Tuesday Tricks and Tips

When dealing with Gluten Free flours, you have to realize one vital thing. You HAVE to weigh things. They will never turn out the same if you use a cup or what have you. In addition, GF flours have different weights per equiviliant cups. So when you  convert, you have to additionally convert into the separate weights needed. If you look up my cake recipe, you'll see this is how I converted the cake flour into gluten free once I'd decided my percentages. Here's some weights.

Evil Cake Flour is 100grams per cup
Evil Bread Flour is 136grams per cup
Evil AP Flour is 127grams per cup

However

Almond Flour/Meal is 112 grams per cup
Potato Starch is 170 grams per cup
Rice Flour is 158 grams per cup

That's a lot of variations, ain't it?

So what you do is when you've decided on percentage you want of each to substitute. So if you have a recipe that calls for 2 2/3  cups of Cake Flour, that translates to 266.6 or 267grams of Cake Flour. If you decide on a 60/40 split between protein and starch. That would mean for example : 267*.60= 160 grams of Protein and 107grams of Starch. However, because GF flours have a different density, you then have to multiple those weights by the density of the GF flours. In this example, that would be 160x 1.12 = 179.4grams of protein and 181.56grams of starch.  Equally a total weight of 360 grams.

(Amount in cups) x (Weight of type of Flour called for in recipe) = Amount in grams
(Amount in grams/Percentage in Starches) + (Amount in grams/Percentage of Starches)= Amount in grams
(Grams in category (proteins/starches/etc) x (Weight of GF alternative per cup) = Amount of GF alternative needed

Tech & Fun Thursdays

First, I hope everyone is doing well. Secondly, if you'll look up at the address bar above this window, you'll see that A Sweet Geek has found a new home at http://www.eatsgeeks.com. We're still working with Blogger as our blog service but liked the idea of a .com for a bit more exposure, even though I'm -sure- you're sharing the site with other people you know, right? *grin*

In addition, this is going to mean I will hopefully (once I remember any website formatting I've done before) that you'll have more content to poke around in like any good Spark and I can be egotistical and vain and show off all the fun stuff I get into and want to get into. In this case, Eats Geeks. This is the parent name for my Food Service Company. Geeks of all types will be welcome as well as the mundanes. Why Geeks you ask? Mostly because Geeks pride themselves on their Knowledge and it's a fact that they are obsessed. I'm obsessed with tasty yummy and especially sweet things and the knowledge of how to make and improve them so I'm a Sweet Geek. Here, let me explain it even more simply.

I'm not completely socially inept, so I wouldn't be a Nerd or Dork, although just like everyone else, there is a time and place for those people as well. There is no 'bad' type of Nerd, just whether it's an appropriate situation. So tell me, what are you a Nerd about? And as we move into our new home, what would you like to see more/any of?

Chicken Nudges

Chicken Nudges

I have a few staples on my list that I make fairly regularly because I know they're good and they're simple to freeze and make later and still be 'fresh' enough my brain doesn't rebel against the idea of eating them. I should be less of a food snob but when I -have- to eat something repeatedly, I feel extremely depressed and my mood sinks. Food security is security for me. If I can find some way to eat something in the kitchen that I want and that appeals to me, I feel as if I can conquer the world. If not, I start to wonder what's next. A bit silly, I know but it's one of those ever so lovely quirks I have.

But one thing that I can make and have on hand and use in a million different ways is chicken nuggets. Now, I make them a bit bigger, but not full size tenders so that I can cut them up and use them in stirfry (which A adores) or I can dip them in whatever I have and so on. The possibilities are limitless. There are a few options on how to do this, but my basic recipe for GF chicken nudges is as follows.

Difficulty: Basic Basic
Time: About an hour
Mise en Place

• Sheet Pan
• Parchment Paper
• 3 flat containers/bowls/etc
• Deep fryer or pan deep enough to fry (Set at 360)
• Frying oil (Canola/Peanut/Vegetable/etc)
• Slotted metal spoon if using pan
• Metal tongs
• Gallon Plastic Ziplock 
• Hand blender (optional) Whisk or fork also works, just not as well.

