Thursday, May 21, 2009

Baby bunnies!

I was thinking seriously with my pillow last night, and suddenly I remembered the blog! So, here's a post for the sake of being a post. : ) These are just pics of cute things in my life, namely, bunnies!
These little guys will be just like the ones below in just a few weeks!





Now you can't tell me that those weren't the cutest!
I hope you had as much fun looking at these pictures as I had raising them.
Blessings,
Rachel

Thursday, May 7, 2009

The Best Gluten-free Bread in the World.


Bread, a good, solid, yeasty loaf, has often been called the 'staff of life'. It's hard to explain, perhaps it's only tradition, but there is a certain something about a loaf of bread that gives such a feeling of comfort. As a non-confirmed Celiac, for years I have tried to find the perfect loaf: Not too crusty, but firm; Soft, but not fluffy; and with a versatile enough dough that it could be made into everything I used my old standby bread recipe for back in 'the old days'. I've been experimenting a lot lately, and, though I never quite felt it to be a hopeless cause, I just didn't think that it would be so easy as to just follow the recipe in a cookbook. I suppose that I've become a little gun-shy of gluten-free cookbooks, having been disapointed so many times. Well, a month ago, I was trying to put together a list of reputable gluten-free cookbooks that I could recommend to people new to the gluten-free way of life, when I stumbled across 'the recipe' in Carol Fenster's new 1000 Gluten-free Recipes cookbook. So, without further ado, I present, 'The Recipe'.


Dr. Carol Fenster's
Brioche French Yeast Bread
makes three large loaves, or about 40 rolls

2 Tbs. active dry yeast
3 cup warm water or milk or nut milk
2 1/4 cups sourgum flour
5 1/4 cups potato starch
1 1/2 cups tapioca starch flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbs. xanthan gum
1 Tbs. guar gum
9 large eggs
1 Tb. salt
3/4 cup coconut oil, or butter
2 Tbs lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
Herbs (optional)

1. Combine the water and yeast in a small bowl and set aside.

2. Grease bread pans and then combine potato starch, tapioca starch, sourgum flour, xanthan gum, guar gum, and sugar in a large bowl and set aside.

3. In the bowl of your mixer, beat the eggs on high speed for 1 minute. Add salt, coconut oil or butter, yeast mixture and lemon juice. Stir in the flour mixture, and beat on high speed for 30 seconds, or until th
e dough thickens slightly. (it will be rather soft).

4. Place in prepared pans, and slash diagonally three times. Place immediately on the middle rack of a COLD oven, and turn to 425. Bake for about 45-55 minutes, or until the exterior is a rich brown, and the bread reads 205 inside when checked with an instant read thermometer.

Place on a cooling rack for at least ten minutes. Slice, enjoy!

This bread also makes a beautiful artisan loaf, by forming it in the hand and putting it on a baking sheet sprinkled with coarse cornmeal. And don't forget dinner rolls! I have also found that this bread freezes beautifully.




Happy Baking!
Cassie