Day 8 of Our Gluten-Free Blog Hop!

See below this post for all the info & how to enter to win!

Baking Gluten-Free Lemonade!

Life, as they say, sometimes gives you lemons. That can be true with baking too. But did you know that with a little confidence and creativity, you can bake your way to that proverbial lemonade with your gluten-free recipes? Indeed!

Many people are afraid to bake gluten free. Heck, many folks are afraid to bake, period! It’s my job to help people achieve baking success with gluten-free products and recipes, but things don’t always turn out as we’d expect. It happens to all of us at some point, and that’s ok.

Here are some of my lemons and the lemonade I’ve made with them. I hope these inspire you to venture boldly into the kitchen with renewed excitement, no longer fearful of the outcome!

Gluten-Free Bread Too Dry or Too Hard: I sliced and cubed the loaves, then froze them for croutons, bread crumbs (pulse in blender or food processor), bread pudding, stuffing …

Gluten-Free Cookies Too Flat: I crumbled them and sprinkled on top of ice cream and pulverized them in a food processor for cookie pie crust

Gluten-Free Graham Crackers Too Soft/Thick: I used the soft graham crackers for s’mores and ice cream sandwiches!

Gluten-Free Graham Crackers Too Crispy/Thin: I pulverized them in a food processor and froze them to make graham cracker pie crusts later

Gluten-Free Pie Crust Dough Too Dry/Fragile: in my early GF pie crust experimentation, I couldn’t get a pretty top crust with the dough because it fell apart, so I used cookie cutters to cut small pieces of decorative crust and laid them individually on top of the pie, covering the whole top with small, manageable pieces (it was quite beautiful!)

Making Homemade Ravioli & Realize Your Cheese is Moldy: we empty out the fridge on ravioli night, now that we learned that the fillings can be deliciously unconventional! Hummus, tapanade, grilled veggies, taco filling, pesto …

Leftover Gluten-Free Beer: I often bake with GF beer but there are always leftovers … so I drink it! See, baking is fun!

Don’t forget to check out my blogging friends’ Blog Hop posts and enter to win goodies from each of us during this 10 Day Blog Hop!

Each Monday – Friday of this 2 weeks, I join 9 other gluten-free bloggers to offer you bite-size tips on all aspects of living a full life, free of gluten! Hop from my post to others each day to get your nuggets of information, and to enter to win fun prizes from each of us! You can enter each day by commenting on each of our posts.

If you share my post on Facebook or Twitter, tell me you did in your comment, and it counts as an extra entry! At the end of the two weeks of tips, one lucky winner will score a free FIVE POUND BAG of my Jules’ Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour*!

Check out the other prizes on each of the other blogs’ posts too.

Good luck and enjoy!

• Getting Started – The Gluten-Free Homemaker
• Resources – Celiacs in the House
• Traveling – Gluten-Free Travel Blog
• Eating Out – Gluten-Free Cat
• Frugal Tips – Gluten Freely Frugal
• Cooking – Ginger Lemon Girl
• Baking – Jules Gluten Free
• Kids – Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
• Lunch Boxes – Tessa the Domestic Diva
• Shopping – Gluten Free Pantry

*Winner must have an address in the U.S. for shipping

Day 7 of Our Gluten-Free Blog Hop!

See below this post for all the info & how to enter to win!

Gluten-Free Baking Gadgets I Can’t Live Without

Awhile back I finally got around to creating a page of my Recommended Products on my blog. It’s now a tab at the tippy top of this page.

Traveling around the country teaching cooking classes (and toting these favorite gadgets everywhere I go!), I am constantly asked at class and in follow-up emails, “What’s that?” “What do you use that for?” “Where to you buy that?” “How much does that cost?” “Do I need that?” … My Recommended Products page has made it so much easier to answer!

Peruse the tab at your leisure. Here are some of my top goodies (and no, you don’t need all these, but they make your gluten-free baking life much easier!):

Rolling Pin Cheesecloth Cover (super cheap but helps keep dough from sticking to the pin without having to use a lot of gluten-free flour, which can dry out the dough)

Bench Scraper (helps to lift pie crusts when transferring and to roll cinnamon rolls, yule logs, etc.)

Pie Crust Saver (easy on, easy off to keep the crust from over-cooking and becoming hard)

Pastry Wheel (great for cutting ravioli, graham crackers, pop tarts … all my faves!)

Pastry Cutter (works the butter or shortening into the flour easily without over-processing, for recipes like pie crust and scones)

Silicone Mat (absolutely necessary for lifting a pie crust onto the pie dish – see my step-by-step pie crust photos; also keeps rolling surface clean & gluten-free!)

Beater Blade (does my rubber spatula scraping for me, while the mixer is running! Makes my stand mixer work even better!)

