The key to staying gluten free is to make being gluten free as easy  and tasty as possible. One of my tricks is to keep a stash of gluten free bread mix in the freezer.  It only takes 2 minutes to grab a gab of flour, mix in the liquid ingredients (handily noted on the bag), and pop the dough into the bread machine.

Even better, my husband can do it too, so bread making is not “my” responsibility. (This only works if he remembers that you showed him the new stash of bread mix in the freezer!)

And, if you’re thinking that it would be easier to pick up a bag of bread mix at the store, you’re probably right. But it wouldn’t taste nearly as good, and that’s more important than being easy.

If you’d like to make your own stash, grab you favorite gluten free bread recipe and follow along.

How to Make Homemade Bread Mix

First, mix up a big bowl of the main flours in your recipe. I used my “Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Mix” because I wanted to make “Finally, Really Good Sandwich Bread”.  Since I use my All Purpose mix for lots of recipes, I didn’t do the math to figure out how much flour mix I would need for 8 loaves of bread. But you could certainly do that.

If you’re new to gluten free baking, the main flours would be any grain or bean flours, plus any starches like corn, potato, or tapioca.

Now, measure enough flour for one loaf of bread into each plastic freezer bag. I used a quart size bag. If you’re making a recipe for a 2lb. loaf you may need to go up a size.  My recipe calls for two and a half  cups of my All Purpose Flour Mix, so I don’t really have to think about how much flour to add. If your recipe calls for separate flours, add up the measurement for each of the flours you mixed in Step 1 to determine how much flour to add to each bag.

Take each additional dry ingredient and add it to each bag. For example, I add 1 Tbsp of yeast to each bag, and then 2 tsp. of xanthan gum to each bag, and then the sugar, and then etc.  It’s very important to pay close attention during this step because it’s really hard to tell the difference between 1 tsp. of xanthan gum in a bag and 2 tsp. of xanthan gum in a bag. (Don’t ask.)

Now you can close each bag, lay it flat, squeeze all of the air out and seal. The only reason that you have to get most of the air out, is that it makes it so much easier to write the recipe on the bag. The bread mix will be in the freezer and should stay fresh for at least 6 months.

Using a Sharpie, write the name of the recipe and the amounts for the wet ingredients on the bag. You can also write any additional directions, if you (or any other bakers) will need them. I chose not do to that, because I follow the dump and stir method with this bread. Dump the dry ingredients in, dump the wet ingredients in, stir, bake.

Stack the bags in the freezer and forget about them till you need them. Be sure to tell everyone of baking age in your family about your stash, so that they can bake you bread in  your time of need. (This is particularly handy if you’ve just had a baby or an illness in the family.)   If for some reason your husband keeps making Flat Bread from scratch even though this easier option is available, he may have been distracted by a more enticing view (of you, of course)when you (proudly) showed him your stack of bread mixes and explained (in a very excited voice)how to use them. He may need a reminder.

Related Posts:

• Getting Started on a Gluten Free Diet
• Gluten Free Bread: Banana Bread
• Our Gluten Free Beer Tasting
• Gluten Free Bread – 30 Minute Flatbread
• Gluten Free Waffles

First, choose an avocado that is firm, but gives slightly when pressed with your thumb. This one is a bit overripe, as you’ll see in a moment.

Then slice the avocado in two and separate the halves. To remove the pit, hit it with the sharp edge of a chef’s knife so that the knife become stuck in the pit. Hold the avocado half in one hand and pull back on the knife with the other. The pit should come right out.

Next, make parallel slices down the avocado without slicing through the ****.

Finally, gently scoop the slices out of the **** using a large spoon.

Tada! You now have a sliced avocado.

**** John and I cannot agree on what the outside layer of an avocado is called. The options thus far are rind, shell, peel, and skin. Anyone care to set us straight?

This is the method we’ve seen used on TV by several graduates of the best cooking schools. Hopefully it will work for you as well.

Related Posts:

• Getting Started on a Gluten Free Diet
• Two Minutes to Homemade Bread
• How to Use Bean Flours
• How to Make Scones Like a Bakery
• Risotto: A Step by Step Cooking Lesson

1. First, pat the dough into a round that is approximately 3/4″ thick.

2. Then, cut the dough into 6 – 8 wedges.

3. Separate the wedges and place them about an inch apart on a greased baking sheet.

4. Brush milk or butter over the tops of the scones and sprinkle with sugar.

Related Posts:

• Getting Started on a Gluten Free Diet
• Two Minutes to Homemade Bread
• The Linguistic Challenges of Slicing an Avocado
• Fresh Blueberry Scones – Gluten Free, Casein Free
• How to Use Bean Flours

When I got home that evening I found 7 balls of dough in a bowl in the refrigerator. Turns out the rolling didn’t go so well, (keeping the child out of the dishwasher was probably equally unsuccessful) and John gave up after one tortilla. I decided this gluten free flour tortillas recipe was going to need an accompanying tutorial.

