216/366: Gluten Free Banana Bread

Yes, it's that bread again.

Banana bread.  Gluten Free.  Mini-chocolate chips.

I followed this recipe:

Best Banana Bread – GF
Adapted from Bette Hagman by Carrie

1 1/4 cup GF flour
½ cup chia flour
2/3 cup Sugar
1/3 cup shortening
½ tsp. xantham gum
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ¼ tsp. cream of tartar
½ tsp. sea salt
2 eggs
3 bananas mashed
Mini chocolate chips (about 1 cup, give or take)
350 degree oven
Cream shortening, add sugar. Add beaten eggs. Slowly add flour and dry ingredients. Add mashed banana. Add chocolate chips.
Bake in greased loaf pan for 40 – 50 minutes. Cover with foil half way through. 

For the flour, I usually make up my own mix, highlighting Sorghum flour.  Wouldn't you know, I'm out of sorghum?  I used mostly King Arthur GF Flour Mix (1 1/4 cup) and Chia Flour (1/2 cup).  It gives the batter a dark speckled look, which I deem healthy.

Salt.  It calls for 1/2 teaspoon.  I grabbed the sea salt since it was first to fall out of the spice cupboard.  Since I am not good at following recipes...I'm a rebel, you know...I used the sea salt for the full 1/2 teaspoon and then added two shakes of regular salt.

It's a winner.  Not sure what makes it so good, the proper flour blend, the surprise bits of chunky salt or the mini chocolate chips.  I'm not sure, but this may be a recipe I follow.

Try sea salt, it's interesting in banana bread.  I bet it would be really nice in an apple bread, too.

More Bread

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Chia Flour.

Yum!

Sadly, this loaf is a mere memory.  The boys each had two slices.  I ate the rest.  It was so good. 

I didn't have the mini chips that I like so much, the big chips were probably why the boys tore through it like boys with hollow legs.  My grandpa always said that...I love it.

I'm back to standard blogging.  Things at work are extremely busy.  Which is great, it keeps me busy, makes the time fly.  I've worked the last couple nights not to catch up, but to get closer to catching up.  Sometimes I feel like I'll never get there.  Just when you think you have a handle on things...another 20 come via email.  After 5:00 pm.  Sneaky little coworkers!

I went to my follow up appointment with my primary doctor.  He has asked me to get a sonogram of my gall bladder, to rule that out as well.  I don't think we are going to play "Test Everything for an Answer" but I'll humor him on this one.  He also looked at my toe.  He didn't want to.  I don't blame him.  Toes are gross.  Especially stinky ones.  I'm going to live with it, maybe the pain will go away.  I might try meditating it away...does that even work?  Heck, I'll  try anything.

Olistrode is on his way to the Netherlands.  So cool.  I love doing commissions.  My next one is an octopus with suction cups.  Yes, I must really like this customer to make suction cups for 8 tentacles...wink wink.

Also contemplating doing UBCon - UB's Comic and Gaming Convention.  Tables are free and the gal thought my wacky monsters would fit in well.  I'm open to ideas for usage of monsters that a guy would buy for himself.  I'm thinking belt buckle? Messenger bag?  iPad cover?  Throw me some ideas if you have any.  And if you've ever been to a ComicCon - please let me know.  I'm curious.  Is there a game or comic that is the BIG thing this year?

Okay, enough procrastinating...off to work.

Thanks for reading! 

Thing A Day: 24

I love this bread.

This is gluten free.  Yes, a brown, nutty, hefty gluten free bread.  And I made it!

With the help of Nuts Online.  A very knowledgeable friend/relative of mine pointed me to this website.  Wow.  If a seed, pod, bean can be ground, they have the flour of it.  I didn't find them to be all that expensive, either.

This is the Hearty Grain Gluten Free Bread Mix and I added some Chia seeds.  I haven't had a bread like this in eight years.  It is so soft, but not crumbly.  There is no resemblance to cardboard in this bread.  It reminds me of some that you might find in the bread basket at a fine restaurant.

Later tonight, when the boys are in bed, I'm going to slice this thin and toast it.  I might even dig out some Nutella for a special treat.

No more white sandwich bread for me.

This is a Thing I can get used to.

Thing A Day: 10

Crock pot Gluten Free Bread!

