Best Gluten Free Bread

This recipe has been improved and is now called Even Better Gluten Free Bread. Find it here.

Bread - what an amazing invention! I mean, after all, they wouldn't say, "It is the best thing since sliced bread.", if bread wasn't amazing, right? I LOVE bread: the crunchy crust, the soft middle, all of those air pockets from the rising of the yeast, and the taste - oh my, don't get me started. I love it hot out of the oven dipped in olive oil and herbs, toasted with butter, grilled with ham and cheese between two slices, baked with garlic butter and cheese, dipped in pot roast gravy, and the list goes on. I can think of a million ways to use bread. It is one of the most versatile ingredients. It can be used for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts. 

Living without bread was extremely difficult, but not nearly as difficult as eating some of the gluten free breads on the market. I can't tell you how much money I wasted trying to find one that was edible. There was this one time my husband and I went on a mission to find gluten free products. We went to our local healthy food store (to remain nameless) and found some gluten free english muffins that looked pretty good. They were extremely expensive, but we decided to bite the bullet and try them anyway.

The next morning my hubby cooked up a great looking breakfast of fried over-easy eggs (you know with soft egg yolks perfect for dipping) and toasted english muffins. It had been so long since I had experienced eggs with bread to dip in them. I was practically drooling. I couldn't break the yolk and dip that english muffin fast enough. After I took a bite, I thought they were pretty bad, but tried to keep an open mind. I asked my hubby to try them. He took one bite and immediately spit it out. It was so dry and tasteless that he couldn't even swallow it. 

I was devastated. I thought I would never find gluten free bread that was edible. Then one day, my mother clipped an article with gluten free recipes from the newspaper and gave it to me. There was a recipe for french bread in that article. I finally decided to try making my own gluten free bread. Since then, I have experimented a lot to come up with my own bread recipes. This is one of my favorites.

What You Will Need:
2 Loaf Pans (I use stone pans, but you can use metal or silicone pans if that is what you have.)
KitchenAid Mixer with whisk and dough hook attachment
Plastic Wrap
Non-stick Cooking Oil Spray
Cooling Rack

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Sorghum Flour
3/4 cup Tapioca Starch/Flour
3/4 cup Potato Starch
3/4 cup Corn Starch
1/4 cup Ground Flax Meal
1 Tablespoon Xanthum Gum
1 Tablespoon Guar Gum
2 teaspoons Salt
2 Tablespoons Active Yeast
1 Tablespoon Sugar
2 cups Milk (warm)
3 Large Eggs (room temperature)
1/4 cup Butter (room temperature) + some for greasing loaf pans
2 teaspoons Cider Vinegar
1/3 cup Honey

Directions:
1. Grease loaf pans and set aside.

I use a cold stick of butter to grease my stone
pans. If you have metal or silicone pans, you can
use non-stick cooking oil spray; but don't use it on
stone pans. 

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sorghum flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, corn starch, flax, xanthum gum, guar gum, and salt; and set aside.

Dry ingredients before whisked.

3. In a small bowl, mix the yeast, sugar and milk; and set aside. (The milk should be around 110° F to activate the yeast.)

Yeast mixture after approximately 5 minutes.

 4. In KitchenAid Mixer bowl, mix together eggs, butter, cider vinegar and honey with dough hook attachment.  

My trusty KitchenAid Mixer with dough hook attachment.

Wet ingredients before mixing.

Wet ingredients after mixing.

5. Add half the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until well blended. Then add the other half of the dry ingredients and mix until well blended.

Mixture with first half of dry ingredients added.

This is the mixture after adding all of the dry
ingredients. It looks like a hot mess; but don't
worry, it will come together.

6. With mixer on low, add the yeast mixture. Turn mixer to medium-high and beat for 4 minutes.

Halfway through the mixing, I switched to my
whisk attachment because my dough was
still really lumpy. I was a little worried, because
I've never had this problem before. But you will
see, it turned out amazing anyway. 

7. Divide dough between the two loaf pans. Smooth the tops with wet fingers.

Loaves after tops have been smoothed.