Ingredients

1-2 cups of Masa Harina (otherwise known as Corn Flour. It should be in your Hispanic/Mexican aisle in the grocery) or Sorghum flour
4-5 eggs/yolks/whites/some mixture therein (or egg replacement = w/water)
3 cups coconut flour (Optional) or GF bread crumbs
1 Tbsp each Paprika, Garlic Powder,
1 cup of pickle juice/buttermilk/ milk and vinegar (1cupmilk to 1 TBSP Vinegar)
2 lbs of Chicken


Preparation: Cut the chicken into the size pieces you want. Soak the chicken in the plastic bags along with the acid base (pickle juice/buttermilk) for about an hour before you need to start prepping.

It's really pretty basic. I make sure there are 3 flat bottomed bowls or tupperware that are big enough. I scramble all of my eggs with a hand blender since it makes sure there is no random proteins causing clumps of eggs that will then drop off. Then lay some parchment paper down on  a sheet pan that's small enough to go in your freezer. And yes, I have a tiny kitchen so things go where things fit. In this case, in front of the microwave. Though now, even it's been moved.


Once it's soaked enough, you grab them out of the bag with your left hand, this becomes your 'wet' hand. Drop a piece of chicken into the flour. Take  your right hand and coat the chicken, then -drop- it into the egg mixture. Coating it with your left hand then drop it into the crumb or coconut mixture. Coat again with the right hand and lay down on the parchment covered sheet pan. This method of dipping will keep your hands somewhat clean and mobile. Crusted fingers =/= yummy.

Fill the pan, then stick in the freezer for about 20 minutes until chicken is solid and crumb isn't going to just slide off. You can fry at this point or you can coat it all again for a second layer then freeze again but that's up to you. This is also the point to turn your deep fryer up to get it to heat up in time. If you're wanting to make this for long term use, ignore the deep fryer bit and let them freeze a bit more solidly and then you can just drop them into a CLEAN ziplock bag and use them like any other prepared fried chicken bag.

Once you've got enough crumb on your nuggets, it's time to turn up the heat. Dropping enough for one layer into your deep fryer basket (but no more), drop them into the ready oil (usually, this is when the green light is lit). Set your timer for 2 minutes. Then bring them out of the oil and shake the excess oil off before dropping them again for 2 more minutes. Repeat this a second and third time. By the time they are done, you should have cooked it for 6-7 minutes and have a deep golden brown like this:

The sauce is whatever you want to use. I made my own marinara for this shot. I've also taken and used hot wing sauce and bleu cheese dressing (Marzetti's is GF)

Tuesday's Tips & Tricks : Xanthan Gum

Okay, everyone -knows- that you have to have xanthan gum if you're making something gluten free. FINALLY, the people who make it realize that there's a market for people who just want to make something for a friend who is GF, but having to buy a $12 package of something that they only use a teaspoon of, is kinda ridiculous so they have mini packs now. But there's something even worse about xanthan gum. It's a gum. So it makes GF products have a gummy texture. It's not anything new but it seems to have missed a few people by so I thought I'd reiterate it here.

Whatever amount you 'need' of xanthan gum, instead mix that much 1/2 and 1/2 of Chia seeds and Flax seed with twice as much boiling water.

For example: You need 1 tsp of xg, then you need 1/2 tsp of Chia Seeds (Link is for a smaller more manageable size if you want to try it out. I buy bulk for around $20 and it lasts FOREVER in the freezer. Going on a year currently and they still work fabulously) and 1/2tsp of Flaxseeds along with 2tsp of boiling water.



It will cool down quickly so I just boil more than I need. Also, don't forget to remove that amount of water from the liquid in your recipe. Then add it before you add your liquids into the recipe. This works amazing for breads, tortillas, etc. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for cookies but you could try it and see if it works for you.

Also, on a side note, I'm getting very excited. I'm going to the Gluten Free Allergen Free Expo in Dallas on September 8-9!!! I can't wait to come back and show you all I've learned!