I am always amazed at how easy bread is to make after I make it.  I've had this mix (yeah, don't judge) for a long time now.  I don't know why I let my mind tell me it's too much trouble. 

Really, it's just as involved as a cake (mix).

This one came out with so many air pockets.  Loft. 

In a gluten free bread people!!!

I've made this before in the crock pot, you can find the details here.

Banana Bread

This time, I got a picture before I ate the whole loaf. This is basic banana bread. No nuts, no chocolate chips, just good taste. Oh, and it's gluten free.

When is the last time you saw a gluten free bread with air pockets this light?

I try fairly hard to not use a certain word because some people will cringe at the reading or hearing of it. But this time, it's the only word that will work.

Moist. This is one moist banana bread.

I followed Betty Hagman's Best Banana Bread recipe, except replacing the 1 3/4 cup of her various flours with one cup sorghum, and 3/4 cup white rice, brown rice and tapioca flour - just a shake of each. I also didn't measure out the banana...I just added one and a half bananas.

Who needs the extra measuring cup to wash banana squidge out of?

Delicious!

Dragon Bread

We were invited to a "Mardi Gras-Valentine-Chinese New Year" party a couple weeks ago. Don't judge me on my picture posting delays! I wanted to be creative with bread. This is GLUTEN bread - the frozen kind. I wouldn't waste good expensive gluten free flours on a test.

My mom used to make a teddy bear out of the dough with raisins for belly button and eyes. That was my inspiration for this dragon. It was fun and apparently tasted great. The raisins popped out and got gross and plump (I like a dried raisin. We have some friends that love a plump wet raisin...ewww).

This is the before the oven photo where I used red food coloring mixed with a little water and brushed it on. The green were sugar sprinkles that bled more than I had hoped.


It was fun, though! Looks like I could use some new cookie sheets, right?

And since this is MY blog, I'd be remiss to not include some gluten free love. This is my attempt at Gluten Free Girls post on Olive Rosemary bread. I made it in the crock pot since I was traveling this day and wanted to be able to take it with me to finish baking. It worked out pretty well. I think next time, I'll put it on warm for an hour or so to let the yeast activate, then to high to finish baking.

This is the raw dough...I never got a picture of it baked!


I'm not a huge olive fan. I like them in tacos and on pizza, but that is about where I stop. But I made this and I'm glad that I did. It was great. It was like trying a new bread at a fancy bakery. The gluten eaters seemed to like it, but they were my Mother in Law and Brother in Law, and they may have just been trying to be nice.

Bread...again.

Bread.
Gluten Free Bread.
Gluten Free Bread in a Crockpot.
Yes!
Crisp.
Brown.
Crisp brown edges.
Like real bread.
(In a crockpot),
However...you must always remember to...

coat your vessel with oil or cooking spray.

I didn't mind, it made if feel rustic and homemade. And it was amazing. I ate half of it (or more) the first day. I have one little chunk left for tonight after the kiddos go to bed, because that's my idea of a fantastic Friday night!

I've talked about this bread before right here if you want the specifics. And here is her direct link to 365 Days of Crockpotting

Oh, and all the stuck on-broke off bits, well that makes a great bread crumb or stuffing addition.

There is a new recipe I'm going to try soon for olive bread - from scratch. I'm sure you'll see it here.

The Almost Perfect Sangwich

Once I started the gluten free diet, sandwiches were no longer on the menu. Gluten Free bread is one of the hardest things to match or be even palatable to the angry, body wrecking gluten bread.

Things have changed. This frozed bread from Glutino is a decent substitute to any bad gluten bread, aside from the 'must toast' rule. Perhaps it is only a good match because gluten bread is so foreign to me I have forgotten what is 'should' taste like.

But this is my gluten free turkey cheddar lettuce tomato on fiber bread sangwich. 'Cause it's only a sangwich when it is this good. (hey, Keith!)

And the plate that you can barely see, hand painted by my dear Grandmother Joyce. I worked at a large craft warehouse type store for a while and I would buy the plates and leave them for my grandma to come in and paint them. These plates were a winner for everyone. I have these amazing plates, she had something to do for free to get out of the house and everyone at the store adored her work and her company (at least they told me they did). I miss you Grandma Joyce!