Parchment Paper (I won’t bake cookies without it! Helps keep cookies from sticking to the pan without using oil which leaves a greasy residue)

Instant Read Thermometer (I take my bread’s temperature before I remove from the oven or bread maker – must be 205-210° F or it’s not done!)

Food Scale (makes it easier to be sure you have the right amount of flour for your recipes – my Jules flour weighs 135 gr / cup)

English Muffin Rings (I use these to make homemade gluten-free hamburger buns! Brilliant!)

Don’t forget to check out my blogging friends’ Blog Hop posts and enter to win goodies from each of us during this 10 Day Blog Hop!

Each Monday – Friday of this 2 weeks, I join 9 other gluten-free bloggers to offer you bite-size tips on all aspects of living a full life, free of gluten! Hop from my post to others each day to get your nuggets of information, and to enter to win fun prizes from each of us! You can enter each day by commenting on each of our posts.

If you share my post on Facebook or Twitter, tell me you did in your comment, and it counts as an extra entry! At the end of the two weeks of tips, one lucky winner will score a free FIVE POUND BAG of my Jules’ Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour*! Check out the other prizes on each of the other blogs’ posts too.

Good luck and enjoy!

• Getting Started – The Gluten-Free Homemaker
• Resources – Celiacs in the House
• Traveling – Gluten-Free Travel Blog
• Eating Out – Gluten-Free Cat
• Frugal Tips – Gluten Freely Frugal
• Cooking – Ginger Lemon Girl
• Baking – Jules Gluten Free
• Kids – Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
• Lunch Boxes – Tessa the Domestic Diva
• Shopping – Gluten Free Pantry

*Winner must have an address in the U.S. for shipping.

Day 6 of Our Gluten-Free Blog Hop!

See below this post for all the info & how to enter to win!

Gluten-Free Cookie Baking Help

Yes, these are gluten & dairy-free cookies!

Of all the categories of gluten-free baking, it might come as a surprise to you that the one that seems to cause the most problems is not bread, but cookies! (Bread is a very close second, though!)

Particularly if the cookies must be both gluten-free and dairy-free … and (gasp) … what if they must be egg-free, too? Would it surprise you to learn that using Ener-G® Egg Replacer instead of eggs actually helps keep most gluten-free cookie recipes from spreading?!)

While most people tend to get a bit frustrated with their “free from” cookie baking results, if you keep these 10 tips handy next time you’re baking cookies, you’ll be baking your way to moist, chewy success!

10 GF Cookie Baking Tips

1- Cream the butter or shortening with the sugar with an electric mixer before doing anything else. This step will help whip up the butter or shortening and make it fluffier, while also breaking down the sugar a bit, so that it doesn’t melt as much (e.g. spread) when baking.

2- Bake with a combination of butter (or non-dairy butter alternative – i.e. Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks — NOT spreads because they … spread!) and shortening, rather than just butter alone. The combination works to give more body to the dough to prevent spreading. To see more on the benefits of this combination, see my video!

Gluten-Free, Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

3- Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper for every cookie recipe.  It prevents the cookies from sticking to the sheet (and then breaking apart when removed), doesn’t leave a greasy aftertaste on the bottoms of the cookies, and helps you spend less time in the kitchen doing clean-up duty when you’re done!

4- Chill your dough well before baking! (Particularly when dealing with rolled cookie doughs, although I happen to think it’s a good rule of thumb no matter what!)

5- Don’t put too many additions into any cookie recipe. For example, with chocolate chip cookies, adding too many chocolate chips will cause the cookies to spread, as there is not enough dough to bake up for support. This is one reason why I like using Enjoy Life® MINI chips (and they’re dairy, soy & nut-free, too!).

6- If your cookies still insist on spreading, add 1/4 cup of gluten-free flour to them to help hold them together (also helps at high altitude!).

7- Baking by weight, as opposed to volume, is always more accurate. One measured cup of my Jules Gluten Free™ All-Purpose Flour should weigh approximately 135 grams. Measuring your ingredients inaccurately can throw any recipe off, especially finicky cookie recipes!

8- Convection settings tend to work best for cookies. If you have a convection setting on your oven and a convection temperature is not given, simply reduce the static temperature by 25 degrees when using your convection setting.

9- Take your cookies out BEFORE they look done. With chocolate chip cookies, for example, I remove them when the centers still look a bit doughy. As they cool, they are still cooking. Taking them out of the oven at this point will ensure that they stay chewy!

10- Let your cookies cool before removing them from the parchment. I slide the parchment onto wire cooling racks after 5 minutes or so, and let them fully cool before I remove them. Once they’re cooled, they are no longer fragile … but still chewy and delicious!

For more gluten-free cookie recipes, take a peek at my Jules CookiE-book! Also try my delectable and uber-versatile Jules Gluten-Free™ Cookie Mix!

And don’t forget to sign up for all things Gluten-Free Cookie by joining the Gluten-Free Cookie Swap – your community cookie recipe share site!