Changing things up

Let's face it, living gluten free is all about changing things up. The way we eat, the way we think, the way we do. If I'm going on one of my beloved road trips, say to the Gluten Free Allergen Free Expo in Dallas like I am in a few weeks, I have to take GF munchies with me instead of just stopping somewhere and grabbing something or otherwise, I won't be able to enjoy the vendor fair or the cooking classes.

I also now have to have about 10-13 containers of flour substitutes in my kitchen at any given point instead of 4. (Used to have Cake, AP, Bread and Pastry). I have to ask exactly what is in something when I eat out instead of just going with whatever looks yummy. I have to send A into the baking aisle to get my spices or GF treats like Pamela's Product Pecan Shortbread Cookies because it's the frickin' baking aisle and there's flour floating in the air that's going to make me blow up like a balloon and give me tummy issues.

But you probably don't care about that, you want to know why I'm rambling. Well, my new job takes place mostly on the weekend so that means a Saturday recipe update isn't really doable as easily. So here's the new lineup.

Monday - News from over the weekend or random tidbits that I want to share.
Tuesday - Tips and Tricks
Wednesday - New Recipe day

Other stuff might happen on other days, but these will be the set up. And so that's your bit of random for today.

Ta ta from Tabi

Maybe...but not quite right.

Hmmm...So I'm currently working on hacking bread flour like I did with cake flour but it's a bit tougher this go round. My first attempt was okay but it didn't really 'sing' out to me. The crust factor was nice but it dried out WAY too fast to like it long term. The second batch my yeast died so we won't mention it anymore. The third batch...

Hhmmm...that third batch was kinda nice. I did the ratio thing again and had a 40% Starches to 60% whole grain mix and I'm wondering if that's where I screwed it up. It's not bad, don't get me wrong and the crumb is gorgeous. See?

So what caused this happy accident?

I wasn't happy with the use of the quinoa seed that the first batch had, the flavor was a bit weird for me, I thought. So I thought I'd switch it, but with something but what in my ratio.

Attempt at Camp Bread Crust = FAIL

First Batch
35% Sorghum Flour
25% Sweet Potato Starch
10% Potato Starch
10% Sweet Rice Flour
10% Tapioca Starch
10% Quinoa Flour

Second Batch (Doesn't matter)

Seem a bit like hard muffins at first

Third Batch
35% Sorghum Flour
25% Sweet Potato Starch
10% Potato Starch
10% Sweet Rice Flour
10% Tapioca Starch
10% Golden Flaxseed (Milled)


This third batch is what gave the insides the nice chew I liked but it still felt like a not dry but not moist muffin to me. So it's still not right. I am using the same reference recipe as a base that comes from my school textbooks. I think it might work as a GF biscuit scone thing to eat with soup though. Very tasty. But still not quite what I want. So it's back to the kitchen to practice again.

How about your thoughts? What makes a good bread good? And any suggestions for ways to try and incorporate it into this recipe?

Dog Days of Summer

I live in Louisiana and I won't lie, the summers here never seem to end. A day when it's 79 degrees in February? Seen it. What I do love however, is all the options available to us, not just in Louisiana but in the entire United States. We get tomatoes in November and that's great that we can, but they just can't quite match the the sharp tangy yet sweet taste of a tomato fresh off the vine in July. I think we're spoiled in many ways and we restrict ourselves only to the things we know.

We don't pay attention to the 'season' of a vegetable or fruit because we don't have to, but that unrestricted plenty has allowed us to not leave our comfort zone of food. I'm plenty guilty of it and of course, finding out about my wheat allergy and gluten sensitivity has made me even a little fearful of doing so but when I'd thought about it, I realized it shouldn't. Just because I couldn't have some things didn't mean I couldn't explore what I could have and see what it could do for me.

And you can never stop exploring, because if you let what is be the total sum of your experience than you'll never truly enjoy what could be. It's as simple as "Without sorrow, there is no joy." That's the lesson I take into today as I sit here and wait for my latest creation to rise and see if my idea for bread flour and a bread recipe pans out the way I want. I already made a few unintentional mistakes that I'm wondering if I have to go back and fix in the next batch but just imagine. No matter how many loaves it takes, no how many tears of frustration I cry, when it does turn out, it'll be something to really shout about. I'm looking forward to this even if I am baking bread on the first day of August in a building that is not very well insulated and has no central air!

