As you may recall, I’ve been trying for a while to get really good chewy gluten-free bagel going, and have found that even the recipes that contained eggs resulted in more fluffy bagels, rather than that chew and density that goes along with the Montreal style bagels. As I started playing around with wild yeast starters, I found that I was starting to see some of the texture I was after in the baguettes, especially when slow-risen overnight.
So with a wild-yeast starter in hand (I use a slight variation of Dr. Jean Layton’s sourdough starter and flour blend — I use a smaller amount of white bean flour, AND I also substitute half the sorghum flour for millet flour) — at 100% hydration levels.
When feeding my starter, I use equal parts of the gluten-free flour blend and water, usually about 1/2 cup of each. I whisk it well, and then add to the wild yeast starter I’ve had in the fridge. Before you feed your starter, let it warm up to room temperature (After all, YOU don’t like eating when you’re cold and sleepy, do you?!), and let it sit at room temperature after until you see lots of bubbles developing. About every third time I feed it, I also add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of potato flour to the mix.
Before using the wild yeast starter (or “hooch”), I find it is most effective if fed the day before or first thing in the morning before you use it. With wheat starter, the purpose of feeding (up to 3 days before), is to strengthen the gluten-structure of the starter, as well as to get the wild yeast perked up. With the gluten-free starter, obviously there is no worry about whether the gluten is happy or not, so its just a matter of waking up with the wild yeast and making sure its well fed and active.
A couple of things I’ve found help make gluten-free bagels that actually look like real bagels:
- the dough will be quite a bit thicker than most gluten-free bread doughs, but will still not be as firm as a wheat-based dough. Shaping the bagels is easiest done by piping them onto parchment paper with either a piping bag with a very large tip, OR with a ziploc bag with one corner cut out. Finish up the smoothing and shaping with wet fingers, and if you want the holes bigger, just stick it in the centre and swirl it around.
- Keep these on parchment paper right up to the point you boil them. I find it easiest to cut around the bagels, so each one is on a little square of parchment. That way you have a little “sling” to help get the bagels into the hot water bath. I put them in the water, parchment side down, flip them over, and then ease the parchment square off the bottom.
- These are more delicate than wheat-based bagels, so use a nice wide slotted spatula to fish them out of the hot water batch.
- Barley malt extract in the bagels and the water helps give wheat-based bagels their characteristic taste and sheen. The closest you will find that is gluten-free is Brown Rice syrup.
- Just like wheat-based bagels, bake these at high heat.
Printer friendly (GF wild yeast bagels)
Gluten-free Wild yeast bagels
Makes 7-8 medium sized bagels
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- 450 grams gluten-free wild yeast or sourdough “hooch”
- 75 grams tapioca starch or potato starch
- 75 grams cornstarch
- 75 grams millet flour
- 38 grams sorghum flour
- 38 grams sweet rice flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar or honey
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons guar gum
- 1 Tablespoon xantham gum
- 225 ml water
Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Add the “hooch” and the water to the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Add the dry ingredients and mix with the paddle attachment at medium speed for 4 minutes until the batter is very smooth.
Put the batter into a piping bag (or alternately, you can use a large Ziploc bag with the corner cut out). Pipe out 7-8 bagels onto parchment paper (each one 3-4” across). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a cool place for at least 4 hours (or overnight in the fridge). Cut the parchment in squares around each bagel.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Prepare a water bath in a large dutch oven — bring the pot of water to the boil, and add 2 Tablespoons brown rice syrup. When the water boils, add 1 Tablespoon baking soda. Drop the bagels in the water (parchment side up — it will detach on its own). Boil briefly, 30 seconds per side, removing the parchment square as you take the bagels out of the water bath and remove to a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with seeds if desired.
Bake at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Let cool on a baking rack before slicing open.
As with all things yeasty over here, we’re sending this over to YeastSpotting. Go check out all the fabulous things baked with yeast 
I know I promised the gluten-free bagel recipe, but am still double checking my measurements before putting the recipe out there for y’all. In the [...]]]>
I know I promised the gluten-free bagel recipe, but am still double checking my measurements before putting the recipe out there for y’all. In the meantime, here’s a little gluten-free, dairy-free treat to get you feeling all Yuletide-ey. These are simple enough that you can do all the mixing by hand — the Earth Balance softens to a quite workable texture. You can also use butter if you are eating dairy — just make sure its softened at room temperature for a while.
