Grow Your Own Bread - Sprouted Lentil Bread

Grow your own gluten free bread for under $1

a.k.a. gluten free, nut free, dairy free, egg free Ezekiel or Essene Bread

a.k.a. healthy bread on the cheap

Sometimes in gluten free baking, as in life, a little rain must fall.  I’ve been doing a ton of experimenting this past week, and the result has been some near hits (i.e. garbanzo bean bread, burnt crackers, beet chocolate cupcakes and sweet potato muffins) and epic misses – i.e. a sprouted lentil socca bread in which the recipe did not note specifically that the sprouted lentils were supposed to be dried, ground and used as flour.  The result: a somewhat tasty lentil mush, but definitely not bread.  *Sigh*  However, it inspired me to keep trying and make sprouted bread that wasn't complicated or difficult.  Read on for the recipe! The result - a really easy, incredibly cheap bread.  Read on...

While the beet chocolate cupcakes and sweet potato muffins were tasty and edible, they were a bit too moist (I probably used too much applesauce in my zeal to cut down the sugar and oil), so I’ll be fiddling with them again and you can expect the recipes to come soon.  I wanted to try using beets and sweet potatoes in baking because they’re one of the few vegetables available at the farmers markets right now (yeah, I’m a locavore ;) 

But the one real hit this week – such a hit I’ve made it twice already – was this sprouted lentil bread that I concocted modeled off of Ezekiel bread, which is a bread made simply from wheat berries.  Sprouted wheat berries are very trendy right now, and you’ll find them in smoothies and in bread.  However, celiacs and gluten intolerants beware!  Notice the “wheat” in the word?  While there is some notion that the sprouts don’t contain gluten, that the gluten is only in the kernel, I would be very cautious as I haven't seen any research to prove that the sprouts themselves are totally safe.  Plus, in Ezekiel bread the whole thing gets mashed together, kernels and all.  Then the mash gets formed into a bread loaf and baked (or for you raw foodies, dehydrated) on low heat for a long time. 

Lentils, sprouted about 1" long

So last week I was craving bread, and wanted to make some, but I hate that gluten free bread is always so expensive, either to buy or to make.  The ingredients aren’t cheap.  I wondered if it wasn’t possible to simply use other sprouts to make Ezekiel bread.  I searched the internet but couldn't find anything that didn’t require dehydrating the sprouts and grinding them for flour, or that didn’t require 10 different kinds of sprouts.  Well I happened to have a bunch of overgrown lentil sprouts and figured it would only be a loss of about 50 cents if it didn’t work.  

And it worked!  So well that I made it again last night.  This bread literally costs less than $1 to make, and it is filling and hearty.  The taste is a bit earthy, but you could add other things, such as seeds, dried onion flakes, raisins or dried fruit.  Then slather with honey or jam or anything else you like.  I’ve been eating it with some homemade sunflower seed butter). 

Dough made with lentils ground in coffee grinder

Note: You’ll have to sprout the lentils about 4 days in advance 

Ingredients:

¾-1 c dried lentils, soaked overnight (8-12hrs) and sprouted for until 1” long (about 3-4 days) see sprouts for directions.  This will make about 3 – 3.5 cups sprouted lentils and will totally fill a large mason jar.

4 Tbsp ground flax seed

½ tsp salt

1 Tbsp water

Directions:     

1.    Spray a baking sheet with oil and lay a sheet of parchment paper over it.  
2.    Either in a food processor or coffee grinder, grind the lentil sprouts until they form a paste. In a coffee grinder you will have to do several batches, and it will be lumpier.  (See the photo of the dough) This is fine.

3.    Preheat oven to 250 degree.

4.      Mix all ingredients together for 3 minutes to make a sticky lump.  If adding fruit or extras, now is the time to do it.  Let the dough rest for 10 minutes while the oven heats up.

