Tag: Irish

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread (and baking tips) by Gordon Ramsay

Gluten free and dairy free Irish soda bread with raisins

The Mother of Invention

If I call this new gluten-free bread an Irish soda bread, traditionalists will snicker. Raisins are not traditional in a “true” Irish soda bread, you see. If a soda bread has raisins in it, it’s called Spotted Dog over yonder, ‘cross the pond in the Emerald Isle (or so I’m told). I never knew this, growing up on the white clapboard wilds of the Connecticut shore. I was blithely ignorant of this quaint canine moniker, despite a hefty streak of familial Irish blood. We ate more pierogi and kielbasa in our culturally eclectic house than Irish soda bread and tea. So my own first home baked Irish soda bread recipe had raisins in it.

And, actually, come to think of it, why the heck not?

When it comes to traditions, I’m the first to admit it… I am an upstart. I wiggle and chafe beneath constraint and “should” like an itchy Catholic school girl with pinching new shoes. I admire traditions. From afar. Well. At least in theory. In an abstract, don’t fence me in, symbolic way. The nod to meaning, and the message, is more interesting to me than formula. When it comes to formula, I usually prefer to wing it.

Which is why I enjoy gluten-free baking.

My skill set groove runs deep on the intuitive side. If a recipe calls for x amount of flour and I sense the dough is too wet, I’ll add more flour until the dough feels “right” to me. Experience helps. No doubt about it. The process of trial and error gives you a feel for gluten-free dough, an inkling about the muffin batter and how it might behave on any given day. Which varies, I hate to tell you.

So I pay attention to elements like humidity, and room temperature. Kitchen fairies. Weather.

Bread dough will behave differently on a hot and humid July day than it will on a windy, cold March afternoon. Your kitchen changes with the seasons, you know. So recipes may have to change a wee bit, too. The amount of milk or gluten-free flour may need to be adjusted. Tweaked a tiny bit toward wet or dry. Or sometimes both. Confusing as that may seem.

Baking gluten-free is more of an art than a science.

I recommend you tune in to your ingredients and learn how they behave. Learn how humidity affects flour- notice it’s dampness. Or dryness. Why?

Dry flours will soak up more liquid.

Damp flours are heavier, and may need less moisture.

A cool and drafty kitchen may require a longer rise time than a hot and sultry one.

A thin metal bread pan may bake the outside of a loaf faster than the inside can keep up.

Your oven may run a tad hotter than you imagined. Or lag behind and never quite pre-heat itself (do your gluten-free baked goods end up gummy in the center?).

Gluten-free baking requires your full attention. A dash of patience. An intimacy with your ingredients. A willingness to adjust. And most of all, developing an intuition you can trust.

Even if it goes against tradition.

Karina
xox

Gluten free Spotted Dog soda bread is an Irish classic with a twist

Karina’s Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread Recipe- with Spots

Tweaked from my original recipe posted in 2011– by Karina Allrich.

Feel free to use your favorite milk or non-dairy milk in this recipe. (But note– a non-traditional coconut milk and a touch of coconut flour adds a subtle fragrant tenderness to this easy, rustic quick bread.)

And if you cannot use coconut flour, try substituting the coconut flour with sweet rice flour.

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a 7-inch or 8-inch cake pan with a piece of parchment paper.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown rice flour or gluten-free oat flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour, gluten-free oat flour, or millet flour
1/2 cup almond or hazelnut flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch or potato starch (not potato flour!)
1/4 cup organic coconut flour
1/4 cup organic light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons double acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
3 organic free-range eggs or egg replacer
6 tablespoons light olive oil or avocado oil
3/4 cup coconut milk, soy milk or non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 to 3/4 cup currants (or raisins)

Instructions:

Whisk the flours and dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Combine the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and slowly pour the wet into the dry ingredients, gently mixing as you go. I use a soft silicone spatula to do this. If you need a little more coconut milk to moisten the dough, add a tablespoon at a time and stir in.

When the dough is evenly moist and sticky, add the raisins and stir by hand to mix them in.

Scrape out the dough and plop it into the center of the lined cake pan. Use oiled or wet hands to mound the dough into a rustic round loaf. Dot with extra raisins, if you like and press them in a bit.

Slice a smallish criss-cross into the center of the dough.

Place the pan into the center of a preheated oven. Bake for about 30 to 33 minutes, until the loaf is golden and firm. Insert a wooden toothpick into the center to test for doneness.

Gluten free Irish Soda Bread with new flours

Cool the pan on a wire rack for five minutes, then turn the loaf out of the pan to continue cooling (you don’t want a steamy bottom!).

Serve slightly warm with your favorite buttery spread and some fruity jam.

Recipe Notes:

Rustic soda breads are really best eaten warm from the oven. This latest version is tender and slightly sweet- perfect for tea time.

