Gluten free apple strudel recipes - testing pastry

It became a irresistible project - to try making apple strudel with four versions of pastry quite late this evening.  So, a quick look on the internet and the second hit was  a review of strudels by  Felicity Cloake in the  Guardian.  No doubt it would have been better if I remembered to check the recipe when I came to making the strudels - I forgot to brush the pastry with melted butter and then wondered how I was supposed to get all that butter on top of the rolled strudels.  Butter before filling would make the filling less likely to make the pastry soggy and help it to be flexible.  Buttering the baking sheet or using baking parchment would have made it less likely that the strudels would stick too.  This is what I get for making tests too late in the day.  I found a lot of liquid spilled off the baking sheet so it would be better to make this in a shallow tin like a swiss roll tin rather than a flat cookie sheet.

The flour used is my usual 40% urid lentil, 40% tapioca and 20% cornmeal.

I made four versions so I could test my usual flour, and then flour with some tapioca gel that I made for the purpose, some dry prejel tapioca and some Solanic Potato protein. In the past I found that the gel tapioca made it much easier to make very thin pastes for pasta, though I also found that these worked better without egg.  I didn't try a non-egg version this evening.

I mixed the egg and butter into the flour and then divided into four.  One portion was used plain, one had 7g prejel tapioca powder, one five g potato, and one a couple of teaspoons of the gel I made myself (enough to work into a dough).

The doughs handled very differently.  The gel I made myself gave a lovely flexible dough once the gel was worked into the flour mix.  The dry pre-gel tapioca and the plain flour took a bit more work to get a soft dough.  The batch made with the potato starch, which is excellent to reduce slumping in risen breads, was very different; I needed to add more flour as the amount of water I used with the others produced a slurry.  I must have used far too much in this test as it also made the pastry taste weird.

All four pastries rolled easily to a stage where I could see text through them - I didn't struggle to get a finer pastry by using clingfilm to avoid sticking.  I was aiming at a reasonable pastry that I would be prepared to make on a normal day rather than one which took a lot of preparation.

We liked the two pastries made with the gel/prejel tapioca best. The were light and crisp rather than hard.  The potato pastry cut the cleanest but was tough and tasted odd. It is a while since I used this and I am sure that I put too much in - when the strudel was cold it held together very well but was too hard to be inviting. The plain one was good enough that I would make this again without any additives, but compared to the prejel pastry it was a bit harder rather than crisp.

note very neat cut on pastry on left - potato starch

The tapioca versions also seemed to bring out the apple flavour compared to the plain flour.

I don't think the butter on top of the pastry improved the strudel much if at all so I wouldn't bother in future, especially since I keep my dairy intake very low.

I didn't sprinkle the top with nuts or sugar as I wanted the pastry to be easy to judge.  Flaked almonds on top would make the whole thing crisper and more flavoursome.

Overall I would say if you really fancy a strudel the plain flour will make an adequate pastry.  Of course it is years since I made a strudel or even ate one, so I may be making something that bears little resemblance to a proper wheat flour strudel.  However, if you want a rolled fruit filled thin pastry these are fine. If you can't get hold of pre-jel tapioca, which I got through a LinkedIn contact, making it yourself is easy and almost as good in this recipe.

To make tapioca gel
10g tapioca flour
100ml cold water
stir together then cook on a low heat stirring constantly until a clear gel.  Use this for flatbreads to make them easier to roll and more flexible when cold, to make pasta, particularly where you need to handle it such as ravioli.

Recipe
200g flour
1 egg
10g melted butter
water to make soft malleable dough

700g Apples - I used half granny smith and half braeburn, peeled and chopped
50g raisins soaked in 40ml liqueur (soak for a couple of hours if possible) drained
zest one lemon
50g sugar
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Method
Mix egg and melted butter into flour.  Add water (or gel) to form a dough.  Mix well - running dough through a pasta maker works very well or letting it bash in a food mixer, but I just squished it for a couple of minutes in my hands.  Wrap in clingfilm and let it sit for fifteen minutes at room temperature if possible to ensure the flours have absorbed the liquid.

