Gluten Free French Bread and Vegan Pesto

French Bread Mix

3 1/2 cups brown rice flour
14 oz. (one box) tapioca starch (about 2 1/2 cups)
2 TBSP. xanthan gum
2 packets gelatin
2 (heaping) TBSP Egg Replacer (I use Ener-G brand)
1/4 cup organic sugar or Sucanat (browns better than regular white sugar)

Makes 6 cups mix.



French Bread - makes 2 large loaves

DRY INGREDIENTS
3 1/2 cups mix
8 TBSP pea protein powder
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 scant TBSP yeast

WET INGREDIENTS
3 large egg whites
1 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar
3 TBSP olive oil
1 1/2 - 2 cups warm water

DIRECTIONS
Fold parchment in half the long way, and line french loaf (split for 2 loaves) pan.
In the bowl of the mixer, combine dry ingredients and gently mix them.
Add in wet ingredients and mix. The amount of water will vary, start with the smaller amount and add more a little at a time as needed.
Scrape bowl, and mix for 4 minutes. Batter should be the consistency of smooth spackling paste. Thick, but easy spreadable.
Put half of batter in each side of the pan. Form them with your spatula into 12-14" loaves that are fairly flat on top - don't smooth them too much.
Let rise 35 minutes. (After 25 minutes start pre-heating oven to 425 degrees.)
Cover bread loosely in parchment paper.
Bake for 15 minutes, then uncover bread and bake for another 10 minutes.

Take out of oven and let cool for 30 minutes.




Pecan Pesto

4 cups loosely packed basil leaves
3/4 cup raw pecans
2 cloves of raw garlic
juice of 1/2 large lemon
salt to taste - start with 1/2 tsp. (should be a little saltier than you'd like if you were to eat it straight.)
a large dash (6 grinds fresh) of black pepper
olive oil - enough to make a runny paste

DIRECTIONS
Whir garlic first in a food processor.
Put in basil, pecans, salt, black pepper, lemon juice in that order in the processor.
Put 1/4 cup of olive oil in processor.
Pulse the machine until all ingredients are chopped. At this point you may have to put in more olive oil.
Turn processor on and let it chop until everything becomes a fairly uniform paste. Do not chop too long - you are not making soup.

The First of My Gluten-Free Recipes: Chocolate Nut Cake

Most of my whole family is Gluten-Free as most of us also have Celiac Disease. Likewise, many of us are allergic to dairy and soy. I am lucky in that we also all cook. My mother and I decided that most of the bread choices out there were horrendous, as well as many of the recipes. so we have worked on our own for years. Much of what follows started out as another recipes and have been changed, refined, and fiddled with until they seemed tasty, had good texture, and baked up consistently. So in the interest of putting some good stuff out there, here you go:

Seven Ingredient Chocolate Nut Cake (Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free)

• 2 1/2 cups Walnuts/Pecans, or 10 oz. any other tree nut (Use only one kind for best result)
• 4 Tbsp unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch Processed)
• 9 Tbsp egg whites/liquid egg substitute
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• optional: confectioner's sugar to dust the top
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease sides and bottom of an 8" round cake pan and line it with a circle of parchment paper.
3. Pulse nuts, cocoa, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor. Stop when mixture starts to climb the sides of the processor and threstens to become a paste.
4. Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachement, beat egg whites/egg sub. and vanilla for one minute and then slowly add the sugar. Beat on high speed until mixture triples in volumes and is at the ribbon stage. (Where you can see ribbons of mixture form on top as it is mixed.)
5. Fold nut mixture into egg mixture in 3 batches.
6. Pour batter into pan and smooth top.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cake resists slight finger pressure, edges start to pull away from sides, and a skewer inserted in the center comes out only slightly sticky.
8. Take out and leave in pan for 10 minutes.
9. Finish cooling on a cooling rack.
10. After cake cools, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.