Gluten Free Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

I love to make Stephanie Alexander's Lemon Tart from her Cook's Companion (I have the first edition).

Unfortunately I can't use her pastry recipes because I can't eat wheat, and for a few years I used to make it with Rowie's Sweet Shortcrust Pastry Mix. Even more unfortunately, that product no longer exists. I've made the tart again with a few gluten-free pastry recipes, but always wanted to try again with something like Rowie's recipe, which was much like a shortbread biscuit.

I tried one at New Year using a shortbread recipe containing gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill), but the garbanzo bean flour taste was a little strong. So today I am trying using a different recipe.

I initially tried using this recipe verbatim, but when I poured the milk in, I got a gloopy mess. Maybe it's because I wasn't using a thermomix, but in any case I threw that lot out and tried again.

This time I poured the milk in a little at a time, and used slightly less than half the amount suggested... and we have shortbread. Tomorrow I will find out how well it goes with the Lemon Tart filling. I made double to ensure that I had enough pastry, and my other half was able to make little biscuits with the remainder. She put finely chopped rosemary in a few of them (maybe after 12 years we have some kind of strange osmotic thought process, because in my hunt for recipes I found a piece on the history and flavourings of shortbread, which I said nothing about and I know she didn't see...) They were indeed tasty!

I think approx 1.5 times the original recipe would do for the pastry for a 22cm tart, so I think it should look something like this:

Ingredients:
150 g raw sugar
330 g rice flour (I try to use the course kind in order to get a slightly crunchy texture)
180 g arrowroot or tapioca starch
1.5 tbsp gluten free baking powder
1.5 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
135 g butter, chilled and roughly chopped
190 ml milk (likely to use somewhat less)

Method:
Pulse raw sugar in food processor for a few seconds.
Add the remaining dry ingredients and pulse until combined.
Add the butter and pulse until dry sand texture is achieved.
Add the milk very gradually until you get dough. I used a very dry dough which I sprinkled in to the springform tin in crumb form, and then pressed in.

I then baked the tart shell blind at 150 degrees, and my other half handily repressed it with a spoon so it wasn't so floofy.

My partner was tired, I was tired and methotrexated... the kitchen was a disaster when we'd finished. Hopefully the outcome will stay together and be palatable!

Good approximation of bread

Since I can't eat wheat, corn or soy, finding anything even vaguely able to be described as bread is a difficulty. Coconut and I also aren't on particularly good terms, digestively speaking, which makes a lot of paleo recipes unsuitable.

I got pretty close with a bread machine and a combination of white rice, brown rice, tapioca and chickpea flour, but it always requires xanthan gum, which really doesn't agree with me very well either: I can't really eat more than two thin slices of bread a day when it's made this way.

And then wandering around pinterest a few months ago I came across this recipe. It took me until now to actually have the time to make it and it's utterly fabulous. Even though the almond meal I can get isn't ground very finely, it still makes a really lovely loaf. It isn't even particularly fussy to make.

It's not terribly slimming due to the enormous quantity of almond flour but... it's so tasty...

Recipe replicated here just in case it ever disappears off the internet (but please don't take it away, it's too good).

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons luke-warm water
• 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 2.5 cups blanched almond flour
• 1.5 cups tapioca flour
• 0.5 teaspoons salt
• 1 eggwhite

Method

• Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C). Grease a baking tray with coconut oil (or use baking paper).
• Combine water, honey and oil. Add yeast and let sit for a minute.
• Whisk in the whole egg.
• Stir in flours and salt (I sifted my flours and discarded any almond flour which refused to fit through the sieve)
• Form into a baguette shape on baking tray. Brush with beaten egg white.
• Make a few slashes in the tope with a bread knife.
• Bake for 25 - 35 minutes or until browned.
• Let cool completely before slicing. (Ok, I completely failed to do this. I wanted to try it as soon as possible. Maybe next time...)

Go visit http://cookituppaleo.com/paleo-crusty-bread/ and look at the lovely pictures

Even though I find coconut difficult to digest, I bought Heather's book... on the grounds that the person who came up with this bread recipe deserves some encouragement!

Stewed Blueberries

We had some blueberries and then found some better ones for fresh eating. So I stewed the remaining ones and we had them with plain yoghurt. Just sweet enough to balance the tang of the yoghurt, not so sweet as to be cloying. Lovely dessert at the end of a very hot day.

175g blueberries
50g sugar
50ml water

Pinch a few blueberries so that they break apart.
Put all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the blueberries start to go a bit wrinkly. I don't really know how long I cooked them for.
Cool, put in container and refrigerate until you are ready to spoon over plain yoghurt.

I had my first mulberry off my "big" mulberry tree. The weeping mulberry produces tiny fruit which are sweet but only suitable for garden grazing. I bought two Beenleigh Black trees and planted them this winter. They are both currently smaller than the weeping mulberry, which we've had for several years, but if I don't prune them viciously they will grow into enormous trees.
The mulberry was small and almost made into jam by the heat of the day, but it was very tasty. It had hit 39 C by midday, perfect fruit-ripening weather... Pity we're not built for that kind of heat!

The possum that lives in the garage door was most put out this weekend. First she and I startled each other when I was watering the garden late on Saturday evening, just as she was emerging from the garage roof. I squeaked and she galloped off over the roof and into the trees. Then when we went out to pack the car late on Sunday afternoon she was sitting with her tail out the door as she does on very hot days. She's not really afraid of us but she'd still really rather we didn't exist. She moved uneasily around in the garage roof until we took the car out and closed the door. She then presumably smoothed her ruffled fur and set down to wait out the heat until evening.

