Sour to be Sweet

Blood orange peels

One of the things I love most about being in business for myself is going around the country and meeting new customers. Last month, Leslie and I went to San Diego California for the Celiac Awareness Tour event. We sold out of product, met lots of wonderful folks, made new friends, and spent a few extra days touring around. It was on a "Touring day" that this story begins:

In a San Diego farmer's market I tasted the best raisins I'd ever put in my mouth. They'd been sun-dried by R & L Farms, and if you can get your hands on some, by all means do. I wish right now that I had more - but alas they were all consumed before I ever got on the plane to come home.

A short time later my wife and I stopped at a farm stand on the way to Safari Park. A farm stand is a magic kingdom and I can't pass by. There I bought the smallest, yet tastiest, blood oranges, some of which did make it all the way back to New Jersey.

Roll additives. No chemicals here!

The morning after we were home I flipped open the paper and came to this article about Easter bread. Interesting, I thought, somewhat jolted by the realization that Easter and Passover were upon me. I put the paper aside. I had 'way too much inventory to re-build after the success of the Southern California C.A.T. to think too deeply about holidays, religious or otherwise.

And then it was Palm Sunday. My in-laws wanted to go out for dinner. I wanted to make some dinner rolls. The deadline was tight -  I'd slept in. And with that, everything came together and I knew what to make. Scrounging around in the 'fridge I came up with raisins, a blood orange, some rather old dried apples, a small chunk of extra-sharp cheddar cheese, a few walnuts and a partial package of Classic Sourdough bread mix. (I'd kept this latter chilled for biscuits. See recipe in an earlier blog post)

I used a variety of "dustings".

In a few minutes I'd chopped the walnuts, apple chunks and orange peel, carefully diced the cheddar and measured the flour. Knowing the results needed to be done by 1:00 (it was already 10:00) I opted to make small-ish rolls. I formed them with a 1 1/4" trigger scoop and baked them with the "turkey roaster" technique.

And did the in-laws love them!



Yes, that's a bite mark! Indeed, they (the rolls) were such a fun combination of sweet, sour, crunchy and fatty mouth sensations I could barely keep my own hands off them.

I'd like to suggest some of these for your next meal. They're fast, easy and rather good. Feel free to substitute different dried fruits, cheeses and nuts. Just be careful not to overdo the cheese. It likes to expand and then drool in the oven, and too much will make your rolls into hole-filled messes. That warning aside, rolls like these give you lots of leeway. They're a fun and seasonal twist to gluten-free sourdough.

The Recipe

Yield:  about 10 small dinner rolls.

Ingredients:
1 package Luce's Gluten-Free Artisan Bread Classic Sourdough bread mix
3 TBLS raisins
1 1/2 TBLS coarsely chopped walnuts
1 1/2 TBLS chopped, dried tart apple (I used Lodi)
3 tsp chopped fresh blood orange peel
1 cup warm water (100 - 110 F)
1 1/2 TBLS  extra-sharp cheddar cheese, chopped into 1/4" cubes
Gluten-free flour, chia seeds, sesame seeds or similar for topping.

Equipment:
Medium bowl
Stirring spoon
Luce's Gluten-Free Artisan Bread support sheet or piece of aluminum foil, about 8" X 12", lightly oiled
Roaster top or similar oven-proof cover (see "Rolls and Buns" website page)
1 1/4" to 1 1/2" trigger scoop
Cookie sheet

Procedure:
1) Chop walnuts, apple and cheese. Peel orange and chop. Measure flour into bowl. Add raisins, orange peel, walnuts and apple. Stir well. Add water and stir until all flour is wet. Set aside.

2) After about 5 minutes, return and stir dough vigorously about 50 strokes. Gently fold in cheese. Lay the support sheet or aluminum foil on the cookie sheet. Dip the trigger scoop into water. Scoop up a hemisphere of dough, push the dough firmly into the scoop with the back of a wet spoon, and drop the hemisphere onto the support sheet/aluminum foil. Continue scooping and placing hemispheres, allowing at least 1" on all sides of each, until all dough is used.

3) Using the back of a wet metal spoon, gently smooth each roll. Sprinkle with gluten-free flour, chia seeds, sesame seeds, other seeds or nothing. Cover cookie sheet with roaster top and place on middle rack in the oven. Turn oven to 400 F.

4) When oven is fully heated set timer to 40 minutes. Rolls will be done and moist at 40 minutes, done and slightly dryer at 50 minutes. They should be a dark buckskin color. Remove to a cooling rack and allow to cool at least 20 minutes before eating.