This is Day 6 of our intense, information-packed Gluten-Free Blog Hop! There’s so much information here, people! Please check out my blogging friends’ Blog Hop posts and enter to win goodies from each of us during this 10 Day Blog Hop!

Each Monday – Friday of the next 2 weeks, I join 9 other gluten-free bloggers to offer you bite-size tips on all aspects of living a full life, free of gluten! Hop from my post to others each day to get your nuggets of information, and to enter to win fun prizes from each of us! You can enter each day by commenting on each of our posts.

If you share my post on Facebook or Twitter, tell me you did in your comment, and it counts as an extra entry! At the end of the two weeks of tips, one lucky winner will score a free FIVE POUND BAG of my Jules’ Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour*! Check out the other prizes on each of the other blogs’ posts too.

Good luck and enjoy!

• Getting Started – The Gluten-Free Homemaker
• Resources – Celiacs in the House
• Traveling – Gluten-Free Travel Blog
• Eating Out – Gluten-Free Cat
• Frugal Tips – Gluten Freely Frugal
• Cooking – Ginger Lemon Girl
• Baking – Jules Gluten Free
• Kids – Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
• Lunch Boxes – Tessa the Domestic Diva
• Shopping – Gluten Free Pantry

*Winner must have an address in the U.S. for shipping.

Day 5 of Our Gluten-Free Blog Hop!

See below this post for all the info & how to enter to win!

Egg-Free / Vegan Gluten-Free Baking

Consider the egg. It does so much for baked goods: it’s an emulsifier (preventing the separation of ingredients like oil and water); a texturizer; a tenderizer; a strengthener; an aid in leavening and in moisture. Eggs help make your baked goods smooth and creamy, light, fluffy and moist.

But what if you cannot use eggs or choose a vegan lifestyle? For many people living gluten-free, adding restrictions like no dairy or no eggs, puts them over the edge. No need to fret! You just need a quick primer in egg substitutes!

(See yesterday’s post for dairy-free substitutes!)

Tips:

• One trick to transforming many recipes to egg-free is to choose the right pan. Many quick breads, muffins and cakes will not have the same structural integrity without real eggs, so cheat a little bit and give your recipe more support by using smaller pans or muffin tins.
• In any given recipe calling for more than two eggs, reconsider if you really must try it egg free.
• In recipes calling for 3 eggs or more, try not to use more than two recipes of the same substitute (e.g. replace 3 eggs in a recipe by using two recipes of egg substitute #1 plus one recipe of egg substitute # 6 – see below).
• Keep the fat in your recipes to help stand in for the lack of eggs, especially in recipes calling for more than 2 eggs. Thus, in a recipe calling for 3 eggs and milk, use egg substitutes and milk like coconut or almond which have more fat and body than a milk like skim dairy or rice milk.

Substitutes

Like gluten-free flours, there is no one-egg-substitute-fits-all for every kind of recipe. Try some of my preferred substitutes in your gluten-free baking to see which works best for you!
(Note: each substitute given will replace one large egg)

Egg-Free Gluten-Free Bread made with Flaxseed Meal + Water Egg Substitute

Mayonnaise

Best for: Casseroles, Dressings and Quick Breads
Egg-free mayonnaise dressing alternatives help bring lots of salads, baked goods and casseroles back to the table for those avoiding eggs. Look for Follow Your Heart Vegenaise® or Earth Balance® Mindful Mayo as reliable and readily available alternatives for these recipes.

Ener-G® Egg Replacer

Best for: Cookies, Cakes and Quick Breads
Pre-made Ener-G® egg replacer is gluten and egg free; the manufacturer states that this product is free of gluten, wheat, casein, dairy, egg, yeast, soy, nut, and rice.

Although this product is billed as a substitution for a full egg, egg white, or egg yolk, I personally do not like its performance as an egg yolk substitute, largely because this egg substitute is fat-free and yolks are largely comprised of fat. In recipes calling for yolks, try using this egg substitute plus 1 teaspoon canola oil to improve the texture of your dish.

Homemade Egg Substitute #1
Best for: Quick Breads, Cakes, Brownies and Some Cookies:

• 1 Tablespoon milk powder (dairy, soy or Dari-Free®)
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 Tablespoons warm water

Homemade Egg substitute #2:
Best for: Quick Breads, Cakes, Brownies and Some Cookies:

• 1 Tablespoon canola oil
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder

Homemade Egg substitute #3:
Best for: Quick Breads, Cakes, Brownies and Some Cookies:

• ¼ cup yogurt (dairy, soy or coconut work best)
• ¼ teaspoon gluten-free baking powder

Homemade Egg substitute # 5:
Best for: Savory Dishes and Cheesecakes

• ¼ cup firm or extra firm silken tofu, blended in a food processor or blender
• ½ teaspoon gluten-free baking powder

Homemade Egg substitute # 6:
Best for: Quick Breads, Brownies and Pancakes:

• ¼ cup mashed, very ripe bananas, or apple purée, apple butter, applesauce or canned pumpkin
• ½ teaspoon gluten-free baking powder

Homemade Egg Substitute #7:
Best for: Quick Breads, Yeast Breads, Batters and Some Cookies:

• 1 Tablespoon flaxseed meal
• 3 Tablespoons very warm water

Once the flaxseed meal is added to the water, stir and allow it to gel and absorb all the water before adding to your recipe; you can speed this process along by heating over low heat until a viscous liquid is formed.