If you have leftovers, I would wrap and freeze the remaining bread to preserve the texture and taste. Thaw and warm it up in the oven or grill slices with a pat of butter.

This recipe is gluten-free and dairy-free.

To make it vegan, use your favorite egg replacer equivalent to 3 beaten eggs- about 6 tablespoons of liquid. See below for a link to my vegan Irish Soda Bread with Millet.

Cook time: 30 minutes

Yield: 8 to 10 slices

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

More gluten-free Irish soda bread recipes:

My vegan Irish Soda Bread with Millet

Elana’s Pantry Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread

For substitution help, please see my guide to baking with substitutions here.

Gluten Free Goddess Recipes: Irish Cottage Pie by Gordon Ramsay

Gluten free cottage pie and shepherds pie recipe with mashed potato topping

Old School Comfort

Here’s a classic recipe I conjured up a few years ago, living in the wilds of Northern New Mexico. I had been craving comfort food- to be specific- a rustic shepherd’s pie. Because mashed potatoes. (And who doesn’t occasionally crave a smashed spud crust, right?).

So here is my recipe from the GFG Archives- with a true-blue love story to boot.

Karina
xox

It’s been a warm and breezy week here by the Chama River north of Santa Fe. The promise of Spring is tugging at our sluggish winter bodies, cracking and stiff and a tad thicker than one would care to admit. We are itchy to walk- just as the junipers are shedding pollen in curtains of dirty yellow. We walked and sneezed and rubbed gritty eyes. The coyotes are laughing on the rim of the mesa. I listen and note they are closer than usual, emboldened by our wintery hibernation. The land belongs to them now. We’re simply tourists. As it should be, I murmur.

Meeting your soul mate (did I just write the words soul mate?) after mid-life will humble you. An autumn meeting of kindred spirits inspires a sharp thirst for more time. More juice. Looking ahead- down the road of your life- can be alarming. It’s shorter and rutted and slightly curving downhill, not so far and away anymore. Carpe diem as the wise ones say.

And though (in theory) we should all embrace each day as if it might, indeed, be our last, this effort gains a deeper poignancy at 54. My knuckles are so bumpy with arthritis now I can no longer wear my wedding ring. I twisted it off with pain and dish soap. I didn’t want to have it sawed off. Just the thought of the saw buzz made me shiver with separation anxiety.

When I was lying on the gurney outside the operating room, awaiting hip surgery- after ten hours in the ER playing our Movie Game with said soul mate (to play the game you start with A and take turns naming a movie title until you run out of A’s; then you move on to the B’s) the pony-tailed anesthesiologist told me to remove my wedding ring.

I can’t, I said. It won’t come off, don’t worry.

It’s hospital policy, she explained. To remove jewelry before surgery.

You’ll need a saw, I said. She smiled. I’ll get some surgical tape- we’ll tape it, she whispered.

I tilted my face toward my husband. He stood there, stoic and brave, betrayed by a gleam of wetness obscuring his usual clear and steady blue gaze. We both knew the risks of breaking a hip, and undergoing emergency hip surgery. The odds aren’t kind. But my age was in my favor. I was twenty years younger than the average woman who falls and breaks a hip. You’re a spring chicken, the surgeon had said.

I love you, I told my husband. Tell the boys I love them. I felt the nurse tape my wedding ring. Ready? she asked.

Yup. Carpe diem, I answered.

***

Shepherd's/Cottage Pie - Gluten-free Comfort Food

Karina’s Irish Cottage Pie | Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

Recipe posted March 2009.

Traditional comfort food for those of you still shoveling snow- or battling juniper pollen. Well, traditional with a few tweaks. We used organic grass fed buffalo. And no dairy at all- no butter or milk. You can use the more traditional ground beef in this recipe, if you prefer. It would be tasty with ground turkey, too. Or even keep it vegan with kidney beans or tofu. It’s all good. Spring is almost here. Really. It is.

Ingredients:

For the topping:

6 small to medium red potatoes, peeled and diced

Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, to taste

For the filling:

1 pound organic grass fed ground meat or free-range ground turkey

2 large leeks, cleaned, sliced

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

3 medium carrots, trimmed, sliced

1 cup baby peas- frozen, thawed, is fine

1 14-oz can Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes, with juice

1/2 cup red wine

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon raw sugar

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Place the potatoes in a pot of fresh salted water and bring to a boil. Cook until under fork tender.

Saute the ground meat or turkey in a large hot skillet till lightly browned; pour off the fat if there is any; return the skillet to the stove. Add a dash of olive oil. Toss in the leeks and garlic; stir and cook until the leeks are soft.

