Anyway, I haven't written about my gluten free journey in awhile so I thought I should give you all an update. Um, still doing it. The end.
Actually I've made some discoveries and decisions in the past 6 months or so.
Discoveries:
Spelt. Spelt is referred to as a distant cousin to wheat and should be avoided by those with celiac disease because it does contain gluten. However, the concentration and overall makeup of gluten in spelt is different than wheat from what I've read. I can eat it in small doses-2 slices of spelt bread in a day or one spelt tortilla. I also try to not to eat more than a few times per week to let my digestion settle.
What is spelt? According to my research (I am no expert), it is one of the ancient grains in Israel and is mentioned in the Bible twice. One example, Ezekiel 4:9- "But as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt, put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself..." Can you imagine that bread? Talk about hearty and filling. It's the closest to wheat in texture and substance of anything I've found especially since it does have gluten but it also has high water solubility so nutrients are quickly absorbed in the body and that's probably why I can handle it small amounts. It's very hearty and filling without that feeling heavy.
It also beats out wheat for higher content of: ..."protein, amino acids, minerals, and vitamins B-1 and B-2. It is rich in complex carbohydrates and fiber and contains a special carbohydrates (Mucopolysaccharides) which are an important factor in blood clotting and stimulating the body's immune system." Quotes taken from sections of www.purityfoods.com.
If this stuff is so amazing, why isn't it everywhere? Well, it used to be. It was a regular crop in North America but got pushed aside because wheat is easier to mass produce. Sigh.
Here's my 2 cents about grains in general.
Why do we (the USA) mostly just eat wheat? It's in bread, pasta, baking, pizza, cereal, crackers, etc. I think it's because it's easier to produce and it's cheap to buy. And it's too bad.
I liken the consumption of wheat to this: We are always told 5 a day. 5 fruits and vegetables daily. We're also told the more various colors of fruits and vegetables the better. But what of grains? Wheat and rice? It's not good enough. Where's the variety? That would be like only eating apples or broccoli all the time and never any other fruits or vegetables. It just doesn't make sense.
Look back at the verse above, there was sooo much in that bread!
I do wonder if my intolerance also grew out of just eating wheat based food too much. This is why I am making a conscious effort and decision to incorporate more variety into the grains we eat. I've started with spelt. We now use spelt tortillas for the whole family not just me. Try it for soft tacos, quesadillas, breakfast burritos or a sandwich wrap. It's super healthy and filling and trust me, it tastes REALLY good too!
My next research project: millet. My exposure to millet consists of seeing it in the bag of bird seed I bought this past winter.
Whew, that was long. I'm off my soapbox.(for now)
Second discovery and much shorter. About a month ago, I made my white chili for dinner and decided to make these with it.
All I did was use the Betty Crocker corn muffins recipe and substituted the flour with sorghum flour(which incidentally Hubs says he likes them better with the sorghum which is a sweeter flour). Well to my utter shock, the kids devoured them. Seriously, it was borderline insane; as if they've never eaten baked goods. And then it hit me, they never eat baked goods at home. I essentially stopped baking when I went gluten free back in Feb. 08. I rarely would buy gluten free mixes because they're so expensive. I realized (Thank you Lord) that I needed to make a change for their sake and start baking again. A decision to bake gluten free. It would be too much torture to bake and not be able to eat it!
I went back to my gluten free cookbook that I bought last year and turned to the section that had overwhelmed me in past. For the past few weeks I've been collecting all the flours and other ingredients needed to bake based on the cook book.
I now have the base flour mix and the cake mix put together. The cookbook also had other mixes for: bread, pancakes, muffins and quick breads, and cookies that I'll be working to store for future use.
This past week was my very first from scratch gluten free baked dessert.
Gingerbread cake with my homemade whipped cream on top. It was amazing.
Super moist and no funny after-taste like some gluten free stuff I've tried. The taste and texture were like the regular old wheat flour. If my husband can't tell the difference then we have a winner!
The best part: I'm excited about baking again.
6 comments:
So, do I have to go to a special store to find those tortillas? I do almost all of my shopping at Kroger, because they will double $1 coupons! I'm very happy for you that you're finding some realistic recipes. May you continue finding some awesome ones! :) Happy baking :) PS: I learned that if my corn muffins are crumbly to add an extra egg. It helps a lot!
that cake looks GOOD! recipe, please? :)
gf baking is SO intimidating - i was really overwhelmed when i first started. but once you have some successes under your belt and get to know the different ways to mix flours, it gets a lot easier. don't ever make something you personally can't eat! that's too sad :)
ps - i am going to try those spelt tortillas! also, have you tried the sprouted grain/ezekiel bread? i have tried it with sky but am still not sure if it's ok with his system or not. i like your '5' philosophy on grains :)
jtaco-I've only seen the tortillas in a natural foods store and we don't have Kroger here. Good tip on the egg, thanks!
velvet-Thanks for the encouragement. I haven't tried Ezekiel bread, I forget what is in that but I'll have to look again.
mb, ezekiel bread is a sprouted grain bread - uses lots of the grains mentioned in that verse (it's actually based on that verse). i guess because it uses sprouted grain it's supposed to be a lot easier on your system than regular bread. but i think it still has some added gluten, so i don't know if that would work for you...trader joe's also makes it's own version of a sprouted bread that doesn't have any added gluten.
and i just last night randomly found a recipe for making spelt tortillas at home! it looks easy, so i'll try it and let you know how it works :)
weehoo!!! i have several recipes for spelt-only stuff(from a whole grains cookbook), i'll send them along when i find them:) i also saw a gluten-free mini baked alaska. yeah. it does use about a cup of gluten-free flour, which is why i hadn't passed it on to you before. but, well, it looks SO good. hooray for baking(except on days like today, bleh). you're doing GREAT!!
velvet-I have avoided spelt flour to bake with because I don't trust myself on my consumption limits! (: I do envision making some spelt dinner rolls someday though. I'm drooling. (:
tenny-where is your baby?!? I was so hoping that you were busy but glad for your comment. Pass the recipes along and I'll see what I can do but I understand if I don't get them for a while.(:
Post a Comment