oliveoilandlemon

recipes for healthy living

Tag: baking

September 23, 2015

Multi Grain Gluten Free Bread

Multi Grain Gluten Free Bread

I love bread, my other half calls it my drug of choice, the trouble is I don’t work well with Wheat. Coupled with the intense memories I have of baking bread with my mum means that I find it very hard not to bake and eat bread. Hence my search for the perfect gluten free home made loaf. This is a good gluten free recipe, it makes a nice bread and is even nicer toasted and piled with lots of butter makes a lovely start to the day coupled with a really good coffee!. Note the 2 Tsp of salt in the recipe as I find that shop bought gluten free bread tends to be low on flavour.

Multi Grain Gluten Free Bread
Makes 1 Loaf
Oven at 200C

1 tsp each Chia and Flax Seeds
2fl oz boiling water
4oz oat flour (Ground oats)
4oz Ground almonds
21/2oz buckwheat flour
9oz Gluten free plain flour
1 tsp dried Milk powder
1 1/2 tsp dried Yeast
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 free range eggs
2 tbsp cider vinegar
8floz warm water

Stir the boiling water into the chia and flax seeds until they have formed a thick gel
Set aside
Add the flours, milk powder, sugar. salt. yeast into a bowl and whisk gently to aerate
Whisk the eggs with the vinegar gently
Pour the eggs into the flour, together with the seed gel, and the milk and stir to form a wet dough
pour into an oiled bowl, cover the bowl with cling and leave aside in a warm place to rise for 2 hours (it wont rise hugely so don’t be
disappointed!)
Shape into a loaf and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cover and leave for 30 minutes.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
This is delicious toasted and my favourite is with boiled eggs and Avocado.

3 Comments
February 6, 2015

Lemon & Raspberry cakes – a gluten free treat

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I have mentioned before how I love to bake and it is hotly debated topic in our house as to whether it is more important to have good flavour or whether the item in question is gluten free. Even when we are out and about, I see items touted as gluten free when to be quite honest you might as well be chewing a piece of cardboard. It is getting better out there but it is still my holy grail to try and bake the perfect gluten free bread.
So I’m delighted with this recipe – a perfect light cake, a delicious lemon flavour balanced by raspberries and gluten free treat! No hockey pucks with this one and any berries will work, even small pieces of chopped apple with some cinnamon would be a great alternative.

Lemon & Raspberry Loaves
Makes 12
Oven at 180C

9oz butter
4 1/2 oz caster sugar
6 1/2 oz Gluten free flour (you can use half gf flour and half polenta too)
3 oz ground almonds
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 large eggs
250 gr Raspberries
Lemon syrup made from juice of 1 lemon and 1 oz sugar

Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy
Beat in the eggs and flour alternating 1 egg with 1/3 of the flour
Beat in the ground almonds and the zest and juice of the lemon

Transfer to muffin or mini cake pan tins which have been greased and lightly floured
Press in 2 raspberries into each cake and bake for about 20 minutes until lightly golden and cooked through
While they are in the oven, dissolve the juice with the sugar
When the loaves are cooked, cool for about 5 minutes then remove from their tins and place on wire tray over a flat baking sheet.
Spoon the syrup over and leave them to full cooly

1 Comment
March 24, 2012

Chocolate Palmiers

Classic Palmiers are delicious flaky sugary layered puff pastry sheets. Needless to say they are not everyday eating in our house but I was curious about making puff pastry and thought I would give these a go. Chocolate Palmiers are the classic taken up a level with my addition of a melted dark chocolate layer. A real sweet treat and if you buy ready made puff pastry an easy way to produce these melting moments in minutes! The origin of these palmiers or elephant ears is thought to be France where, lets face it all the best pastries seem to come from. Buy the best puff pastry you can, made only with real butter and roll it out as thin as you can. I did make my own but have filed the experience away under the ‘life is too short category’. While my palmiers weren’t the most beautiful looking they were really tasty with my favourite cup of Has Bean coffee… and remember – don’t eat them all!.. Im bringing these to my gymnastics class as a reward for all our hard work twirling around bars and leaping across floors!