For more egg substitutes (including egg yolk substitutes) consult with my book, Free for All Cooking: 150 Easy Gluten-Free, Allergy-Friendly Recipes the Whole Family Can Enjoy.

Don’t forget to check out my blogging friends’ Blog Hop posts and enter to win goodies from each of us during this 10 Day Blog Hop!

Each Monday – Friday of the next 2 weeks, I join 9 other gluten-free bloggers to offer you bite-size tips on all aspects of living a full life, free of gluten! Hop from my post to others each day to get your nuggets of information, and to enter to win fun prizes from each of us! You can enter each day by commenting on each of our posts.
If you share my post on Facebook or Twitter, tell me you did in your comment, and it counts as an extra entry! At the end of the two weeks of tips, one lucky winner will score a free FIVE POUND BAG of my Jules’ Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour*! Check out the other prizes on each of the other blogs’ posts too.

Good luck and enjoy!

• Getting Started – The Gluten-Free Homemaker
• Resources – Celiacs in the House
• Traveling – Gluten-Free Travel Blog
• Eating Out – Gluten-Free Cat
• Frugal Tips – Gluten Freely Frugal
• Cooking – Ginger Lemon Girl
• Baking – Jules Gluten Free
• Kids – Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
• Lunch Boxes – Tessa the Domestic Diva
• Shopping – Gluten Free Pantry
*Winner must have an address in the U.S. for shipping.

I’m so excited about my new Jules Cake Mix! Just in time for Celiac Awareness Month AND for the 1 year anniversary of us building the World’s Tallest Gluten-Free Cake! With cake, we successfully pressured the FDA to draft gluten-free labeling regulations, and this year they will be made final! I love that cake was the catalyst.

My cupcake tree & me at my brother's wedding (and yes, the cupcakes were made with my gluten-free cake mix!)

Now my cake can be made on a much smaller scale, but with no less delicious excitement, by YOU in your very own kitchen! My mix makes a beautiful 2-tier cake, a 9×13 cake or more than 24 cupcakes — perfect for birthdays, class parties, dinner guests, weddings … you name it!

One of the main reasons for the hoopla around my new cake mix is that it is so versatile. It’s a basic cake mix that can be used to make all kinds of delicious cakes – yellow cake, chocolate cake, spice cake, lemon cake, rum cake … let your imagination be your guide! Remember all those favorite recipes that called for a “boxed cake mix”? Now you have one!

Since chocolate cake is so popular, I’m giving you that recipe first, so you can get started baking right away! Stay tuned for more cake mix variations posted here on my blog, and please let us know if you create a new confection! Remember that with my mix you can add your favorite granulated sweetener as well, so it frees you up to make this cake with unrefined sugars, organic or vegan sugars, low glycemic sugars (like unrefined coconut palm sugar), or plain ol’ white sugar – each sugar will also change the taste of the cake. Did you know that using coconut palm sugar with my mix transforms the cake into a Graham Cracker Cake? Top with chocolate frosting and a couple marshmallows and you have yourself a S’mores Cake!

Ok, ok … enough fanfare – on to chocolate cake! Go forth. Be creative. Get Baking!

(*Note – Here’s the recipe for White or Chocolate Cake from scratch using my Jules Gluten Free™ All Purpose Flour!)

Chocolate Cake

• 1 Jules Cake Mix
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup butter or non-dairy alternative (e.g. Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks)
• 2 cups granulated sugar of choice (white sugar; unrefined sugar; coconut palm sugar; etc.)
• 4 large eggs (OR add 4 Tbs. arrowroot powder to dry ingredients + 4 Tbs. applesauce to beaten butter and sugar mixture)
• 1 1/4 cups chocolate milk, dairy or non-dairy (e.g. So Delicious® Chocolate Coconut Milk)
• 3 Tbs. chocolate syrup

Pre-heat oven to 350º F (static) or 325º F (convection).  Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and dust entire surface lightly with Jules Gluten Free™ All-Purpose Flour. To make cupcakes, oil or line cupcake pans with cupcake papers (Makes 28-30 cupcakes).