Roll thin, using plenty of flour to stop it sticking to the worktop.

Mix filling ingredients together.

Place the filling along one edge and roll into a log.  Slide onto the baking sheet/tin.

Bake at 190C for 20-40 minutes depending on how large your strudels are.  I made four small strudels and they were cooked after twenty minutes.

gluten free spiced apple, cranberry and blueberry cake

This cake is sweet and tart with just a hint of spice.  It has plenty of fruit but isn't a solid wodge of dried fruit like some cakes of the wedding/christmas cake variety.

Many of my recipes happen in a slightly random way, driven by things that need using up.  Today I found I had seven small apples from a batch that hadn't been as crisp as expected, and were beginning to look a bit sorry for themselves, a large mandarin orange that had lost its gloss, and a husband that keeps wanting lunch early as there is no cake to go with his mid-morning coffee.

A large fruit cake seemed the obvious way to solve all of these problems.  I had already cooked the apples, chopped but not peeled, in with the orange juice and zest, before I decided to make the cake.  You wouldnt need to cook them first if you prefer the apple to stay in chunks in the finished cake.

Set oven at 170C fan
Grease and line two large cake tins.  I used a long pullman loaf tin (the lid is handy if the top starts to get too brown) which has a capacity of 3.5l and an ordinary one pound loaf tin (750ml) to fit all the mixture in.  I like to make a small cake for immediate eating and a larger one to mature, though having two different sizes means you have to keep an eye on how cooked they are as they will need different times.

Ingredients
500g cooked/chopped apples
juice and zest one small orange
500g dried blueberries
500g dried cranberries
8 eggs
300g soft brown sugar
250g soft butter (I keep mine in the freezer, so just zapped it on medium heat in the microwave - not so good for the precise temperatures needed for creaming, but fine for just mixing in)
400g flour
5 tsp baking powder
4tsp mixed spice

The flour used in this was 300g of my current flour mix(1/3 each urid lentil, brown rice and buckwheat) and an extra 100g urid lentil flour.  I ran out of flour and didn't want to make a fresh batch - so considering how much fruit there was in this cake just added extra urid as it will help hold it together.  I am sure 400g of the standard mix would have been fine.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and spice together.  Mix all the other ingredients together.  Stir together.  Put mix in greased lined tins and bake.

The smaller cake took an hour to cook.  Test with a  skewer or fine knife.  I use a knife even though I get a bigger hole as I find it easier to see the cake residue.  I turned the heat down to 150C and cooked the larger cake for a further half an hour.

Cool on a rack.

Good immediately; will keep well.

maple,apple and raisin bread - gluten-free

Warm spicy bread,with chunks of apple and raisins.  Good plain or toasted - sprinkle with cinnamon sugar for an extra special moment.


400g flour ( 40% urid, 40% tapioca, 20% cornmeal)
2 tsp yeast (pre-mix with water if necessary)
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp maple syrup
400ml water
1 tsp vanilla
100g raisins (blitze some of these with flour in the blender to give a variety of sizes, or chop half finely)
100g buckwheat (flour or blitzed in blender)
1 large eating apple, cored and chopped ( c140g)
2 eggs
(5g Solanic potato protein 201 - not available in shops yet, I am trialling this.  It helps give gluten-free breads more uniformity and resist slumping.  Unless you try to make this as a single very tall loaf it won't be necessary to add this.)


Mix all ingredients together into a thickish batter.  Pour into prepared loaf tins (grease and line two one pound tins)  Don't fill more than two thirds full. Sprinkle a little water on top to help with the rise.

Let these rise in a warm moist place until nearly to the top of the tins.

Bake in a 170C oven for 45 minutes.  Turn temperature down for last ten minutes if it looks as if they were getting too brown.

