When Life Gives You Lemons....Make Tabouleh!

Gluten free tabouleh??  Can't be done you say.... But that uses bulgur wheat you say.....  That can't possibly be made gluten free you say....  Well I say poppycock!

There are other grains besides wheat that work just dandy in cold salads.  Millet is one of them and one of my favorites!  I don't even remember where I first learned about cooking whole millet, but I buy it at the local Asian market.  Organic whole millet.  It's easy to cook - pretty much cooks up like brown rice.  In fact, I toss it in my rice cooker on the brown rice cycle and walk away....just walk away til the thing beeps and tells me it's done.

To get a nice nutty flavor, I toss the dry millet in a medium non-stick pan over medium heat and let it get all nice and toasty.  I start with a cup of millet.  Once it's toasted, toss it in the rice cooker bowl.  Add 1 3/4 cup of water or stock (chicken or veggie).  Add a pinch of salt and about a tablespoon of olive oil or butter.  Set it on brown rice and let 'er rip!  If you need to cook it on the stove, put the toasted millet, liquid, salt, and fat in a pot w/ a tight fitting lid.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat and put the lid one.  Simmer for 20 min.  Lift the lid and check to see if all the liquid has been absorbed.  If so, turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes.  If not, simmer for another 5 min and check again...rinse and repeat.

Once the millet is cooked and done with the 10 min steam, unlid it, drizzle on a little more olive oil, then fluff it.  If I'm serving it as a side dish, I'm done!  If I'm using in a salad, I set it aside to allow it to cool more.

Millet Tabouleh

Makes a lot!

1 cup whole millet
1 3/4 cup water or stock (chicken or veggie)
1 Tbsp olive oil or butter/margarine
1/2 tsp salt
3 medium tomatoes, finely diced
1 medium cucumber, finely diced
1 large bunch parsley, minced
2 lemons, juiced
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Cook millet according to above directions.  When done steaming, drizzle on a little more olive oil and allow to cool.  I stir it occasionally to help the process go faster.

Meanwhile, dice the veggies and mince the parsley.  Toss all of that in a large mixing bowl along with the lemon juice, olive oil, and S&P  Go easy on the salt for now.

Once the millet is mostly cooled, add it to the marinating veggies.  Toss to combine.  If it's too dry, add a little more oil.  Taste and adjust for S&P.

That's it!  This makes a great side dish and will keep in the fridge for several days.  I usually like to make this at least an hour before serving so the flavors can meld.  Bring to room for serving to bring out the flavors.

Dairy & Egg Free Baking

How it all began.....

I'm resurrecting a write up that I did for my local cake club a while back.   This was included in a fundraiser cookbook that we sold.  It is a compilation of various substitutes and strategies for baking dairy and egg free.  New brands of things like non-dairy yogurt and soy free margarines have come on the market since this was written.

Dairy

In recipes, dairy usually comes in the form of liquid (or powdered) milk, butter, sour cream, yogurt and cream cheese.  There are many substitutes and replacement for all of these things.

Cow’s milk is composed of about 85% water.  The other 15% is a combination of milk sugar (lactose), two main kinds of protein (whey and casein), fat and a combination of salts that add flavor but also promote protein coagulation in eggs.  Dairy in baked goods provides moisture, tenderness, emulsifiers and a preservative against staling.

In general, liquid dairy (cow’s milk) can be replaced 1:1 w/ liquid soy or rice milk.  There are lots more options these days also.  Unsweetened So Delicious coconut beverage is one of my go-to choices.  If you can have nuts, almond milk is great in baked goods.

Another alternative is a product called Dari Free which is a powder that needs to be reconstituted w/ water.  If you are not able to find this locally, it can be ordered on-line.  It is dairy, soy and rice free – based on potato maltodextrin and corn based crystalline fructose.   In addition to Dari Free, there are also powdered rice and soy milks that can be used to replace powdered milk.  Powdered milk can also often be replaced w/ sweet rice flour (mochiko) or ground almond meal.