5.      Wet hands with water and form an oval or circle flat bread shape with the dough and lay out on the baking sheet.

6.      Bake for approximately 1.5 - 2 hours, checking every half hour or so.  Baking time will depend on the height of your bread, the higher it is the longer it will take.  The outside will get crusty and brown fairly quickly, but the inside takes longer to bake.  If you want to do this as raw food, you could do this in a dehydrator at a lower heat for a longer time - I'm no raw food expert so I can't give specifics but I'm sure you could follow directions for regular Ezekiel bread on this one.  I have a dehydrator, but little patience! 

Notes: The second time I made this I ground up 2 Tbsp of sunflower seeds and added that.  I also added 1 Tbsp of poppy seeds, and ¼ cup of raisins.  The bread is nice and sweet now, with a slightly nutty flavour.

If you try this, please let me know if you've added anything!  I'd love to hear your suggestions :)

UPDATE:  for another sprouted lentil bread, check out my Sprouted Red Lentil Bread!  Another fabulously cheap gluten free bread.


*OAS Info: Lentils are a common OAS food.  The sprouting and baking process may help to destroy the allergen proteins and make this safer for OAS folks to eat, but it's no guarantee. If in doubt, check with your doctor

Have you checked out my gluten free pasta book

 Recipes for Unusual Gluten Free Pasta: Pierogis, Dumplings, Desserts and More! ?  

Get yourself a copy and start making some GF won tons, pierogi, dumplings, or orzo today :)

This post was shared on the following great sites: Waste Not Want Not Wednesdays,
  

Nourishing Yogurt Face Mask

Yogurt Facial Mask

This is a very simple and nourishing mask.  The yogurt is moisturizing without being oily, and the honey has anti-bacterial and healing properties that can actually help heal blemishes and leaves your skin feel wonderfully soft afterwards.  Try this once a week after an exfoliating scrub, then apply grape seed oil.

Ingredients:

1/4 c plain yogurt
1 Tbsp honey

Directions:
1. Mix yogurt and honey together (you may need to warm your honey in the microwave for a few seconds to get it soft enough to blend with the yogurt).

2. Wash face with warm water to open the pores.

3. Apply yogurt and honey heavily over freshly washed face and neck. Any remaining mixture can be rubbed into the hands for a nourishing moisturizer, then washed off.  Leave the mask on your face for 20-30 minutes.  Wash off with a warm washcloth, pat dry and apply grape seed oil.

*OAS Info: This is free of all the common OAS allergens I have found.   

Brown Sugar Scrub and Facial Exfoliator

A Brown Sugar and Lemon Juice Body and Facial Scrub = Cheap and Easy Exfoliation

Exfoliating at home doesn't need to be expensive or difficult.  You can do it simply with household cooking ingredients.  This will leave your skin feeling super clean and fresh, and has a similar quality to a micro-dermabrasion treatment but without any harsh chemicals.  The lemon juice is anti-bacterial so it works really well for cleaning those areas that are often oily and get touched a lot, like around the hair and jaw-line, so make sure you scrub well around there.  The brown sugar is a natural exfoliator that will clean your pores and slough off dead skin cells. 

Remove any make-up and wash your face with warm water to open your pores first.  I do this once a week, followed by a Yogurt Facial Mask. 

Ingredients:

lemon juice (either from fresh squeezed lemon or bottled juice)
brown sugar (ideally fair trade, organic)

Directions:

1. Saturate a cotton pad with lemon juice.

2. Sprinkle a small amount of brown sugar over the pad.

3 Dampen your skin with warm water, and, using a circular motion, scrub the cotton pad over your skin in a circular motion.  Go gently at first to see how your skin reacts.  If you can handle it, scrub a little harder.  You may experience some tingling, this is the lemon juice and is normal.  However, if you react strongly, scrub gently.  Avoid the eyes. Scrub all over face and neck.  If you find that the lemon juice is a bit harsh, try diluting it with water. 

4. Rinse with warm water.  Follow with the Yogurt Facial Mask.

*OAS Info: This is free of all the common OAS allergens I have found. 

