Stokes Sauces: Gluten-free baking - thoughts for Coeliac Awareness Week

Coeliac Awareness Week
(14 - 20 May)

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/page/sauces/mayo-range

We wax lyrical every week about tasting this, eating that and devouring oodles of the other. But it's not so straight forward for everyone.

Fortunately food producers, supermarkets and restaurants are far more aware of, cater for and are able to advise on ingredients that may be a problem to those with allergies and intolerances.

But it is anything but straight forward.

So, today we'll look at a few pointers from Coeliac UK and other advice to make and bake a few gluten free goodies this week. Their website (here) has excellent advice and some great recipes too.

Did you know:

Gluten is a protein found in all standard wheat flours used for cake making. It traditionally gives cakes their structure so, without it, they're drier and more crumbly. Good news is, there are a number of products you can use to try and counter this.

You can add a fruit compote or good jam; add mayonnaise or yogurt to the baking mixture; use an extra egg.

Sometimes bigger cakes suffer most (until you have tried and tested ingredients, combinations and quantities). So go for muffins, cupcakes and biscuits.

Gluten free and tasty

Chocolate brownies

You'll need:

100g of butter
3 tbsp of Stokes Real Mayonnaise
300 g of dark chocolate
200 g of gluten free plain flour
400 g of sugar
6 eggs
2 tsp of gluten free baking powder

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/product/mayonnaise/real-mayonnaise

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 5. melt the butter and chocolate together in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and sugar.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, fully absorbing the first before adding the next. Now add the butter / chocolate mixture and the mayonnaise.

Pour the mixture into a 150 x 200mm greased baking tray and bake for 30 minutes, keeping an eye on the tray to make sure it doesn't overcook. Cool, slice and serve.

Alternatives:

The bitter-sweet sensations of blackcurrants sit so well with chocolate, so try replacing 1 egg with 2 tablespoons of Stokes Blackcurrant Jam. Or, if you're feeling more grown up - use just 1 tablespoon of Blackcurrant Jam and 1 tablespoon of Stokes Chilli Jam.

Toasted Cumin Flatbreads / perfect with hummus

We thought you might like this simple gluten free treat. They are tasty in their own right and even more so with hummus. And as it is International Hummus Day on 13th May we have lots of tasty hummus recipes here.

Enjoy both.

You'll need:

400 g of gluten free self-raising flour
1 tbsp of toasted cumin seeds
100 ml of water
250 ml of natural yogurt
2 tbsp of Stokes Real Mayonnaise

https://stokessauces.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/international-hummus-day-keep-calm-and.html

Here's how:

Mix the toasted cumin seeds into the flour and season.

Now stir in the yogurt, mayonnaise and 100ml of water (bit at a time, stopping when you think the dough is sufficiently formed and not too dry).

Make 8 equal pieces from the dough, shaping them into 1/2 cm thick ovals. Dust them with a little of the flour and grill on a medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes each side.

Now cut them into smaller wedges and dunk in all that lovely hummus.

Gluten free chilli cornbread

The perfect edible sponge for soakng up gravy - yes please !

You'll need:

200 g of polenta
284 ml of buttermilk
25 g of butter
2 tbsp of Stokes Chilli Jam
1 tsp of gluten free baking powder
1/4 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
50 g defrosted sweetcorn
2 beaten eggs

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/product/relish-and-chutneys/chilli-jam

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 7. In a dry frying pan, gently toast the polenta for 2 or 3 minutes. Now pour just half of the toasted polenta into a bowl (reserve the rest), combine it with the buttermilk and let it soak for 3 hours.

Melt the butter in a large oven proof frying pan and pour it with the reserved toasted polenta into the polenta / buttermilk mixture. Stir in the sweetcorn, chilli jam and season.

Add a knob of butter to the pan you melted the butter in previously. When it foams, pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 20 minutes. Cool it and wedge it ready for that gravy. More gravy please.