Add in the carrots; stir and cook for a couple of minutes till tender-crisp. Add in the baby peas and tomatoes. Stir in the red wine, balsamic vinegar, sugar, herbs and cinnamon. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Back to the potatoes:

Drain the potatoes. Season with sea salt, ground pepper. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and stir to soften the edges a bit.

Layer the filling in a casserole or baking dish.

Top with the potatoes.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven until bubbling and hot- about 25 to 30 minutes.

Serves 4.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

Irish Potato & Cabbage Soup with Soda Bread by Gordon Ramsay

A loaf of Irish Soda Bread warm from the oven. Serve with potato cabbage soup.

Soda Bread + A Hearty, Rustic Potato Sausage Soup

Stuck in the house? (Too soon?) I have an idea. Put on some Celtic music and grab your apron, Darlin’. Here’s a recipe pairing to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at home- whether you’re a dyed in the wool Celtic lass, a sassy Scott-Irish blend (aka Mic-Mac), or only mostly Irish in spirit.

Irish Potato and Cabbage Soup and gluten-free Irish Soda Bread.

Slainte!

Karina
Stay safe out there- elbow bump xox

Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread

This tender loaf is best eaten warm from the oven with a bowl of stick-to-your ribs Irish soup. Leftovers can be grilled in a drizzle of olive oil or your favorite buttery spread. I do the American Mic-Mac/Prussian thing and add caraway and currants -or gasp!- even raisins to my soda bread. But if this offends your Irish soda bread sensibility, Darlin’, by all means omit. Recipes aren’t written in stone, after all. And bread should make you happy.

Dry ingredients:

1 cup sorghum flour, certified GF oat flour, or white rice flour

1/2 cup sweet sorghum flour

1/2 cup tapioca or potato starch

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup organic light brown sugar

2 teaspoons xanthan gum

Wet Ingredients:

3/4 up to 1 cup buttermilk or plain non-dairy milk with 1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 large free-range organic eggs- or Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed for 2 eggs

4 tablespoons light olive oil
1 tablespoon honey, raw organic agave, or molasses

Stir In:

1 to 3 teaspoons caraway seeds, to taste

2/3 cup currants or raisins- if you like

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Lightly oil an 8-inch round cake pan and dust it with cornmeal.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Whisk the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl- start with 3/4 cup liquid at first.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Start with 3/4 cup buttermilk/non-dairy milk and slowly pour the wet into the dry ingredients, gently mixing as you go [I use a soft silicone or rubber spatula to do this]. If you need a little more rice milk to moisten the dough, add a tablespoon at a time and stir in.

When the dough is evenly moist, add the caraway and raisins. Stir only briefly to mix them in.

Scrape and spoon out the dough into the prepared cake pan; and using moist or rice-floured palms, flatten and shape the dough into a rounded loaf. Sprinkle with a very light dusting of cornmeal or rice flour.

Using a dry sharp knife, slice a criss-cross into the dough (not too deep!) to discourage the mischievous fairies from messing with your humble loaf of bread.

Place the pan into the center of a preheated oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the loaf is golden and crusty and sounds hollow when thumped. Insert a wooden toothpick into the center to test for doneness.

Cool on a wire rack for ten minutes; and turn the loaf out of the pan to cool to room temperature – although it’s best warm and tender from the oven, I think, even if it tends to crumble a bit. Serves 8.

Yields one loaf of bread.

Karina’s Notes:

Soda breads are definitely best eaten the day they are baked.

Slice and freeze leftovers for grilling, or use leftovers to make a breakfast bread pudding.

A bowl of Irish potato and sausage soup.

Rustic Irish Potato and Cabbage Soup

Recipe posted March 2008.

Traditional Irish recipes include smoky bacon (and often, cream) in a soup like this. We decided to slice up some spicy buffalo sausage and toss in a gluten-free lager instead. But if you’re a bacon and cream lover, by all means- add some uncured apple-smoked bacon and organic moo-cow cream.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and cut into chunks

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 1-pound head of green cabbage, cored and sliced thin

4 medium gold or white potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped

4 sausages or brats (we used spicy buffalo sausage)

4 cups light gluten-free broth

1 cup of gluten-free lager or ale- optional

1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds- crush them if you like

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 pinch raw sugar

Instructions:

Put on a Van Morrison CD.

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat and add the onion; stir for five minutes or so. Add the garlic and cabbage and stir together; cook until the cabbage has wilted. Add the potatoes, carrots and sausages. Stir. Season with caraway, parsley, sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

Pour in the broth and gluten-free beer; stir together. Cover and bring to a high simmer; then lower the heat a bit and simmer until the vegetables are fork tender- about 45 minutes.

At this point I like to add a touch of cider vinegar and a pinch of raw sugar to liven things up. As always, taste the soup and season to keep your own palate happy.

Serve piping hot with a warm loaf of Irish Soda Bread (recipe follows).

Serves 4.