Easter is over... and i finally got the hot cross buns right!

So, here is the recipe. It took me 3 goes to find a good recipe and get it right. These are gluten free and fructose free (apart from the small amount of sultanas that have to be there, or it is just not quite right...).

I adapted the recipe from the everyday cookbook for the Thermomix, but i am pretty sure you would follow the same process in a mixer. The ones I made today don't have the cross on them because I couldn't be bothered, I just wanted to prove that I could get the mix right! So excuse the fact that they are missing the cross in the photo!

Ingredients:
250 mL warm milk
250 g rice flour (milled rice in the thermomix - if you are not using a TM then just substitute gluten free plain flour)
350 g SR gluten free flour (total of 600 g of flour)
2 tsp Xanthan Gum
2 tsp salt
70g butter
45g dextrose (recipe calls for sugar - I just substitute gram for gram)
1 egg
15 g dry yeast or 20g fresh yeast
spices - I used about a teaspoon of All Spice. Last time i used some cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, but found the combination a bit overpowering. The allspice worked much more subtly this time.
50 - 100 g sultanas or currants (I didn't use much)

Method:
Warm the milk. Add the flours, salt, butter, dextrose, egg, xanthan gum, yeast and spices (everything except the fruit). Mix. chuck in the fruit toward the end of mixing. Allow it to prove for an hour and a half somewhere warm. Cut and shape into dinner roll sized buns - my recipe makes 16. Place on tray close together and allow to prove for a further 10-15 min. Bake in 220 degrees Celcius for 15 min.

If you are putting the cross on them, make it up with 80 g plain flour, 100g water and 1 tsp olive oil. Mix and use to pipe onto buns just before they go in the oven.

Lots of people put a sugar syrup on top as they come out of the oven (why not have some more sugar?). If you insist on doing this, use 2 tbs boiling water and 2 tbs dextrose.  mix and brush on top.

For anyone who wants the Thermomix instructions:
milk 50 seconds 90 degrees speed 1.
add all other ingredients except fruit. Mix for 6 seconds on speed 7. Then closed lid, 3 minutes interval setting.
add fruit - 10 seconds speed 5.

All other instructions as above.

The end result is a yummy little bun that "doesn't crumble!" The Xanthan Gum is an important addition in gluten free baking because it helps stuff bind (which is the job of gluten in regular people's food!).

You can obviously vary the recipe by adding fruit rind (lemon is suggested, but i went for plain old normal for my kids).

I also spent the morning making pikelets with my five year old. He was very excited to have them for morning tea.

Really? You think my fructose free choices are an abuse of my rights as parent? Really?

Wow... so i have a bit to say. Firstly, on the baking trail I am still going  strong simply adapting most recipes with a straight swap of dextrose in place of sugar. No dramas to this point so will keep going until something doesn't work well. I made a really yummy batch of gluten free hot cross buns today, but forgot to put the Xanthan Gum in, so they crumbled as soon as we tried to butter them. Will try one more time, with the Xanthan Gum and then I will post the recipe and some pics here. I also have continued experimenting with some dextrose based chocolate. It is taking a while to get it right, and even longer to eat it because I am seriously not craving sweet food, so will be taking them to the in-laws on Sunday in the hope they don't find them too grainy (i think they are a bit grainy, but we will see...)

From the title you can see there is a story. I had someone say something that I find really ignorant. I was a bit stunned at first that they would even think it, let alone say it.... but that is the way life goes sometimes. I was talking with a group of people about what we were all doing for Easter in terms of egg hunts etc and someone commented that they supposed I wouldn't be doing anything with chocolate this year. I explained that "No, our decision was that the boys would get one or two eggs - enough to keep them happy but not so much that they are overindulging for the next six months to finish it all." I also explained that our plan is to get them some toys or something a little different so that the focus of Easter is not just about chocolate. Being a Catholic, I also have been talking to them about the true meaning around the weekend and they have a decent understanding (we go to mass most weekends). One of the group asked how I could justify this given that I was on a "No sugar diet". I explained that it is not a "no sugar diet" rather a lifestyle where I choose to limit the amount of fructose in the form of sucrose that I and my family eat. I see no reason why the kids can't have a lolly or two at a birthday party (party food is for parties) because they don't get them any other time (rarely ever anyway) and therefore they can have a couple of eggs at Easter. This satisfied that person. Didn't satisfy someone else. They decided to let me know that just because I choose to eat this way doesn't give me the right to impose my choice on other people. I asked this person to clarify - which people? - to the best of my knowledge I have not taken my opinions and shoved them down anyone's throat with a healthy dose of dextrose to wash it down! She (yes, a female.... AND a mother) said that it is not right (or fair to my kids) that I should choose to stop my children eating the "yummy good food that they love" just because I am going through "a phase".... If only she had eaten mum's carrot pie when my parents were following the Pritikin Diet in the 80s.....:

I asked her what rights I might have as a parent, if not to choose what food my 5 year old and 4 year old do or do not stick in their mouths? Seems to me that it is actually an abuse of my position as parent if I do not make this choice for them now. I also choose what religion they are, for the most part what clothes they wear, what tv shows they watch and how much, what time they go to bed. Why can't I choose what they eat? As a parent I was horrified that this person would say such a thing, given that I have a decent knowledge of some of the choices they as a parent make. I do not think anyone could honestly think I am abusing my children by limiting their sugar intake. Surely it is more abusive to feed them something you know is going to harm them?