8. Cover pans with plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick cooking oil spray, and set aside in a warm place for 50-60 minutes or until dough has risen to top of loaf pans.

I usually let my dough rise in the oven, but it
was a very warm day, so I left it on the counter. 

The dough after it has risen. It is ready for the oven.

9. Preheat oven to 375° F. Place pans in the oven, and bake for 45-55 minutes  (or 35-45 minutes for stone pans). Internal temperature should be 200° F. Butter tops of loaves immediately upon pulling out of oven.

Don't tell me that doesn't look amazing!

10. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes, then completely on wire cooling racks. If you want to serve hot bread, let cool for a total of 15-20 minutes before serving. Believe me, it will still be hot. 

Why isn't there a whole loaf in this picture?
Because my family and I have already devoured
more than half a loaf. It is that good!

If you have more control than me, and you find that you actually have bread to store, keep it in a plastic bag in the fridge. You can also freeze it. If you freeze it, I recommend slicing it first. Then you can take out what you need and leave the rest in the freezer.

I hope you find this bread as satisfying as I do. 

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~Howard Thurman

Sheryl

Cowboy Cookies

I don't even know what made me think of these cookies, but I am elated that I did. I was trying to think of something easy to throw together, because Memorial Day weekend was coming up. I wanted to write a few recipes and have them ready to post when I needed them. That way I could enjoy my holiday weekend, and not leave my devoted readers hanging. I do have some devoted readers, don't I?

Anyway, this is really a cool story. When I pulled out the recipe card for these cookies I remembered the history behind the recipe. The very first time the recipe came into my life was for my brother and sister-in-laws baby shower. My mom and I were throwing the party, and we wanted something different to give as gifts to those who celebrated with us. I have no idea where we found the recipe, but it was a "cookie in a jar" recipe. You know, the kind where you put all of the dry ingredients in a mason jar, and attached the recipe card to the jar. The cool thing about this part of the story? The day I am writing this happens to be the last day of high school for the baby for whom we threw the shower. He is my Godson, and I am so proud of him. How does time fly?

But, as if that isn't cool enough, the recipe card that I have (pictured below) is actually a card from my baby shower, which was practically 12 years ago. You can tell it has been well used. In fact, I used to make these cookies all the time when Tom and I were first married. Every time we were invited to somebody's house, I would whip up a batch to give as a host/hostess gift. They are so simple to make, and packed with lots of flavor.

If you look closely, you can even see the hole
in the upper right corner where it was punched
to attach it to the jar.

This is the back of the card. Isn't it cute?

Since the recipe has been in the family for some time, it is not a gluten free recipe. So, I had to work my magic. But have no fear. . I am pretty magical these days. The other interesting quirk about this recipe is that since it is a recipe in a jar, the instructions are not the same as traditional cookie recipes. I kind of like that, so I left that part alone. If you want to gift this recipe in a jar, just pack all of the dry ingredients in a quart size mason jar in the order they are listed. Then create a recipe card with the ingredients and instructions, and attach it to the jar.

What You Will Need:
KitchenAid mixer or electric hand mixer
Cookie Sheet
Silicone Mat (optional) (I have to be honest, this was the first time I ever used a silicone mat when baking cookies. And the verdict? I don't think I will ever bake cookies without one again. I love how evenly they cooked, and they were super easy to get off the mat. No more scraping with the spatula. I am a true believer.)
Wire Cooling Racks

Recipe makes 3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup Old-Fashioned Oats
1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Chopped Pecans (I used to use one of those fancy food choppers for this, but I was never satisfied with the result. They were never evenly chopped, and there was always lots of pecan dust. Recently, my mother was over playing soux chef for me. I was baking something with pecans. I think it was a pecan pie, and I asked her to chop some pecans for me. I offered her the choice between the chopper or a knife and a cutting board. She refused both. She said she just breaks them into pieces by hand. It is super easy, and you can control the size and consistency of the pieces. My mom is SO smart! Who needs all those fancy gadgets? I love this method, and I am totally doing it all the time now.)
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
2/3 cup Rice Flour
1/3 cup Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/3 cup Potato Starch
1 teaspoon Xanthum Gum
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/3 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Butter
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. If you aren't using a silicone mat on your cookie sheet, grease the cookie sheet, and set aside.