All of these alternatives are lower in fat and protein than whole milk, but are generally sufficient in most baking recipes. These lower fat alternatives will not work if the recipe is relying on the fat content (such as whipped cream).  When a “heavier” dairy product is called for, sometimes full fat coconut milk makes reasonable substitute.

Most milk alternatives will change the taste and possibly color of a baked good.  Sometimes they will also change the texture which will be less tender.  Most milk alternatives tend to be rather sweet and not as neutral as cow’s milk.  Most tend to have a tan or “off” color in light colored dishes and baked goods.

Buttermilk is an acidulated dairy product.  It provides a tart flavor and often the acid component is used to activate baking soda in a recipe.  To make a buttermilk substitute, place 1 Tbsp of vinegar or other acid (lemon juice works) in a measuring cup and fill to the 1 cup line with whatever milk alternative you prefer.  Stir and allow to sit for 5 minutes before using.

Butter can be usually be substituted w/ a dairy free margarine.  Many (if not most) margarines are not dairy free and contain some form of whey or milk solids.  Look for a margarine that is marked Kosher Parve.  When substituting margarine for butter, be sure to use a high fat content margarine.  Do not use “light” or whipped tub margarines as these are too high in water content and will not work well for baking.  My favorite dairy free margarines for baking are Nucoa sticks and Saffola Unsalted sticks.  These are both based on hydrogenated soy oils.  There are other dairy free margarines out there.

Dairy and soy free margarines are very difficult to find.  There is margarine that is made Kosher for Passover that is generally available in the spring that based on hydrogentated cottonseed oils.  These margarines are dairy, soy, corn and gluten free due to the restrictions at Passover.  These can be very difficult to find out of season.  These margarines freeze very well and can be stockpiled in the spring.  They come in both salted and unsalted versions.  Again, you want the sticks for baking and not the tubs.

There is also a version of Earth Balance that is dairy and soy free, but it does have corn based natural flavors and pea protein which is an issue for some.

Yogurt – there are many soy yogurts out there and generally, an unflavored yogurt can directly replace dairy yogurt in a recipe.  Be aware, that some soy yogurts still contain trace amounts of dairy because they contain cultures that were grown on dairy.

Sour Cream – there a number of soy based sour cream substitutes available.  Be sure to look for one that does not contain any dairy.  A good one to use if you can use soy is Tofutti brand.

Cream Cheese – Tofutti makes a good soy cream cheese substitute.  This will even work in cheesecakes.  It is rather expensive though compared to dairy cream cheese.
Daiya now makes a dairy and soy free cream cheese, but it is not as smooth as Tofutti.

Eggs

Egg is a complex combination of fat, protein, and water.  They play many roles in baked goods which often make them difficult to substitute.  Eggs provide structure, moisture, leavening and emulsifiers to a batter.  The egg white is mostly water and a lot of protein along w/ a few vitamins, minerals and some sulfur.  The egg yolk contains all of the egg’s fat, cholesterol, phospholipids, and the emulsifier lecithin.  The yolk also contains some water and proteins.

To effectively replace eggs in a recipe, it is important to determine what their major role is in the batter.  In the majority of baked goods, eggs provide moisture, leavening, and some structure as a binder or emulsifier.  Egg whites in a batter generally provide more protein structure.  Egg yolks provide fats and emulsifiers to keep things more moist.

In batters based on egg foam, it is nearly impossible to replace the protein structure and leavening power of the egg whites.  Sometimes these can be reworked w/ gelatin to provide the foam structure.  Eggs provide gelling power and are difficult to replace in low flour/flourless recipes such as brownies and flourless chocolate cakes.  These generally do not work w/ any type of egg replacer.   You wind up w/ a bubbly brownie soup that has no structure.  There are some tried and true vegan brownie recipes out there that do work, but they tend to produce a drier, cakey type brownie and not fudgy, chewy one.

There are many different egg replacer concoctions, but there is no universal egg replacement that works for everything.

