I make - Corn Tortilla

First time making corn tortilla for tacos tonight. Worked out marvelously. 

Corn tortilla

1 cup pre-cooked corn meal such as PAN (I used white corn version)
2 tsp ground flaxseeds
1/2 tsp salt
1 ~ 1 1/4 cup water

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir in water 1/4 cup at a time to the flour bowl. Knead the dough a few times when most of the water is in. I find a gloved or wet hand helpful. Depending on where you live, you may need more or less of the specified water. Your aim is to obtain one cohesive and nonsticky dough ball. Rest the dough for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Flatten each piece and roll out to a circle of 16-cm. It's easier to do that between two sheets of cling film or baking paper. The dough will be thin. Dry roast each tortilla in a skillet on medium heat until it starts to puff. Remove the tortilla to a plate. Cover with a tea towel when you roast the next. 

I make - Gluten-Free Oat (Quick) Bread

Another quick bread. Although I have made quick bread several times, it's always a mix of flour and oats. This time, it's only oats. And it seems to be the recipe behind the tradition Irish Porridge Loaf. Because the main ingredient is oats, you can smell its distinctive sweetness coming out while and after baking. I like it very much.

There are several version floating on the internet but the idea is to use twice as much oats as yogurt (by volume). The actual weight of oats varies from one recipe to another. But this recipe is quite lenient. Just adjust the thickness of the batter with extra liquid. You can't go wrong.

Gluten-Free Oat Bread

320 g gluten-free porridge oats (roughly 4 cups), roughly ground*

1 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 T brown sugar
1/4 cup chia seeds (or other mixed seeds and nuts, optional)
500 g (2 cups) plain yogurt
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven at 180C. Grease and line a 2-lb loaf tin.

Combine roughly ground oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and chia seeds if using. Mix well. Stir in plain yogurt and egg. Stir to create a well-mixed dough. The dough will be thick but make sure to mix in all dry ingredients. If the batter is too thick, add one tablespoon of milk in at a time until there are no dry crumbs left at the bottom of the bowl.

Pour the batter into the lined loaf tin. Smooth the top and cut a line in the middle. Bake at 180C for 45-50 minutes. Turn the tin 180 degrees half way in. You may wish to cover the top with tin foil if it darkens too quickly. When the bread is baked, an inserted toothpick will come out clean.

Remove the bread from the oven and cool completely before slicing.

*It's my personal preference to grind the oats scruffily. If you prefer more chunky texture, leave this step out.

I make - Applesauce Gingerbread

This applesauce quick bread is really a good base for adaption. This time I changed the spice and added molasses. The ginger and molasses combo is just irresistible! 

Applesauce Gingerbread

1 cup (100 g) porridge oats
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup (140 g) gluten-free flour (your favorite blend)*
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 tbsps brown sugar (or up to 1/4 cup for sweet taste)
1/4 cup molasses
a scant 1/4 cup (50ml) plain Greek yogurt (10% protein, 0% fat works fine)
2 tbsps vegetable oil

Soak porridge oats with applesauce for an hour. I find that soaking the porridge oats in advance brings out better texture. If you are in rush, you can skip the soaking stage.

Preheat the oven at 180C. Grease and line a loaf tin.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt. Stir until well combined and set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until slightly frothy. Add brown sugar, molasses, 50 ml Greek yogurt and vegetable oil. Stir until well combined. Stir in the porridge oats and applesauce mixture. This is your wet bowl.

Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet bowl and stir until just combined. Do not overmix. If the batter seems a bit dry (i.e. extra flour at the bottom of the bowl), add more Greek yogurt, one tablespoon at a time. Batter will be thick and lumpy – this is fine. 

Pour batter into prepared loaf tin and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until top is set and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Check at 40 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow bread to cool in the pan for 20 minutes before removing and setting on a wire rack to cool completely.

*My blend is: 25% white rice + 25% millet + 30% buckwheat + 20% tapioca

I make - Lazy-Day Orange Cranberry Scones

This has slowly become my favorite method of quick scones. Different from last time, I brushed the top with egg yolk for more color and changed to orange and cranberry combo. Buttery with a warming orange scent, reminds me of our trip to Seville, one of my favorite cities.

Lazy-Day Orange Cranberry Scones

Zest from one orange
1/2 cup dried cranberries, soaked in juice from the zested orange

280 g/2 cups gluten-free flour (your favorite blend)*
1/2 tsp xanthan gum (if your blend does not have it)

1 tbsp baking powder
a scant 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsps icing sugar
1.5 cup whipping cream (35% fat minimum)

One beaten egg yolk to brush the top
extra flour to mould the scones

Preheat the oven at 200C. Line a rectangular baking pan. Soak the cranberries with the zest and the orange juice. Overnight is better or at least a few hours.