Grape Seed Oil Moisturizer

A Cheap, Natural Alternative to Commercial Moisturizers = Natural Skin Care on a Budget

Don’t let the oil in the title turn you off!  Grape seed oil is actually GOOD for your skin, whether it be oily or dry.  Grape seed oil is a cheap, natural moisturizer made from ingredients found in the home, and is the base ingredient for many commercial moisturizers.  I’ve been using it for a couple of years now and am so happy I switched over.  Let me tell you a story and then explain:

A couple of years ago I was running out of facial moisturizer.  I wanted to try something new, but I was really busy with school and didn’t want to take the time to research another new product and waste my money again on a moisturizer that left my face feeling clogged, that stung my eyes, or that smelled like chemicals.  I knew enough to be freaked out by the fact that a lot of facial creams put chemicals like formaldehyde in their product.  Formaldehyde, folks.  As in what mad scientists use to preserve skin tissue in jars in their basements!  Well I’m far from ready for being embalmed. Not only that, but many of THESE CHEMICALS ARE TOXINS that can leech into your skin and cause cancer, as well as damage the environment.

Well I happened to have a bottle of grape seed oil in my cupboard – yep, the cooking oil – and remembered having once had a wonderful massage with grape seed oil, so I slapped some on my face.  I figured it couldn’t be any worse than the multitude of moisturizers I’ve tried over the years that resulted in breakouts and aggravation of the red patches around my nose and chin, etc.  I found that is absorbed quickly, didn’t leave my skin feeling greasy, and actually felt really smooth.  I’ve been using it for over two years now.  My skin is smoother than before, and I’m pretty sure my crow’s feet even got better!  

It turns out that grape seed oil is widely used as a base in commercial moisturizers for its anti-aging properties and its ability to help heal skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. It has anti-bacterial qualities that help heal skin and of course, it moisturizes.  I’ve found that it really balances out my combination skin and I have far less breakouts.   Now you could certainly look in to getting a commercial moisturizer with grape seed oil in it, but I just use mine straight up and it works fine.  

You only need a teeny tiny amount to moisturize your face, about a dime size in the palm of my hand works for me.  I’m actually just finishing off a bottle of grape seed oil I bought about a year and a half ago for $8!  It’s such a cheap, natural moisturizer!  Unlike commercial moisturizers that tend to go funky after awhile (i.e. chemicals separate, smell funny, etc) grape seed oil lasts for ages. 

Incidentally, I was recently visiting my mom and stayed with her for a couple of weeks.  I was running low on the grape seed oil I had brought with me, and started using some of her rather expensive, anti-aging creams.  First off, since I haven't put such strong chemicals on my face for years, the smell was a bit nauseating.  It also stung, and it made the red patches around my nose inflamed, and spread.  After a couple of days I just stopped moisturizing altogether rather than deal with the chemicals.  Once I went back to grape seed, my skin improved again.  

Other things to do with grape seed oil include:

1. Cook with it!  It's rich in antioxidants so it's a healthy cooking oil. Scratch that.  I don't cook with it anymore.  Olive oil, coconut oil and butter amongst others all have more evidence to prove their health benefits. 

2. Make a cheap, natural full body moisturizer.  I mix a couple of drops of essential oil into a tablespoon or two of grape seed oil and rub it into my skin.  Make sure you’re not allergic to the essential oil of course, and only use a small amount to start as some people have sensitive skin that reacts to strong oils!  The result is delicately scented, soft skin.  

3. Make a cheap, natural bath soak.  Pour a few drops into a bath (along with an essential oil if you like for some aromatherapy) and soak your way to smooth skin

4. Make a cheap, natural make-up remover.  A few drops on a cotton pad should be sufficient, and will save you the cost of an expensive remover that stings your eyes.  Grape seed oil will moisturize as it removes your make up. 

Obviously I can’t guarantee that everyone will have the same results as I have, but I have yet to find evidence of any adverse side effects for using grape seed oil topically. 

See David Suzuki’s site for more information on toxic chemicals in cosmetics.  http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/toxics/dirty-dozen-cosmetic-chemicals/

*OAS Info: This is free of all the common OAS allergens I have found. 