Apple cobbler using frozen topping

I froze cobbler topping in July, thinking this might be an easy way of making a fruit pudding with very little effort.  I froze spoonfuls on a baking sheet, then put them in a plastic bag once they were solid.

Today I made a lot of apple sauce for the freezer, and put some in a baking dish with these cobbler blobs on top.  I sprinkled the whole thing with some demerera sugar and cinnamon and put it in the over at 180C for twenty minutes and then lowered the temperature to 160C for a further fifteen minutes.

The cobbler is fluffy in the middle and crisp on top - an excellent partner to the tart apple base.  This is such an easy way to be able to have a pudding, and the cobbler doesn't take up much room in the freezer.  Being frozen in individual spoonfuls means you can make a one person desert it you want.

Apple Crumble

The Bramley Apple tree is beginning to drop apples that are just ripe enough to use in cooking -they are only half the size the fully mature ones will be but it seems a shame to waste them.  I peeled, cored and sliced them, cooked them until soft with some pear juice, cinnamon, mixed spice and brown sugar.  I put a crumble topping on them and baked until golden - a bit of an autumn desert on a hot day when the pool is at 26C!

Crumble Ingredients
100g flour
50g butter
50g sugar
30ml water (adjust to suit your flour/weather)

Rub the butter into the flour by hand or whizz in a food processor
Stir in sugar.
If the mixture forms small clumps when you press it lightly you may not need to add water.  Otherwise add a little water and mix so that the dough tends to clump.  I find this gives a crunchier topping than if you sprinkle a dusty mixture on top of the fruit.

You can mix in spice or flaked almonds to vary this mixture.  If you make too much just keep in a bag in the freezer and use when you need it, or make cookies.  This amount gave a topping in a  dish 7cm by 22cm - four modest portions or two for hungry people.

Caramalised apple and pear upside-down cake

 It is about the time of year I normally empty, defrost and clean my large chest freezer in the barn.  Now is the time that the stored harvest from last year is at its lowest, so the freezer maintenance is easiest.

The rhubarb is in season and the cherries are busy swelling on the trees, and the apples and pears had a mad blossoming session when the weather got unusually hot in mid-April (just hope the bees and bugs were ready).  We even have some peaches - but we have only ever had one go to delicious ripeness, so that is a wait and see.  I doubt we will get figs this year as the last two extra cold winters have made them start sprouting low down on the trees as all the tips are damaged, despite wrapping in lots of layers of horticultural fleece.

So, the last of the stored poached pears and an unwanted small apple, and a moment's peace.  Time to rustle up a quick fruit cake with a bitter caramel top, zingy soft fruit and light vanilla base.

I have a tarte tatin tin so I use that, but any heavy pan that can take direct heat and go in the oven will do.  Sprinkle sugar to cover the base of the tin and heat until it caramelises.  I didn't weigh this, just put an even layer over the base of the tin.  Heat without stirring.  If it is getting too brown before all the sugar has melted turn the heat off and let all the sugar go to whatever grade of caramel you like.  I like quite a burnt flavour, so my caramel is a dark brown.

sugar caramelising

ready for apples

Get a pan of cold water with ice cubes handy for the next job.  You probably won't burn yourself, but any activity with melted sugar needs extra care, and after once having dipped my finger tip into caramel when laying fruit I now get the remedy available first.  I never regret throwing the cold water away unused!  Caramel sticks to you finger, giving off heat.

Lay your sliced fruit in whatever pattern you like.  Leave this to sit while you get the cake batter going.  This allows time for the fruit and caramel to set slightly so that when you tip the batter in you are less likely to have boiling, slopping or other unwelcome activity.

apples on caramel

Set oven to 175C

Cake batter.
I made a simple cake batter with
50g butter
75g sugar
3 eggs
150g of my gf flour mix (20&cornmeal, 40%urid, 40%tapioca)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
50ml water

Substitute your own favorite fat (soft spread type is easiest) and flour.