Enjoy whatever your day brings you and remember to live fully!

R&D: Hacking cake Flour

The other night I was doing a mindless internet crawl and poking about things and came to a realization; almost everything can be jury rigged. That is to say that even if it's not exactly the right thing, you can usually make something stand in for something else. Sometimes, it even does a better job than the original. Prime examples of this are Sugru and Alton Brown. I'm pretty sure if you're looking up food recipes, you don't need to be told who Alton Brown is. The guy pretty much revolutionized the kitchen industry with the idea that you don't have to have a gadget for EVERY single process in your kitchen. He's used ziplocks as piping bags and more. Sugru on the other hand might have slipped past your radar. It's an epoxy like material designed to 'fix' things but it's very moldable and it's actually a lot of fun to play with but the things I've seen this stuff do is amazing. From safeguarding a young'uns camera like they have highlighted on their website currently all the way to holding a dishwasher together or even for product prototypes.

Which of course reminds me, I need to order some.

But the idea is the same, yes, we are a consumer nation and I'm more than guilty of my gadgets and gizmos but not everything has to be the same, especially not when it comes to your health. So I got to thinking and was thinking about how all the GF flours weren't just a single flour so I'd have to come up with my own composite but how to start without practically taking a food science course in addition to the other two degrees I now have finished. My biggest issue with gluten free foods was and is how dense they are and that icky gumminess that seems to coat all of them inside and out. Which basically means I dislike a great deal of gluten free foods (sucks to be me, inoright?) But back to the basic problem. How to start figuring out ratios.

Well, to start, rarely is anything 50/50. Fair is not fair in any world but even more so in something created. So I decided (luckily as it turned out) to go with a 60/40 ratio. The question was what ingredients to use. Most of the GF recipes I've seen have used a combination of six ingredients for their 'flour' mixture. Brown Rice, White Rice, Nut Flours, Tapioca Starch, Potato Starch, and Sweet Rice. Of those, the nut and Brown Rice could be considered proteins while the others were starches. So by their own separations they gave me a simple split. Proteins and Starches, which is what a lot of baked goods already are (have I mentioned lately how much I adore having had food scientists for instructors during Culinary training?).

I could have gone about this in a lot of different ways but I was actually a little silly about it all. I hated the gumminess so I wanted the starches to be the smaller part of the ratio. Even if it meant the heavier (or so I thought) items were in larger ratio. So I decided that with my first batch the starches would be the 40% and the proteins would be the larger portion. I kept hoping it wouldn't be a rock in my mouth but I could always adjust in the next batch. Well, since the starches were 40% and there were 4 of them, might as well just split it evenly the first time, right? Yeah, remember what I said about fair? Throw it out the window...because in this case, fair was me being lazy and having no idea how to tell which one would be better.

So we had the starch ratio, now it was time for the protein. This part I wasn't so lazy on. I like the flavor of nuts but I don't want a nutty cake so I hedged in the favor of the brown rice flour mostly because I had a ton of it, I grind my own nut meals and so on. Again, trying to resist the lazy part of it all by splitting it down the center and still worried about the flavor, I went for a 35/25 ratio of the 60 ratio for the protein half. Then it was just a matter of what recipe to try it out with. I knew just the one. The one I'd missed most. The white cake recipe from my Culinary School. I made this cake so much and still loved it. I had to make it over three times for my wedding cake final and still loved it. (We never did figure out why it kept sinking in the middle but only on the bottom layer sized pan.) So I dug out my recipe books from school and dug it up.

It looks just like the evil cakes I used to make in school

Now here's the thing that occurred to me once I looked at the recipe. Most of my culinary stuff was done in weight (we even had to buy a scale for class) but once I was out, I started measuring again despite it was rarely a consistent product. Don't ask me why; but it was probably laziness on my part. But looking at the recipe, I realized that recipes when converting from metric to standard are often drastically different. Then I got to wondering about how the same size cookie can be a different weight based on the ingredients so I bet flours do as well. This led me on yet another search of the interwebs which led me to a wonderful little converter which made me realize I was right. Which if you just use a cup of almond meal, it's going to have a different volume than a cup of cake flour. So I had to do math. Ick.