Gluten Free Pancakes

Gluten Free, Egg Free, Nut Free Blueberry Pancakes

I am absolutely a breakfast person.  If I don't get my breakfast within an hour of hopping out of bed, I become seriously headache-y, cranky and miserable.  Most days I settle for variations on scrambled free-range eggs (or in the US "certified humane") procured from an old neighbour whose father keeps chickens and sells eggs at a good price.

However, Sundays I like to go all out, make a mess and dirty some dishes.  So this Sunday I made gluten free, egg free blueberry pancakes.  This comes out of the pancake recipe that my mother has made for me all my life.  It is actually the very first recipe I tried modifying to be gluten free, way back when I first found out I was gluten intolerant.  More recently I've modified it to be egg-free as well, because I've been trying to cut back on my egg consumption (I love eggs.  Yes, I use free range, but eggs can be expensive so I'm working with cutting them out of my baking and just using them for breakfast).  

Non-gf folks who've had these think they're great, and they beat out glutinous pancakes from a box any day of the week.  They are fluffy and scrumptious.  This is one of my fiance's favorite breakfasts, and he's not even gluten intolerant.  They freeze really well too (just add a bit of wax paper between pancake layers to keep them from freezing to each other).  I add frozen blueberries to mine most of the time, but you could also slice an apple thinly and add apple slices instead.  Then serve with syrup or your favorite toppings. 

Makes about 12 pancakes. 

Ground flax seed and water replaces 1 egg

Ingredients:

1Tbsp ground flax seed
3 Tbsp water
(or use 1 beaten egg and eliminate flax and water)

Dry Ingredients

1c either brown or white rice flour
1/4 c tapioca flour
1/4 c potato starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
1-2 Tbsp sugar of your choice
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
1 3/4 c milk (I use water with a tablespoon of milk powder, or rice milk instead)
2 Tbsp oil of choice (canola or coconut work well)
Oil for frying

Directions:
1.  Heat an electric skillet or pan on medium-high heat.

2. Mix the ground flax and water together and let sit for 10 minutes, while you prepare the other ingredients.  The mix should have a congealed consistency, like a beaten egg.

3. Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Mix well.

4. Add the wet ingredients and the flax mixture (or beaten egg) and mix until smooth.  

5. Drizzle some oil on the skillet or pan (or spray with oil).  Pour the mix onto the pan.  Add blueberries or apple slices if desired.  When using frozen blueberries, I use no more than 4 blueberries per pancake lest they get too mushy.  Cook until bubbles form on the top of the pancake and the bottom side is browned.  Flip and cook until both sides are browned.  Repeat with remaining mix. 

How do you like your pancakes?

*OAS Info: This is free of all the common OAS allergens I have found. 

Gluten Free Pizza Dough and Focaccia Bread

Best Gluten Free Pizza Dough and Focaccia Bread

One of the things I crave the most is pizza.  This isn’t to say there aren’t some ok gluten free pizza crusts out there.  There are a couple that will do if you’re really desperate for pizza.  For example, Amy’s makes a cheese pizza that’s not terrible.  Also, Boston Pizza has gf pizza crusts and I believe they use Kinnikinnick crusts for it (a Canadian gluten free company). 

However, none of these pizzas come close to the nice, doughy crusts I used to love when I could eat normal pizza.  I’ve tinkered and played around with a few recipes, ended up with some hardened stones, and finally came up with this recipe.  This recipe rises fantastically, and gives a beautiful, doughy crust.  I’ve even made this and used it on its own as focaccia bread and served it to dinner guests who gobbled it up and had no idea it was originally a gluten free pizza crust.  Just sprinkle it with salt before you bake it and serve with a plate of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping in. 

Before rising

After rising, double the size in 20 minutes

I won’t lie, it’s a bit of work because it requires having a couple of bowls of things going at once, but I recommend doubling the recipe and making 2 -3 of these babies (as you can see from my photos).  You can freeze them for later use, so the work is totally worth it.  I have one sitting in my freezer right now, fully loaded and ready to just be popped in the oven for 20 minutes to cook.  One great thing about this, I got to use my coffee grinder to grind all my own brown and white rice flour.  I’ve also added my pizza sauce recipe below.

