A Little More on the Flatbread...

Since my son has had gluten and egg allergies, he has not had many sandwiches, simply because most of the gluten-free breads you can purchase in the store has eggs, or they are too expensive, or they are just down right disgusting and a waste of money!  I had researched some bread recipes online and in some magazines, and they all had eggs in them, but hey! I have a decent egg substitute to use instead of the eggs right?  Not so much!  The recipes I tried ended up more like a brick than a loaf of bread.  We ground them up and used them as gluten-free bread crumbs... Great for Chicken Finger night! But still no solution for a great gluten-free sandwich, which my son was craving, and frankly, I needed a new option for his lunches!

After making the pizza dough several times, and making extra to put into the freezer, and playing with the gluten-free flatbread (substitute for the traditional Naan, as I posted in the Dal Makhani recipe), I suddenly had an idea!  What if I just spread the pizza dough into a sheet pan and baked it??  It would then come out in a uniform shape which I should be able to cut into squares and then put the sandwich fixings between two squares... in a similar manner as Foccacia bread.

Sounded Brilliant!  As most of my ideas do sound that way in the beginning, but they have a way of flopping and becoming quite dull after the implementation every now and again.   Why not give it a try?  The recipe I decided to use was the Soft, Fluffier Buckwheat Pizza Crust because I am all about have one recipe with multiple uses...

When mixing the dough, I doubled the recipe that I posted in the Soft, Fluffier Buckwheat pizza Crust so that it would fill the pan about half way.  After mixing it and letting it rest for 20 mins or so, I greased a half sheet pan with some butter and poured the batter into it, spreading it out evenly.  I decided to bake it at 400 degrees instead of the 475 used for the pizza, simply because it was thicker and a bigger pan, I was worried the higher temp would cause it to burn on the bottom before it finished cooking through.

 Gluten-Free, Egg-Free Flatbread

After about 15-20 mins, my new "sandwich" bread was finished.  Just as I thought...  Simply Brilliant!  It worked beautifully!  The top had begun to crack slightly, but it was firm to the touch and underneath was delicious golden brown.  I let it cool in the pan, and then sliced it into about 10 some what square shaped pieces, keeping them as equal as possible (you can't have a good sandwich if both sides don't line up nicely you know!).   Another great thing about this is you can cut it whatever size you want.  I like to cut it to fit into a Rubbermaid sandwich container for the ease of packing lunches.  The first sandwich built on this fabulous bread was a ham, cheese, mustard, and potato chips.  We use the Hormel Naturals ham since it has no gluten, nitrates, nitrites etc... and the chips... that is for the crunch!

Go ahead...  Pile just a little more on the flatbread...  and actually enjoy your gluten-free, egg-free sandwich!

YUM!

Biscuits (GF/EF)

Gluten-Free/Egg-Free biscuits are another one of our staples here, where I don't buy the pre-made, gluten-free breads, and am still working on a good recipe for that.  We like them for breakfast, toasted on a hot cast iron pan or with supper in place of regular bread...  sometimes with a burger on them, using it as a bun.  It took me a little while to get them to come out somewhat tender and not too dry, while still holding together.  Most recipes were either way too hard, heavy, dry, crumbly, or just plain tasteless!  Finally this one is nice- soft enough to eat with just butter, and sturdy enough to eat with sausage gravy or shrimp wiggle.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

I do use Bakewell Cream for these...  I am a fan of the biscuit recipe on the can, and that is what I use for my "normal" biscuits.  This is an adaptation from that.  Bakewell Cream is a Maine made item, I never used to be able to find it outside of the state, not sure about now.  If you live in an area where you cannot purchase this in your local grocery store you can order from this website:  http://www.newenglandcupboard.com/bakewell-cream.php, and I tell you it is worth it to get it.  I like to use it in some recipes in place of the baking powder (the substitution ratio is on the can).  You can substitute baking powder in place of the Bakewell Cream if desired: 1 tsp baking powder for every 2/3 tsp Bakewell Cream.  The results will not be quite as good, but it will still be a decent biscuit.

Regarding other allergies:  you can use any form of dairy-free milk for these, or all buckwheat flour if you cannot have the corn, or if you run out, like I do occasionally.  I have not tried another form of fat in these, other than shortening which works, but I do not use anymore, due to avoiding the hydrogenated fats.  Coconut oil may work in its more solidified room temperature form, I have not tried this yet...  I would not use vegetable or olive oil however.

2 c. Buckwheat Flour
3/4 c. Masa Harina
2 tsp. Bakewell Cream
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbs Butter (or you can do 3 Tbs butter and 3 Tbs cream cheese, also comes out delicious!)
2 Tbs Flaxseed egg substitute
1 1/4 c. cold milk

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.  Mix the dry ingredients together.  Cut in the butter (and cream cheese if you chose to use it) into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender, the fat pieces should be smaller than the size of baby peas.  Add the flaxseed mixture and cold milk and stir until all is moistened.  This dough will be very soft and tacky, but not so tacky that it is impossible to work with.  If that happens simply add a little more of one of the flours.  You don't have to worry about over mixing these, because there is no gluten to get tough.  Although be careful not to get too much flour, or the result will be a dryer more crumbly biscuit.  Turn dough out onto a well floured surface and pat out with your hand into a circle that is about 3/4" thick.  Cut with a floured biscuit cutter and place biscuits on a greased sheet pan.  They may seem quite soft when moving them to the pan, this is ok, simply use an offset metal spatula to move them they will bake up nicely!  I like to place them together so that they touch to help them rise upwards instead of spreading out, it also keeps the sides of the biscuits soft and not dry.  Please remember, they will not rise as much as "normal" biscuits, this is ok, they should still be soft and tender inside.  Place pan in oven and bake for 5 mins and then turn the oven off, keeping the door shut, bake for another 5-10 mins until firm to the touch and bottom should be golden brown.  The tops don't always get very brown, that is ok, just don't judge their "doneness" by that!

Cornbread (GF/EF)

Cornbread...  A staple at our house with chili, rice and beans or at cookouts.  Sometimes we eat it for breakfast with molasses on it, delicious!  It took several tries to get a recipe down that stayed moist due to no eggs and that had a soft texture with no added wheat flour in it.  This is finally it!  This is good with cranberries in it too, for a change up.  Any dried fruit could be added and it could be baked in muffin tins to make a delicious breakfast muffin, with jam or molasses, or Sun Butter (made from sunflower seeds, for those allergic to nuts...). 

1 c. Yellow Cornmeal
1 c. Masa Harina
4 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 c. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 c. Flax seed egg substitue (see info on the "Egg Substitutes" post)
1 1/2 c. Milk
1/2 c. Applesauce
1/4 c. Melted Butter

Combine and whisk all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.  Measure in all the liquid ingredients and whisk by hand until smooth.  Pour into a greased 8" square or 9" round pan, or greased muffin tins.  Bake at 350 degrees until top is firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean, a crumb or two on the toothpick is good, but should not look gooey.  Remove from oven and let rest 5-10 mins before cutting.  This is delicious served warm, and it even stays moist at room temperature!  We love this recipe!
Yeilds:  about 12 servings/or 12 muffins if using a muffin tin.