Gluten free Cream tea time!

Wimbledon starts today, what better time to make some gluten free scones for an afternoon cream tea!

I started with a clean work surface very important when baking for Coeliacs or gluten sensitive friends and family. Also I pre heated the oven to 220c

recipe-

250g SR Flour gluten free

2 tsp baking powder ( gluten free )

1 tsp Isabels baking fix (optional )

1  large egg

80g butter unsalted

a little milk up to 100ml

I weighed 250g of gluten free S R flour into a mixing bowl. To which I added 2 tsp of GF baking powder, both were from Doves farm . Then I added 1 tsp of Isabels GF baking fix, this is the first time I have added this. It should improve texture and extend shelf life. I then mixed the dry ingredients together.

Next I added 80g of real unsalted butter, chopped and rubbed with fingertips until it resembled breadcrumbs.

Finally I added 1 egg and 100ml of milk. add gradually until it comes together to a ball using a knife. The dough will feel very soft, don’t worry! this is normal and with a little flour on your work surface the scones will be perfect.

I rolled out the dough quite thickly and using a cutter cut out 6 scones and popped on a baking sheet with greaseproof paper cut to size. They look especially good if you egg wash them on top.

The scones went in the hot oven 220c for 10 mins. They should look a lovely golden brown on top .

I cooled them on a wire rack then served with a low sugar jam. I use St Delfour strawberry jam. To top the whole thing off I added thick double cream.

Best eaten the same day, Scones also freeze well.

Perfect for a summers afternoon . whatever the weather!

Homemade Granola, oat free and gluten free

As my gluten free granola has been so popular , I thought I would try to make an oat free version as many Coeliac’s cannot tolerate any form of oats.

Pre heat oven to 180c

Firstly I used the food processor to coarsely chop up all the nuts . I added almonds, hazelnuts , pecans, and brazil nuts 100 grams of each. Then I added 100 grams of desiccated coconut and 50g of roughly chopped pumpkin seeds and 50g of roughly chopped  sunflower seeds using the food processor. These can be left whole if you prefer.

Then I melted 150 ml of maple syrup and or honey, Agave syrup can also be used. To this I added melted coconut oil approximately 50 ml but you can add more if you prefer. Coconut oil is great, as its a healthy oil.

Stir into dry ingredients until all is well coated, and spread onto two greased baking trays.

Cook in pre heated oven for 7 mins then mix around to make sure all the granola changes to a golden brown colour. Pop back in the oven for a further 7 mins.

Cool, and store in air tight container. I always label mine gluten free and put a date on too. Will keep fresh for a month. But it never lasts that long!

Delicious served with full fat greek yoghurt and fresh berries. Good with gluten free ice cream too.

hope you enjoy!

Recently I have made this granola using more coconut oil about 100ml, you could use even more as it is a good healthy fat. Then I used less maple syrup about 100ml as I am trying to avoid using too much sugar.

Easy yeast free and gluten free sunflower and pumpkin seed bread mix

Today I decided to have a go at a new bread mix I came across at the Allergy and free from show at Olympia. Made by Sukrin the sunflower and pumpkin seed bread is gluten and yeast, milk and soy free. The bread mix and other products including almond and sesame flour both gluten free are available from a selection of stockists

First I pre heated the oven, then tipped the contents of the packet into a bowl and added water.

Mixed well and left for 3 mins. The mixture absorbed the water and became quite thick. I poured the bread mix into the container provided and popped it in the oven. Couldn’t have been more simple. loved it!

Baking time is approx 1hr 20mins which seemed along time for such a little loaf. After 1hr 10 mins I checked the loaf and after taping the bottom decided it was cooked. It came out of the baking tray easily.

The trickiest part was leaving it to cool. I wanted to tuck straight in. The loaf looked really good. Very impressed!

Once the bread had cooled I cut myself a couple of slices and spread some proper butter on top.  I was blown away by the taste and texture of the sunflower and pumpkin seed bread. The best bread I have eaten since being gluten and yeast free and the easiest to make too.

10\10 for ease of making and quality of the final loaf. Well done Sukrin! a fabulous loaf. Hard to believe it is gluten and yeast free and low carb too.

The only thing that could possibly be improved upon is the size of the loaf. Rather on the small size, its not going to last me very long.

Will definitely be ordering again.

Isabel’s naturally free from easy pizza base mix

On Sunday as my youngest son and his girlfriend were back home after there final Uni exams. I decided to make some gluten free yeast free pizzas for lunch.

Following the instructions on the back was very straight forward.

I used both packets of Isabel’s Naturally free from pizza base mix, which makes four medium size pizzas. The dough came together very easily and just needed a knead until the dough was silky and pliable.