2. In your KitchenAid mixer bowl or a medium bowl, cream together the butter, egg and vanilla.

Butter, egg and vanilla before mixing.

The butter looks kind of curdled, but don't worry
it is fine.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the oats, both sugars, rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, xanthum gum, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

I was multi-tasking when I was making this
batch, so I got ahead of myself and added 
the pecans to soon. I recommend holding them 
out with the chocolate chips, unless all of the 
ingredients are already in a jar.

4. Add dry mixture to wet mixture and mix until well mixed.

 5. Remove bowl from KitchenAid mixer. Mix in chocolate chips and pecans with a large spoon or spatula.

6. Shape into walnut size balls. Place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. 

I use my small scoop to help me keep all of the
cookies the same size.

I don't know if this helps you gauge the size or not.

There they are, lined up so nicely, ready for baking.

7. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from cookie sheet to cool on wire racks.

Look at the way that chocolate oozes. And they
had been cooling for some time when this
picture was taken. MMmm good!

8. Try to get one before everyone else eats them all!

In honor of the name, Cowboy Cookies, I am sharing this unique version of a great bible verse.

"Pray that God will tell us where 'ta go and what 'ta do." Jeremiah 42:3 ~Simplified Cowboy Version

Sheryl

S'mores Sandwich Cookie

It's Memorial Day weekend. That can only mean one thing - SUMMER is here! Summer! My absolute favorite time of the year. I love the sun, the weather, the heat, swimming in the lake, the long days, BBQing, weekends away with friends and family, campfires, and the list goes on. It just doesn't get any better than summer. And what is the one food that everyone associates with summer and campfires? Why s'mores, of course. I am a HUGE fan of s'mores, always have been. The gooey, toasted marshmallow and slightly melted chocolate bar sandwiched between two crispy graham crackers. Mmmm. So many great memories come flooding into my head every time I think about or taste a s'more. 

So, in honor of Memorial Day weekend and the beginning of my favorite season, I decided to create a s'more cookie. After a few failed attempts, I think I finally came up with a winner. I have to give a shout out to my hubby. He deserves super kudos. I was originally trying to make a cookie with the chocolate and marshmallows all mixed in. He helped me see the error of my ways, and suggested that I make it a sandwich cookie; so that it doesn't just taste like a s'more, but it actually looks like one too. We make a pretty amazing team my hubby and me. I'm extremely grateful that I have been blessed to share my life with him. 

I'm stoked about this recipe. If you love s'mores even half as much as I do, I think you will really like these. Join me in welcoming summer with a batch of your own. 

What You Will Need:
KitchenAid mixer or a handheld electric mixer
Whisk
Cookie Sheet
Silicone Mat (optional)
Spatula
Cooling Racks
Small Saucepan
2 Small Offset Spatulas or 2 Butter Knives (Offset spatulas come in all sizes. They are used a lot in decorating cupcakes and cakes. They make it much easier to control the frosting when you are spreading it.)

Ingredients:

For the Graham Cookie
3/4 cup + 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, room temperature
1 Tablespoon Molasses
3/4 cup Honey
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 Large Eggs
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 cup White Rice Flour (You could also use Brown Rice Flour. It would add a nuttier flavor, which might be good to help simulate the graham cracker flavor.)
1/2 cup Potato Starch
1/2 cup Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/4 cup Ground Flax Meal
1 1/2 teaspoons Xanthum Gum
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Salt

For the Marshmallow Filling
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, softened
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
One 7 oz. jar of Marshmallow Creme
1 teaspoon Vanilla

For Chocolate Ganache Filling
6 Tablespoons Chocolate Chips (I used semi-sweet.)
1/4 cup Half and Half

Directions:

For the Graham Cookie
1. In a bowl, whisk together the rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, flax, xanthum gum, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

 2. In the bowl of your KitchenAid Mixer or a separate bowl, cream together the butter, molasses, honey and both sugars. Make sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl a few times. The molasses loves to sink to the bottom of the bowl, and because it is so thick and sticky it won't mix in without a little help from you and your spatula.

