Friday 4 May 2012

Gluten-free ideas - to be continued

Polish: bezglutenowy
English: gluten-free
Romanian: fără gluten
Portuguese: sem glúten
Turkish: glutensiz
Estonian: gluteenivaba
Hungarian: gluténmentes
Irish: saor ó ghlútan
Bahasa Indonesia: bebas gluten
Suahili: gluten-bure

I don't suffer from celiac disease, but I am a slightly depressive or maybe just melancolic girl, and several studies suggest that gluten may be a reason of depression. I like my melancholy but I don't like the depression, plus, I solidarise with my little niece, cause my sis decided to not give her gluten-containing food just to make her healthier. But the fact is that when you are hungry, you grab a slice of bread to fill the stomach and the point is to satisfy the hunger with something tasty and also healthy. And flour isn't too nutritive, obviously. What makes me totally laugh is the amount of crazy recipes for gluten-free breads and cakes, which requires fancy flours and weird artificial ingredients to put the final product in shape. I would never make a cake from a mix of brown rice flour, white rice flour, potato starch flour, tapioca starch flour, sweet rice flour, cornstarch and xanthan or guar gum, or maybe just once to have a try. Of course starch is one of those to fill your stomach and if you exclude gluten from your diet just to be healthier, use the flour-starch-recipes only for rare special occasions, that is my suggestion. Otherwise, there are plenty of great ideas without the label "gluten-free" which always were gluten-free and delicious and nobody complained, but in this labeled and comercialised world people sometimes stop thinking. I know many traditional recipes for gluten-free sweets and cakes and would liek to prepare here a list just to help you to choose something. Cause I know people with celiac disease have less choice than I have. If it comes to bread, I easily excluded it from my repertoire, but let's talk about breakfasts some other time and concentate on sweets / desserts / baked goodies. Here is my list of ideas, some with recipes to follow, some recipes will be given later or go google them :)

1. CHEESECAKE - doesn't really have to have that cookies bottom. Take your favourite cheesecake recipe and forget about the bottom and don't add semolina to your cheese if a recipe requires (just add custard powder, but the one from potato or corn starch)
Example from my blog - here (forget about those tablespoons of flour, you don't really need them)
PASCHA - Eastern-European cheese delicacy, similar to cheesecake.

2. PAVLOVA / MERINGUES - gluten-free from their own nature. For my birthday I like to bake a meringue layered cake, three layers of big flat meringue and whipped cream (flavoured, usually with cocoa) between.
Recipe will be here soon.


3. POPPYSEED CAKE / tort makowy - a Polish classic, poppyseed layered cake, usually filled with white chocolate cream. Recipe can be found in the net or I'll post it soon.

4. WALNUT CAKE / tort orzechowy - another Polish classic, walnut layered cake, filled with nutty/buttery cream and sometimes with apple filling. To be posted soon.

5. BUCKWHEAT CAKE - made in Poland, Austria, Germany. Find it or I'll post it.

6. ICE CREAM. Thing of a big bowl in which you'd freeze layers of your favourite ice cream, cut it as a cake.

7. FLAN, pudding, custard, panna cotta, all these milky desserts pupular everywhere. Make it healthier and tastier by adding differrent nuts, fruits, chestnuts, cinnamon, lemon zest, anything of your choice. If you invite guests, make a big flan in a pie-like form to pretend it is a cake :)
Example from my blog - here
Spoon desserts: here, here, here, here, here, here and here 

8. Asian puddings and jellies (almond, grass and so on) with agar agar, "eastern" sisters of all the milky "western" puddings

9. HALVA / TURRON / BURFI - You can do it on your own at home. Think of a fancy shape and serve instead of a traditional cake.
Example from my blog - here.

10. BEAN BROWNIE - experiment with differrent kinds of beans and chocolates, almonds and differrent nuts, try it with chickpeas or lupin beans - be creative. By the way, this cake is delicious. Don't tell anyone it is gluten-free, they would never know. Recipes are in the net and will be posted here as well.

To be continued. But remember, you have a plenty of recipes to follow, so head up and don't worry!

No comments: