gf bread without tapioca - first tests

I started testing bread recipes using a flour mix that has no tapioca in.  For a long time I have used a standard flour mix with urid lentils, tapioca and cornmeal that gives very good results.  However, my step-daughter seems to be unable to tolerate the tapioca, and I know that some people do find this flour difficult.

What with my travels, catching up on normal life and then wrenching my foot badly my planned experiments took a back seat.  However, I tried a plain loaf and a fruited loaf the other day using one third each of the urid lentil flour, brown rice flour (which I just bought from the supermarket so do not know what kind of rice) and yellow cornmeal.  To 600g of this mix I added 1.5 tsp yeast, a tbsp of agave syrup and sufficient water to make a batter ( I think about 800ml).  I also included 30g of potato protein, which helps gf breads not slump, but this is not yet available to domestic consumers.  In the past I found that provided I kept breads below 5cm/2inches and didn't let them rise above the tin they were fine without this.

I poured the batter into the tins, left them to rise in a warm moist oven, and when they nearly reached the top of the tin put the oven on.  The loaves were baked for 50 minutes at 175C, the little rolls baked in muffin tins were baked for 25 minutes.  Remember that this includes the time taken for the oven to get hot.  I find that it is better to leave a gf loaf for longer than you think necessary rather than have an inadequately cooked middle, so if you don't feel sure the bread is done take it out of the tin and put back in the oven for a few more minutes.

The plain loaf did slump a little but does not have a layer of gluey dough.  It is ok to eat plain - just a bit more crumbly than my usual loaf.  I made good croutons with some diced bread, a squirt of oil and some garlic, baked until crisp.  Any left over bread can be turned into breadcrumbs and kept into the freezer until you want to crisply coat something.  Two days later it is still easy to slice without crumbling.

The second loaf and the buns were made from the same batter but with added ingredients.  As this was a first test, and my foot still wouldn't bear my weight, the recipe was an informal and unrecorded handful of this and that.  I added more sugar, some vanilla, a bit of cocoa, about a cupful of chopped dried apricots I had cooked with water to go with breakfast pancakes, some dried blueberries and cranberries.  I also added a tablespoon of oil.  This mixture made a smooth loaf with good  holding qualities.  Two days later it still slices well and is moist without being cloying.  It is sufficiently good that I will work up a proper recipe.

The basic loaf needs a bit more work, but it is promising.  I found that tapioca gave a smooth chewiness to baked goods, whereas rice tended to give a gritty texture.   I always disliked Doves Farm flour for anything other than pancakes and choux pastry because things fell apart and had a lousy rough texture, and thought it was due to the rice.

I am hoping to create a bread mix as tasty and well-behaved as my usual lazy seedy bread. I think next time I will add buckwheat for the additional flavour a well as seeds.

BBC Good Food Magazine chocolate fruit cake - review

I made six versions of the cake in the Christmas edition of the BBC Good Food magazine.  All of these stages are described in earlier posts.

I did initial taste tests, but thought I really needed to see how the cakes matured.  I tested them again a few days later.  In general those made with butter tasted better than those made with Pure dairy-free margarine.  The cakes made with Doves Farm flour had the pastiest texture and were somewhat unpleasant.  The Bob's Red Mill flour produced a better cake initially, but over time the texture became grainier and pastier as well, and the flavour of the chickpeas in the flour became more pronounced.  The cakes made with my flour mix, (urid lentils, tapioc and polenta), tasted the best to start with and continued to taste better.

However, I have to admit I got really bored trying to run these taste tests.  In the end I gave all the cakes away to my sister, and she heroically did a test, and gave me the same results.

The real problem with this cake is not what fat is used or what flour is used, but that chocolate and fruit just don't sit happily together.  This cake was advertised as one that might please people that didn't like fruit cake.  I think it would displease people that liked fruit cake and displease people who liked chocolate cake.  Make one of each.  That is a much better solution to meeting the needs of people with a variety of tastes over Christmas.

Update - Chocolate christmas cake - gluten free flour and dairy/dairy-free taste test

On November 19th I posted a trial of the BBC Good Food chocolate Christmas cake, using three different gluten-free flours and dairy/non-dairy fat ( http://bit.ly/9TC6E3).  We just retested the cakes, on Nov 25th, as they have had some time to mature.

The flavours have blended with the extra time and it isn't so much of a shock to have chocolate with fruit lumps.  The textures of the cakes are closer together.  We still liked the one made with my own blend of flour and the butter best.  The Bob's Red Mill flour, from lavidafood.com, made with Pure, was good, so if you want a vegan gluten free cake made from standard flour rather than mixing your own I suggest this is a good choice.

Doves Farm was still producing a fine pasty texture - I think it is the rice in the flour mix.

Chocolate christmas cake - gluten free flour and dairy/dairy-free taste test

Taste testing the next day (will do another in a week to see how it changes with time)

The cakes were coded by putting different types of nuts on top. For the testing we didn’t know that flour or fat were used in each. We considered taste and texture.

We took them in random order.

Mr Taster’s form	Taste	Texture
1	Dark sweet maybe touch too much choc Consistent after-taste	Mouth – micro crumble to course paste ‘cake’ disintegrates in mouth to leave fruit
2	Mostly fruit Less character in cake Choc has disappeared	Fine paste Falls apart in hand
3	Lighter sweetness Choc comes in middle after about 15secs	Mouth – crumbles to a sort of treacle in mouth and continues to stick to the fruit
4	mid to dark sweet mostly fruit choc not intrusive needs cream to cut depth	Falls apart in hand Mouth crumble to fine paste (pudding)
5	Little character Consistent sweet Minimal chocolate	Micro fine paste. Holds in hand – just
6	Cake almost lost in fruit	apart in hand Micro fine paste

My form	Taste	Texture
1	Too much chocolate and slightly pasty taste Sugar levels good	Disintegrates – maybe better with age? Very clear lumps of fruit – took some chewing Hard to cut, fell apart
2	Odd taste when first in mouth and fruit seemed tougher Less chocolate taste	More crumbly than 4 to cut Lighter feel at first than 4
3	Liked taste better than 4	Falls apart even more but feels good in mouth
4	Ok, not very exciting	Cut easier but did use bread knife. Slice stayed intact when lifting. Slightly pasty mouth feel
5	Powdery and cloying at the same time. Fruit doesn’t seem part of cake Chocolate flavour about right after a moment	Holds better when cut for first slice but crumbled when trying to eat
6	Even textured paste. High nose taste	Fell apart, can’t even pick up a piece

In general I think this should have more cake and less fruit. If making again I would increase the eggs, and perhaps chops half of the fruit to give more cohesion.

We both like number three best.

I had a nerve-wracking moment when I couldn’t find my code list. It was on the book rest I had used to hold the magazine!

Turns out we both like the one made with my own flour mix, which was about one third tapioca and two-thirds urid. We preferred the butter version.

I think Pure margarine, as a soft margarine, isn’t really suitable for this type of cake. I have been recommended another type of Kosher dairy-free margarine for cooking but it is difficult to buy unless you get it mail-order from Ocado. I did buy some Cookeen yesterday, and will be running comparisons with that.

In general we like the cake flavour and texture made with my flour best, then the Bob's Red Mill flour, then the Doves Farm flour. In general I haven’t been impressed with the Doves Farm mix for anything other than batter recipes, such as pancakes and choux. It does also work in the cupcakes I used for the wedding tower, but there are also a lot of almonds and yogurt in that cake recipe.

Number	Nut topping	Flour	Fat
1	Almond and hazelnut	My flour	Pure
2	Hazelnut and Pistachio	Bob's Red Mill (lavidafood.com)	Pure
3	Pistachio	Own flour	Butter
4	Hazelnut	Bob's Red Mill	Butter
5	Pistachio and almond	Doves Farm	Butter
6	Almond	Doves Farm	Pure

The really surprising outcome is how much the type of flour affects how much you can taste the chocolate. In some cakes it had too much chocolate flavour and in others you might not have known there was chocolate in it at all. This is despite all the recipes being made with identical ingredients, method and cooking apart from the fats and flours on test.

The nuts were only on top so that the cakes could be told apart. They were not taken into consideration when testing the cake.