These are rolled in sugar and get a nice crackled top when baked. Try them out — you won’t believe they’re not gluten!
Gluten-free Molasses Spice Cookies
Mix together dry ingredients with a whisk
- 1/2 cup sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup teff flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. allspice
- 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1 tsp. xantham gum
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup Earth Balance shortening
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cooking molasses
- 1 egg
Cream together the Earth Balance and sugar. Add in the cooking molasses and the egg and mix thoroughly before adding the dry ingredients.
Drop by tablespoons and roll in sugar before placing on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 12-13 minutes.
]]>I’m still transcribing my scrawled notes into legible form, and making a couple of adjustments to the final flour blend, but I promise I WILL put up the final recipe (be warned, it will be entirely in weights). In the meantime, here’s a little teaser for you!
Yes Virginia, there is a chewy gluten-free bagel, AND its dairy-free and egg-free
]]>Things have been pretty busy here, between cooking, baking and the new role I`ve taken on as one of a team of bloggers over at Foodie.ca (Go check it out, I`m doing blog posts on setting up a basic home bar and on getting started going gluten-free).
In the meantime, I [...]]]>
Things have been pretty busy here, between cooking, baking and the new role I`ve taken on as one of a team of bloggers over at Foodie.ca (Go check it out, I`m doing blog posts on setting up a basic home bar and on getting started going gluten-free).
In the meantime, I thought I would share an appy recipe with you that turned out to be quite popular at a recent event I cooked for: Asian Eggplant Salad rolls. They are naturally gluten-free and are also vegan.
The inspiration for this was that classic eggplant salad you can get at some Chinese restaurants in the dog days of summer. Its usually served cold, and the longer the eggplant has to soak up all the flavours, the better it is!
Thanks go to Jenn at Niagara Grocery here in Victoria for scoring some amazing Japanese eggplants for this dish, AND some absolutely beautiful, Metchosin-grown Hakurei turnips to round things out.
These will go down a treat, so make lots! Even people who don`t normally like eggplant tried these, were surprised, and had seconds!
]]>Grill Japanese eggplants until just tender, cut into 4-6 inch fingers marinate overnight in a dressing 2 parts soy sauce, 2 parts rice vinegar, 1 part sesame oil, 1 part grapeseed oil, liberal lashings of garlic and fresh ginger, scallions
Roll in rice paper with shredded Harkurei turnip and cilantro.
The conference was [...]]]>
The conference was a glimmer of an idea a few months back in the mind of Donna Marie Antoniadis (Co-Founder and CEO of ShesConnected.com, and pulled together by the team over at She’s Connected in short order. The goal of the day (and an intensive day it was!!!), was to bring together women who are digitally connected — whether through blogging or social media — with a number of brands who are active in Canada, and interesting in connecting with women through social media.
When I initially received my invitation, I hemmed and hawed a bit, as timing was going to be very tight through the week, BUT, I found a flight that worked, and hub said go for it, so off I went!
The day started bright and early in the heart of downtown Toronto at the public library meeting space. The space had been opened up to its largest capacity, and even before walking in, I could hear the buzz of people raring to go! The participating brands were anxious to distribute product for us to see and feel, and first thing in the morning, we received a Kobo e-reader to take away. We got a quick walk through of the workings of the reader itself, as well as Kobo’s e-bookstore, and then we launched straight away into presentations and panels by the speakers. I’m putting links to these on my twitter feed (@toots11), but you can also pull them up by following the #sccto hashtag on twitter.
Lunch was provided by Maple Leaf foods, made with a few of their new products including the new Dempster’s rye bread, and their preservative-free Natural Selections cold cuts. All round, reaction to the food was good, and people opportunities to talk about their activities and interests online. At one point in the day, it struck me how many younger, well-educated women were sitting around me! Definitely a younger demographic than your typical Chamber of Commerce meeting!
During the afternoon we got to hear from all the brands (Coca-Cola, Kobo, Maple Leaf Foods, Calvin Klein Fragrances, Bourjois cosmetics, Smashbox cosmetics, Look Good Feel Better campaign, Ontario Egg Farmers, Booty Camp Fitness, Seagrams Coolers and Kraft Foods).