Cream fat and sugar together, add eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Add water or other liquid to make a soft dropping consistency.  Dollop over fruit and caramel mix.  Bake for about 35 minutes until cooked.

tarte cooked

Take the cake out and, with extreme care and preferably those oven gloves that are joined with continuous padding between the hands, tip the cake out onto a large plate.  Don't get the caramel on your skin.

I decided to see what would happen if I left the tin for a few minutes.  The cake came out fine but quite a lot of caramel had set on the tin.  This seemed a waste, so I reheated it on the stove and scraped it out onto the cake.  This made a messy finish and of course the caramel set too hard to eat easily with the cake so I scooped it off again.  Put it onto a greased plate and eat as candy if you want to retrieve this.

If you leave the cake to cool you won't be able to get it out of the tin.  Place the whole thing back onto heat for a couple of minutes until the outer layer of caramel has remelted then tip onto a plate.

This is really a very simple cake.  I have made it sound more scary by doing the don't-burn-yourself bit.  Once you are used to the process and techniques you will find you rustle up one of these delicious and quit spectacular looking deserts with very little effort.

Sage and onion stuffing - best ever and gluten free

I made a whole loaf of my Lazy Bread and diced it, bagged it and froze it for my sister to make stuffing for her family meal on Christmas Day.  Having done that I thought I might as well see what it was like as a stuffing ingredient as well.  We are having our family gathering on New Year's day, but the mother-in-law came to lunch today (Boxing Day) so I did the turkey and full works.


I have Lazy Bread in the freezer, sliced and with freezer paper between each slice so I can get it out easily.  I read several recipes and then produced this stuffing, which Tolerant Taster says is the best he has ever had.  This recipe served three with left overs.  Simply scale up as needed.


Ingredients:


four slices of bread, diced
one red onion, chopped finely
half a Bramley apple, chopped finely
sage leaves 
rosemary, chopped finely
water
1 tbsp oil

bread, onion, apple and herbs

My sage bush is leaves without much flavour so I took a handful, but I know that some sage leaves are very strong.  The technique I used allows you to adjust the strength of this flavouring easily.  Put your sage leaves into a cup of water, bring to the boil (I used the microwave) and then leave to steep while you get on with the rest of the preparation.

sauteed onion

Saute the onion until it is soft.  Add the apple and cook briefly.  If you want the apple pieces to be noticeable cut larger and don't precook.


Add the bread to the onion and apple mixture and stir until well mixed.  Now stir in the chopped rosemary if using.  Add the hot sage water, testing the flavour until you have the amount of sage you want.  Use plain water if needed to bring the whole mixture to a moist consistency.


Place in an oiled baking dish and bake in a hot oven for half an hour.  I put it in the oven at the same time as the roast potatoes and parsnips, and they were all golden brown at the same time.

golden stuffing

The stuffing was moist and delicious with a crisp crunchy top.  




Tolerant Taster's view "Warm, roasted, slow-cooked stew sort of flavour.  The bread has done two things, quite a bit softened to a rich paste holding the whole thing together, but also crunchy bits where the bread has toasted and caramelised on top.  A bit like gravy, caramelised onions and bread sauce with all the best bits merged together".

Apple and raisin cookies- vegan gluten-free

80g eating apple cut in small chunks

50g raisins

50g urid lentil flour

50g tapioca flour

50g gf flour mix or cornmeal

50g sugar (more if you want a sweeter cookie)

1 tsp mixed spice

1/2tsp baking powder

20g nuts – whatever you like

60g sunflower margarine

Juice to mix to sloppy dough – I used pear puree, amount will depend on flours used.

Sift flours and baking powder and spice together. Beat margarine, sugar and flour mix together. Stir in raisins, apple and nuts and add juice to get texture you want.

Drop onto greased cookie sheets or baking paper, leaving gaps for spreading. Bake at 170C for 10-15 minutes for chewy cookies. If you want crisper cookies turn the oven off and leave in for another ten minutes. Cool on rack.