loaf
Baking & Pastry Project #7 - Adzuki & Job's Tears Pain de Mie
Baking & Pastry Project Week 4 - Sandwich Breads
Baking & Pastry Project #6 - Garbanzo & Pine Nut Grissini
Baking & Pastry Project #3 -Buckwheat Anasazi Bean Batard




Want More?

You can follow me on Twitter, where I'm glutenagogo.

Black Bean Millet Pullman Loaf with Caraway Seeds (B&P-9)

Baking & Pastry Project #9 - Black Bean Millet Pullman Loaf with Caraway Seeds

Each loaf I've made while working on the Baking & Pastry Project has been a learning experience. The Rye Dough with Caraway Seeds for a Pullman Loaf (pg. 135) turned out to be a bit of a journey and ended up taking me a few trys to get right.

This loaf was originally made of bread flour (14.58 g protein per 100 g flour) and a medium rye flour (5 g of protein per 100 g flour). My millet flour blend replaced the bread flour and had 13.98 g of protein per 100 g of flour. While the sorghum, black bean and cocoa blend with 5.8 g protein per 100 g of flour replaced the rye flour.

My original plan was based around using a gluten free rye seasoning that I located. I selected milder flours with the thought that the rye seasoning would carry the flavor load. This was all fine and good except for the fatal flaw in my plan...I hadn't yet checked out the rye seasoning. When I did, I was blasted with an acidic aroma more suited to drain cleaner than a food seasoning. Thinking it was because the bottle had been sealed for a while, I let the bottle air before checking it out again. It wasn't expired and it had been sealed, so I was left with thoughts about better uses for this powder rather than seasoning. Hmmm...replacement for smelling salts...

This led to me a great and merry chase through my pantry experimenting with flour flavor combinations. Some combinations were good up until you added the caraway seeds, others went straight into the trash can (i.e. don't use carob), while a couple made it to the test loaf stage. The winner ended up have a larger variety of flours than I thought it would. Plus, the dough did taste a little more of beans, stronger than I thought it would have since I only used 10 grams of black bean flour. I wanted the dough to have a stronger taste, so I didn't add any extra sweetener to remove the slightly bitter edge it had.

The loaf turned out with a dense crumb typical of a pullman loaf and a fabulous rye-like taste. After tasting the sample that I gave him, my husband grabbed one of the mini loaves and glass of La Vendimia (a Spanish red wine). Then he settled in on a bar stool at the kitchen counter for an after work snack. I joined him after cutting some Cotswold cheese with chives and setting out the jar of dark mustard.

At the end of this journey, I was delighted to discover that I didn't have to rely on a jar of seasoning to create a loaf of bread with a rye-like taste. It was possible to do with the right combination of flours, molasses and some caraway seeds.

Recipe

Yield: 5 mini pullman loaves

Protein content per flour follows in parenthesis

2.1 Tb/30 g brown rice flour (2.7 g)

2.1 Tb/30 g sweet rice flour (1.8 g)

2.1 Tb/30 g sweet potato flour (0.63 g)

4.6 Tb/66 g millet (7.59 g)

1.2 tsp/6 g chia seed meal (1.26 g)

_____

2.1 tsp/10 g black bean flour (2.4 g)

2.4 Tb/35 g sorghum flour (2.45 g)

1 tsp/5 g cocoa powder (0.95 g)

.4 tsp/2 g agar agar powder

2.1 tsp/10 g instant dry yeast

.8 tsp/4 g cane sugar

1 tsp/5 g sea salt

.4 tsp/2 g caraway seeds

.58 cup/138 ml water

.8 tsp/4 g vegetable shortening, softened

.8 tsp/4 g molasses

1. In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients and blend. Add the wet ingredients and stir into a cohesive dough.

2. On a sheet of parchment paper sprinkle some sweet rice flour and then set the ball of dough on it. Shape into an oblong loaf and then set into a parchment paper lined mini loaf pan. Set aside and allow to rise for 1 hour and then cover with a sheet of parchment paper and a baking sheet. Weigh down the top baking sheet with either foil covered bricks or rocks, a cast iron pan or a ceramic pie plate.

3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F/204 degrees C. Place the loaf pan with the top sheet onto a baking sheet and then set it in the oven. Set the weight on top of the baking sheet. Then bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to completely cool before serving.

Notes:

Flours & Binding Agents: Authentic Foods, Barry Farm, Bob's Red Mill


Instant Dry Yeast: Barry Farm


Other Baking & Pastry Project Posts

Baking & Pastry Project #8 - Whole Grain Pullman Loaf
Baking & Pastry Project #7 - Pain de Mie
Baking & Pastry Project Week 4
Baking & Pastry Project #6 - Grissini
Baking & Pastry Project #5 - Soft Rolls
Baking & Pastry Project Week 3
Baking & Pastry Project #4 - Rosemary Bread
Baking & Pastry Project #3 - Whole Grain Bread
Baking & Pastry Project Week 2

Angel Biscuits

As a Southerner, I am constantly on the look out for biscuit recipe variations. One classic recipe that I have never tried making is the one with two leavening agents. Cream of tartar and baking soda are aided by yeast to give Angel or bride's biscuits their light and airy texture. This touch means that anyone, regardless of their baking skill level, can make a successful batch of Angel biscuits.

I recently read Jean Anderson's book, "A Love Affair with Southern Cooking: Recipes and Recollections." Filled with culinary stories and recipes, her book is a fascinating look at the foods Southerners love from black-eyed pea soup with greens and ham to Tennessee whiskey balls. Angel biscuits were originally made from a soft wheat flour like the ones from White Lily or Martha White.

My gluten free variation on the Angel Biscuits owes their light and sweet flavor to a sorghum flour blend and sorghum syrup. The delicate flavor was one of the reasons my family enjoyed these biscuits so much. They were delightful served warm with a swirl of butter or lightly toasted and served with a slice of applewood smoked ham.

Recipe

3/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup sweet potato flour*
1/4 cup + 1 Tb sweet rice flour
2 tsp chia seed meal
1 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
2 Tb sorghum syrup**
1 cup soured almond milk or buttermilk***
1/2 cup vegetable shortening or butter, melted
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 - 115 deg F)


1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place 12 silicone muffin cups on a cookie sheet.

2. In a large bowl, dump in the flours, chia seed meal, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Stir the dry ingredients together until the cream of tartar and soda are thoroughly blended with the flours.

3. In a small bowl filled with the warm water, pour in the dry active yeast and allow to dissolve.

4. In a 2 cup measuring cup, pour in the soured almond milk, the vegetable shortening and sorghum syrup. Gently stir the mixture together.

5. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and quickly stir together. Then spoon the batter into the silicone muffin cups.

6. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 12 biscuits.

* Sweet Potato Flour: I purchased my gluten free sweet potato flour from Barry Farms.

** Sorghum Syrup: I purchased my sorghum syrup from Barry Farms.

*** Soured Almond Milk: Add 1/2 tsp white vinegar to the 1/2 cup of almond milk and allow to sit for a few minutes before using.