Combine the butter and your granulated sweetener of choice and beat well with your mixer’s paddle attachment, until the mixture is very light and fluffy (approximately 3-4 minutes).  Add the eggs (or see egg substitute instructions, above) next, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the cocoa and chocolate syrup, then slowly add the chocolate milk, alternating with the Jules Cake Mix, beating in between the additions. Beat until smooth and pour into the prepared pans.

For cakes, bake for 30 minutes, turning the pans half-way through if using convection setting; for cupcakes, test after 20 minutes for doneness by inserting a cake tester or toothpick in the middle of each cake and be sure it comes out clean, with very few crumbs attached.  The cakes will also begin to pull away slightly from the sides of the pans.  Add time if necessary to fully bake the cakes.

When done, turn off the oven and leave the oven door open to let the cakes cool slowly there for 5 minutes or so, then remove the cakes to a cooling rack.

After 15-20 minutes of total cooling time, gently invert the cakes to remove them from the pans, then flip gently back onto the cooling rack until fully cooled.

Frost the cakes only when fully cooled, or in the alternative, you may wrap the cakes with wax paper or plastic wrap and seal inside freezer bags to freeze or refrigerate until ready to use. Lemon Buttercream Frosting is another yummy choice for this recipe!

For all kinds of fun decorated cake ideas, hop over to my post on celebration cakes! If you’re looking for something extra fancy, note that fondants are generally gluten-free, as well. Look for Satin Ice or brands like Wilton pre-made or homemade recipes and use only gluten-free ingredients.

YIELD: Two 7-8 inch round cakes OR One 13 x 9 inch sheet cake or approximately 36 cupcakes.

Day 4 of Our Gluten-Free Blog Hop!

See below this post for all the info & how to enter to win!

Gluten AND Dairy-Free Baking

A lot of us gluten-free bakers are also faced with the challenge of baking dairy-free. Lactose is the biggest culprit (did you know that 60% of the adult population is lactose intolerant? Did you know that number is much higher for the celiacs amongst us?!) Want to know more about dairy and why it might be bothering you? Read my post all about it! If you’re looking to bake dairy and lactose-free, I have a few recommendations for you.

Making the switch from butter

If you’re used to baking with butter and really crave that buttery flavor in your baked goods, there is really only one dairy-free solution: Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks. This product contains soy but no dairy, and works seamlessly as a substitute for butter in recipes calling for butter.  I try to avoid unhealthy fats, hydrogenated oils, unnatural preservatives, emulsifiers or trans-fat, and this product works for me in everything.

If your family needs to avoid soy and dairy, I suggest palm oil shortening. Products like Spectrum® Palm Oil Shortening are a great substitute, although they lack the butter flavor. Straight up coconut oil is another option for you. Coconut oil brands like Kelapo® Coconut Oil (coconut oil is a solid at room temperature) is a great baking alternative to shortening, or even butter. Another option is Earth Balance® Coconut Spread. It acts a lot like shortening, but has a really nice flavor that is lacking in most shortenings. It’s also soy and dairy-free, as well as free from trans-fats or hydrogenated oils.

Other Dairy-Free Substitutions

When confronted with recipes calling for milk, yogurt, sour cream or even whipped cream, don’t despair. There are loads of dairy-free alternatives that will make your gluten-free, dairy (or lactose-free) baking delicious!

Dairy-Free (soy, almond, coconut or other-based) milk, kefir, yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, whipped toppings,  and more are readily available for recipe substitutions. Look to brands like Daiya™, So Delicious®, Follow Your Heart®, Teese™, Tofutti®, Lisanatti®,  MimicCreme™  and others for  every conceivable dairy-free ingredient need. Dairy-based, but lactose-free options are also springing up with more frequency. If the products suit your needs, brands like Green Valley Organics® offer organic, humane, hormone-free and lactose-free dairy-based products. Even Yoplait® has now introduced a lactose-free yogurt!

More ingredients, products and recipe substitutions for dairy (and nearly every other conceivable food allergen) can be found in my newest book, Free for All Cooking: 150 Easy Gluten-Free, Allergy-Friendly Recipes the Whole Family Can Enjoy.

Don’t ever let dairy stand in your way of having healthy, safe gluten-free recipes!

Don’t forget to check out my blogging friends’ Blog Hop posts and enter to win goodies from each of us during this 10 Day Blog Hop!

Each Monday – Friday of the next 2 weeks, I join 9 other gluten-free bloggers to offer you bite-size tips on all aspects of living a full life, free of gluten! Hop from my post to others each day to get your nuggets of information, and to enter to win fun prizes from each of us! You can enter each day by commenting on each of our posts.

If you share my post on Facebook or Twitter, tell me you did in your comment, and it counts as an extra entry! At the end of the two weeks of tips, one lucky winner will score a free FIVE POUND BAG of my Jules’ Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour*! Check out the other prizes on each of the other blogs’ posts too.

Good luck and enjoy!

