Cooking Out Of Love

In gluten-free cuisine, don't be afraid to get your hands dirty: as I have already said, this type of dough always tend to be softer. You can help yourself with fine rice flour or oil. Also, do not waste too much time on the trying to make your creations pretty enough: you will learn how to deal with them. When cooked, they will take a better shape than it seems. Do not take as a reference doughs from the traditional cuisine. In fact, with the same density, a gluten-free dough would turn out to be inedible.

For some dough it is recommended to use seed oil when creating the shapes. This prevent the dough to crack during leavening and turn black if we fry it.

Despite the various online sources telling you to leave the dough to rest, I actually advise you against doing that: in fact, there is no glutinic net.

The leavening process is particularly difficult when it comes to gluten-free doughs. The latter need an extra "push". Hence, I advise you against replacing the following leavening methods with traditional ready-to-make methods, such as using instant yeasts sachets. The first recipe you will find is that of the poolish's. It is the one recipe that really improved my cooking. It is the basis of every recipe. It might vary from one recipe to another but the procedure will stay the same.

Be careful when using the magical xantham gum! It is true that is essential for the realisation of some recipes, it is also true that it has to be used carefully. It is not a magical ingredient. Too much of it makes the dough too hard or rubbery; on the other hand, too little of it makes the dough unmanageable. For instance, you use as little as when making biscuits as it makes them very chew, even in minimal doses.

One last advice on how to find the flours. Should you not find them in your local pharmacy, you can always buy them from one of the big online retailers or online pharmacy. This is will help you saving some money. Just make sure that you use payment methods that guarantee the arrival of you order.

Poolish

Mix for 250 g of flour:

Ingredients:

Mix for 100 of flour

12.5 g of fresh brewer's yeast

170 g of water

1 tablespoon of honey

The ingredients can slightly vary from one recipe to another, but the base for its the preparation is more or less the same.

Preparation:

Mix together the different types of flour.

Heat up the water and add it to a bowl (do not heat up the water if you are also adding eggs, the poolish would go bad) and melt the fresh brewer's yeast.

Add and melt the honey.

Add the flour mix and mix well with a fork (consistency=baby food)

Close the lid, cover with a washcloth and leave to leaven for 1h- 1h and a half.

The dough should be double the size.

Various tips:

Gluten-free dough is always softer than normal doughs.

In order to easily fill in the piping bag on your own, insert the bag itself into a bowl and fill it from there.

Sometimes it is best to use seed oil when kneading the dough in order to prevent cracks, instead of rice flour. Never use starches, as they are not absorbed by the dough.

In order to easily remove the cake from the tray, do not forget to grease or butter the tray. Then, add some flour (or breadcrumbs) and move it around in order for the flour to cover it well.

There is no need to leave gluten-free doughs to rest as there is no glutinic net that needs to rest.

Attention on dosage: even small amendments can completely vary the recipe.

Attention on xantham gum: too much of it can make the dough too hard, too little of it can make the dough unworkable. For instance, use as little as possible in the biscuit dough.