I divided the dough into four equal portions, and rolled out using a little corn flour into pizza shapes. I’m sure with practise I can make them look slightly neater. But for my first attempt they weren’t too bad. The Pizza’s then went in a hot oven for 5 mins on each side, using good non stick pizza trays.

I used a mix of tomato puree and passata to make the tomato base.  The advice on the back was to avoid a tomato sauce with too much moisture. After 10 mins in the oven, we all added our own favourite toppings. mozzarella, basil, italian salami and ham and cheddar cheese. We all had fun decorating our pizza’s . The family’s pizza’s turned out much better than mine.

I do like my cheese, so mine was definitely cheese heavy.

We all drizzled basil infused olive oil on our pizza’s . They looked good enough to eat already!

The pizza’s went in a hot oven for a further 10 mins or so. We watched them carefully, checking they did not burn around the edges.

Success! the pizza’s came out looking amazing and smelling terrific.

Without prompting the family said that thought they tasted as good as regular pizza, if not better! Strong words from two Uni students who have sampled a few pizza’s in their three years. Both said they would choose to make them again. Result!  Much nicer not having gluten pizza’s and flour in the house.

I have stock piled lots of boxes of Isabel’s pizza mix’s in my pantry for the future . They will be great for the occasional treat supper or quick tasty lunch.

Can definitely recommend.

Isabel’s cuisine mixes can be found on her website and also available at Ocado and some Asda stores also some health food shops. Stockists here

New gluten free play dough ‘GLU DOH’

While visiting the Creake Abbey farmers market, North Creake Norfolk. I noticed a new addition to the gluten free, dairy free Glu-10-3 stall.

Glutenfree playdough, 5 bright coloured containers of allergy free dough for children. What a brilliant idea! 

As I work in a pre school setting I thought it would be a great place to road test it!

With 25 children under 5 this was going to be a tough test.

Not only did the children enjoy playing with it I ask staff members their opinion. Less sticky then our regular homemade dough . Dry to the touch , lovely colours. Reminded us of play dough as children. The little ones really liked the little containers with their coloured lids too.  The dough was very popular, we noticed some children spending a great deal of time at the table . It rolled out well and was great with cutters and for moulding in to different shapes.

It has survived well in a Nursery setting and although it is now a pale orange colour is still very useable. The tip I was given was if the dough starts getting a slightly dry salty edge use a damp hand to knead it back to normal, which worked really well. 

A perfect option for children who have coeliac disease.  Accidental glutening can be a real problem with regular play dough as its so easy for children to put their hands in their mouths whilst playing or forgetting to wash hands carefully afterwards. This is the perfect answer. Not cheap at £10 for 5 different coloured tubs, but it would last a long time in a regular home situation.

Find it on Twitter @glu_doh

It is available from Farmers markets and The Royal Norfolk show,  check Glu-10-3 website too, for more information. Also available on ebay

My first Allergy and Free From show at Olympia

 

Last Saturday I made my first visit to the Allergy and free from show at Olympia. Now I had been warned that I would need lots of bags to bring back the many gluten free offers. So bags in hand and a husband, or should I say official bag carrier. We boarded the train to Clapham junction then went on the overground train to Olympia. 

Arriving at 10am just as the doors were opening. A large queue had formed outside the hall but we quickly made our way inside. I was so glad we had arrived so early as we were able to make our way to the gluten free stands with ease. One of the first stands we found was Isabel’s cuisine. It was lovely to meet Isabel in person as I have followed her on twitter for a while. The Pizza mix is so versatile I have made the pizza bases before and I cannot wait to make bagels with it very soon. They had a very good offer, I bought five boxes including the batter mix and dough ball mix, another tweeter was on her stall the happy coeliac who had made some yummy cakes using one of Isabel’s mixes. It was great to meet her too and try the delicious cakes.

Moving on we found Perkier also on Twitter , a small business who use gluten free oats to make a selection of porridge and granola. One thing I thought was particularly good was the individual instant porridge pots which would be great for a weekend away or festival food.  We both tried some flapjack made using the apple and cinnamon porridge very good! I went away with a box of porridge. 

Now being gluten and yeast intolerant means i’m always on the look out for a bread I can eat. At the show we found Sukrin they had a sunflower and pumkin bread mix which was soy milk and yeast free. result. I filled a bag with a supply of bread mix, I cannot wait to try making it at home. The taster on offer at the show was good, denser than regular bread but that is to be expected.

Moving on we found Nairns gluten free and as they had a special offer on packs of savoury biscuits I picked some up. Warburtons also had a stall and had there new wraps at £2 a packet. So brought some for the freezer.