EnerG Egg Replacer – this is a commercial product that comes as a dry powder.  It’s a combination of starch, gums, and leavening agents.  The directions on the box call for 1 ½ tsp of powder plus 2 Tbsp water mixed to replace 1 egg.  I have found that it works better by doubling the amount of powder used per egg.  Use a rounded Tbsp of powder to 2 Tbsp of water per egg.  This product works when replacing 1 or 2 eggs in a recipe.  Replacing 3 or more eggs is not recommended.  Egg replacer w/ cake mixes is not always predictable.  It will work in some, but not others.  The only way to know it to try it.  I have found that Egg Replacer generally produces a drier, gummier product.  Adding a little extra oil can sometimes help this.

Applesauce – this is a good egg replacer when eggs are needed to provide moisture in a baked good.  This works well in heavy batters such as quick breads and cookies.  A neutral tasting, unsweetened applesauce will have the least effect on the taste.  I have found that using ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce plus ½ tsp baking powder works very well in most applications.  I have found that this combination provides a good source of moisture and the natural fruit pectin seems to work well for the structure.  In cake batters, this works very well in recipes that call for cake flour.  It can sometimes get heavy and gooey w/ recipes calling for AP flour. 

Fruit Purees – other fruit purees such as pear sauce, prune puree, apricot puree, pumpkin and banana can also be used to replace eggs.  These work best in quick breads and cookies.  These will affect the taste, so be sure to choose one that will compliment the flavor the baked good.  Use ¼ cup fruit puree or 1 small banana per egg.

Baking powder, oil, and water – this concoction consisting of 1 ½ tsp oil, 1 ½ tsp water, and 1 - 2 tsp baking powder works well for recipes where the egg is mainly there for leavening.  This concoction works well in cookies.  I have found that this does not work well in cake mixes that call for oil.  Since there are no emulsifiers or proteins, the final product tends to be very heavy and greasy. 

Gelatin – mix 2 tsp of gelatin w/ 1 cup of water, bloom then bring to a boil and allow to cool.  Use 3 ½ tsp of this mixture to replace 1 egg.  This concoction works very well when the eggs provide structure and binding in a recipe.  This works very well in gluten free baked goods to provide structure and hold moisture.  This concoction does not provide much leavening.  Regular animal based gelatin can be used or Kosher/vegetable based gelatins.

Flax seed goo – a mixture of 1 Tbsp ground flax seeds combined w/ 3 Tbsp of water is used to replace 1 egg.  Flax seeds go rancid very easily and should be stored in the fridge or freezer.  It is best to buy whole seeds and grind them as needed in a coffee or spice grinder.  Flax has a lot of lipids and proteins that works well as binding agents and emulsifiers. 

Tofu – ¼ cup of whipped soft tofu will substitute for 1 egg.  This works well in recipes where the egg is providing a lot of the moisture.  Be sure to whip or puree this to avoid any lumps in the final product.

What's For Dinner?

There are two phrases I'd like stricken from the English language - "Hey mom!" and "What's for dinner?"  For the first one, I just keep threatening to change my name....but they still manage to find me and bug me for something.  But "what's for dinner?" makes me want to run screaming some days.  Seriously, I just fed you people yesterday!  What do you mean I have to do it again today??

Usually, I've forgotten to pull something out of the freezer, so I grab some chunk and pitch it into the sink into a bowl of water to thaw.  Now to figure out what to have with it. Rice?? No, we had that last night.  Pasta??  Nope, forgot to pick up more gluten free pasta. Do we have potatoes?? Score!  Spuds it is!  Ugh, now I have to figure out how to cook them.  Mashed? No gravy. Fried? That's a possibility. Baked?  No time for that! Roasted?  Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!

Pan roasted potatoes is one of my favorite ways to make potatoes.  I often add some carrots in there for yummy sweetness.  There are countless variations to seasoning them, so you can tailor them to just about anything.

Pan Roasted Potatoes

Potatoes - I like to use thin skinned, waxy potatoes.  White, gold, red skinned, purple.....or a combination is great. You can use Russets if that's all you have, but go put waxy potatoes on your store list!

