Spices and all things nice

I’ve just sat down to write after having a quick slice of toast despite the incredible heat here in Cape Town. The smell of toast permeates the house and I’m garnering up the courage to go for my running club this evening. The slice of toast more to ensure I have some fuel for the run rather than an desire to eat-this heat is terrible.

But, I want to chat about my favourite gluten free bread recipe. Even better than the one I posted last week (although it is still divine). I wanted a recipe using chickpea and tapioca flours as I really don’t like rice flour all that much. Being an anthropologist and new to Cape Town, I explored the area known as the Bo-Kaap. An area of the city known as the Cape Malay quarter with a rich socio-cultural and religious history. The famous houses in Wale Street are brightly painted and the streets bustle with the activity of the residents as they go about daily life. Atlas Trading is a wonderful spice shop where the smell of spices greets you before you can see the doorway. For anyone who enjoys spices, this is a must. Huge bins of ginger, various masalas, cinnamon, curry leaves, fresh chillies and any other spice you can think of! They also stock rice, potato, tapioca, chickpea, buckwheat and corn flours as well as corn starch and potato starch (potato starch is not the same as the flour but tapioca flour and starch can be used interchangeably). The flour prices are so cheap and you can get the exact amount of flour you need. I won’t be going anywhere else to get spices of gluten free flours in Cape Town I can assure you! I love going to Atlas and the staff there are friendly and helpful.

I found a recipe using chickpea flour at Gluten Free on a Shoestring and I make it in my bread maker. In my first few attempts at this bread, I substituted the corn starch with potato starch. The bread came out just fine but was a little dry even when fresh. It made fantastic toast however-no crumbling and very tasty. On a trip to Atlas, I bought some cornstarch and tried the recipe as is. What a HUGE difference. Freshly cut, the bread is soft and spongy but nice and firm and is perfect for a sandwich. This is my go to bread to keep in the freezer or time the bread maker so I wake up to fresh, hot bread for breakfast.

I decided to experiment a little further this weekend. I made up the loaf and added calamata olives and fresh rosemary. The loaf was consumed before it had time to cool! I made no changes to the basic recipe except to only use 1 cup of water-so slightly less as the olives contributed some liquid to the mixture. So, get creative when you try this loaf and let me know how it comes out!

I’d love your feedback.

Until next week x

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The smell of toast is hard to resist!

I jokingly banned anyone from making toast in my house and so someone delightful surprised me with a bread maker for my birthday. And so began months of experimenting in the art (and it is an art!) or gluten free bread making. I made loaves that were harder and drier than a brick, some tasty while others still were just a disaster. We tried making rice flour with a blender. This worked well enough actually especially if you use a softer rice like jasmine and I found brown rice was easier to grind to a flour. I just don’t particularly like the taste of rice flour.

I got frustrated the more I could not replicate a decent slice of toast and the websites and information I found were overwhelming and so far from my South African reality. Frustration, it seems, it part of the process of gluten-free living and eating but the good news is that is does get better. And I am here to help try alleviate some of that burden.

I now use 2 recipes which are delicious and an excellent substitute for normal bread. They don’t crumble, are not dry as bricks and actually taste great! In fact, I even know someone who now prefers the gluten-free bread I make to normal bread. Today, I will share the first recipe with you, a sorghum flour bread that is similar to rye– dark with a lovely chewy crust but is soft inside, very much  like a ciabatta. I found the recipe at Gluten Free Goddess’s website. I can’t find sorghum flour so use Maltabella which you can buy in any Pick and Pay or Checkers (SA readers will be familiar with this brand). Instead of millet flour, I use tapioca flour for this recipe and use balsamic vinegar instead of lemon juice or rice vinegar for a darker colour.

The result: a bread I can eat fresh, or freeze and this makes an excellent substitute for Bunny Chow, which I love. I also can eat this in a typical Italian way: with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, along with a glass (or two) of red wine. Delicious! If you give it a go, let me know how you like it. Next week, I share the other recipe and let you know where I source my flours in Cape Town.

Have a great week

Ciao