Perfect Christmas morning breakfast.
We recently learned that our youngest minion is allergic to wheat. It is a mild allergy, not celiac Disease, AND we live in a time where there are so many alternatives to wheat available all of which we are thankful. He is really taking this well, and have said he feels more tired after having wheat so knowing this helps him already is a blessing! The bummer is we learned about this allergy the week before Christmas, the season which is filled with yummy treats, like cookies, rolls, breads, muffins, some candies, and more all generally made with wheat. Being the mama I am, I dove in for a crash course on wheat free baking. I have learned a lot, but have so much to learn. There are many alternative to wheat; it is necessary to have several different flours to create the texture desired. There are a number of pre-mixed multi-flour blends on the market. I have been playing with two, Bobs Red Mill and Namaste. I really like the company and story behind Bobs Red Mill, but can find Namaste at Costco which saves money. J The all-purpose flour blends tend to be bean based (Bobs) or rice (Namaste) I have learned both are versatile, but the rice is lighter, for biscuits, the bean for cookies. I plan to use whole food products, I cannot compromise on that as I am learning this new form of baking.
My first baking need for my boy was biscuits. I found a gluten free recipe on the Bob’s Red Mill site. I followed it using my Namaste flour, just using the total amount of flour called for in separate flours. The biscuits were good, they had a bite, not mushy, and perfect accompaniment to our tomato soup.
My real challenge was to find a wheat free cinnamon roll. Really, we must have cinnamon rolls to go with our bacon on Christmas morning! In all my searches I came across a wonderful site called thebakingbeauties.com. What a wealth of information…….and TWO cinnamon roll recipes! I used the recipe found herehttp://www.thebakingbeauties.com/?s=cinnamon+rols&submit.x=-895&submit.y=-488 for our Christmas morning rolls. I used 2 ½ cups of my Namaste flour mix for the flours recommended, and used maple syrup in place of the corn syrup; for the filling I melted butter and put the melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and a handful of cinnamon chips. The secret to ‘rolling’ the dough is wet hands, instead of flouring a rolling pin, you wet your hands, I did this for the biscuits as well. Wet hands slide right over the dough, and you are able to just massage the dough into compliance…..lovely. To rolls the dough, do not touch it, just use the plastic wrap to sort of push the dough along. The rolls rose nicely and baked up perfectly. Nobody realized they were gluten free. SCORE for mom!!!
I look forward to learning more, to connecting with you all about this new chapter of baking, and hearing about your successes and failures with gluten/wheat free baking.
Semperfifarms 