Additions - Roasted carrots are delish.  Da girl can't eat raw carrots anymore due to Oral Allergy Syndrome - raw fruits and veggies cross react with pollens and cause an itchy mouth.  But she can eat them cooked.  Sometimes I add whole peeled garlic cloves.  Minced garlic tends to burn. Onion wedges roast well too.  You want things that you can have in similar sized pieces that will cook in the same amount of time.

Acid - Just a splash of vinegar.....red wine vinegar adds a nice tang.  Balsamic adds some sweetness.  Lemon juice complements seasonings like dill.

Seasoning - Salt is a must, but after that, pretty much anything goes!  Spices work better than dried herbs which have a tendency to burn.  Some good choices are any variety of seasoning salt, grill rubs, chili powder, or even garlic bread seasoning.  I often replicate whatever flavors I'm using on the meat.

Oil - I usually just use my regular olive oil.  This is going to be baked at a high temp, so don't use anything with a really low smoke point.  Infused oils can add another dimension of flavor.

Prep your spuds

 

I have this nifty waffle cutter that works great for this.  You get lots of surface area and crispy edges.  But a knife works too. Larger potatoes can be sliced or cubed. Small marble or fingerling potatoes can just be cut in half or quarters.

Cut other veggies into similar sized pieces.  I'm adding carrots here and giving them the same waffle cut,

Chuck everything in a bowl and add your acid, seasoning and oil of choice.  How much??  Just eyeball it.  A tablespoon or so of acid, a couple tablespoons of oil, a couple teaspoons of seasoning. Toss it all together.  You can leave it marinate for a bit if you've got time.  I usually don't.  But sometimes when I've actually planned ahead, I'll do this prep first and then work on getting the rest of dinner going.  They are better if the seasoning have a chance to soak in a bit.

Spread everything out on a parchment lined tray.  I love parchment!  It saves so much on cleanup.  Don't have any??  Drizzle a bit of extra oil on the pan before dumping things on.  If there is a lot of marinade in the bowl, try to avoid dumping all the liquid on the pan.  It will just burn.

Oh, and you've remembered to turn your oven on to 375F, right?  No?? Well, go do it now!  Bake time is going to depend on how big your pieces are.  Small cubes or halved marble potatoes may be done in as little as 20 minutes.  Larger pieces may take 40 minutes or more.  Set a timer for 15 minutes when you first put them in the oven and check their progress then.  You should be able to judge how far along they are. I have to set timers or I forget to check things!

But, I already have another part of dinner in the oven at a different temperature, you say! That's fine...these are pretty forgiving.  I've roasted them as low as 325F and as high as 425F.  You have to keep a closer eye on them at higher temps as they can burn more quickly.  If using a higher temp, try to put the pan toward the bottom of the oven, under whatever else is in there.  I find this seems to shield them from the heat a little more.

You can toss them around on the tray when you check them at the 1 min mark.  I have a hard time leaving stuff be and one side of my oven seems hotter than the other.  So tossing them around and turning my tray keeps things baking evenly.

Everything will be yummy, golden brown, and delicious!  The spuds and veggies should be soft.  Try not to burn your mouth sampling a piece....you do have to make sure they are properly done.

Tonight's dinner was roasted chicken breasts, pan roasted potatoes and carrots, and a salad.  Now, what am going to make tomorrow when I hear "what's for dinner?"

Cracking Up!

Being gluten free, one thing I really miss is saltines. I used to eat them just plain....or maybe with butter spread on them. Because, ya know, butter makes everything better. I want a cracker that can stand alone. Simple, but flavorful. Sure, there are gluten free crackers out there, but none are quite a saltine.  I'm not a fan of the crunchy rice crackers. That's more of a texture thing - it's just not what I'm looking for. There are others that are closer to what I'm craving, but most have egg in them that I need to avoid.