You may prefer to double the recipe and make 3 pizzas to freeze

Ingredients:

2 eggs, beaten and brought to room temperature

(alternatively, I have made this successfully with 1 egg and a chia substitute for the other egg – mix 1 Tbsp chia with 3 Tbsp water and let rest for 15 minutes until the chia becomes a goopy paste)

Wet stuff

2 ½ Tbsp olive oil

½ tsp apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp honey

 2 Tbsp yogurt (or sour cream, ricotta or cottage cheese)

Other wet stuff

1 tsp sugar

2 ½ tsp active dry yeast

¾ c warm water

Dry Ingredients

1 c white rice flour or mixture of brown and white rice flour

½ c tapioca flour

¼ c millet flour

¼ c tapioca flour, potato starch, or cornstarch (I've tried all three and they're interchangeable)

1 Tbsp sugar of your choice (brown, white or stevia substitute)
¾ tsp salt

Herbs for flavouring – I use 1 Tbsp rosemary, 1 Tbsp onion flakes, 1 tsp basil and 1 tsp parsley*

Method:

1.      Preheat oven to 200 degrees.  Prepare a pizza pan by spraying with oil and covering with parchment paper. Lightly oil the parchment paper.  The parchment paper is important as the dough will be very sticky. 

2.     Beat the eggs and set aside to warm to room temperature.  If using the chia as an egg substitute, mix the chia and water and set aside until it gels – this will look a bit slimy and goopy, so don’t be afraid!  This is normal.

3.      Mix the Wet Stuff together and set aside to warm to room temperature.

4.      Mix the Other wet stuff and set aside for yeast to proof.  This means that the yeast will start to bubble and foam after a few minutes.  If it doesn’t after 10 minutes, you may need new yeast.

5.      Sift all the dry ingredients together and blend well.  Create a well in the centre and add the eggs and/or chia mix.  Add the olive oil and yogurt mix and blend until incorporated.  Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until smooth.  The dough should be quite sticky.

6.      Turn the oven off to cool slightly.  With a spatula (damp with water to prevent sticking) spread the dough onto the pizza pan.*  Place the pizza in the warm oven to rise until desired height.  Depending on your yeast, this could take between 20-40 minutes.

7.      Remove the pizza crust and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Bake for 10 minutes to prebake the crust.  From here, you can freeze the crust as is, or add toppings to it and then freeze for later use.

8.      Take crust out and add toppings.  Put back in oven and cook for about 7-10 minutes, until crust is browned. 

* You may decide to make this amount of dough into 1.5 pizzas, as the dough rises quite a bit.  Depending on how large a crust you like, you may prefer to split the dough up. 

Stir fried veggies

For my toppings, I stir-fried some green and red peppers, chopped zucchini, and celeriac (a celery-flavoured root-like vegetable that I recently discovered).  While stir frying, I added some salt and pepper, oregano, basil and parsley to the veggies.  I also added some spinach, cheese and tomato slices and sprinkled with salt and pepper. 

Celeriac

Pizza Sauce Recipe

½ can of tomato paste

An equal amount of water + 2 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp ketchup

1 tsp oregano

¼ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp basil

*OAS Info: (updated Dec 23, 2013)  Other than the parsley, the dough is free of all the common OAS allergens I'm aware of. The vegetable toppings, however, are common OAS foods, but for most the sauteing then baking process *should* destroy the allergen proteins in them, making them safer for most to eat.

Growing Sprouts

So it's winter time and it can be kind of gloomy and cold.  One of the comforting things, though, is that I'm able to grow some edible green stuff inside to not only add some colour to the apartment, but to add some major nutrients to my salads.  I've been sprouting seeds like mad :)  Sprouts are a super cheap way to get some extra greens.  I use them instead of lettuce in sandwiches or on rice cakes, in salads, soups and Asian style wraps.  Sprouted lentils actually make for a really tasty snack just on their own. I usually have 2-3 jars of different kinds going at any time and really love watching them grow. 