So the result is.

360g / .35 (The 35% Brice) = 126g
126g x 1.60 to make up for the difference between 100cake flour and 160g of Brice = 201g of Brown Rice Flour is needed for this particular recipe.

Isn't that a beautiful crumb?

So the weights I used for my cake flour are as follows after multiplying the ratio by the percent difference between cake flour and the current flour. The amounts in parenthesis are how my cake flour which was 360grams turned into for each GF flour. It will be a more weighty cake gram wise.

Brown Rice Flour = 35% x1.60 = (201g)

Almond Flour = 25% x  1.12 = (90g)

Tapioca Starch = 10% x 1.25 =  (45g)

Potato Starch = 10% x 1.70 = (61g)

White Rice Flour = 10% x 1.60 = (57g)

Sweet Rice Flour = 10% x 2.04 = (73g)

Total = 527g

Original cake flour weight was only 360g

Tastes sooooo good!

Now, it is still a bit denser than normal cake but it's hardly noticeable and the layers don't fluff up as much so you won't really cut the top off for even layers as it tends to be rather flat and not fluffy in the middle like most cakes. The main reason I'm not putting up the exact recipe for you to use is that for the whole rest of the recipe, I'm using an ingredient that's only available to bakeries or craft stores and isn't as easy to get a hold of. However, this ratio method seems to work really well for any recipe calling for cake flour.

My only word of caution is to make sure all ingredients are at room temperature and get them as fluffy as possible when making this. My recipe calls for whipping the egg whites into stiff peaks and that helps so much with the lift of this cake. Plus cream of tarter is good with egg whites too.

Anyways, good eats!

I blame the Gluten but it was my own fault.

Okay, I was stupid. Foolish and stupid. I was really in need of a little man made relaxation last night so I thought I'd grab a pack of Cider. Only they were out. I'd been told that Mike's Lemonade; a brand I went to before I'd found out about the Wheat Allergy and Gluten sensitivity, was okay for non Celiacs. Now I just wish I could find that person and strangle them. So yes, I got the Mike's...which was very tasty.

But oh man did my stomach complain. And my head. I have a good head on my shoulders even when I drink. Three Mike's at 6% alcohol should not have put me under. But I could barely stand let alone walk and my stomach swelled to disproportionate portions. In addition, my brain was not computing at all. I was there watching myself, going "Something is not right about that statement, but I can't figure out what." every time I or A spoke. Ultimately, we decided that it was a combination of the alcohol and the beer. The problem was, later, when my coordination came back, the stomach issues continued as did the foggy head. And when I woke up this morning? EVERYTHING hurt. My joints, my back. But not like a hangover. But just my entire body was sensitive and out of tune. I'm still groggy now at almost 3 in the afternoon and my normal pep and energy is just not there. Why did I ever think this was a good idea.

So...

The R&D post I was going to have up for you today will instead be next week, and it's very exciting. I HACKED cake flour and it was awesome. I have a GF cake flour and I LOVE it.

China: Love in the Middle Kingdom (now with pics!)

So got back from China last night and I'm still hopelessly in love with the Middle Kingdom. It might have just a little to do with the HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE service level of San Fransisco airport and frustration with my trip mates. Beijing was amazing and Shanghai was...nice.

So after that completely ambiguous summary, I should probably get to the nitty gritty. I'm going to try and do a few summary posts here and there over the course of the next month about my various types of experiences in China, each one focusing on a different aspect but it can really be summed up with Beijing still feels connected to both old and new worlds while Shanghai feels like Las Vegas and New York had a Ugly Bastard Love Child who gets a new facelift every few years because mommy feels guilty for throwing it across the pacific for boarding school so they don't have to deal with it.

Shanghai via night cruise

Entering Shanghai

I've been lucky and never really had many issues when traveling, but then again I've always been in pretty good condition when I travel and having to travel while incapacitated has really opened my eyes to the way that the service industry tends to treat disabled people and I am completely outraged.

