These gluten free flat breads are absolutely gorgeous. I have been searching for a good type of cracker that I can eat for ages and so I'm glad to have found these. Since giving up the gluten I have really missed the classic cream cracker and ryvitas as they were always nice with any type of cheese or fancy topping.
At this time of the year I have to walk very fast past the cracker aisle in the supermarket as they have those big selection box in. I used to love one of those at Christmas. Gluten free crackers always seem to be either too small or no where near anything like a cream cracker, so sad. These lovely flatbreads are just so tasty and plenty of room to put a nice bit of Wensleydale on Gromit, yes even Wallace would approve. They are available in original and the rosemary and salt salt which I purchased. Around £1.75 for a 150g box, can vary at some supermarkets and only 55 calories for each flatbread. If you are following Slimming World that is around 2.5 syns each. The only thing I find annoying is that inside the box the flatbreads are packed in two packets of six, I just wish they were packed in smaller handy size packs. This would just prevent me scoffing all six down because I can't be bothered to repackage them. It would be good though to have smaller packs for say, a lunch box or to take out as a snack. You could have these instead of bread, with all sorts of toppings or have them as an accompaniment with soup. So they have ticked the boxes for me as now I have something in between a cracker and a ryvita so I am really happy. Give them a try and see what you think. Let me know as I would be interested to hear your views too. Thank you for reading today, I will be back tomorrow for Autism Support Saturday but for for now you take care.
0 Comments
I did promise you my follow up bake in my bread maker which is actually bread this time. I fancied a different type of bread though so I made a savoury sun dried tomato bread.
Again this is a recipe taken from the bread machine's instruction book so lets start with what ingredients I used...... 3 medium eggs ( I used two this time) 284ml buttermilk 6 tbsp semi skimmed milk 2tsp lemon juice ( I bought some fresh stuff - see last weeks post) 1.5 level tbsps clear honey 1 level tbsp gluten free sun-dried tomato paste 50g gluten free sound dried tomatoes (chopped) 1 tbsp oil from tomato jar 1 level tsp salt (they like everything level eh?) 470g gluten free white flour 1 level tbsp (9g) gluten free yeast (I used the fast action stuff) Method
It did turn out really nice and very tasty. I actually had a slice or two with a pasta bolognese dish so it was a fine accompaniment. The only criticism I have is that it does, again tend to be very dense so it may be an idea to reduce some of the wet ingredients or the yeast. I do tend to keep my flour in the freezer to keep it fresh and then forget to leave it out to warm up to room temperature before using so that may be another reason while the texture turns a bit dense. Also I'm not sure the buttermilk works as there was a bit of an after taste with that so I may change that in the future. I can recommend it though. It was really nice toasted with a bit of cheese on but maybe you have a different recipe that you would like to share. I am going to experiment more with different recipes and play around with the ingredients to see what works so I will keep you posted. Thank you for reading today, join me again tomorrow for Autism Support Saturday but for now.....take care and happy baking. I say 'brake' because I want to call it a brownie but it was in fact supposed to be cake. It does actually taste like something in between the two and very nice but I'm no Mary Berry, well not yet anyway.
It all started with me looking at my breadmaker and thinking that I hadn't used it in a long while so I wondered what I could create. I felt a bit in need of something chocolatey and found a recipe for chocolate cake in the breadmaker's instruction book which came with the machine. I've not done a lot of baking in this as you can tell but practice makes perfect eh? Here are the ingredients I used or was meant to use (no wonder it didn't turn out right)....... 150g unsalted butter (I used salted) 3 medium eggs ( I used 3 large ones) 1 tsp vanilla extract (got that right) 2tsp lemon juice (used jif lemon - could have been in the fridge a while) 60ml tepid water (what exact temperature is tepid?) 125g caster sugar (looked liked I'd robbed a sugar factory) 250g gluten free plain white flour 3 level tsp gluten free baking powder (got a spirit level out to make sure it was level) 3 level tbsp gluten free cocoa powder (again always use a spirit level) So I melted the butter in the microwave because I cannot fanny about with a pan and left it to cool slightly. I beat the eggs in a jug and added the vanilla extract, lemon juice and water. I placed the flour in a mixing bowl and sieved in the baking powder and cocoa powder. I made a well in the centre and poured in the egg mixture followed by the cooled down butter and I mixed well with a wooden spoon just like the instructions told me to do. I then poured this mixture into the breadmaker baking pan, selected the cake programme and let it do it's thing. When it had finished baking I left it to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes ( I'm not making this up, the book told me to do that). Sounding like a professional though am I not? My creation eventually made it out onto a wire cooling rack and I waited patiently for it to cool. It passed the test of the chef and two teenagers, one that would probably eat a plate of asbestos if put in front of him, not that I would because that's just cruel and very unhealthy. It was a bit dense in texture, the cake not the asbestos, but I'm thinking there may have been too much egg mixture and I did use my flour straight from the freezer instead of letting it to warm to room temperature. With all that though it tasted ok and nobody has been ill so that's a good sign. I'll give it another go and see what happens. I am more used to oven baking but I don't want my breadmaker to be one of these gadgets that sits in the kitchen unused, unloved and forlorn. Gluten free cake and bread can be a bit dense as it needs stuff to keep it together and prevent it from being a crumbly mess. With no gluten to keep it together it is sometimes difficult to get the right texture but I'll work on it. The thing is there was no picture in the book to see what it should look like. I hate that.....I need a photo of the masterpiece it should be so that I can compare. It is only the instruction manual so it maybe a good idea to look for other recipes elsewhere. If you have a bread machine give this a go and then put me to shame because yours came out a lot better. I hope you've enjoyed my cooking lesson for this week. Tune in next week as I also made a sun dried tomato loaf, I bet you can't wait for that. For now though you take care and I will return tomorrow for Autism Support Saturday. Be good and...... keeeeeeeeep baking. I'm still on my mission to go organic....free from pesticides and nasties on my veggies. I am still trying to get produce from farm shops or grocers but blimey you forget how convenient supermarkets really are.