I've been growing my own sprouts for a while now, and more so since I discovered the co-op near my fiance's Wisconsin apartment has all kinds of seeds for sprouting.  The Willy Street Co-op has seeds for sprouting in their bulk section!!  They have your standard alfalfa, but all kinds of others like broccoli, radish, mustard, mung beans, peas and chia (yes, it's the same chia you smeared on a Fred Flinstone chia pet head as a child.  It's incredibly healthy for you!).  I've had good success with all of these so far, and have even done well sprouting chick peas and lentils. 

Because of the energy expended in the early stages of growth, sprouts have many more times the nutrients than the fully grown plant.  Some of these little guys also have a surprisingly strong flavour!  Mustard and radish sprouts can be quite spicy, so I grow them together with alfalfa to temper them and use it as a "Spicy Salad Mix". 

 You need so very little to grow sprouts and most of the tools are things you probably have kicking around your house anyway. 

* A glass jar

* Cheesecloth, or metal screening or a sprout screen available in stores and online.  Cheesecloth is the most commonly used and accessible form of screen. 

* Elastic band or the screw on lid of the glass jar

* Seeds (preferably organic ones, as seeds treated with chemicals are less likely to grow)

1. Now, place your seeds in a jar and cut a piece of cheesecloth to cover the lid.  If using really small seeds, double up on the cheesecloth so they don't slip out when you drain the jar.  Secure with an elastic band.  

2. Fill with water and rinse and drain the seeds 3-4 times to get rid of any dust. 

3. Now fill again and let the seeds soak.  Small seeds like alfalfa, broccoli, radish and mustard only need 5-6 hours of soaking.  Lentils are best left overnight.  Mung beans need about 12 hrs, and chickpeas 1-2 days (change the water every 12 hrs or so).   Chia is a different story and needs a growing pad or medium, so I'll explain how I go around that one separately another time. 

4. Drain the jar and leave it on an angle so the water can drain out. This works well on a dish drying rack or in a bowl.  Rinse 2-3x / day until little sprouts appear.  If you want green leaves, like with alfalfa and salad greens, move the jar to a bright area so the leaves can green.  

Some seeds you may want to eat once they get sprouts.  Lentils are good just after they've sprouted.  Mung beans are nice and sweet then too, but are also good longer in stir fries. 

I've added a photo of my little glass jar garden - From left to right there's alfalfa, lentils, broccoli and mung beans.  The jars are from various things, like capers and salsa and plum sauce ;p

I'd love to hear how other people use their sprouts! 

.  

Make Your Own Gluten Free Flour!

Adventures in Grinding 
 I've been wanting to do this for ages but it took me forever to finally get around to it - grinding rice and beans to make my own gluten free flours.  When I found out I was gluten intolerant I quickly discovered how expensive gluten free flours can be.  I looked in to buying a flour mill to grind my own, but they too were really expensive.  Now yes, if you can afford the initial investment it will pay itself off in the long run, but it's making the initial investment that's the problem - I'm poor, remember? For me it's really taking a leap when there are so many different mills out there with varied reviews.

So I've finally bought a coffee grinder for under $20.  I was so excited I had to try it out right away of course.  And I'm really quite pleased with the results.  I tried it on white rice flour, chick peas, and flax seed.  The white rice came out pretty fine, and didn't require too much grinding.  The chick peas were very noisy to begin with, but once they ground down the flour came out decent, only a bit gritty. (I may not do this again with dried chickpeas as they're pretty hard. I'm afraid they'll crack the plastic.  Perhaps I'll soak them, dry them in the oven or dehydrator, then grind)  The flax seed ground up fantastically!!  I'm really thrilled about that because it can be expensive to buy the flour, whereas the seeds are cheap, and it practically doubles in size once ground.  I'm also happy with the rice flour because now I can just buy the rice in bulk and grind it whenever I need it.