Back in the day, when da boy was allergic to wheat, I tackled crackers. People thought I was crackers when I'd tell them I was making my own crackers.  Yeah, I made cereal bits too out of gluten free graham cracker dough. There were times when even I questioned my own sanity. I came across a converted version of King Arthur Flour's Traditional Soda Crackers made with a gluten free brown rice flour blend on a celiac newsgroup. Newsgroups - there's a blast from the past!  Of course I had to first tweak the flour blend to remove the cornstarch ....sigh.... nothing is ever easy when dealing with multiple allergies.  But that flour blend became one of my favorites and is really quite versatile.  I would make regular salt top crackers and garlic crackers.  The kids loved them and would down half a tray before they were even completely cooled.  These are crispy and crunchy and buttery.  Still not quite a saltine, but they fit the bill for me. They are not terribly difficult, although take a bit of time.  So worth it if you really miss yummy crackers.

Today, I was craving crackers....and then I spotted the package of Penzey's Pizza Seasoning sitting on the counter.  Hmmm.....pizza flavored crackers??  Oh, yeah!  There went my day!

Gluten Free Soda Crackers

1 1/2 cups  KathyP's Brown Rice Flour Mix (174g)

Ignore the dough hook in the picture - you won't "knead" it.  My original method used it, but you can do all the mixing with the paddle attachment.

2 tsp            instant yeast
1/2 tsp         salt
1/4 tsp         baking soda
1/4 tsp         cream of tartar
2/3 cup        hot water (120°F to 130°F)
1/2 tsp         brown rice syrup (or 1 tsp sugar)
2 Tbsp         coconut oil (or shortening) (28g)

2 Tbsp         butter or margarine (28g)

                    salt, seeds, or other topping

In the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine 1 cup of the flour mix, yeast, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar.  Set this on "stir" to combine.

In heatproof measuring cup, combine hot water, coconut oil, butter/margarine, and the brown rice syrup.   Stir until the fats melt.  Add the wet works to dry and mix well to combine.  Put the mixer on medium low speed for a minute.

Scrape down the paddle and bowl.  Add remaining 1/2 cup flour and beat on medium for 3 to 4 minutes.  This is where I added 1/2 tsp pizza seasoning to the dough. This will not look a wheat based dough. It will just be sort of a jiggly mass.  You will surely think it's way too wet, but trust me, it's fine.

Drizzle about 1/2 tsp oil into a zip top quart freezer bag.  Squish it around to coat the inside of the bag.  Scrape the dough out of the mixer bowl and place in oiled bag.  Form dough into a rectangle in the bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  You can even do this overnight.   It won’t rise much.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425F. 

What you need for this part are several sheets of parchment that fit your baking sheets, a rolling pin, a fork, and some sort of cutter.  A pizza wheel works well here.  Avoid using a knife since that is likely to cut through the parchment.  I use a antique fluted brass cutter that was my great grandmother's. My grandmother passed it down to me and it makes me think of her every time I use it.  She had the patience of Job when us kids would "help" her bake!






Slit the bag open and divide the dough into half or thirds depending on the size of your baking sheets. I use half sheet pans (13" x 18") and divide my dough in half.  Transfer a portion of the dough to a well floured piece of parchment paper (or Silpat).  

Sprinkle with more flour mix and place another piece of parchment on top. Roll dough into a large rectangle about 1/16-inch thick. It's a good idea to keep lifting up the top parchment to make sure nothing is sticking.  Dust with more flour as needed. This stuff is wet and sticky - flour is your friend here.

Fold the dough in from the short ends to make three layers (like folding a letter). This is where it's handy to have a bench scraper or you can just use the parchment like a shirt folder to flop the ends over.





Roll out again, as thin as you can get it making sure the dough is even. Try not to roll over the edges too much as they will get too thin. Remove the top sheet of parchment. I can get even thickness, but I can never get a nice rectangle!  Oh, well, I actually like the jagged edge crackers - I don't feel bad about sampling those as they cool.

Prick the dough all over with a fork. Sprinkle crackers lightly with salt , seeds, or other seasoning if desired. For my pizza crackers, I mixed up 1/2 tsp Kosher salt, 1/4 tsp pizza seasoning, and 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast.  Press salt/seeds lightly into dough with your fingers. 