Ingredients before mixed.

This is what it should look like after you mix it.

3. Crack the eggs in a separate bowl. I like to use a separate bowl, because no matter how skilled I am at cracking eggs, it is inevitable that once in a while a little shell will drop in. I don't like to eat egg shells, and I don't believe anybody else does either. 

Is it just me, or do you see the smiley face too?

4. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix until well-blended in between each addition.

Adding the eggs. Sorry this picture is a little blurry.

 5. Add vanilla extract and mix until well-blended.

Adding the vanilla extract.

This is what the mixture looks like after the
vanilla extract is added.

6. Slowly add the dry ingredients. Careful not to set your mixer too high or you will end up wearing most of it, not to mention the mess you will have on the counter. Mix until well-blended.

Slowly adding dry ingredients with mixer set to low.

This is what the dough should look like.
Too bad there isn't such a thing as
scratch-n-sniff computer screens.

 7. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least an hour or until well-chilled.

8. Preheat oven to 350° F. With greased hands roll 1/2 Tablespoon of dough into a ball and place onto cookie sheet with silicone mat or lightly greased cookie sheet. Cookies should be approximately 1 inches apart. (I actually used my tablespoon scoop to make these cookies, but they would have been much better if they were smaller. So I am altering the directions for you, so your end result will be better.) 

9. Bake for approximately 8-12 minutes. You want them to be crispy so they can handle the moisture of both fillings. Let the cookies cool for 4 minutes on the cookie sheet then transfer to cooling racks to cool the rest of the way.

I learned a really important lesson that I think is valuable to share. Silicone mats tend to swell from the heat in the oven. If you are using cookie sheets with sides, this becomes a problem as your cookies will become misshapen like the ones you see below when the mat curls. 

Once I switched to a cookie sheet without sides, I had no more problems with odd shaped cookies. 

Set cookies aside until fillings are made.

For the Marshmallow Filling
1. Beat all ingredients together with an electric mixer or KitchenAid mixer at medium speed until smooth, approximately 3 minutes.

Marshmallow filling ingredients before mixed.

Look at that gooey, sweet marshmallow filling.

For the Chocolate Ganache Filling
1. Simmer both ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally,  until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth, approximately 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool approximately 1 minute.

Chocolate and cream in pan before melted.

Rich, chocolatey goodness. I can barely keep
myself from licking the pan!

To Assemble Cookie Sandwich
1. Set up your work area. You will need the cookies, both fillings, something to spread each filling with (2 small offset spatulas or 2 butter knives), and a container for the assemble cookie sandwiches.

Don't be fooled - My work area was really much more
spread out than this. I just needed to condense it
to fit it in the picture. The tool below the
butter knife is an offset spatula.

2. Spread 1/2-1 teaspoon of chocolate ganache on the flat side of one cookie.

A little goes a long way. Try not to get too excited with it.

3. Spread 1/2-1 teaspoon of marshmallow filling on the flat side of another cookie.

Don't overdo it with the marshmallow filling. I learned
the hard way that you really don't need a whole
lot of this gooey goodness. It is super sweet
and if you use too much, your cookies will ooze
all of the place and make a sticky mess.

4. Sandwich both cookies together will fillings in between the cookies. Voila! You have a S'mores Sandwich Cookie. Repeat until all cookies have been joined into s'mores heavenly goodness. 

Doesn't that look familiar?!?

5. Share them with your family and friends, and make a toast to the beginning of summer. May it not fly by too quickly.

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend. Take some time to remember those who have sacrificed so much for our safety and freedom.

"In the Kingdom of God, service is not a stepping-stone to nobility; it is nobility, the only kind of nobility that is recognized." ~ T.W. Manson

Sheryl