I want to try and buy my fruit and veg in paper bags instead of the plastic but when I'm already shopping in Tesco it's so easy to say 'oh I'll just pop that in the trolley and go farming another day'. I'm passing the fruit and veg, it's right there in big shop but I can still buy organic at the supermarket. It's the blooming price as well that's chuffin hard. I mean if organic is going to better for your health which means less trips to the doctors then surely it should be cheaper than the stuff that's covered in nasty pesticides. Jamie Oliver likes me to eat organic, we don't have a conversation about it but he seems to pester me on the telly and I think well yes you're right Mr Oliver but you can afford it mate. He does do a lot to sort crappy food out though I'll give him that. I know pesticides have their purpose, they keep the bugs off the fruits and vegetables but seriously I'm not thinking it's good. I've probably been eating loads of non organic produce for years but something has just snapped inside me. No don't worry brewsters there's no broken bones here just a feel for wanting a healthier diet. There's nothing with that eh? Anyway wish me luck, I am going to be doing some research and I will keep you posted. I think organic tastes nicer but is that just psychological because we are told it is? I think I'm willing to pay a little bit more for more nutrients and less toxic chemicals. It's a wonder we are not walking around with a toxic layer around us with all the rubbish connected with processed food and non organic produce. Oh that reminds me, talking about a glow around us, can you remember the Ready Brek adverts when people walked around with a orange warm glow around them to give the idea it will warm you up in the cold winters? Well I'm still waiting for mine. I think there may be a problem as it isn't Ready Brek that I'm eating, just porridge but I haven't seen known Ready Brek eaters with their glow a glowing. Mmm mis sold Ready Brek....bet there's a claim for that. Well I'm off to organic land, don't forget Free From Friday covers anything which is basically 'Free From' not just gluten free, dairy free, meat free. Let me know if there is anything you would like to hear about and I'll see what I can do. For now though take care of yourselves, I will be back tomorrow for Autism Support Saturday...... Bye for now. Free from what I hear you say, well I'm not really ready for the meat free bacon yet, as I am a happy meat eater. I don't eat a lot of meat but after hearing various reports about processed meats I saw this Naked Bacon and decided to give it a try. Yes turn away, the bacon is naked, blimey give it some privacy. No silly it's not naked in that way but free from nasty nitrates and E numbers.
It's all a bit sciencey but nitrates are used in foods especially processed meats such as ham, bacon and sausages to preserve them, these nitrates also give the. meat it's pinky colour. Some of this stuff is not good though and has been known to be linked with cancer. I know there are food scares all over the place and sometimes it's easy to get tired and fed up with such reports leading us to think well is there anything we can eat? Well I can tell you this bacon was really quite nice. I'm not sure whether I was under a bit of a psychological spell because I knew it was free of the rubbish I didn't want to eat but it did taste light and fresh. They do have other products in the range such as ham and sausages and frankly if they are trying to make our food healthy to eat then it's worth giving it a go. I purchased these bacon slices from Aldi but they are available in most of the big supermarkets. After looking into the harm these nitrates can do I would be inclined to buy more of these products even if it means paying a little more. Nitrates can also be found in vegetables and water so what can we do to stay away from these harmful chemicals? You could buy organic fruit and vegetables, filter your water at home and eat less processed meat. There are some fruit and veg which are lower in nitrates, they include:
I don't really want to start a massive debate or campaign on what to eat as I originally saw 'naked bacon' and thought it could be good so by no means is this a post to tell you to stop eating stuff. We all manage our diets and eat what we feel is right and the controversy around processed food and it's link to cancer has been reported widely around the world. If you like eating a lot of bacon though I can recommend this 'naked'' version, it tastes just like the usual but for me I just feel it might be healthier to have it especially as my son loves bacon so I want to keep him healthy too. If you would like more information about these products from Finnebrogue then take a look at their website at www.finnebrogue.com Thank you for reading today, if you have tried any of these products then let me know or maybe you do follow an organic food diet and find it better, I would be interested in your thoughts. For now though take care and do join me tomorrow for Autism Support Saturday. Bye for now...... |
FreeFrom
|