Cut into squares using a pizza or pastry cutter. I just cut freehand, but if your OCD starts twitching over that, then use a straight edge. Be extra careful if you are doing this directly on a Silpat. Carefully transfer parchment to baking sheet.

Repeat w/ remaining dough.

Bake crackers in a preheated oven for 12 to 18 minutes, depending on the thickness and size of the crackers. Crackers will be lightly browned. Turn off the oven. Separate crackers on the trays.  They will have shrunk slightly, so just separate any that are still touching.  Return pans to oven and prop open the door.  Leave pans in oven for 20 min to finish drying/crisping.    

Remove from baking sheet and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Stand guard to smack hands that will try to snitch crackers! Store in an airtight container if there are any left!  Enjoy your crackers!

Kathy P's "All Purpose" Brown Rice Flour Mix

I've learned that there really is no "all purpose" flour mix when it comes to gluten free baking.  For a lot of my recipes, I just measure out individual flours and starches.  That way each application can be customized with the flours and starches that work best.  Bread doesn't work with the same combination as cookies.

I do have a couple blends that I keep on hand.  One is a light blend of equal parts rice and 2 parts  starches.  I usually use potato and cornstarch these days, but when we were avoiding corn, I used potato and tapioca.  I don't use this mix a lot anymore, and if I do, I'm adding it to another heavy flour like sorghum.

One blend that I've been using for a long time that does work in a lot of places is this brown rice flour blend.  I came across it on a celiac newsgroup way back when.  I don't even remember what newsgroup.  I had to modify the blend to remove the cornstarch and all I have anymore is my handwritten recipe card. This blend works well in cookies and muffins.  It's not as gritty as most other rice flour blends.  It seems complicated since it uses a lot of different flours and starches, but they all do play well together and give a nice texture.  This blend is the basis for my Yankee Doodle Biscuits and GF Soda Crackers.  It's my go to blend for most cookies too, especially shortbread type cookies.  This blend already has xanthan gum in it, so usually you can omit any called for in recipes.  You will definitely be seeing more recipes using it.

Kathy P's Brown Rice Flour Mix (116 g/cup)

This makes about 4 1/4 cups, but I usually scale it up and make a quadruple batch.

1 cup (120g)        brown rice flour
1 1/2 cup (180g)  white rice flour
1/4 cup (36g)       potato starch
2/3 cup (70g)       tapioca starch
3/4 cup ( 81g)      sweet rice flour (Mochiko)
1/3 cup (36g)       arrowroot starch
2 tsp                     xanthan gum

Mix together thoroughly and store in an airtight container.  Give it a stir before using.

Yankee Doodle Biscuits

I'm a Yankee...I was born and raised north of the Mason Dixon line.  I know about pretzels and scrapple.  Biscuits were not a staple at our house.  The rare times that we did have biscuits, they were Bisquick "drop biscuits" or pucks that exploded out of a cardboard tube.  So, why is a Northern girl talking about biscuits?? Because I figured out how to rock those babies!  They may not hold a candle to your Southern grandma's buttermilk biscuits, but I bet she's not making gluten, dairy, and egg free ones. These come out flaky and wonderful and are still better than any biscuit I ever had as a kid!

This recipe started out as a tweak to Alton Brown's "healthier" biscuit recipe that used part whole wheat flour.  I had modified it way back when to make it dairy and corn free.  I used part all-purpose flour and part whole wheat pastry flour.  When I decided to tackle it gluten free, I figured I could start with my brown rice flour mix and be able to lighten that up a bit with more starch to emulate the lower protein flour blend.  I chose cornstarch since that adds nicely to the texture and there is not already cornstarch in the flour mix.  If you can't use corn, swap it out for another starch.

I stumbled on to a number of tricks as I was perfecting this recipe.....

• Treat it gently - Even though there is no gluten to activate, you still need to handle this as little and as gently as possible.  If you go all gangbusters, you will wind up with tough biscuits.  Pat it out gently. Use a pastry blender for all the mixing to avoid transferring the heat of your hands to the dough.

• Uniformity is not your friend - When cutting in the fat, you want to leave some pieces larger than others.  Don't work it until everything is "coarse meal".  This goes along with....

