Gluten Free Sourdough Culture

 So, I am working on finishing a post about the gluten-free sourdough bread I've been working on the last few months and I realized in order to do the bread, folks will first need to be making the gluten-free sourdough culture to use in it. If you have never had a sourdough culture for a pet... you are going to love it. This is a symbiotic creature that - if you feed it and care for it properly - will pre-digest grains for you and make them more digestable and more nutritious. It will be the best excuse in the world to bake something because as you feed it, it grows. And, unless you take some away now and then it will become a great big beastie and take over your kitchen - or you would have to throw some of it away which I (shudder::waste::shudder) could never do.

How do you start a culture? I have no idea. I've been super duper lucky to get both of the cultures I've worked with donated to me by a friend. So, if you don't have a friend with a culture you may need to order one. (A culture, not a friend...) My friend originally used this kind, which are not very expensive and super easy to get started with.

I keep my culture in a bowl on my counter covered loosely with a towel. Her name is Althea (yes, I name all my pets - and my cars - don't judge me.) and I feed her morning and night with about 1/2 to 1 cup of brown rice flour and 1/2 to 1 cup of filtered water depending on if I have plans to bake something in my immediate future. You can tell when your culture is happy because it will be bubbly and have a nice smell. If you get a coat of slimy water on top and a vinegar smell, just pour off the water and feed it more flour. It is really super easy to keep it happy once you get it going.

If you are not planning to bake for a while or are going out of town or run out of brown rice flour for your sourdough to eat - no worries! You can always put about a cup of culture in a sealed container in the fridge and it will go dormant for a while, until you bring it back out and feed it. Be sure to label the container (here's where that name comes in handy...) or you may think it's something gross and through it out. Guess what happened to the one and only kombucha scoby I ever got my hands on...

Once you have your culture going there is SO MUCH you can do with it! I would get a cup of it out in the morning, mix in a few eggs and some baking soda and make crepes with it. I mixed a cup of it in with muffins for a greater depth of flavor and made awesome coffee cakes with it and of course, I made bread with it. Which I will be posting about very soon. I promise.

Fourths Flour

I'm working on a post about the new gluten-free rice sourdough I've been working with, but I keep wanting to try one more thing with it before I hit "publish". So, I figure I will write about something I feel like I have already perfected - at least enough for me to be happy with it. "Fourths Flour" is my alternative for expensive, icky tasting AP gluten-free flour mixes. It works 1=1 as a replacement for wheat flour with everything I have tried. I do usually add an extra egg when cooking gluten-free recipes since I don't use Xanthan gum.

There are a few things things I love about this mix. One, it is the tastiest flour mix ever. I like to taste batter as I play with it or make new things and one thing I cannot stand is beany batter. The taste of bean flour in my batter makes me want to throw it out the window rather than cook it and if I am trying to adjust for the sweetness of a muffin I might have to taste that crap 2-3 times and it does not make me a happy cooker.

The second thing I love is the texture. Nothing I have cooked using this mix has turned out dry or grainy or pasty. My husband is full-on texture sensitive and he said the banana bread I made with this flour was the best he had ever had. It raises nicely in breads and creates that crispy crust we all like on the outside. In bare naked biscuits it still holds together and works like wheat flour.

Thirdly - price. I save a lot of money by adding in the inexpensive oat flour that I make myself by processing conventional oats into powder in my food processor. If you are celiac of course you will need to buy gluten-free oats which are more expensive, but you should still end up paying less than $4 per "bag" for this superior flour mix with no bean fillers in it.

Fourths Flour
4 equal parts:
oat flour
almond flour
white rice flour
tapioca flour

I make mine in big batches that use a whole bag of almond flour and almost a whole bag of the rice and tapioca plus 4 cups of oat flour. I mix it all up in a big bowl and then store it in a big tupperware container in the fridge. Frontier sells a nice 5 lb flour keeper that would work well for this, or you could probably find one at any kitchen goodies store.

If you don't cook much, just use this ratio when you are baking something. If a recipe calls for 2 cups of flour, just use 1/2 cup of each of these flours.

I hope you give this a try and let me know how well it works for you!

Maple Cream Stuffed Patty Pan

If you know me, you know I am madly in love with squash. I love all kinds of squash and nothing makes me happier than finding a new "squishy dish" to enjoy. I've grown patty pan in my garden for a few years now, and while it is super easy to grow and has a great flavor, I have always found the shape a little daunting. Too shallow to stuff with rice, too flat to make squash boats out of, not enough flesh to make a pie and which way to slice it for frying? Hmmmmm.

