Sourdough bread from Angela's Oven

Allergic Mom occasionally eats gluten.  When she does she enjoys the sourdough from Angela's Oven. It is free of both yeast and sugar.  A call on Friday to the bakery allows for the bread to be available at the farmers market sliced.  Slicing wheat bread at home is something no longer done as it generates all kinds of allergen contamination stress. 

Buckwheat Millet Bread

We were in today.  Boys are congested.  Little Brother has had breathing difficulty as he always does along with any respiratory cold.  Could it be the high daily mold count and medium weed and grass pollen count too?

The Boys were playing and feeling better as the day progressed. They started to ask what we were going to make for dinner.  We agreed that we should try out the sandwich bread recipe we had discussed making at some point this summer.  We thank Quirky Cooking, a favorite source of the type of recipes that work for us, for providing exactly what we were looking for in sandwich bread.   Original recipe found here.

The bread baking was an experiment with unknown results; the process of making the bread filled the boys with wonder. I cherish the matched joy in their eyes as the bread was ready to come out of the oven.  How would it slice up?, we asked.  Would the texture be what we were hoping for?, we wondered.  How would it taste?, we thought as we patiently waited for the loaf to cool down.  

What you need: 
70g buckwheat kernals
80g millet
60g chia seeds
170g arrowrrot
1 heaped tsp instant yeast
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp real salt 
30g olive oil
30g raw honey
250g room temperature water

What to do: 
1. Place buckwheat, millet and chia in TM bowl and mill 1 min/speed 9
2. Scrape down sides of bowl and add remaining dry ingredients. Mix 10 sec/speed 6
3. Add wet ingredients and mix 10 sec/speed 6
4.  Knead on interval speed for 2 minutes
5. Add mixture to baking paper lined pullman loaf baker 
6. Smooth out top with a little water using spoon
7. Let rest in warm space for 1 hour
8.  Preheat oven to 344 degrees F
9.  Bake for 50 min.
10.Turn out loaf to check that underside is cooked enough
11. Let cool, then slice and enjoy 
 

Sandwich Bread

Our house has been virtually wheat and gluten free for over a year now. I haven't had a bite of gluten since I learned of Baby Brother's wheat allergy via skin testing; that's what happens when you are nursing an allergic baby.  Meals, snacks and and ingredients containing gluten made their departure from our kitchen rather quickly. Would anything containing gluten be able to stay? Crossing out family favorites and upcoming kitchen projects, such as the sourdough starter I had been looking forward to tackling, were more than agonizing for me.  While I felt nostolgic and angry, I had to move on and make changes.  I soon began baking the best gluten free, Thermomix foccacia every Sunday and almost suddenly stopped missing previous favorite breads.  We all loved it, and Big Brother requested it for school lunch sandwiches. So no more worries, right? 

Several months later Baby Brother and I learned that we both needed to avoid grains and potato in the same meal, specifically with a 4-6 hour window space between the two.  So, gluten free foccacia on the back burner until I figure out how to swap the potato flour.  In the meantime,  I am back to preordering a loaf of sprouted whole wheat sourdough from our local Whole Foods as I used to prior to wheat allergy.  But this time around, the bread would require strict allergy standards; crumbs would have to be carefully contained. I figured that  as long as Big Brother were to eat the bread at school and out of the house, then the crumbs would remain elsewhere and not be a threat to Baby Brother's safety. 

Can you picture all the careful attention that goes into being allergic?  Should I dare throw another allergic whammy we experience at you?  Remember, Big Brother is allergic to sesame, and like all allergies, there are safety issues at play.  Basically, there is a whole process in order to get a safe loaf of bread for a sesame allergic child.  

This is how I order it: I preorder the loaf from Whole Foods.  I call them when I need a loaf and the bakery records on an order form that the bread is for a boy with a sesame allergy.  This means that the bakery is to handle and store the bread properly and to not slice on the bread slicer . The goal is to reduce the risk of cross-contamination as much as possible.  Does it make sense to you that it's better for me to slice the bread at home in order to avoid sesame seeds on the slicer even though wheat crumbs are a hazard as well?  

This is how I slice and store it:  After bringing the bread home, it sits until Baby Brother is tucked in at night.  I need full concentration and elbow room to begin slicing and storing.  Step one is making sure that I have a lot of counter space so that there is no risk of crumbs getting into places and things that affect Baby Brother. Once I have the proper space cleared, I place down on the counter a specific board used to cut this bread. I can now slice and freeze.  After all of this, the counter is thoroughly washed.  Then out comes the dust buster and I hope to not wake anyone with the noise.

