Ok sure I really just wanted to use the word soiree in a blog...it is just so sophisticated and classy. And I really did just have my first run in with a gluten free recipe. I have been aware of gluten free for awhile and I had always thought of it as meaning "wheat free." However, recently I started to notice more and more "gluten free" products and more "gluten free" recipes and I just wasn't so sure what it all meant so I did a little research.




Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye and malts. It is often found as a food additive, flavoring and thickening agent. And obviously it is found in most bread, cracker and pasta products. It is the substance that makes dough doughy and helps bread rise.  People who have celiac disease can not have gluten or their bodies react adversely to gluten...hence the influx of gluten free products hitting the market in order to accommodate this diet. There are also some people who just do not believe in eating products that contain gluten and they also subscribe to this diet.

So in this months issue of Everyday Food there was a recipe for Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread. It called for gluten free flour and I was curious as to how that tasted, whether or not it impacted the consistency and where I could even buy it. The buying part was easy as I found that most large grocery stores carry gluten free products. The recipe did also call for gluten free baking powder which I could not find. However, since I wasn't actually making the bread for anyone with an allergy I did sort of cheat...yes this is a confessional of sorts.

I just learned that gluten free flour is a blend of alternative flours like rice, tapioca and bean. I was impressed as the consistency is the same as all purpose flour and although it smelled a little nuttier it didn't seem extremely different, like using wheat flour. I didn't notice an extreme difference in the consistency of the dough and when I tasted the bread I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't excessively dense like wheat flour can be and it didn't add any strange after taste...I was happy with the taste of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg and the consistency just felt like pumpkin bread. Phew!!

Anyway this recipe was also really easy...which is as you know always beneficial for me. In a bowl mix the dry ingredients-flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. And in a mixer bowl cream the sugar and butter, adding the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and the flour mixture. Finally adding the buttermilk and the pumpkin.

Now the only minor mishap I had with this recipe involved the oven. I don't know if it was me, the pan or the gluten free flour, but my bread tended to rise kind of a lot...actually so much that some of it dripped over the pan and onto the bottom of the oven...hmm yes smoking up the entire house. It also rose so high that it touched the next rack of the oven and left some nice oven rack marks on the top of the bread. Everything I have read doesn't describe a correlation between gluten free flour and bread that takes over the oven like a B rated movie about the blob...so maybe it was just me.

Here is the recipe if you would like to try it: http://www.marthastewart.com/945741/pumpkin-bread

Anyway all and all I have to say I was impressed. I would definitely use gluten free flour again and I actually just found a recipe for gluten free jalapeno corn bread that might just be next on my list. Hope you are all having fun detoxing from Turkey Day-Cheers!!