Voila! Inspiration finally hit me. I could "stuff" it with a sauce - a fluffy sweet sauce that will turn my flat squash into a perfect gluten-free breakfast or maybe even a desert. This recipe was an instant hit with my sometimes squash-wary daughter. She said it is her favorite squash meal ever. The maple cream pairs perfectly with the mellow sweetness of the patty pan and we both scraped the skins clean because it was so good.

Maple Cream Stuffed Patty Pan
2-4 small to medium patty pan squash
4 oz (1/2 block) cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup maple syrup (I used the most amazing wood-fired syrup from here in Ohio - Johnson Maple Syrup - delicious!!!)
2 tbsp powdered sugar

Wash then roast the patty pans whole in your oven at 350 until they are soft and browning slightly (1/2 to 1 hour depending on size). Take them out and let them cool for a few minutes. Slice them around the widest part of the squash and remove the top. Scrape out all of the seeds and pulp. While the squash are roasting mix together the other ingredients and whip them well until they are creamy and thick. spoon the cream into the bottom of the squashes, place the tops on and serve.

Lazy Fridge Pickles

So, I haven't posted on here for... quite a while. I've been fluttering around sourdough and gluten-free cooking lately and I feel like I have some things to share. Now, I just need to find the time to share them. I'm actually motivated to post this recipe because I've been having a lot of people asking for my pickle recipe lately and this seems like a nice central place to stick it. I have played around with this quite a bit the last few years. It is kind of a ferment and fridge pickle hybrid that involves uncooked cucumbers and uncooked brine with Braggs apple cider vinegar and "forgetting" to put the pickles into the fridge for a day or two... hence the "Lazy" part of my Lazy Fridge Pickles. I actually attempted a fully fermented pickle once and very unfortunately used two quart jars full of homegrown pickles, garlic and dill to do it. It was a massive fail to make pickles, but a huge success at making rancid cucumber jelly... I always try to look on the positive side. So, I've been too scared (read: smart) to try that again, but I did want a little more mature flavor and health benefits in my pickles and the hybrid technique was born. So far - and I'm going on maybe 20 quarts of pickles over the last three years - this is NO FAIL. Seriously. And, they get rave reviews, even from my toughest critics (aka my husband and daughters) and get demolished at parties where most self respecting social butterflies should know better than to scarf down garlicky pickles. Anyhow, if you like pickles, I hope you give this a try and let me know how it works for you!

Lazy Fridge Pickles
By: Vanessa Prentice
Ingredients:
6-7 small cucumbers sliced in quarters
1 cup water
1 cup Braggs apple cider vinegar
5-6 sliced cloves of garlic
4 or so sprigs of fresh dill
1 tbsp dried dill
1 sliced onion
8 tsp salt (I use Redman's Real Salt)
1 tbsp raw honey
additional water to fill jar

Optional: fresh washed grape leaves, 1 tsp mustard seeds or prepared mustard, 3-4 sliced hot peppers if you like 'em spicy, additional honey or 1/3 cup sugar if you like 'em sweet.

Pack your quart jar with layers of grape leaves - if you have them, onions, cucumber, garlic and dill sprigs until the jar is almost completely full. In a bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients until well combined and pour into the jar. Fill the jar up completely with water then put on a lid and shake well. Leave the jar on the counter for 12-24 hours then put into the fridge. The pickles will be nice and tasty in about a week, but will keep for much longer - if you can keep from eating them all.

Cantaloupe Cream Pie

One of my favorite desserts ever - the cream pie. So simple, so versatile, so deadly good. I've been making a variety of cream pies for years, usually fruits inspire me - raspberries, peaches, coconut - of course chocolate cream pie is always a big hit and cookies and cream pie drives my kids (and husband) wild with delight. A few years ago I had inspiration hit me at the farmer's market in the form of a big, juicy, perfect cantaloupe. Now, grocery store cantaloupe is nothing like the version you can get at your local farmer's market, but it will do in a pinch. But, if you really want this recipe to sing, get a fresh, locally grown cantaloupe, ripened to perfection, with so much flavor and deliciousness bursting from it you can't help but want to create something creamy and dreamy from it.

