Soy in Bob's All Purpose GF Flour

Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF mix is manufactured in a facility that also processes soy. I read the package closer after the rash, swollen eyes and throat... Yep, I'll be mixing my own flour, BUT if I use bean or pea flour, I'll toast it first. Still learned something useful.

Making bean flour edible with the microwave. No more raw bean flavor!

Bob's Red Mill makes a gluten free all purpose flour (contains garbanzo flour, potato 
starch, tapioca flour, sorghum flour, and fava flour ) without xanthan gum. It performs perfectly, it's available in bulk at my local Cash n Carry and would totally be a time saver...if it didn't taste like raw beans. Yuck!

Thankfully, I have the answer to making it edible. I was web surfing yesterday and saw a post on Cake and Commerce about making quinoa flour edible.

Naturally, I thought of bean flour. High protein, full of pesky saponins and tasting of raw uncooked legumes, it seemed a prime candidate for the cooking cure. The thing is, it's still pretty hot out, and I'm not interested in heating the kitchen.

So I nuked it. A half inch layer in a pie plate at 3:33 min (because it's faster than pushing 3:00) did the trick. It does clump slightly, so sift it or whirl it in a blender/food processor to deal with lumps. It worked great in crepes this morning, and thank God, there were no traces of uncooked bean.

You're welcome.

Note: I've since figured out that toasting the beans in the oven before grinding is easier and yields satisfactory results. Bake at 350 degrees until they look browned, check them, maybe stir half way through baking. Cool and grind.


Cake and Commerce says: ...because quinoa flour is so bitter, earthy, and grassy, it easily overpowers the other ingredients in a recipe. This is due, in part, to saponin, a toxic glycoside that coats the outer layer of the quinoa seed. Saponin can be washed off or removed via abrasion, and usually is before it is sold commercially to consumers. But the washing isn't always thorough enough, and some trace of saponin remains. There's also phytic acid, which gets in the way of the absorption of minerals in the digestive tract - this is removed to some extent by heat treating but requires fermentation and sprouting to more thoroughly break it down.

The saponin isn't a problem if you are buying quinoa seeds to use in savory recipes. All you need to do is wash the quinoa again, as you would certain kinds of starchy polished rice. But milled as flour and included in a recipe, this not-quite-washed-all-the-way grain becomes a gatecrasher and ruins just about everything it touches.

Yuck.

But there's an utterly simple solution to this, a solution that not only takes care of the bitterness and grassy flavors, but also inactivates trypsin inhibitor, (warning, long explanation ahead) a compound that reduces the bio-availability of trypsin, an enzyme which helps hydrolyse proteins (this is especially important for lysine, an amino acid that is vital to human health and is most commonly found in beans and dairy but occurs in quinoa in high levels). 

The oven. That's the solution.

And quinoa is worth it. Its protein and fiber content is higher than wheat, it has fewer carbs than wheat, and it is packed with vitamin and minerals. Its fat content is slightly higher than that of oats and nearly 3x that of wheat. It works like pastry flour in baked goods, especially when combined with other flours. Trust me, baking the quinoa may be an extra step, but it is simple and easy and will make your baked goods better tasting and better for you.

You don't need to toast or pay attention to quinoa while you are heat processing it, but heat process it you must. 

Here's all you need to do to make baking-ready quinoa flour:

• Preheat oven to 212 or 215 F (100 C)
• Empty out bag of quinoa flour onto as many sheet pans as you need, preferably onto a new piece of parchment paper
• Make sure the layer of flour is no deeper than 1/4"
• Place in preheated oven for two hours
• Remove from oven. Allow to cool. Place in bags
• Store bag in freezer for up to 8 months if you are not planning to use flour soon. Whole quinoa flour is relatively high in fat, making it vulnerable to oxidation and rancidity. Freezing will extend the shelf-life.
• Use as you would any other gluten-free flour

She notes that even triple washed quinoa needs the baking treatment to relieve it of the burnt plastic, grassy taste.

Tapioca flour as xanthan gum substitute (egg sub, too)

Here is the link where I found this info: freerangecookies.com

In her words:

In a microwave safe bowl, combine:

1 teaspoon tapioca starch
1/3 cup water

Heat for 30 seconds at full power in the microwave. Stir. Heat for another 15 seconds. Let gel cool slightly before continuing. Feels just like an egg, doesn’t it? It’s tapioca gel.

She has more info on working with this mix on her site. I'm adding this to my list of xanthan gum substitutes.

Bisquick is genius, my mini potpie adaptation

I was sulking over the swollen alien eyes due to incautious soy ingestion, day 3, when I found this:

Bisquick Mini Chicken Pot Pies: recipe






These pictures belong to them. I want you to understand why I'm totally into this delicious idea...even though I can't use their product due to my stupid allergies. If you can, totally stock up. Back in the day, I was a loyal Bisquick girl, and my mom totally adores it. I can't wait to try the other flavors, especially the breakfast version.

But! I'm happy to say it worked excellently with my own GF waffle mix. It's made with my GF flour mix with pectin as a binder and no xanthan gum. No, I don't sell it, you have to make your own just like me. Maybe we'll get lucky and Bisquick will whip up a box someday, because there's a lot us in the "no gums" boat. Meanwhile:

Chicken-Broccoli Mixture

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 cup  frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained (I like fresh if I have it)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz) I suggest peppers, diced carrots and celery. A generous dollop of canola oil mayonnaise to replace the yummy missing fat would not be amiss.*

*Of course, a white sauce would work, too.

Baking Mixture

1/2 cup GF Waffle Mix with Pectin

1/2 cup water or non-dairy milk
2 eggs

1. Grease your pans well and see pictures for instructions. I think I baked mine at 350 F for roughly 20 min. You'll know it's done if you touch a couple and they spring back lightly. Over-baking will cause cracks to appear.

Homemade chocolate bars, dairy, soy, GF

Enjoy Life makes chocolate chunks, $5 for a 10 oz bag, not counting shipping. I think it's closer to $5.50 in my local store, but they are the only local brand of chocolate that's not cross contaminated with milk. Also, they contain cocoa, sugar and coconut oil, but no salt or vanilla.

Mine taste better and are cheaper, especially if you buy sugar and cocoa powder in bulk. I use Hershey's cocoa powder because they aren't contaminated with milk and I can buy it in bulk at my local warehouse store.

I put the label on the canister for quick refill instructions. I bought the candy mold at Walmart in the candy making section, because I like pretty stuff. Feel free to pour it into free form bars on wax paper.

These are fresh from the freezer, which I used to quickly firm them up. I store them in the fridge as a precaution, but they are probably shelf stable.

Semi-sweet Chocolate Bars

makes 4 cups

1 1/2 c cocoa

2 1/4 c powdered sugar

1 c coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

1. Mix the dry stuff. Stir in coconut oil, heat in microwave at 30 sec intervals, taking it out to stir each time. When it looks like melted chocolate, remove it, stir, pour into molds. Chill in fridge or freezer until solid. Unmold, store in fridge.

* Do not use granulated sugar unless you want a gritty chocolate bar. Sure, it will bake up fine in a cookie or whatever, but what if you want a nibble?

*Sure, you can use shortening if soy isn't a problem. It's your candy.