A Gluten - less world

Good afternoon friends,

Recently in my life a lot has changed, one of the main things being that I no longer live with my best friend because she has decided to abandon me in a quest to become the smartest ‘DR’ that ever did live. All Jokes aside, Louise is starting a very exciting new journey to get her PhD and as much as I love her, I’m just not ready to leave Brighton. So that meant saying goodbye ( just for a lill while ) and starting a new chapter. So the biggest news is, I moved! I live with more people now, one of which is intolerant to gluten. You know what that means? Challenge time.

When one of my friends was struggling with gluten and had a vegan diet, I LOVED cooking for her because it meant I really had to think about everything I was making. It feels like unlocking a different part of my brain.

I’ve done a few small bakes so far, A sticky ginger cake and some ginger and black pepper cookies, both superb but both have left Ben ( Mr Gluten gives me tummy aches) feeling left out. And with food, I don’t leave anyone out. So with this in mind, I set out on my biggest gluten free adventure so far. Bread. But not any kind of bread, bagels. I have NEVER attempted to make gluten free bread. It just seems like a very complex bake which for a very amature baker, I could not see being successful. But as soon as I announced to the house that I was going to make bagels, Ben asked if I could make some gluten free ones, and how could I say no.

I followed a recipe by The Gluten Free Blogger ( apart from the egg) and it was fairly simple. The most surprising part of the dough process was how it rose. So I used polish yeast, which was already activated and I’m not sure if it was that, out just the gluten free dough itself, but when I touched it after leaving it to rise, it felt like a slime filled with tiny little polystyrene balls. Twas very weird. Is that normal? Any gluten free bread makers out there, please, let me know. 

Making the bagels was almost identical to regular, gluten filled bagels, easy to roll and shape. They did crack a little, but once boiled and baked, they held together pretty well. 

Once cooled, Ben (my test subject) assembled himself a bagel with cream cheese and joined me in our garden so I could witness his reaction. With many head wiggles, he finally formed a sentence, ‘Jade, this might be the best gluten free bagel I've ever had. I’ve had a lot and this is very close to the top!’ so there you have it :) My first attempt at gluten free bread, a success! This really hypes me up to venture deeper into the glutenless bread world and now I have a willing subject :) 

I made a mix of poppy seed, sesame seed and mixed seed bagels. I made gluten bagels the next day with the same toppings, as we planned a house bagel night, complete with toppings galore!!!

We also made our own cream cheese, FROM SCRATCH!! It was so much easier than I thought it would be. We added chives and garlic and used it on our bagels and it was delicious! Just like the bagels, I will definitely be making this again! I’ve written the recipe below so you can make it yourself! It’s not vegan but I am interested in making it with oat milk, to see what happens. 

It’s been really nice getting back into bread making as It's been a while but I’m really excited to start baking again and fill my house with the warm comforting smell of fresh bread and other tasty treats.

Until next time,

Jade x

Cream cheese Recipe

2 pints of milk

4 TBSP Lemon juice

Chives

Garlic

Salt and Pepper.

Bring the milk to a simmer, and the lemon juice and stir constantly. The curds and whey will begin to separate. Once it’s separated, about 5 minutes or less, strain it through a cheese cloth and leave to cool for 15 minutes. Once cooled, squeeze out the remaining liquid and add to a food processor along with as much garlic and chives as you’d like. Slowly blitz, adding some of the whey to help make it smooth. Nce you are happy with the consistency, season and refrigerate for 30 mins then she's ready to go!