So, that's my little story. Unfortunately, there are people out there who do not see the sense in what I am doing. That is ok. But don't tell me I am abusing my children when they are healthy, well-adjusted kids who know it is ok at a party to have a bit of party food, but also know that they won't be getting that food at home (even when we do have a party...).

Incidentally, we went to a birthday party on Thursday. There were a few bowls of lollies, a couple of bowls with strawberries, some little cakes and some packets of chips. Both boys went straight for the lollies, had about 3 or 4 and didn't want anymore. Mr 5 had 1 little cupcake and a couple of strawberries. Mr 4 had half a cupcake and a heap of strawberries and grapes. They both had a little packet of chips. They both drank water out of their water bottles. I don't think they even knew there was soft drink there. They played, and had fun and were on a slight sugar high last night, but it didn't last long. And they were back to normal today.

So, I will continue to make choices for my children, until they are old enough to cook for themselves and buy their own groceries.... or until they are rich enough to pay someone to cook for them and buy their groceries for them (and that won't be me!). And one of those choices will be that, wherever possible, there is a limited amount of fructose (in the form of sucrose and its variants) that will pass their lips.

More baking

Since the arrival of my Thermomix just over a week ago, I have been testing it out on a few recipes. I made a really yummy gluten free pizza base for Friday night's dinner. I was stoked with this one because I have spent countless hours in the past trying to make gluten free pizza bases - some from packet mixes, some from scratch, and never really had a great deal of success. I don't think I ever put enough effort into the kneading of the dough. Pleased to report that the Thermomix took most of that effort out for me, so in 2 minutes I had a well kneaded dough that made two large pizza bases - one we used on Friday and the other half of the dough is in the freezer for when we decide to next have pizza for dinner. On the back of the success with pizza dough, I thought I would try my hand at some gluten free, fructose free hot cross buns. I don't think I had the perfect recipe, because I was adapting someone else's recipe which was also dairy free. There was just not enough liquid in it to mix the dough properly and by the time i worked that out I was well into the kneading stage already. So there will be a re-run of that particular effort later this week. It all turned out quite well in the end - I simply added a bit of milk until it looked about right, and 16 lovely little soft hot cross buns were produced! The boys and Scott loved them (there are currently only 3 left and I made them yesterday). They were not 100% fructose free because I did put sultanas in them. I am going to try some fruitless ones, or at the very least, significantly less sultanas in the next batch. Being gluten free, they dry out pretty quickly, and my personal belief has always been that hot cross buns should be eaten fresh anyway! Wanting a hat-trick of successful dough making, I decided to give a go to a gluten free loaf of bread. We are on a winner here! It wasn't much to look at - have yet to work on my presentation skills, but that will come - but it was soft and moist and so very nice. Scott immediately got out his gf vege spread and had himself a lovely "vegemite" sandwich on warm bread.

I have not yet tried to make ANZAC bikkies in my thermomix but I have been promising for some time to put up my recipe as they are well and truly tried and tested and are a winner in our house. In fact, you cannot imagine the disappointment when the boys asked for an ANZAC bikkie this morning only to discover we have run out! Thank goodness for the hot cross bun which served as a perfectly good substitute (this time).

So, here goes:

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup of plain flour (i use gf flour)
1 1/3 cup rolled oats (if making gf, i use rolled rice flakes instead - bikkies have crunchy texture)
3/4 cup of coconut
1 1/4 cups dextrose
150 g butter
3 tbs boiling water
3 or 4 tbs rice malt syrup (Pure Harvest - health food section of Coles - I have never seen it at Woolies)
1 tsp baking powder

Method:
Sift flour. Add all the dry ingredients to the flour (coconut, rolled oats, dextrose).
Melt butter in saucepan. Add rice malt syrup and water. Let it boil briefly then remove from heat. Add baking powder and let it foam. Pour immediately onto dry ingredients and mix well.
Form little balls on baking tray and press down slightly. Bake for 25-30 min. Allow to cool - will harden as they cool.

As with all ANZAC bikkies people have their personal preferences for crunchy vs chewy. Changing how much syrup you use will change the end result in this sense. The first time i used this recipe it actually said just 1 cup of flour and rolled oats. I found this mixture to be too wet for my liking so added 1/3 cup more of each of these. You won't get the really golden colour that you get from using golden syrup, but you also won't have any fructose in your food! I have tried this with glucose syrup too, definitely no golden colour there. I like the taste of rice malt syrup better and it gives more colour to the final product than glucose syrup does.

In general terms, I am finding that you can do pretty much straight replacements with dextrose instead of sugar (cup for cup or gram for gram). So far I have not had any dramas with changing it out in a recipe. I have made a couple of batches of custard this week and they are lovely - not too sweet as far as we are concerned.

One really exciting thing about the thermomix is that I was able to make my own rice flour! Just put in 250g of brown rice and milled it for about a minute and out comes 250g of rice flour! Sensational!

Well, I hope someone finds a use for the recipe posted here. I did have a friend mention they were looking for recipes that are not too fatty and not high in sugar to use as treats, so I hope she in particular has a go at these at some stage. I am positive they will be a hit in her house as they are in mine.

Til next time!