• Getting Started – The Gluten-Free Homemaker
• Resources – Celiacs in the House
• Traveling – Gluten-Free Travel Blog
• Eating Out – Gluten-Free Cat
• Frugal Tips – Gluten Freely Frugal
• Cooking – Ginger Lemon Girl
• Baking – Jules Gluten Free
• Kids – Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
• Lunch Boxes – Tessa the Domestic Diva
• Shopping – Gluten Free Pantry

*Winner must have an address in the U.S. for shipping.

Day 3 of Our Gluten-Free Blog Hop!

See below this post for all the info & how to enter to win!

Baking Gluten-Free Bread in a Breadmaker

Every time I teach a cooking class or publish a new gluten-free bread recipe, I invariably get the question: “Can I bake gluten-free bread in a breadmaker?” I love that I can answer, “YES!”

The sad truth is that most folks are afraid to bake gluten-free yeast bread. We’ve all had those hard bricks-posing-as-bread foisted off on us by well-meaning friends and relatives, and some of us have even tried to bake gluten-free bread with such disappointing results. So it’s understandable that soft, delicious homemade gluten-free bread might seem like a mirage. That’s where breadmakers come in.

For anyone leery of baking gluten-free bread from scratch, and for those who don’t have a stand mixer, a breadmaker is your new best friend. It can be as simple as dumping ingredients into the pan and pushing a button. Then wait for that yummy nirvana of heavenly yeasty bread aromas to permeate every room of your home, beckoning you to make a sandwich … without having to toast the bread first! (Need a great gluten-free bread mix? Hop here!)

I found this Gluten-Free Breadmaker for less than $40 & it makes great bread!

My Breadmaker Pointers:

1- You don’t have to have the most expensive breadmachine to have the best bread. I travel with my breadmakers for many cooking classes, and I won’t risk a big investment being in the hands of the TSA. So I buy mid-range breadmakers. Oster, BreadMan, Cuisinart. These are all in the $50-$125 range. Check out my Recommended Products tab up top for my preferred brands and models.

2- You don’t have to have a breadmaker with a gluten-free setting to bake gluten-free bread. But it helps. If you have an older breadmaker without a GF setting, make sure it’s totally clean from any gluten residue. If there are scratches on the pan or the paddle, buy new ones because they could house gluten left-over from the last loaf. If you are in the market for a new breadmaker though, buy one with a Gluten-Free Setting.

3- For breadmakers without a gluten-free setting — read your manual to find out how to override the pre-programmed settings. Program the machine for 1) a mix cycle 2) a rise cycle 3) a bake cycle. Do not allow the machine to do a “punch down” or second rise! Those are settings specific to gluten breads, but they will damage your gluten-free loaf.

4- Always bring ingredients to room temperature before mixing a gluten-free bread dough. For eggs, heat a bowl of water and put the un-cracked eggs in the bowl to bring them to room temperature.

5- Always put liquid ingredients into a breadmaker pan first. Dry ingredients go on top. If you can whisk the dry ingredients together before pouring them into the pan, that is best.

6- Keep a rubber spatula handy and help the breadmaker out a bit during the mix cycle. Go around the pan with the spatula to help the ingredients incorporate.

7- Buy an instant read thermometer. They cost around $5 and can be found at most grocery or baking stores. Always take your bread’s temperature before you take it out of the oven or the breadmaker. It might look and smell done, but if it’s not 205-210° F, it’s not done in the middle. Add extra time to your breadmaker or put the breadmaker’s pan into your oven on 350° F for another 5-10 minutes (keep taking its temperature).

8- Let your bread cool in the pan for about 5-10 minutes. Lay the pan on its side for a few minutes, then shift to the other side for a few minutes. Gently remove it from the pan after it has cooled a bit, then cool completely on a wire rack before cutting (if you can resist!).

9- Store cooled bread in a zip-top bag on your counter – depending on the recipe and ingredients, it should stay fresh that way for a few days.

10- Never refrigerate your breads or you will dry them out! You can also slice the bread and freeze it in a zip-top freezer bag so you always have bread handy.

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to check out my blogging friends’ posts and enter to win goodies from each of us during this 10 Day Blog Hop!

Each Monday – Friday of the next 2 weeks, I join 9 other gluten-free bloggers to offer you bite-size tips on all aspects of living a full life, free of gluten! Hop from my post to others each day to get your nuggets of information, and to enter to win fun prizes from each of us! You can enter each day by commenting on each of our posts.

If you share my post on Facebook or Twitter, tell me you did in your comment, and it counts as an extra entry! At the end of the two weeks of tips, one lucky winner will score a free FIVE POUND BAG of my Jules’ Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour*! Check out the other prizes on each of the other blogs’ posts too.

Good luck and enjoy!