• Flip and fold - This brilliant little trick dawned on me as I was looking at puff pastry methods where you work the fat in by wrapping dough around a block of butter then begin a process to fold and roll thus building up layers of flour and fat.  In the heat of the oven, those layers of fat will melt bathing the flour to create lovely flaky layers.  Leaving some larger pieces of fat and doing a couple quick folds really makes these biscuits flaky.  Don't skip this step!

• Invest in a scale - I've converted over to weighing out my flours since even slight variations can effect the outcome of gluten free baking.  It's really worth the $30 investment for a scale.  But I've included volume measurements for the scale impaired.

Yankee Doodle Biscuits

154g       Brown Rice Flour Mix
                    (1 1/2 cups) - see below
64g         cornstarch ( 1/2 cup)
1 Tbsp    baking powder
1 tsp       salt
1/2 cup   cold butter or margarine, cubed
3/4 cup   cold milk alternative
                   (I use unsweetened So Delicious
                     Coconut)







Preheat oven to 425F.


Measure out the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  Cut fat (butter or margarine) into cmall cubes using a sharp knife.

Using a pastry blender, cut in the fat.  Don't overdo this; leave some larger pieces.

Pour the milk alternative in and, using the pastry blender, gently mix until you have a soft dough.  This may seem a bit wet, but that's OK. Dust your counter liberally with flour mix and dump out the contents of the bowl.

Using your hands, gently gather everything up and pat it together into a rectangle. Don't be afraid to dust with extra flour as needed. This actually helps maintain the layers of dough.  Fold 1/3 over the center, then fold over the other side.

Give it a quarter turn and gently pat out into a rectangle again.  Liberally sprinkle with flour to make sure nothing is sticking to the counter or to your hands. Repeat the folding, then pat out to rectangle again.  This time, pat it out evenly to about a thickness of 1/2".

Cut out using a floured cutter.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet about an inch apart.

Gather up the scraps and gently pat it back together.  This is a bit tricky as you need to smoosh it together enough so it doesn't just fall apart, but not so much as you loose your layers.  Cut out as many more biscuits as you can.

I generally do one more gather, pat, and cut.  Those last scraps, I just gather up and pat into a round.  That becomes my "cook's treat".  You only get nice flaky layers when you have a clean cut on the edges.  So, that last one that is just patted together and doesn't have cut edges will not puff up as nicely.  That's OK - that one's mine!  That's the one I get to eat as soon as they come out of the oven.  The one I get to eat with no guilt!  See that one on the lower left??  That has my name all over it!





Bake biscuits for 12-15 minutes depending on size.  This is the perfect time to brew yourself a pot of tea and decide on butter or jam.









Because they are gluten free, they will only get slightly golden.  Allow to cool a few minutes before serving.  If you won't be serving them immediately, transfer to a cooling rack to keep them from getting soggy on the bottom.  Nobody likes soggy bottoms.

Don't they look fabulous??  Check out those flaky layers!  Yes, those ARE really gluten free!  Enjoy your cook's treat with your tea and jam of choice.  I'm having mine with butter and my grandmother's peach butter....because at her house, we were allowed to have butter AND jelly! That's my last jar.....I'll have to make a batch before peaches are completely out of season!  Unfortunately, I had to share this one with my photographer......next time, I'm baking while the kids are in school!

Brown Rice Flour Mix (116 g/cup)

This is one of my go-to flour mixes that I keep on hand.  It works well cup for cup in cookies and muffins.  It already has xanthan gum in it, so usually you can omit any called for in recipes.  This makes 4 1/4 cups, but I usually scale it up and make a quadruple batch.

1 cup (120g)        brown rice flour
1 1/2 cup (180g)  white rice flour
1/4 cup (36g)       potato starch
2/3 cup (70g)       tapioca starch
3/4 cup ( 81g)      sweet rice flour (Mochiko)
1/3 cup (36g)       arrowroot starch
2 tsp                     xanthan gum

Mix together thoroughly and store in an airtight container.  Give it a stir before using.