Cantaloupe Cream Pie
flesh from 1 medium sized cantaloupe
(either shredded and squeezed of excess juices or run through a juicer to extract as much juice as possible. Run through a food processor or smash the pulp until it is as smooth and unlumpy as possible.)
1 pkg cream cheese (blended with 1 cup of whipping cream until smooth)
1/2 cup plus 2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 additional cups of whipping cream
Crust: 1 stick of butter and 1 pkg (about two cups) of grahams, crushed

First put together the crust by melting the butter and pouring it into the graham cracker crumbs. Press this into the bottom of a pie pan and bake for 5-10 minutes on 350. Set aside to cool. Whip the three cups of whipping cream with the vanilla and 2tbs of sugar until stiff peaks form. Set aside one third of the whipped cream in the refrigerator. Add the cantaloupe, cream cheese mixture and 1/2 cup of sugar to the rest of the whipped cream and blend until smooth. Pour into the cooled pie crust, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour - or overnight for a more firm pie. Before serving top your pie with the reserved whipped cream and garnish with small slices of fresh cantaloupe.

To make this pie extra-awesome... I also used local whipping cream from Snowville Creamery (The same cream used to make Jeni's Ice Cream) and I used Grateful Grahams, baked with love in Cincinnati. You can now order both of these products from GreenBEAN Delivery and I would highly recommend it!

Happy cream pies everyone :)

Squash for Breakfast

So, I've been dabbling with gluten-freedom for the last few weeks. And by dabbling I mean I've been 99% gluten-free. Kind of the same way I dabbled with vegetarianism for a couple of years... It has been a wonderful experience for me and not nearly as difficult as I once may have thought. Since working at Wild Oats several years ago I have known that many natural nutritionists and naturopaths consider gluten to be an unhealthy thing in anyone's diet. Not to mention if you are gluten-sensitive or gluten-intolerant. It's just not very easy to digest and today's bread products have so much more of it than even ten or twenty years ago. Because the higher the stretchy, elastic gluten in a bread the more chewy and moist and yummy it seems. Bread product makers start out with high gluten flour and then add vital wheat gluten to it. Making every slice of bread, bun and bagel turn into a virtual sticky disaster in your gut. I have a testy gut to begin with, add to that eating gluten at every meal and it's no wonder I wasn't feeling great.

I decided to cleanse. Cleansing for me means vegetables, lots of vegetables. No sugar. Limited dairy, and for the first time I decided I would also go gluten free. For at least a week. Well, after the first week and one teeny slip on the gluten I felt so good I decided to do it one more week and then another. This past week I've had gluten twice, which is still a huge change from my usual three or more times a day and I still feel really good. I've lost five pounds, without doing additional exercise.
One of the most difficult changes for me was breakfast. I am a bread fanatic in the morning. I want pancakes. I want a bagel. I want a muffin with a side of muffin! I found a few things that did it for me. I'll do my next post on Greek yogurt parfaits I promise... but, the first thing that really clicked and I keep going back to is squash.

If you have read my blog in the past you know I am a voracious squashavore anyways. (Squishy Dishes) I love squash in all ways and many varieties. I don't know why it never occurred to me what a wonderful breakfast they would make! I've used several different kinds that I've found at the farmer's market, acorn, buttercup, butternut. Simply cut the squash in halves or quarters and scoop out the seeds. While you are making your coffee let the squash roast in a hot 400 degree oven. I either turn the halves upside down in a water bath or slather them with coconut oil and place them on a pan skin side down. In about a half hour when the squash is nice and soft (and browned if it was left upright) take it out and score it with a butter knife. You can then dot it with some butter, cinnamon and maple syrup and voila! One half of a squash is enough to satisfy me and make me feel like I've had pancakes for breakfast. Without the tired and bloaty feeling I would usually get from pancakes.

If you have ever thought of cutting down on your gluten intake, or if you are just looking for something new for breakfast or brunch, I hope you will give this a try!

Bounty From the Farmer's Market

I get up earlier on Saturday mornings than any other day of the week all summer long. Not for cartoons or to get the coffee started early... I am so excited to get to the farmer's market, that I just can't stay in bed! I go to the Union County Farmer's Market in Marysville, Ohio. Which, if you have ever been there, it is a very small market. Nothing like the market in Clintonville or Worthington or even the market I used to run from the parking lot at Wild Oats in Upper Arlington. Most weeks there are less than a handful of farmers there, complimented by another handful of food producers and artisans selling their wares. But, from the moment I arrive, I am completely blissed out by the magic of buying directly from the farmers. I love asking about the varieties of garlic I buy or talking to the cheese maker about her cows. I love to buy someone's last jar of elderberry jam this season and smell the handmade soaps being sold alongside fresh herbs and warm, homemade bread. There is no better place to find the freshest, best tasting vegetables and fruits that haven't had to travel thousands of miles to get to you. And at prices that reflect the savings in gas and transportation! If you are not a farmer's market enthusiast already, isn't it about time to give it a try?

To find a farmer's market near you visit: www.localharvest.org