Mothers Day Baking

A loaf of "Pain d'Epi" and a fresh arrangement from the back yard for 

the grandmothers.  I'm loving my new Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day!

Gluten Free Blueberry Cobbler

Okay, I'll admit it.
Most of my gluten free creations are a total flop.
But this was different. Even my Dad liked it! [Enter little pat on the back.]

So here it is........
Gluten Free Blueberry Cobbler
Recipe found at Serious Eats

Filling:
4 pints blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Topping:
1 cup tapioca starch or t. flour (they're the same thing)
2/3 cup rice flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter
3/4 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Butter a 9x13 baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, toss ingredients for filling together until blueberries are well coated.
3. Pour berries into baking dish and set aside.
4. In another bowl, mix together the dry ingredients for the topping.
5. Cut in the butter until only small pieces remain.
6. Add cream and mix well. If you use milk, wait a while and the milk will soak in. You may need to add a little more starch to thicken it up enough to drop it in globs.
7. Glob on the topping. (Don't you just love my terminology?) :)
8. Bake for 35 mins or until golden brown and bubbly. If you aren't sure if it is done, lift up one of the biscuit globs and it should be cooked through.


*note* The best way to eat this is imagining there is a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Then again, it would be even better if there really was a big scoop of ice cream on top. Which for me was sadly not the case. *sniff*
Oh well.

Enjoy!

Salad Days

Fresh spinach from the garden, strawberries, craisins, and goat cheese.

Serve with poppyseed dressing -

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon dry mustard

1 cup oil

2 teaspoons grated onion

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Heat vinegar, sugar, salt, and mustard to boiling.  Let cool.  Slowly add oil while beating constantly with electric beater.  Stir in grated onion and poppy seeds.  Refrigerate before using. 

Spring Supper

Night Cuisine

It was almost nine o'clock.

I headed downstairs to get my book, anticipating a relaxing evening in bed reading, when I saw the bread dough rising on the counter, waiting to be put in the oven.  

Actually, waiting to be dusted with flour, slashed on top, and "flipped" onto the hot baking stone.  Immediately afterwords hot water is poured into the broiler pan below, causing scary noises and hot steam to disrupt the pourer. 

So much for my relaxing evening.

I tried to get a picture of the offending loaf, but the camera died.  This morning, not much was left, so no evidence of last night's labors!

Ah, well,  these things will happen.   I've got a few recipes ready to post soon, so look out!

Homemade Crackers

Troublesome, and time consuming they may be, but oh-so rewarding!

The Recipe  ~ from Two peas and Their Pod

Homemade Wheat Thins 

Recipe from King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Cookbook

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus extra for topping
1/4 teaspoon paprika
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup water (you might need to add a little more)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

2. Add the flour, sugar, salt and paprika to a medium bowl and whisk to combine.  Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to the bowl.  Using a pastry blender, mix the butter into the dry ingredients thoroughly.  Combine the water and vanilla in a small measuring cup or bowl.  Add to the butter/flour mixture and mix until a smooth dough forms. If the dough is still dry, add a little more water.

3. Divide the dough into 4 pieces.  Work with one piece at a time, keeping the others covered with a towel so they don’t dry out.  Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll the dough into a large rectangle.  Lift the dough and turn it as you roll to ensure it’s not sticking.  You want to roll the dough as thin as possible, try to make sure it’s 1/16-inch thick at most.  If you want all of your crackers to be perfect, trim the edges of the dough so you have a rectangle with even sides.  Use a pizza cutter to cut the rectangle into squares about 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide.

4. Transfer the dough squares to the prepared baking sheets. You can place them close together because they will not spread.  Sprinkle the squares lightly with salt.  Repeat the rolling and cutting process with the remaining 3 pieces of dough.  Save all of your scraps under the towel to keep the dough from drying out; reroll them all at once to create a final batch of crackers.

5. Bake the crackers, one sheet at a time, until crisp and browned, about 5-10 minutes.  Check the crackers at 5 minutes, and if some of the thinner ones are browning too quickly, remove them from the oven.  The crackers can burn quickly so you want to keep a close eye on them.  Remove crackers from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.  Store the crackers in an airtight container.

 I must warn you that the recipe really doesn't make too many, in other words it is terribly easy for four people to eat the whole batch in one afternoon!  Plan accordingly.

Today we'll make...

...Pizza Pockets!

You'll need :

3 1/2 cups of flour

1 t salt

2 sticks melted butter

1 cup yogurt

Stir these together.

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

1/2 t garlic powder

1 1/2 t oregano

1 1/2 t basil

Simmer together on the stove for a few minutes. 

You can use your choice of filling ingredients - ground beef, pepperoni, olives, cheese, etc.

I used *fresh* ground beef.  It was our first time using the meat grinder and it was a success!  A little different than store bought though.  I really only ground my own to use up some stew beef we had in the freezer - my whole family is sick of soup!

Now, roll out small 2-3 in balls of dough into a circle, top with sauce and other toppings, fold and seal.

Bake @ 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. 

This is another Heavenly Homemakers recipe!