• Getting Started – The Gluten-Free Homemaker
• Resources – Celiacs in the House
• Traveling – Gluten-Free Travel Blog
• Eating Out – Gluten-Free Cat
• Frugal Tips – Gluten Freely Frugal
• Cooking – Ginger Lemon Girl
• Baking – Jules Gluten Free
• Kids – Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
• Lunch Boxes – Tessa the Domestic Diva
• Shopping – Gluten Free Pantry

*Winner must have an address in the U.S. for shipping.

Day 2 of Our Gluten-Free Blog Hop!

See below this post for all the info & how to enter to win!

Gluten-Free Baking with Gums & More

“Baking with gums?” you say. “Why on earth would you bake with GUM!??”

Good question. I’m glad you asked.

We gluten-free bakers have to know all about these mysterious “gums” because they replace the gluten in our gluten-free recipes. I know it sounds peculiar, but it’s really just a lesson in baking chemistry.

No individual gluten-free flour can replace wheat flour on its own, so we bakers blend several together to mimic wheat’s qualities. One of the trickiest wheat flour attributes to replicate is its stickiness. Its gluten holds food together; without it, you typically wind up with a crumbly mess.

That’s where the gums come in.

Xanthan (zan-than) gum is most often used to stand in for the glue-like qualities of gluten. You might have also noticed xanthan gum on ingredient labels of other foods like ice cream, salad dressing, gravies and even toothpaste.

Xanthan gum is a natural soluble fiber carbohydrate that is produced by fermenting a  microorganism (Xanthomonas campestris, in case you need to know) with sugar, most often from corn (no corn remains in the gum).  Xanthan gum is valued because it helps to keep oil and water mixed (hence its benefit in dressings) and also provides binding structure to hold carbon dioxide bubbles inside the food as it is cooking, keeping products like gluten-free bread from falling when removed from the oven.

Xanthan gum is pricey – running $10-$14.00 or so, per 8 ounces. Luckily, we only need a pinch in gluten-free recipes (see chart below).

Another option is Guar gum – a powder derived from the seeds of legumes (guar beans) that can add a gumminess to gluten-free baked goods. It has laxative properties though, and some find that they are sensitive to it, or even feel more full from eating products containing guar gum. I find that guar works best in cake recipes, but see the chart below for recommended amounts.

If your all purpose gluten-free flour does not already contain a gum, use this chart as a guide to how much to add in a given type of recipe. If your all purpose gluten-free flour already contains gums, then they have been added in the appropriate general purpose amount — do NOT add more gum – more is not better here! Adding too much gum to your recipe can make it gummy (go figure!).

• Yeast Breads & Pizza Recipes: 1 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum or 2 tsp. guar gum per cup of gluten-free flour blend
• Cookies: 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum or 1/2 tsp. guar gum per cup of gluten-free flour blend
• Cakes: 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum or 3/4 tsp. guar gum per cup of gluten-free flour blend
• Quick Breads & Muffins: 3/4 tsp. xanthan gum or 1 tsp. guar gum per cup of gluten-free flour blend

You’ve probably made Jell-O before, or used Knox unflavored gelatin in a recipe. Gelatin has amazing binding properties and can make a good replacement for gluten in certain applications.  Use the amount called for in any given baking recipe, and add in with the dry ingredients.

It is NOT vegan or vegetarian, as gelatin is made from animal bones, hooves and connective tissue. There are some products which are called gelatin and are labeled “vegetarian” or “kosher.” See “pectin,” below.

A vegetarian substitute for gelatin is Pectin. Unlike traditional gelatin, pectin is derived from the peels of apples, plums, cranberries and other citrus. Like gelatin, it can tenderize breads and add stability to baked goods, as well. Add pectin powder with dry ingredients in baking recipes.

Another vegan alternative to gelatin, Agar Agar is a flavorless combination of dried algae that can be substituted in equal amounts where recipes call for gelatin. Agar agar is used to thicken, gel, stabilize and texturize baked goods, sauces, dressings and some beverages. It comes in powders, flakes, sheets and bars (1 bar equals 4 Tablespoons of flakes or 2 Tablespoons of powder). Generally, 1 Tablespoon agar agar flakes OR 1 teaspoon agar agar powder will thicken 1 cup of liquid. For baking, add with dry ingredients.

Other options to consider for binding: Mung Bean Flour, Pre-Gelled Potato Flour, new Flax-Based Gum Replacers; Expandex Modified Tapioca Starch.

Don’t forget to check out my blogging friends’ posts and enter to win goodies from each of us during this 10 Day Blog Hop!

Each Monday – Friday of the next 2 weeks, I join 9 other gluten-free bloggers to offer you bite-size tips on all aspects of living a full life, free of gluten! Hop from my post to others each day to get your nuggets of information, and to enter to win fun prizes from each of us! You can enter each day by commenting on each of our posts.