Time Out

Leslie in the fog at Torrey Pines State Reserve, California

Finally, after weeks of relentless work, my wife Leslie and I are on vacation!

This is a short one - two days before a gluten-free expo at which I'm a vendor - and two days after. We "did" the San Diego Zoo  and the Thursday Farmer's Market yesterday and Torrey Pines State Reserve today. Both are wonderful places, but I found the latter a bit more visually interesting:

   
Torrey Pines the species are one of the most endangered in the Pinus genus, and I particularly enjoyed speculating about their tiny ecological niche, of which there are only two - one of them on the Pacific coast not far from our hotel. Their survival is often described as both miraculous and tenuous, and I had to wonder what sorts of mycological help they might be getting. There should be mychozorrheal partners. However, none of the State Park literature mentioned any. 

It's fun to march around on a foggy coast, relaxing and taking photographs, thinking about fungi and wondering what kind of crowd the Celiac Awareness Tour will have tomorrow. The day was gorgeous so I even stopped thinking about my constant obsession: food. However, that obsession has returned, for it is now dinner time.

On the topic of food, here is the latest recipe from my members-only newsletter: 


This treat is black chocolate-quinoa cake, a dessert I've been making about once a month for at least five years. The original version is on the back of Bob's Red Mill quinoa flour packages. You can see it HERE.

If you follow Bob's recipe  - it's still on the flour package - you'll make great-tasting cupcakes. But to turn out truly luscious cakes you'll need some substitutions - primarily black cocoa, which is available from King Arthur Flour - and you'll want to frost the end product, ideally with the chocolate-mocha recipe found in Joy of Cooking.

Last week my wife Leslie and I were invited to a friend's house for dinner. I always bring dessert when we're invited out, but our friend Rebecca can't eat dairy, so I decided to modify this recipe, making it dairy-free. The changes were few, and the results, excellent.

The version described below is the dairy-free one. It's an upside-down cake, topped with chopped pecans that have been laced with honey and molasses. Obviously, those with nut allergies can't eat this, but the topping can be removed without changes to baking time or preparation. I think the frosted version remains superior, so if dairy isn't a problem, skip the upside-down technique and whip up some frosting instead. (Frosting recipe follows cake recipe). Or you can be totally decadent and use both nuts AND frosting. In that case I'd suggest slicing the cake in half and re-arranging the layers so that the nuts are in the middle. Which is what I'm doing from now on. Thank you Rebecca!

Black Chocolate Layer Cake

Makes one 8" circular cake, 6 - 12 servings

Ingredients:

1/4 cup virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup King Arthur Flour Black cocoa
1 1/4 cup quinoa flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup silken tofu

For the topping:

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
2 TBLS virgin coconut oil, melted
2 TBLS honey
1 TBLS molasses

For the frosting:

1 2/3 cup 10X confectioner's sugar
3/4 stick butter, barely softened (about 60 F)
2 TBLS red cocoa
3 TBLS decaf espresso, cooled to room temperature
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Procedure:

Place the water and the 1/4 cup coconut oil in a small saucepan over medium heat until the coconut oil melts. Remove from heat, whisk in cocoa until mixture is very smooth, then set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 375 F. Line the bottom of an 8" diameter circular cake pan with baker's parchment. Grease sides of pan. Sprinkle pecans evenly over parchment. Drizzle honey and molasses over pecans. Scatter dabs of coconut oil over this.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir until well blended.
Separate eggs, discarding one yolk. In a medium bowl, whip whites until stiff but not dry. In a separate, small bowl, stir yolks with vanilla and silken tofu until well blended.
Add water/cocoa mixture to flour. Stir until well incorporated. Add yolk/tofu mixture and stir until well incorporated. Fold in egg whites. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 40 - 50 minutes, turning pan 180 degrees once after 20 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Remove and cool on a rack at least 15 minutes. Place a plate on top of cake, invert cake, then remove pan. Peel away parchment. Allow to cool thoroughly before frosting.

Frosting:

In a medium bowl, mix sugar and cocoa.  In a separate medium bowl, cream butter until fluffy, using a mixer set to medium-high speed, about 3 minutes. With the mixer running, slowly add sugar-cocoa mix. Beat until soft. Add espresso and whip until smooth. Add vanilla and salt and whip about 1 minute. Let stand 5 minutes then whip well. Spread over cake.