Top 8-Free Muffins/Bread

It has come to my attention that there are some folks out there who are reallyreallyreally missing bread products. You just think they'll always be there for you and then all of a sudden, WHAMMO! Food allergies. Or Celiac Disease. Ugh.

This is a very flexible recipe for muffins/bread. The bread won't quite stick together well enough for a regular sandwich but I do like to use it for grilled sandwiches. The grilling kind of holds it together and then I use a fork to eat it so it's all good.

The prep on this is quite fast... maybe 10 minutes. (I'm slow.) And here's what one looked for a Thanksgiving dinner.

GF Muffins
1 cup rice flour
1 cup garbanzo bean flour
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum or about 1/2 tsp guar gum
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil (I usually use grapeseed but have also used olive)
2 eggs/egg sub (I use 1/2 cup applesauce. I suspect flax goo would be better, but it's an allergen at our house.)
1 cup rice milk (I use oat milk)

And here are flour subs I've tried. We are rice-free.

Blend #1: Bob's Red Mill GF all-purpose flour.
Didn't really like this one. The beany flavor was way too strong for me.

Blend #2: This blend was pretty good, with just a tiny bit of sweetness to it.
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup sweet white sorghum flour
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour

Blend #3: I also liked this one but maybe not quite as well.
1 cup oat flour
1 cup buckwheat flour

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and wet in another; mix each separately first. Combine wet ingredients with dry. Stir until well blended.

Add herbs/spices if you want...garlic, rosemary, basil, etc. I think it would be good with olive oil, rosemary and olives.

MUFFINS: Spoon mixture into muffin cups, bake at 350°F for 16-20 minutes.
BISCUITS: Drop batter directly onto cookie sheet, bake at 350°F for 16-20 minutes. These aren't very biscuity, really, I'd use the 'Buttermilk' Biscuit recipe instead.
BREAD: Pour mixture into greased bread pan, bake at 350°F for ?? (I didn't write down the timing...I'd try 40 minutes to start & go from there.)

In general, my feeling on this recipe is that you can use almost any combination of flours and you'll have a pretty reasonable muffin/bread. I will continue to play with this, as I think a person could come up with some really fabulous combinations. I look forward to hearing what you, friends/readers, come up with!

'Buttermilk' Biscuits

Top 8-free biscuits!! (maybe corn-free, too?)

I have been using this other recipe for top 8-free ‘biscuits.’ And although they’re pretty good, they’re much more muffin than biscuit. Which is fine, if you’re not so much in the mood for a biscuit. However. I’ve been on a restricted diet for about a year and a half now. My husband and sons go out for breakfast together each weekend day, usually to Burger King. And the leftovers they often bring home… those delicious, evil biscuits. I don’t usually see them so it’s no biggie, and I’m not even really a bread junkie. But, you know, it’s been a looooong time since I’ve had a biscuit. And it makes me crazy when I have to reheat them for my preschooler (who is really now capable of running the microwave himself, thankfully) and I have to smell the yummy egg-cheese-buttery-biscuity goodness that I can’t even sneak a tiny taste of or the baby will be up (screaming) that night.

As of today, I can have biscuits that are like biscuits!

Ohmygod. They were so yummy, it took all of my willpower to not just sit & eat the whole batch all in one sitting. I am not joking. And the ‘baby’ (he’s 21 months now so I should probably refer to him as the toddler) loved them, too. He kept pointing to where they were on the counter and ‘asking’ (he doesn’t talk much but makes little squeaky grunt noises) for them. I’m pleased to say we managed to save some so we can have them again tomorrow! :)

They are not exactly like regular biscuits, of course, but I wholeheartedly believe that this will be an amazing experience for many gluten-free or top 8-free eaters out there. The original recipe was apparently from www.recipezaar.com but I can’t locate it. It was passed along to me and now I’m passing it along to you. Enjoy!

'Buttermilk' Biscuits
1/2 cup potato starch
3/4 cup cornstarch or tapioca starch
1 3/4 tsp xanthan gum or 1 1/4 tsp guar gum
1 Tbs baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
1/3 cup cold butter/shortening, cut into 1/4-inch pieces or just under 1/4 cup of vegetable oil (These are absolutely divine with dairy-free butter grapeseed oil and I've also enjoyed them with garlic grapeseed oil as well.)
3/4 cup buttermilk (my sub: 3/4 cup oat milk with 2 tsp lemon juice)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or use a baking stone.

Put dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor. Process with six 1-second pulses. (I used a small-capacity food processor and found that it worked best if I let it run for several seconds all at once instead.)

Distribute butter/shortening or oil evenly over flour mixture. Cover and process with 12 1-second pulses. (See above about small-capacity machine.) Mixture should resemble coarse crumbs.

Pour buttermilk/milk sub evenly over crumb mixture. Process with eight 1-second pulses or until dough becomes a moist clump. The mix will start to rise very quickly at this point, so get it onto the pan as fast as you can.

Use your hands to plop dough onto pan in approximately 6-8 biscuits, handling dough as little as possible. (I believe this would also work well in a lightly greased muffin tin.) Dough will be very sticky.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. (Here at a mile high, I would suggest 15-17 minutes, to make sure the inside gets fully baked. To check for doneness: Insert a toothpick or knife and pull out. Biscuits are done when toothpick/knife comes out clean.)

Try not to eat the whole pan all in one sitting. ;)

Update: I've now made these without the food processor (I get so annoyed at having to wash extra items when they're not really needed) and it totally works. They don't seem to rise quite as much but that's a small price to pay for less cleanup, IMO. If you're a biscuit junkie connoisseur (and don't have two small children who are hard-pressed to allow you 5 minutes to yourself in the kitchen), you might evaluate that a different way than I do.

Also, feel free to swap the starches around. I'm sure there are differences depending on which ones you use in what proportions...but I usually just use whichever I have in various proportions and so far all versions have been yummy.