Throughout the day, I had a few impressions that have stayed with me:
- I had thought that Social Media would perhaps homogenize the way people in different parts of Canada operate, but in fact, there are very distinct approaches to social media. I found that business-oriented/corporate structured approaches to online activity to be the norm among many of the folks from Central Canada. I think on the West Coast here, there is much more individual presence.
- The brands that came for the day were all at different stages of their own Social Media strategy development, but all conveyed their thoughts that it was relatively easy for bloggers or those active in Social Media to approach them. From the hallway conversations throughout the day, I think its fair to say the women in the room didn’t perceive the process to be that straightforward.
- Some brands that talked with us though the day were definitely more interested in finding out what women were doing online and in Social Media, to take back and incorporate into their marketing strategies, whereas others were clearly less comfortable with that approach, preferring to inform us of their current marketing approach and then determine whether women active in Social Media were a good fit.
- There was some discussion through the day about the ethics of blogging for product or compensation, and there were some brands that asked specifically what people’s stance was on the topic. It is still an emerging area, and with such a diversity of business products, services and business structures among the women in the room, it is no surprise that opinions and stances on the topic were varied. For myself, offering a service such as I do, I personally feel that I am able to review product samples, but if I were to be paid to do a product review, I feel my objectivity might be compromised, AND might limit my ability to seek out and incorporate new products for my customers. That being said, there are women who raised valid points about the time bloggers put into writing and reviewing having value and needing to be respected.
- Finally, I met more folks who I had only interacted with on Twitter, BUT this experience reinforced for me that connections made through Social Media can be just as impactful as those made In Real Life.
I have a few more thoughts mulling around in my noggin’ and will get them down as they crystallize a little more coherently. I did come away with a bucket-load of swag, and so we come to the exciting part of the post!!!
I decided to share some of the swag love … Given my up-close and personal interaction with the brands and products through the day, I figured I can try it out again … or could part with some of it, I’m going to share amongst the #yyj twitterverse (ok FB folks too!).
I’m listing the products I’ve got below, and all you need to do is leave a comment for me or tweet me! First come-first serve, and if there’s more tweeps than product, I’ll do a random number draw to select. I’ll bring the first round to Victoria Social Media Camp on Tuesday evening.
The only disclaimers I have to make are:
- sorry folks, I am hanging onto the Kobo
- and the Coca-Cola coupons (Jeff drinks it like its going out of style)
- and the Maple Leaf Natural Selections (Jeff has reactions to most deli-meats so we’re trying them out)
- the shiba inu on the left hand side of the picture is NOT part of the swag!
So here we go, in no particular order:
- 1 Booty Camp Fitness video
- 1 pink Seagram’s T-shirt (womens M)
- 1 bottle Matrix Biollage Detangling Solution
- 1 Bottle Schwarzkopf BC Volume Boost Conditioner
- 1 large jar of Kraft Whipped Peanut Butter
- 1 Bourjois eyeliner + 1 tube Smashbox primer
- 1 small bottle Calvin Klein Euphoria eau de parfum spray
- 2 bottles Calvin Klein Beauty eau de parfum spray
- 1 clutch purse with Calvin Klein Euphoria selection (Joanie McCorry)
- 2 white leather Look Good Feel Better wallets
- 1 small wooden cutting board and knife
- 1 Coca-Cola lined journal
- 1 package Kraft Sizzling Salads (spicy fajita sauce and Barbecue Ranch dressing)
- 1 package Mr. Christie’s Soft-Baked Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies (snack packs)
- 1 2-pack Dempster’s “Oven Fresh” Rosemary and Olive Oil Baguettes (no preservatives, but shelf-stable for 60 days)
- 1 purple Calvin Klein shoulder bag/tote.
So please read through, leave your comments, and we’ll share the swag. My only request is that if you try something, and you feel strongly one way or another about the product, you let me know. If there is something you are itching to try, just shout out and I’ll see if we can hook up that item for you.
P.S. The only piece of swag that appears to have gone astray were the groovy microwave egg cookers from the Ontario Egg Farmers, which I was really looking forward to using — they were REALLY cute! C’est la vie…
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