I wrote this at 10:15 pm after going through this whole bread cutting process.  Big Brother's lunch is in the fridge.  He has a sandwich containing three of the foods his brother cannot touch: wheat bread, cheese and avocado.  Sigh...

Leftover Soaked Morning Oats

Frying up in some coconut oil.  Baby Brother has his
own cast iron pan and silicone spatula to avoid cross-contamination

A bowl of hot oatmeal is a favorite breakfast in my house.  While we prefer it on colder mornings, it is still enjoyed on warmer days.  Are there even "colder" mornings in Houston?  It's all relative coming from Toronto and being from New England! Do you ever have any leftover porridge?  Would you like to turn that leftover porridge into oatmeal cakes without much effort?  I know that you don't ever want to throw out any of your leftover overnight soaked oats!  Here is a trick: stir in a tablespoon or so of coconut oil into your leftovers and leave in fridge.  When the oats cool down in the fridge you can cook up some oatmeal "cakes" since the coconut oil will solidify when cold.  Then it's easy to roll into balls and flatten in a cast iron pan.  Baby Brother is a big fan, at least for now; he ate 3 whole cakes with a big smile the first time I made them.  No other flavors were needed to be devoured, the coconut gives the perfect sweetness.  If there are leftovers for me, I sprinkle some cinnamon on top.  I love such simple, warming breakfasts and snacks.  Try it, tell me what you think!  You can also blend up the leftover oats with some coconut milk and spices and make a yummy cold, non-dairy oat pudding.  Do you soak your oats overnight?  Check out how and why to soak oats and make oatcakes here.  This blog post came to the rescue as I was scratching my head about how to continue to serve oats as a new and interesting food for my Baby Brother.  

While they don't necesarily brown up for me at this point,
I did get a crisp "chip" which Baby Brother adored.

Carrot Cake Overnight Soaked Oatcakes.  Baby Brother ate 3 today
for morning snack.  That's homemade coconut milk with "boo berries"
Baby Brother likes to play with his coconut milk rather than
actually drink it.

Chocolate Chip Bread

favorite bakeware: www.benningtonpotters.com

Bread with chocolate!  Made in just minutes with my Thermomix and whenever we want it since the machine does the weighing, mixing and kneading. This chocolate bread quickly became a favorite breakfast and after school treat during my second pregnancy. I  craved baked goods both pregnancies, but was twice as scared to have an allergic reaction and need to take Benadryl, or even worse, have to grab for my epi-pen. Combine my son's sesame allergy-can now tolerate egg in bake goods but with caution-with my nut allergy, and you'll see the comfort in doing our own, safe baking.


What you need:

325 g luke warm water 
40 g butter
1.5 tbsp cocoa (we used Trader Joe's: email customer service for quick allergen risk response)
1 tsp salt 
2 tsp yeast 
40 g sugar
520 g bakers flour  (I used all-purpose.  I would like to try mixing with whole grain flour)
150 g choc chips  (Enjoylife brand free of top allergens, but we are comfortable with WholeFoods 36570% dark chic chunks)

What to do:

Place all ingredients into bowl and mix speed 6 for 7 seconds.  Knead on interval speed for 2 minutes.

Proove 30 minutes and bake on 180 degrees for 40 minutes.  Let cool before serving.

*add pinch of cinnamon or some orange zest,  Maybe rosemary?
**play around with when to add chocolate chips,
***spread with some coconut butter, or cream cheese and preserves. Maybe ricotta with a drizzle of honey? Maybe whipped butter with add-in like fresh berries?

original recipe: http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/recipes/chocolate-bread/45875

Spinach Parathas

I make whole wheat flour tortillas all the time and often use them for mid-week quesadillas.  My toddler prefers tortillas fresh and warm off the cast-iron skillet with a little butter or olive oil. Sometimes he will eat them spread with mashed avocado, but only upside down so he can't see it. I thought, what if I add some spinach to the mix? What are the chances he'd eat something with visible green specks throughout?  


I check Tastespotting every few days for good ideas and new twists on favorites, I found this recipe for spinach parathas. Parathas are new to me, and I made this recipe without knowing anything about them.  Instead of sour cream/yogurt and buttermilk with whole wheat flour as I usually use in my tortillas, this recipe calls for sauteed spinach with some aromatics with the simple addition of water to form dough.  I do not have a tawa so I just used my cast-iron skillet.  I was personally satisfied with the way the dough turned out since it was easy to work with.  Please keep in mind that my version is a dairy-less version of my regular tortillas with the addition of spinach. Also, I am just now realizing that the spinach mixture should be folded inside, I guess you learn as you go.  I liked the addition of spinach for the added nutrition and flavor.  I now need to experiment more to figure out how to get these more pliable for folding and rolling.  I wonder if I should change up the type of flour I used.  