Not the carry out but close in taste.

During my trip, I slightly twisted my ankle twice (once at the Great Wall and once at the Forbidden City) but managed to recover by not going out the night after,but the second day before we left, I stepped off the tour bus wrong though and it all came back to me in crippling glory. So instead of going to the Shanghai Urban Exhibition Center, I ended up staying around the hotel barely able to walk more than a block without crying in pain. Luckily, A was with me and he babied me, adjusted my pillows and went out and got me food as well as an ankle brace. We ended up with a very nice black pepper steak that was very yummy.

But the day we left, A had to take all of the luggage to the bus to go to the airport. This was fine, and they even arranged for a wheelchair for me as well as upgraded both of us to Economy Plus. Which trust me, on an 12 hour flight helps tremendously. It gave me enough legroom to sprawl out and actually sleep a bit. Our problems, as mentioned before, started in San Fransisco. Admittedly, thanks to China's government interference, our flight was 2 hours late in getting started and we only had a 3 hour layover window.

So when we got to SFO, we were in a rush and I was still in a wheelchair...They had 3 people at the gate to push 8 people in wheelchairs. So we ended up playing Leapfrog to get to Immigration. We then got a special green tag that was SUPPOSED to get us through everything quickly. Immigration was relatively painless but then we went to grab our bags that  had been checked because on International Flights you have to uncheck and then recheck bags for domestic flights. A got lost while trying to get a cart so he wouldn't have  to hand carry 4 carryon bags plus our two Checked bags, which he was handling that and my crankiness, pain and such with the best sense of humor of ANY man. (He's a keeper, mum. *grin*), but we looked for the bags while waiting on him.

We found my bag, but could not find his. This was not helped by the fact his bag was black. Just black. No duct tape or distinguishing marks at all except for his bright green address tag. After about five minutes of searching, we can't find it and another flight is being put on that belt so we had to leave. We found A and did another look through. Still no bag. So we piled everything on, and despite having our 'handler' leave, the guy who was supposed to be in charge of the bagging area wheeled me to a place where they could take us to security. Now keep in mind we have these green tags that are supposed to get us through security pretty quickly.

Instead, they ignored us, and pushed me over to the side and made A go through the whole shebang. So he's on the other side of security and I'm on the opposite...and still no one's come to help me. Apparently one lady was just standing there, ignoring the call for her to do her job until A almost literally grabs her and asks her to do her job. She stated then that she was about to go on break and he asks her again to do it. She finally does and it's over very quickly, but this is after I'm sitting there like a bump on a log for 15 more minutes. At this point, this was when our flight was supposed to leave. Luckily for us, there was something wrong and our flight got delayed just in time, and it wasn't for us. xp

But A had to leave the cart and so now he's stuck with 4 carryon bags and 1 checked bags and trying to push me too, since no one bothered to make sure there was anyone to assist us once we got past security.  Finally, someone was about to leave and saw us struggling and when A asked, he was happy to help and then we FINALLY began to book it through the airport, making it to the plane just in time. Then of course, we had to wait a bit more for the true delay before we could take off.

I haven't flown as much as some, but I average about 2-3 flights a year or so over the past 5 years and that is truly the most horrific experience I've had. If I had been a normal handicapped person and been treated like that every day I've flown or gone somewhere, I'm sure I can see how they feel so down on themselves. They are treated like less than human. There was a guy in front of me in security who had an oxygen tank who was still there when I left and he seemed on the verge of tears while people just ignored him.

Even on this trip, with people who do not understand Celiac and gluten sensitivity, I've felt like I was a bit less than human. Like I was some alien because I couldn't drink beer or eat udon noodles. I never want to feel like that again, and if nothing else, this has reaffirmed my resolve. It is not Living Without, it is Fully Living, which includes having a healthy functioning system that does not having me fatigued, scatterbrained and in pain so I can enjoy every food I eat. So what if I can't have a few things out there, many people out there are picky eaters and won't even try different ways. I get to explore and create and that makes me very happy!

First meal I made once we were back in US. So never got sick of Chinese style food. NEVER!