UPDATE: I've also tried grinding sprouted seeds in my coffee grinder, with great success.  I've ground sprouted lentils and chickpeas in the grinder.  While the paste is not entirely smooth, this has not been a problem since I use them to bake breads (sprouted green lentil bread, sprouted red lentil bread, and chickpea bread) and don't mind them being a bit chunky.  You could transfer these to a food processor afterwards though to make a smoother paste if desired.  I've also used my grinder to make sunflower seed butter!  Recipe to be posted soon.  The grinder gets a bit messier with the damp sprouts, but mine always cleans up fine if I swish a bit of water in it and wipe it down with a damp towel.  The grinder works better than my food processor for the initial break-down of sprouts and flour. 

Also - I've now used it to make green pea and white bean flour, which is fantastic because gluten free folks need more protein, iron and fibre in their breads since we're missing out on the nutrients of whole wheat flours. 

The important thing to remember about using a coffee or spice grinder to make your own rice flour, or types of flour, is that you should pulse the grinder, rather than holding it on for long periods because this will probably kill the engine and can destroy the oils in your flours. The grinder gets warm when I let it run too long, so try putting it in the freezer for an hour or two before hand, or letting it cool between batches.  Also, if you use your grinder for coffee beans, make sure you give it a good clean before you use it for flours and seeds, or else your baked goods will come out coffee flavoured! (This may not be a bad thing, depending on your recipe :)

I'm so pleased with my flours I've decided to try and concoct my own chick pea/rice flour bread with my freshly ground flours.  More on that later...  In the meantime, here's a photo of my lovely ground flax and my new grinder :)  

Gluten Free Beer

Gluten Free Beer in the BC Lower Mainland, Winnipeg, and Madison, WI. 

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, most beer is a no-no for gluten intolerants and people suffering from celiac.  This is because beer is typically brewed from malt, barley and wheat.  Now I have to confess that I was never a huge beer fan before I discovered I couldn’t drink it anymore, but now that I can’t, I miss having the option to drink it!  So I’ve begun to explore gluten free beers.  So far I’ve sought out beer in 3 different provinces / states.  BC, Manitoba, and Wisconsin.  

In and around Vancouver, BC, I’ve been unable to find a bar that carries gluten free beer.  In Winnipeg I didn’t get much chance to search, but apparently they do have a brewery that makes it and sells to various pubs.  I’ve had much better luck in Madison, Wisconsin, where beer is abundant everywhere ;)  Liquor stores in the Lower Mainland and in Madison do carry gf beer though!  Here’s my review.  

Gluten Free Beer in BC:  if you look around a bit, you can find Bards (made in Minnesota), La Messagere, (made in Canada in Quebec! Yay Canada) and Greens (made in the UK).  I have yet to try the Greens, but so far I like the Bards better - it tastes like a good dark ale, like a real beer.  La Messagere is a bit too light for me, although I like the idea of supporting a Canadian brewery that brews gluten free beer. 

Gluten Free Beer in Winnipeg: apparently the Fort Garry brewing company has created a beer called Nubru but it's not listed on their website and I searched only a little bit (unsuccessfully) when I was in Winnipeg recently in December.  According to the article posted with the link here, they intended to distribute more widely around Canada.  If anyone knows more about it pls let me know!

Gluten Free Beer in Madison, Wisconsin: different bars have different options, but many seem to have at least one option.  For example, State Street Brats offers Bards sorghum beer.  The Old Fashioned has one gluten free beer – New Grist by Lakefront Brewery which is local, brewed in Milwaukee, WI.  It’s not a bad beer, it’s a lighter sorghum lager that tastes pretty close to regular light beer.   The Cooper’s Tavern has several gluten free options, and my favorite gf beer so far, Estrella Daura, which is a nice dark lager from Barcelona, Spain.  This beer is the most beer-like of all the gf beers I’ve tried, and is comparable to a hearty ale.  It has some depth to it.  Cooper’s also carries Bard’s and New Grist.  Yay Madison for being so progressive!!  

If you’ve had any experiences with gf beer I’d love to hear them!  Particularly if anyone’s tried brewing their own.