You can find the original recipe and instructions at: http://nisahomey.blogspot.com/2011/02/spinachpalak-parathas.html


I changed up the spices: instead of jeera and chili for this batch, I opted for garlic powder, salt and pepper.  

 they cook up quickly in cast-iron skillet

Whole Wheat Tortillas

he loves them!

These homemade tortillas are easy to make and pressing them out with a cast-iron tortilla press is very satisfying.  They are a great way to use up buttermilk and sour cream.  We like to make quesadillas with the tortillas.  We usually spread a mix of mashed sweet potato and sour cream on one of the tortillas then fill with shredded cheese, avocado, black beans, chopped cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.  If we have any leftover chicken, fish or meat, we throw that in too.  Grilled onions and peppers and some hot sauce is another nice addition.

The original recipe is from http://deliciouslyorganic.net/whole-wheat-tortillas/

Please visit the website and read about the importance of soaking grains.  I also recommend reading Wholefood for Children (listed in my cookbook list) for more extensive reading on the subject. 

cooking tortillas in cast-iron pan

What you need:                                          

2 cups whole wheat flour

2/3 cups buttermilk

6 tablespoons sour cream (I have used yogurt as well)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

What to do:

Combine flour, buttermilk and sour cream in a medium bowl.  Tightly cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for up to 24 hours.

After the flour has soaked, knead in the baking powder and sea salt.  Divide dough into 8 sections and roll each section out on a floured surface to an 8-inch round.  I use a 20 dollar cast-iron Mexican tortilla press.   Place tortilla on a parchment lined plate and as you roll out the tortillas layer a square of parchment paper between each tortilla.  Original recipe says to let rest for 30 minutes.  I skip this part and just press go directly to cooking tortillas.

black bean, cheddar, avocado
quesadillas

assembling quesadillas

Place a large skillet or cast-iron pan over medium heat.  Cook 1 tortilla about 1 minute per side until spotty brown.  Serve immediately.

plate of homemade tortillas

ShaSha Bread Is Sesame-Free!

little train-shaped bread for
avocado sandwiches

We always have a few loaves of their spelt bread in the freezer.  ShaSha Co.: Natural Artisan Bakery, makes a wonderfully delicious organic sprouted spelt bread.  Very short list of ingredients: Organic Whole Spelt Flour, Filtered Water, Organic Sourdough Bacterial Culture, Organic Sprouted Spelt, Pure Sea Salt.  They are located in Toronto. Their products are available throughout the city.  They also have a store, and I believe they ship as well within Canada.  It is not clear to me if they ship to the United States.  


I often cut out shapes with cookie cutters and store the crusts in freezer bags in the freezer.  When I need breadcrumbs, I pull what I need.  Breadcrumbs are ready in a second, just throw into Thermomix turn the dial and they are ready. 


Please contact them if you have a peanut allergy, I just noticed that one of their new snacks contains peanut butter.  I am going to contact them again to require about both peanuts and tree-nuts.  I will also find out about shipping to the U.S.
*SINCE DISCOVERED NO SHIPPING :(


Visit their website:
http://www.shashabread.com/product/20/format/6

Sour Cream Corn Bread

You will always find sour cream in my refrigerator.  It is great in so many recipes.  Look for ways to use it in place of mayonnaise and for adding moisture in baked goods.  My toddler shunned corn kernels, both frozen and fresh on the cob, when I tried to introduce it.  I then decided to try this corn bread and it was an instant hint.  He has now just started to accept the added corn kernels, in other words he no longer spits them out.


I like to serve this corn bread with braised short ribs (Cybil Pascale's recipe includes bacon and fennel-delicious!) and sweet potato fries.  Add a simple salad and you have a great meal for dinner parties.  My toddler does not care for the short ribs, but he eats the corn bread, sweet potato fries with some avocado and cucumber slices.  


The original recipe is from Bakin' Without Eggs.  I changed just a few things.


What you need:

toddler favorite:  shredded lamb, veggies
 and cornbread
(he didn't touch the kale chips today!)

1 1/4 cups stone-ground cornmeal 
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted (I have used other flour varieties)
1/2 cup sugar (I use Wholesome Sweeteners)
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder (This is amount recipe calls for, you may want to play around)
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon alchol-free vanilla extract
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels


What to do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly butter loaf pan or muffin cups


In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar and baking powder.  Stir in milk, vinegar, sour cream, and vanilla until blended.  Fold in corn.


Spoon batter into loaf pan or muffin cups.  If using muffin cups, fill three-quarters full.


Bake until golden brown on top and toothpick comes out clean.