Combine flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Pour in whipping cream. Stir a few times to hydrate the flour. Drain the cranberries and keep the liquid. Add the drained cranberries to the dough and fold them in until no liquid is seen. The dough is sticky and thick. A rubber spatula and a flexible scraper are helpful. If the dough seems a bit dry, add some soaking liquid in.

Use an ice cream scoop to portion out the scones onto a baking pan. Don't press the dough too tightly in the scoop. Once the scone is "dropped" onto the baking pan, use floured hands/fingers to pat it to a traditional scone shape. Repeat the process until you use up all the dough. I get 11 scones out of this. 

Paper cup option: if you don't want your scones to spread too much (not a problem for me), put them in paper cup cases. 

Brush each scone top with egg yolk and bake for 18-20 minutes. Turn the baking pan half way through. When the scones are out of oven, brush more butter on top. Let cool for 20 minutes and enjoy!

*My blend is: 40% Sorghum + 30% Sweet Rice + 30% Potato Starch. It turned out that I don't like this particular blend. This blend bakes out gooey and not crisp for me. Very odd. I will switch to my usual blend next time.

I make - Applesauce Oat Bread

You can see I am in the quick bread phase. Here is another quick bread recipe.

I picked up the habit of eating applesauce from my mother-in-law. She used to have compote de pommes (sometimes with plain yogurt) after dinner as dessert. What a nice way to finish a meal without extra burden on the stomach. Since then, I started to eat compote de pommes with Greek yogurt as part of a meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner). I just love it. Where do I get my compote de pommes? It's homemade, of course. And it couldn't be easier. Just cook peeled apple chunks and 1/4 cup of water until they all go soft or pulpy. Add a tablespoon of sugar if you prefer. If you use Bramley apple, a particular variety in the UK, it cooks to a mush. You don't even have to get your blender out.

Today is first day of Autumn. When the weather gets colder, breakfast with toasted quick bread is a really nice way to start. Goodbye overnight oats, see you next summer. 

Applesauce Oat Bread

1 cup (100 g) porridge oats
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup (140 g) gluten-free flour (your favorite blend)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground cinnamon*
1 tsp ground ginger*
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg*
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tbsp brown sugar or honey*
a scant 1/2 cup (100ml) plain Greek yogurt (10% protein, 0% fat works fine)
2 tbsps vegetable oil

Soak porridge oats with applesauce for an hour. I find that soaking the porridge oats in advance brings out better texture. If you are in rush, you can skip the soaking stage.

Preheat the oven at 180C. Grease and line a loaf tin.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt. Stir until well combined and set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until slightly frothy. Add brown sugar/honey, 100 ml Greek yogurt and vegetable oil. Stir until well combined. Stir in the porridge oats and applesauce mixture. This is your wet bowl.

Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet bowl and stir until just combined. Do not overmix. If the batter seems a bit dry (i.e. extra flour at the bottom of the bowl), add more Greek yogurt, one tablespoon at a time. Batter will be thick and lumpy – this is fine. 

Pour batter into prepared loaf tin and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until top is set and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Check at 40 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow bread to cool in the pan for 20 minutes before removing and setting on a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes:

1. This is a fairly spiced bread. Your kitchen will smell fantastic and autumnal during baking. Feel free to adjust the level of spice to your liking.
2. My preferred level of sweetness for quick bread is 1 tbsp sugar. Feel free to up the sugar to 1/4 cup or more.

I make - Greek Yogurt Banana Oat Bread

Being a big fan of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt, I mostly make smoothies or use in savory dishes, apart from eating straight out of the pot. I do bake with yogurt, but with the plain regular one. Recently I just discovered a whole new baking world with Greek Yogurt. This is quite fabulous. Not only does Greek Yogurt give a protein boost to the gluten-free cakes, but also it reduces the need of fat, sometimes eschewing entirely.

I've tried Greek Yogurt Brownies. There are several versions I wanted to try. The one with not much flour was the first one I tried and it tasted surprisingly good. A bit more like cheesecake texture but nonetheless enjoyable. The next version on my agenda uses more flour. I can imagine the texture should be more brownie like. 

I also made Oat and Honey Quick Bread. By the way, I recently discovered that quick bread is a better option for me than gluten-free yeasted bread as breakfast or a quick meal. It's quicker, chewier and tastes like the gluten-ful version. Gluten-free yeasted bread, however well made, always leaves me feel synthetic.

Today I made my beloved banana bread with Greek Yogurt. I was doubtful and intrigued when I saw the recipe with Greek Yogurt and No Added Fat. My experience with Oil/Butter Free cakes is usually gummy and dense. Well, let me tell you that this recipe changed my view and my world. It tastes just like normal banana bread when freshly out of the oven and toasts great the day after. Wonderful.