Almost-instantaneous Chocolate Cake

I had a terrible desire for chocolate cake / pudding and used the power of Pinterest to track down this recipe:
http://www.delightedmomma.com/2012/09/3-minute-chocolate-paleo-mug-cake.html
I edited it very slightly to come up with:

3 tbsp almond meal
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
2 squares of chocolate


Mix dry ingredients together in a ramekin. Mix in egg with a fork. Put the squares of chocolate in the middle. Microwave for 1.5 - 2 minutes. Let it cool down a tiny bit. Eat with a spoon. Leave nothing behind.

Swatching Crochet Ruffle Edgings

I have been swatching for a crochet edging. While originally intended for a hand dyed green jacket based on Vogue 8885 View D, I came to the conclusion it wouldn't quite work (I'm going to resort to hand dyeing purchased cotton lace for that one). However, I have now been inspired to make a shorter, simpler jacket, dye it purple and use variation 3 as the edging.

Crochet edgings

Sideways Crochet Ruffle Edging
Quite a heavy edging.
0. Chain 14 turn
1. 1sc in each ch, ch1, turn
2. [1sc in each sc] 4 times. [1 hdc in each sc] 3 times. [1 dc in each sc] 3 times. [1 tr in each sc] 3 times. Chain 4. Turn.
3. [1 tr in each tr] 3 times. [1 dc in each dc] 3 times. [1 hdc in each hdc] 3 times. [1 sc in each sc] 4 times. Chain 1. Turn.
4. [1 sc in each sc] 4 times. [1 hdc in each hdc] 3 times. [1 dc in each dc] 3 times. [1 tr in each tr] 3 times. Chain 4. Turn.
repeat rows 3 and 4.

Variation 1 on Diamond Mesh Stitch
Loose, floppy edging but very fast. Improved by addition of row 10.
0. Chain multiple of 4 plus 3
1. Skip 1 ch, 1 sc into next ch, * ch 5, skip 3ch, 1 sc in next ch; rep from *to last ch, in last ch, turn.
2. *5ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, working last sc into sc, turn.
3. *5ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
4. *5ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
5. *7ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
6. *7ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
7. *7ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
8. *9ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
9. *9ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
10. 1ch *9sc in next ch sp, 1sc in next sc; rep from * to end.

Chain edging

Sc edging: much improved

Variation 2 on Diamond Mesh Stitch
More structured than variation 1 but not as pretty.
0. Chain multiple of 4 plus 3
1. Skip 1 ch, 1 sc into next ch, * ch 5, skip 3ch, 1 sc in next ch; rep from *to last ch, in last ch, turn.
2. *5ch, 1sc in centre ch of 5 ch in previous row; rep from * to end, working last sc into sc, turn.
3. *5ch, 1sc in centre ch of 5 ch in previous row; rep from * to end, turn.
4. *5ch, 1sc in 2nd ch of 5 ch in previous row, 5ch, 1sc in 4th ch of 5 ch in previous row; rep from * to end, turn.
5. *5ch, 1sc in centre ch of 5 ch in previous row; rep from * to end, turn.
6. *5ch, 1sc in centre ch of 5 ch in previous row; rep from * to end, turn.
7. *5ch, 1sc in centre ch of 5 ch in previous row; rep from * to end, turn.
8. 1ch *5sc in each ch of 5 ch in previous row, 1sc in next sc; rep from * to end.

 

Variation 3 on Diamond Mesh Stitch
Good balance between laciness and structure.
0. Chain an odd number
1. Skip 1 ch, 1 sc into next ch, * ch 3, skip 1ch, 1 sc in next ch; rep from *to last ch, in last ch, turn.
2. *3ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, working last sc into sc, turn.
3. *3ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
4. *5ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
5. *5ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
6. *5ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
7. *7ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
8. *7ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
9. *7ch, 1sc in next ch sp; rep from * to end, turn.
10. *7sc in next ch sp, 1sc in next sc; rep from * to end.

Sad closure of local manufacturer

A few years ago I discovered Standardknit, a knit fabric manufacturer located in Botany. As well as catering to businesses, home sewers could go to their stock service showroom and buy fabrics by the metre (although one could only buy lengths of 5 metres or more... how terrible to be forced to buy such quantities!).

Sadly, they have had to cease manufacturing although their stock service is still open until their stock is cleared.

I managed to buy two rolls, one of organic cotton 1*1 rib in white, and another of light weight cotton single jersey in natural. Lovely though it is to have these on hand, I will miss their cheerful service and the ready availability of so many plain knit fabrics in wonderful colours. It is so rare to be able to buy locally manufactured fabrics and know that they were made under Australian working conditions.

Bacon and Tomato Soup

Olive oil
2 small or one large onion, coarsely chopped
3-4 rashers of bacon, chopped
1 carrot, grated
2 tins of whole tomatoes
1-2 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp smoked sweet paprika

Sauté onion and bacon in olive oil for 10 mins over medium heat until onion is translucent and bacon fat is mostly rendered.
Add grated carrot and cook briefly
Cut stalks out of tomatoes and add to saucepan
Add vegetable stock and paprika.
Cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
Blitz with a a stick blender.
Reheat a bit and serve with excellent bread.