Items Needed:
clean, flat surface
rolling pin
gluten free flour tortilla dough
flour for dusting

Step One: Dust Everything With Gluten Free Flour
The tortilla dough is pretty sticky and calls for more a thorough flouring of surfaces than a pizza or pasta dough. I put a fine dusting of rice flour on my board and on the rolling pin.

Step Two: Roll the Dough Into a Small Ball
The tortilla recipe calls for the dough to be split into 8 pieces. Roll each of the eight pieces into a nice, neat little ball and lightly dust the exterior with gluten free flour. Place one ball in the center of your floured rolling surface.

Step Three: Roll the Dough
To roll dough into a circle, start by placing the floured pin onto the center of the ball. Press down a little bit to create an indention, and then roll the pin away from you gently. Rotate the dough a quarter turn, place your pin back in the middle of the dough and roll away from you a second time. After 4 turns and 4 rolls, your dough should look something like this.

The longer you can keep the dough in a nice circular shape, the more circular your finished tortillas will be. (Your dough will start to develop ragged edges as you roll it out, but try to aim or a relatively round tortillas).

Step 4:Keep on Rolling
Now that you have rolled the dough into a flat disk, continue to roll out the dough from the center to the edges, rotating the dough slightly after each roll. Your tortilla will eventually look something like this.

Here’s a side view, so that you can see the thickness. I roll the tortillas out as thinly as possible – you can see the imprint of my hand through the dough when I hold it. The tortillas puff up when you cook them, so the raw tortilla needs to be on the thin side.

Troubleshooting Tip #1 - When the Dough Sticks to the Board When an unfloured piece of dough comes in contact with an unfloured surface, stickage will occur. This is probably the most frustrating aspect of rolling out dough, but it can be minimized.

Rotating the dough after each roll is the key to preventing the dough from sticking to the board. As you roll out the dough, new un-floured portions of the dough are exposed. The rotation of the dough allows the flour on the board to cover these newly exposed areas of sticky dough.

Also, if you rotate between each roll you will quickly realize when the dough is sticking to the board. In the picture below, I’ve caught the dough just as it was starting to stick. When this happens:

• Gently pull the dough off of the board
• Scrape off any dough that stays on the board and then dust the board with additional flour
• Place the dough back on the board – sticky side up
• Gently dust the top of the dough with flour

If you’re not rotating the dough, you may end up with the entire tortilla stuck to the board. If this happens, just scrape it up and start over.

Troubleshooting Tip #2 - When the Dough Sticks to the Pin

In the picture below the dough stuck to the rolling pin as I rolled over it. This can happen at any point in the rolling process and it is a signal that the dough needs to be flipped.

In the next picture, I’m pulling the dough off of the pin. You can see that the side that stuck to the pin has much less flour on it’s surface than the side that was on the board. When this happens:

• Pull the dough away from the pin as gently as possible.
• Flip the dough over, place your full hand on the dough, and gently move it around the board so that it picks up more flour.
• Remove any stray bits of dough from the rolling pin.
• Dust the rolling pin with additional flour (but only if this is happening frequently).

And that’s it. I hope the tortilla rolling goes well. If this is your first time to roll out dough, let me know how it goes. I haven’t been able to talk John into doing another test run =)

And don’t be discouraged. You’ll get faster every time you make this.

Related Posts:

• Getting Started on a Gluten Free Diet
• Two Minutes to Homemade Bread
• The Linguistic Challenges of Slicing an Avocado
• How to Use Bean Flours
• How to Make Scones Like a Bakery

In this post we’ll learn how to beat egg yolks to the ribbon stage, and then we’ll make some yummy crème brûlée.

How to Beat Egg Yolks

Beating egg yolks is much simpler than beating egg whites. Your goal is for the color of the yolks to change from bright yellow-orange to a pale, pale yellow and for the yolks to thicken to the point that they fall from the beaters in a ribbon.

1. Place chilled egg yolks in a mixing bowl and begin to beat them with a mixer or whisk.

2. After beating the yolks a few times, gradually begin adding sugar, if the recipes calls for it.

3. Continue beating the yolk until they thicken and the color of the yolks is pale yellow, like this.

When you pull the beaters or whisk from the yolks, the yolks should fall from the beaters in a ribbon.

When the ribbons hit the surface of the yolks, they should stay on top for a moment and then dissipate.