Don't get me wrong. There will be places for butter and oil in my baking (and cooking in fact). Let's say I am saving my butter quota with some Greek Yogurt Baked Goods.

Greek Yogurt Banana Oat Bread

- 1 cup gluten-free flour (your favorite blend)
- 1 cup gluten-free oat flour (or gluten-free flour)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- a scant 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 flax egg* (1 tbsp ground flax seeds + 3 tbsps water)
- 2 bananas, pureed (200 g or 1 cupful)
- 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt (10% protein, 0% fat works fine)
- 2 tbsps Truvia sweetener

Preheat the oven at 180C. Grease and line a loaf tin.

Mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, mixed spice and salt in a bowl.

In another bowl beat the eggs and flax egg until frothy. Mix in bananas, yogurt and Truvia. Pour the wet ingredients in to the flour bowl. Stir to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin. Bake at 180C for 35-40 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test. 

*About flax egg: the original recipe uses 6 Tbsp (90 ml) maple syrup. My bananas are usually quite sweet by the time I use them. So I replaced the syrup with 1 flax egg to give the extra moisture minus the sugar. It works well. You can always use the specified maple syrup instead and skip the Truvia.

I make - Lazy-Day Scones

These Lazy-Day Scones are strictly not scones as it does not use butter. It uses whipping cream as the sole wet ingredient. The traditionalists may want to look away now. :-)

This method is akin to the American-style drop biscuits, adaptable for sweet or savoury version. This gives crusty exterior, soft centre and buttery taste, highly addictive. Here is my Lazy-Day Marzipan Scones.

Lazy-Day Marzipan Scones

2 cups gluten-free flour (your favorite blend)
1 tbsp baking powder
a scant 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1.5 cup whipping cream (35% fat minimum)
a scant cup of marzipan 1-cm chunks
melted butter to brush the top
extra flour to mould the scones

Preheat the oven at 200C. Line a rectangular baking pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Pour in whipping cream. Stir a few times to hydrate the flour. Add in marzipan chunks and fold them in until no liquid is seen.

Use an ice cream scoop to portion out the scones onto a baking pan. Don't press the dough too tightly in the scoop. Once the scone is "dropped" onto the baking pan, use floured hands/fingers to pat it to a traditional scone shape. Repeat the process until you use up all the dough. I get 12 scones out of this.

Alternatively, the dough is stiff enough to roll out and use the traditional scone shaping method. Just dust the flour thinly on the dough and the surface before proceeding.

Brush each scone top with melted butter and bake for 18-20 minutes.Turn the baking pan half way through. When the scones are out of oven, brush more butter on top. Let cool for 20 minutes and enjoy!

I make - Honey Oat Quick Bread

This quick bread has no yeast and is quick to knock up. It tastes like sourdough with a slight tang from the yogurt and with a slight chew which I like. Highly irresistible when it's freshly out of oven and good for toasts, too. 

Honey Oat Quick Bread

1 cup porridge oat
1 tsp salt (use 1/2 tsp next time)
1 cup Greek Yogurt (0% works well)
1 cup milk (use 3/4 cup next time)
1/4 cup honey (use 2 tbsp sugar next time)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups gluten-free flour (any blend/combination)

1/2 tsp xanthan gum (if your gluten-free flour does not have it)
1 egg
2.5 tsp baking powder

Oat flakes to scatter on the top of the batter

Combine oat, salt, yogurt, milk, honey and oil in a bowl. Stir to combine. Let the oats soak for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven at 180C. Grease and line a loaf tin.

Into the same bowl, add in 2 cups of gluten-free flour, baking powder and 1 egg. Stir to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and scatter some oat flakes on top. Bake at 180C for 45-50 minutes, until it passes the toothpick test.

Self-administered sunshine

I finally saw a sign of British summer. This weekend is dry and has patches of sun. My roses are all coming out now. The garden is just a lovely place to be, the color, the smell and the life.

With external sunshine, that brings out the internal sunshine in me as well. Here is what I had for breakfast recently, coconut bread with pineapple jam, a self-administered tropical sun on the table.

This coconut bread has no added grease (don't you feel better already?)  and it tastes heavenly straight out of a toaster oven. Great for breakfast or afternoon tea.

Coconut bread (adapted from Lucinda Scala Quinn)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut flakes

Preheat the oven to 175C. 

In a bowl, sift in flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. 

In another bowl, beat the egg and vanilla together. Add in the milk, coconut and flour mixture. Stir lightly until well combined. Put in a small greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour, or until the bread is springy to touch. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn the bread out onto a wire rack to cool before slicing.

Best eating when just toasted. Lovely just on its own, or smear with butter, cream cheese and/ or pineapple jam (as in the photo).