Food, glorious (and not so glorious) food

1 minute read time.

Love it , or loathe it, Marmite is a pretty handy ingredient. I made a fantastic chilli non carne, yes, you read that correctly. Marmite was part of the sauce bit. I think it could have done with a bit more moisture. I am toying with the idea of doubling the tomato quota from 1 can to 2. It was a recipe for 2-4 persons and lasted me 3 days and each day I had a different grain to go with it, rice, quinoa and millet. Trying vegetarian or vegan recipes is proving to be a fun thing for me to do and adding new variety to my diet. As I didn’t have the required ingredients I had to add extra carrots. It was truly, truly yummy.

The not so glorious was a recipe for gluten free rice bread. I am trying to ring the changes and enjoy foods other than those we take for granted. I made the dough last night (during half time of the rugby) and let it stand until this morning. I was suspicious as it hadn’t risen that much, but I baked it and I got a glorious crust (and a not bad scent rising up the stairs) but a soggy interior. Surely one of my readers must be a clever baking person and can tell me where I went wrong?

Not being a clever cooking person, I am mystified how a reputable company (it sounds like - Lionel Blair / Una Stubbs time - glove, arm) that sells rice flour under its name allowed such a disaster of a recipe to go out. I am not the only one to have have experienced a problem I later found out. I know, I should have checked, wise after the event , blah-blah-blah. I have slapped my wrists and my botty most severely.


Anonymous
  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    First you leave me dangling and then you offer all the things I am forbidden by the Priests of High Cholesterol. I can replace the eggs with some ground flax seed as an egg replacer (honestly, it works rather well). The polenta is an interesting addition to the mix.

    Have you tried Nigella's carrot cake, also made with ground almonds in place of flour? That was heavenly when we made it, even though Laing was a wee bit sceptical at first. He liked the rum and mascarpone that went with it though, and that did taste very, very, very, very, very naughty but oh so delicious.

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Crikey, you are a challenge!

    There are dairy free "creams" available which, I have to be honest, I think are disgusting.  Have you tried them?  I do, however, like Swedish Glace ice "cream" which contains no cholesterol.

     Have you used vegetable or coconut oil as a substitute for other fats? You can use it in cakes etc.  I use coconut oil a lot now (it has to be the virgin variety).  I even make chocolate with it.  Can you bake with Benecol?

    I haven't tried flax seeds as an egg substitute but have used the egg replacers commercially available.

    I haven't tried the carrot cake but it sounds nice and I am very fond of shoving mascarpone in things.  I'm afraid I mix it with cold custard and it is divine but a health food it is not.

    Do you experiment a lot?  I have come up with a dairy free cheesecake which my granddaughter prefers to shop bought.  I don't like it,  I'm really not a fan of many soya products.

    Have fun.

    Ann

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Hello Tim

    Re the difficulty of making gluten-free bread, and your not being (as far as I'm aware) actually celiac, may I suggest a compromise?  Sourdough bread. It's made with wheat or rye flour, so it does contain gluten, but because of the long proving time, the gluten has the chance to develop and become more digestible, and of course no yeast is involved. The sourdough bread gets its rise from lactic acid bacteria in the sourdough starter.

    The trouble with modern baking methods is that the gluten doesn't have time to develop, and that can give rise to digestive problems such as excessive gas. Modern breadmaking also relies on the use of large quantities of yeast, which in itself can cause problems in yeast-sensitive individuals.  Search out sourdough bread and give it a go. Tesco do a nice white one, but it isn't as good as the sourdough bread you can get from artisan bakers.  You can also have a go at making your own, but after a couple of years experimenting and still getting rather heavy loaves, I'm afraid I gave up and just buy it now, but I do search out good bakeries.  If you want to experiment with making your own, have a look at buying a sourdough starter on the internet.  You will also find loads of recipes and advice from everyone from Paul Hollywood to Hugh Fearnley-thing, though for my money Andrew Whitley is the king of sourdough.