Classic Crème Brûlée Recipe

(Yield: 6 servings)

6 egg yolks
6 Tbsp. sugar
1 c. whipping cream
1/2 c. soy milk (or whatever you use for drinking)
Additional sugar for topping

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease 6 ramekins and place them in a large glass casserole dish. Put a pot of water on to boil for the water bath.

2. Beat the egg yolks, gradually adding the sugar, until the yolks are a pale yellow and fall from the beater in a ribbon.

3. Gently whisk or stir in the whipping cream and soy milk. (Try to avoid creating air bubbles during this step.)

4. Pour the mixture into the ramekins. Open your oven and pull the top rack of your oven out. Place the casserole dish on the rack, and then slowly pour the boiling water into the casserole dish. Gently push the rack back into the oven so that the water does not splash onto your crème brûlée.

If you’re unfamiliar with preparing a water bath for custards, this is what it will look like once you get it all in the oven.

5. Cook for approximately 45 minutes. The crème brûlée will still be a little wiggly in the middle, but it will firm up as it cools. Place the ramekins on a wire rack until they are cool enough to put in the refrigerator. Allow the crème brûlée to chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours (if you can wait that long!)

6. Sprinkle 2 tsp. of sugar on each crème brûlée, and then either use a torch to melt the sugar, or put the ramekins in the oven under the broiler until the sugar liquefies and browns. Wait just a moment to let the sugar harden, and then enjoy!

Related Posts:

• Egg Series No. 1: How to Beat Egg Whites
• Getting Started on a Gluten Free Diet
• Double Chocolate Brownies
• For Midnight Snacking: Rice Chex Treats
• Two Minutes to Homemade Bread

Experiments are extremely common in our household. One of the more recent ones was to determine whether it is better to shred cabbage with a knife, with a Cuisinart, or to buy it pre-shredded at the grocery store. Despite the fact that I own a lovely Cuisinart and that pre-shredded, bagged cabbage is readily available at the supermarket, I have always shredded cabbage with a knife. This is probably because that’s the way my mother taught me to do it. However, the results of our experiment proved, to me at least, that it’s the best way to go. So here is a brief picture tutorial on how to shred a cabbage and  five reasons why everyone should learn how to do it with a knife.

How to Shred Cabbage
1. Place the cabbage on a cutting coard with the core side down. Using a large chef’s knife, cut the cabbage in half from top to bottom as pictured below. (The core is the bottom)

2. Now use the tip of your knife to remove the core. See the circled area in the picture below – this is what you want to remove.

3. With your non-dominant hand, hold the cabbage on the cutting board at a 135 degree angle. Then, holding the chef’s knife at a slightly less angle, make a thin slice down the interior side of the cabbage. You’re basically shaving the cabbage. If your knife is sharp, you should be able to make one long slice, with no sawing back and forth. Continue this shaving process until the cabbage is difficult to hold. At that point, lay the cabbage on the cutting board with the interior side facing down, and chop into long thin slices.

Want to practice you cabbage shredding skills? Try these recipes:
"Easy Summer Coleslaw Recipe"
"Singapore Street Noodles Recipe"

Now on to the reasons you should be using a knife to shred your own cabbage:

1. The Stuff in the Bag Tastes Like Cardboard
The pre-shredded cabbage may be quick, but it’s just not the same as fresh cabbage. It was very dry and overly light, so I’m assuming that it had been in the bag for a while and most of the moisture had evaporated.

2. A Head of Cabbage is Really Cheap
A head of cabbage is generally $0.29 to $0.59 cents per pound, while the stuff in the bag (I’m not sure I want to call it cabbage) costs at least $2.99 per bag. A large head of cabbage will go a long way. You can easily make cole slaw for large crowd with one head.

3. The Cuisinart Massacres Cabbage
I thought that the Cuisinart would do a great job with the cabbage, but it ended up shredding it into really little pieces. Think KFC cole slaw. I prefer long thin strands, so this didn’t work for us.

4. Clean Cuisinart – 3 Minutes; Clean Knife – 3 seconds
The final strike against the Cuisinart was the fact that it takes up a lot of room in my dish drain or my dishwasher. I have enough trouble keeping the kitchen clean without having to clean it as well. The knife cleans up in about three seconds, so it’s the definite winner.

5. You Get to Hack Something with a Knife
After a long day, it’s sometime really fun to hack into a large vegetable with a big, long knife. Granted, you would get to hack the cabbage even if you used the Cuisinart, since you would have to cut the cabbage into Cuisinart sized chunks. This brings me back to my earlier point, why get the Cuisinart dirty when you’ve already gotten your knife out.

Related Posts:

• Getting Started on a Gluten Free Diet
• Two Minutes to Homemade Bread
• The Linguistic Challenges of Slicing an Avocado
• How to Use Bean Flours
• How to Make Scones Like a Bakery