I really wanted to search out small businesses as I feel it is important to support them, on the next isle we found one such business, Knead. It was good to meet Sim in person a I follow her on Twitter and was eager to try there gluten free yeast free bread. They had a good offer on the gluten free bread so once again choose 3 loaves 2 seeded and one white. Almost demolished one loaf within 2 days scrummy, I even made a fish finger sandwich something  I hadn’t been able to have in ages. Good news if you weren’t able to get the show  Ocado are now stocking Knead bread.

We took a break from the stalls and made a dash to the cafe area where a TweetUp was taking place, It was great to meet up with many fellow coeliacs and gluten sensitive Tweeters and put faces to names. It is such a supportive community and I can recommend joining Twitter. I have learnt so much in the last year or so about Coeliac disease and tips on baking, shopping, cross contamination and living with a gluten free diet .

After spending some time at the cafe , we said our goodbyes and headed back to the stalls. Unfortunately it was now 12ish and the hall was rammed. Fighting through the crowds we headed towards the free from bakehouse previously called Sugargrain where we chose lemon meringue tarts to take home, also choosing a cinnamon sugar doughnut for my journey home.

Whilst it was quite nice, I think it would have been nicer eaten with a big mug of coffee as it was a little dense. The Gf lemon meringue tarts survived the journey very well and were delicious the gluten free pastry was very good.

DS gluten free had a stall and I decided to treat myself to a few boxes of bourbons and chocolate biscuits. I like them as they are in little packs in side the boxes and keep well.

We found another new company I hadn’t come across before Pudology run by Lucy. Individual Puddings dairy, egg and gluten free. We tried the chocolate, lemon and banoffee puddings and brought 4 to take home. Again Ocado are stocking them as are some Waitrose shops. The banoffee was particularly good.

Deciding that it really was now too busy we reluctantly made our way to the exit, very relieved I had taken my husband with me, as had far too many bags to carry by myself , also needed more cash than I had expected as not all stalls took cards. He came in useful for that too!

Just our bags alone took up all the baggage space on the train!

Finally made it back home with a huge array of gluten free goodies. No shortage of choices for a late lunch.

I will definitely be returning next year and hopefully will find even more small businesses.

 I trust that the company’s I found this year will be bigger and even better in 2014

 

Wow! muffins

Based in Wymondham, just outside Norwich WOWmuffins are a small gluten free business. Making the most amazing sweet and savoury muffins, many are dairy free too. Selling at farmers markets in East Anglia and available to order online.

I first met Karen a few months back at Creake abbey farmers market near Burnham Market, Norfolk. I literally went Wow! when I saw her stall.

The stall was easy to spot with a big sign saying “muffins for everyone” and bright red gazebo. With a huge array of the most delicious looking gluten free goodies, I was a very happy lady!

I have never been a big fan of supermarket muffins as they always seem to me to be quite heavy in texture. But WOW muffins are quite different. Freshly made, they have a short shelf life, like all homemade bakery goods. But they freeze well on day of purchase. Or you can eat them immediately like I do.

‘Muffinettes’

Light and airy in texture and available in two sizes regular and muffinettes, half the size and perfect if you are trying to be good or can’t decide which flavour to buy. They are also a lovely size for children, and would be great for a birthday party.

A selection of sweet and savoury muffins from this weeks visit to the farmers market.

 

Even more exciting than the sweet muffins, I think are the savoury ones. Sausage, sun-dried tomato and paprika. which has a real kick to it. Feta, basil and sun-dried tomato my favourite, The feta cheese works perfectly. I really could eat a large amount of these!  Also bacon and cheddar and red onion ones which look amazing but am unable to try as I am intolerant to onions. But I would love the combination of bacon and cheese.

 

Perfect as part of gluten free lunch.

 

The muffins are best eaten warmed for about 30 seconds in the microwave maybe slightly less. I think I over warmed my banana fudge muffin yesterday and the fudge centre had virtually disappeared. still very yummy though. I had mine with a big cup of tea for pudding. But they would be perfect for breakfast, I have a blueberry one lined up for breakfast today.

 

 

Karen has a good knowledge of all things gluten free as she herself is wheat intolerant and has friends who have Coeliac disease. 

I urge you to go online today and have a look at the website. Or if you are up in East Anglia seek them out at your nearest farmers market.

Creake Abbey farmers market, North Creake, Fakenham

Wymondham farmers market, market place Wymondham

Mildenhall  farmers market, jubilee centre . near Bury St Edmunds

You can also follow WOWmuffins on twitter @wowmuffins and on facebook

I think it is really important to support our local small businesses, especially when they produce gluten free produce.

April 2014

Unfortunately Wow Muffins has ceased trading, hopefully one day soon they will be baking again. Will blog about it when they are up and running again