1 sheet puff pastry
4oz granulated sugar for sprinkling
3 oz good quality dark chocolate melted

Sprinkle a thin layer of sugar on the counter top and roll out the pastry to a rectangle slightly less than 5mm thick using the sugar instead of flour to roll it on.
Fold one edge to reach the centre of the pastry sheet and repeat on the other side
Press lightly to seal, sprinkle with some more of the sugar and roll out the pastry once again to be the same size as previously
Using a palette knife and working quickly spread the melted chocolate over the pastry right to the edge
Once again fold one edge to reach the centre of the pastry sheet and repeat on the other side and press lightly using the rolling pin to seal.
To make the palmier shape you repeat the above folding but don’t use the rolling pin to seal, instead using a sharp knife cut into 1cm slices, Clean the knife between each cut.
Lay these on a baking sheet leaving room for them to spread.

ready for the oven
Chill for 15 minutes and then cook in hot oven (220C) cut side down for about 12 minutes until they are puffed and golden and all melted chocolatey. Watch them cos they are full of sugar and will burn easily – when they are ready, transfer to a wire rack to cool and enjoy!

8 Comments
February 26, 2012

Cranberry muffins with natural yoghurt and treacle

We dont buy many (if any) baked goods in our house. If you bake them yourself, at least you can guarantee the quality of the ingredients you use and be aware of how much sugar has gone into something and therefore when to stop eating (after 1!) Its also a great way to pass a morning with my little one as she recites ‘eggs come from chickens’,’flour comes from the farmer’ and so on while making a big mess and having lots of fun

This Gluten free flour muffin works really well, they rise, the result is nice and soft not like some of my former bullet experiments and they are lovely and moist and dark from the treacle.

70gr unrefined dark brown sugar
4oz unsalted butter
1 egg beaten
350ml Natural Yoghurt
4oz gluten free white flour mix
1/2 tsp bread soda
1/4 tsp salt
4oz dried cranberries (or raisins)
3 tbsp treacle or 2 tbsp molasses
3 tbsp mixed milled seeds

Preheat oven to 200C (180 fan)
Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy

Add egg, yoghurt and treacle and beat until incorporated
In separate bowl mix flour, salt, soda, cranberries and milled seeds

Pour batter into the dry ingredients and mix gently until incorporated.
Try not overmix as it will be quite thick but you dont want to work it very much
Pour into muffin or bun cases.
Makes about 20 bun case size or 12 muffin size
Bake for 15-20 minutes until they spring back under the touch

1 Comment
January 29, 2012

Brownies but not as you know them….


A visit to the National Gallery filled the day today, the building is being renovated and we have a small child in tow so a short visit is necessary, a visit to see the best assembled into one exhibition- Masterpieces from the Collection. There are loads of memories for me on those walls stretching back as far as primary school when we were taken in on school trips to see the paintings. Eva loved any pictures with the ‘baby Jesus’ in them and I had my breath taken away (again) by Caravaggio’s ‘The Taking of Christ’. Lunch in the restaurant disappointed though, room is great, shame about the food.
Home through the lasing rain ..the leftovers from a roast chicken made the perfect food for a day like today. .. hot Thai curry with rice and crispy shallots. In the meantime I filled the house with the smells of home baking because what else do you do when the rain pours. Homemade Granola to keep us going during the week, Coconut and Lime roulade for a party tomorrow and best of all, Brownies with Peanut butter icing.
Brownie Cookies with peanut butter frosting
Preheat oven to 180C
350gr good chocolate chopped
40gr butter
2 eggs
100gr sugar
1 tsp vanilla
40 gr flour – I used dove gluten free white flour mix
¼ tsp baking powder

Melt 200gr of the chocolate with the butter gently and stir until smooth
Place eggs, sugar and vanilla into mixer and whisk until pale and creamy – about 10 mins
Fold in sieved flour, baking powder
Stir in melted chocolate mix and remaining chocolate
Spoon tablespoons onto baking trays lined with parchment
Bake for about 8 minutes until puffed and cracked. Make sure not to overbake as it needs to be lovely and gooey

For the peanut butter frosting beat 5 tablespoons of peanut butter with 100gr icing sugar and 40mls cream together until thick. Sandwich the biscuits together and enjoy sparingly after a really long walk in the rain, a trek up a mountain or a good workout!

4 Comments
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