If you share my post on Facebook or Twitter, tell me you did in your comment, and it counts as an extra entry! At the end of the two weeks of tips, one lucky winner will score a free FIVE POUND BAG of my Jules’ Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour* (it already contains xanthan gum!) Check out the other prizes on each of the other blogs’ posts.

Good luck and enjoy!

• Getting Started – The Gluten-Free Homemaker
• Resources – Celiacs in the House
• Traveling – Gluten-Free Travel Blog
• Eating Out – Gluten-Free Cat
• Frugal Tips – Gluten Freely Frugal
• Cooking – Ginger Lemon Girl
• Baking – Jules Gluten Free
• Kids – Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
• Lunch Boxes – Tessa the Domestic Diva
• Shopping – Gluten Free Pantry

*Winner must have an address in the U.S. for shipping.

Day 1 of Our Gluten-Free Blog Hop!

Each Monday-Friday of the next two weeks, I join 9 other gluten-free bloggers to offer you bite-size tips on all aspects of living a full life, free of gluten! Hop from my post to others each day to get your nuggets of information, and to enter to win fun prizes from each of us!

You can enter every day by commenting on each of our posts. If you share on Facebook or Twitter, tell me you did in your comment, and it counts as an extra entry! At the end of the two weeks of tips, one lucky winner will score a free FIVE POUND BAG of my Jules Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour!* Check out the other prizes on each of the other bloggers’ posts.

Good luck and enjoy!

• Getting Started – The Gluten-Free Homemaker
• Resources – Celiacs in the House
• Traveling – Gluten-Free Travel Blog
• Eating Out – Gluten-Free Cat
• Frugal Tips – Gluten Freely Frugal
• Cooking – Ginger Lemon Girl
• Baking – Jules Gluten Free
• Kids – Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
• Lunch Boxes – Tessa the Domestic Diva
• Shopping – Gluten Free Pantry

*Winner must have an address in the U.S. for shipping.

Converting Recipes

One of the questions I get most is “How do I convert my grandma’s (fill-in-the-blank) recipe to gluten-free?” The second most popular question: “How do I convert a gluten-free recipe calling for (fill-in-the-blank) number of different GF flours so that I can use just one all purpose gluten-free flour?”

While the questions seem quite different, their answers are really the same.

The world of gluten-free baking can seem quite mysterious and certainly frustrating. It’s the reason that I didn’t bake at all for a year after my diagnosis with celiac disease. Everything was too hard, to cumbersome and too terrible-tasting to share. When I finally created (albeit after two years of work!) an All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour that I could use just like I had my all purpose wheat flour before, I was back baking delicious foods again, for everyone!  I was so excited to share delicious treats with friends and family — and to lick the bowl — that I ultimately started sharing my Jules Gluten Free™ All Purpose Flour with tens of thousands of others living gluten-free because it was too good to keep just for myself!

When you want to convert a favorite family recipe, or a gluten-free recipe calling for several different kinds of flour, all you need to do is to use a really good and truly all purpose gluten-free flour. Simply total up the amount of flour called for in the recipe and use that amount of the all purpose gluten-free flour instead.

If the recipe calls for xanthan gum or guar gum (binding agents used to replace the sticky qualities of gluten), the all purpose GF flour should already include the gum, so don’t rush out and buy or add more. (Using too much of these gums in your baking will make your baked goods rubbery – more on this in a later Blog Hop post!) However, if the all purpose flour for some reason does not already include gums, you will need to add that ingredient on your own.

Stay away from flours that have a funky aftertaste (bean flours) or are gritty (contain lots of rice flour), and make sure that the flour blend has enough starches in it (corn starch, potato starch, tapioca starch, arrowroot powder …) to keep the end product light (the opposite of those “bricks” we all know, posing as gluten-free bread!).

Recipes for all purpose flours are easy to find, and there are several pre-mixed blends available as well. If you try one that doesn’t work for you, try another — they are all created differently! Don’t get discouraged or feel too overwhelmed to bake now that you’ve gone gluten free. It can be quite easy and delicious when you have the right ingredients to take the guess-work out of it for you!

So, dust off that recipe box and find your apron! Your family favorites are back on the menu!

In honor of moms everywhere, I’ve teamed up with Le Creuset to offer a Cherry Red Baking Set to one lucky winner just in time for Mother’s Day! My video tells you all about it.

OUR CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED, but Le Creuset is offering all of you a Free Shipping Discount code on their Baker’s Set if you would like to get one for yourself (or for your mom!). Simply enter the code PIE5 at checkout and your Baker’s Set will be delivered to you for free (valid through May 21, 2012)!

Congratulations to Erika Sullivan – our lucky winner of the Le Creuset Baking Set!

Stay tuned this week as I publish my apple pie recipe and pie-making video, using these Le Creuset products!

* Note: Le Creuset provided me with a Baker’s Set to review. I have not been compensated in any other way from Le Creuset.