Prompt: Introductions

[runpunkrun]

Hello, gluten-free friends and family! It is I, Punk, speaking to you with my words. If you haven't already, please read the community guidelines for your safety and mine.

If I can keep my act together, I'll be posting a weekly discussion topic to prompt conversation about gluten-free cooking. This week I thought we could introduce ourselves and do some light mingling.

Let's do name, rank, and preferred pronouns. And maybe answer one or more of the following questions:

• What's the last gluten-free thing you made with your own hands?
• If your answer is "coffee," that's valid.
• What kind of foods do you like to prepare?
• How much baking experience do you have?
• What type of recipes are you interested in?
• Are you here to post, comment, or just be a friendly lurker?
• If you are going to lurk friendily, please say hi just this once. We'll say hi back.

Also, as the comm opened on Pi day (3.14), why not tell us your favorite pie?

Come join me in the comments!

Comments

[nerakrose]

I'm K, pronouns are she/her and they/their, and I usually talk about myself as "this guy/dude" and "this bitch", so idk man. I'll probably mostly be a lurker, but I have some recipes to share when IRL slows down a bit more. (If it slows down...)

I went gluten free in 2012, first just trying out paleo for reasons and then I discovered that I actually have a gluten intolerance. (I also have a lactose intolerance, but that I've always known.) I left the paleo diet behind after about a year of it, though I do occasionally cook paleo-ish meals from time to time. I've been considering going back to it as that was some of the best food I've cooked for myself and overall I was really happy with it. (The only reason why I dropped it was because I love dairy and also sweet baking, and, uh, gluten free frozen pizzas became available in my country.)

What's the last gluten-free thing you made with your own hands?
I made a chilli earlier this week that I've even reheating for days. Before that, I made Icelandic carnival buns (gluten free choux pastry buns filled with homemade low-sugar raspberry jam and whipped cream.

If your answer is "coffee," that's valid.
I don't drink coffee, but come to think of it, I made a mean hot chocoate last night.

What kind of foods do you like to prepare?
I don't actually cook much. I'm more of a frozen dinners and take away (or when spoons get really low, yoghurt & cereal or bag of crisps) kind of person. When I do cook, I typically make something that'll last me a whole week, like a pot of chilli, or lasagna, or soup. I bake occasionally.

How much baking experience do you have?
About 15 years or so, probably. Gluten free baking, 7 years.

What type of recipes are you interested in?
Anything and everything from savoury to sweet tbh. Simple recipes. I'm not much of a fan of gluten free recipes for baking that require like five different flours in varying ratios and then a stabiliser of some kind that should impossible to find in a normal grocery store. (like xanthan gum. I hate xanthan gum. I've started to think it's fictional, because I can't bloody find it anywhere, so if a recipe calls for it? I'm out.) I use mostly commercial flour blends and/or just plain oat flour when the recipe lets me get away with it.

Are you here to post, comment, or just be a friendly lurker?
I'll tick all three.

my favourite pie is
Finnish blueberry pie. I had to think about this because pies aren't much of a thing here in Scandinavia (certainly not to the extent they seem to be in America) and I think Finnish blueberry pies are the only pies I've actually ever had in life. Anyway, they've got shortcrust (I think is the English term) and a filling of quark and blueberries (bilberries, to be technical). I'll share the recipe when I get a chance.

So glad you're here

[jesse_the_k]

In a post up-thread, a xanthan gum expert said one can substitute guar gum, and I will put a "all about baking gums" in our discussion queue.

I thought GF choux pastry was an impossible dream!

You've just introduced me to quark, which sounds wonderful and I need to go find some today.

Re: So glad you're here

[nerakrose]

i've heard of it, but that's also hard to find :''D usually what i use instead of the gums is ground psyllium. i've no idea how that compares to the gums, but it's worked for me so far. probably i'd have to order the gums online from specialty stores...

is it? it never even occurred to me that making gf choux pastry might be hard, i just did it. :''D

it is so good! i'm side-eyeing that website a bit because it doesn't even list Finland as a place where it's eaten, but that's maybe because it's called rahka in Finnish. (poor Finland always gets left out of the club.) There's a popular dessert in Finland that's quark, whipped cream, a bit of sugar, and whatever berries you prefer (most popular is bilberries) mixed together. fluffy, packs a punch, very tasty. you can find it in any supermarket in Finland that has a deli counter, where it's prepared fresh every day.

Re: So glad you're here

[jesse_the_k]

I thought GF choux pastry would be impossible because it's gluten makes thin webs of flour to hold all the butter. I eagerly await your post.

Mmmm, that quark dessert sounds delicious. I reached out to specialty cheese shops locally and in the little Norway and little Denmark towns nearby, as well as Milwaukee (home to immigrants from quark-loving places) and nobody had even heard of it. Does it age from air-borne bacteria?

Re: So glad you're here

[nerakrose]

i don't know the science behind choux pastry, i just substituted the flour without a second thought. XD there's a lot of eggs in it, which is why i thought it would be fine, and well... it was. i'll get the post into the queue in a bit.

i have no idea how it's made, actually! i just know it's a sour dairy product, very cheese like. (if no quark is available, one can use fresh cream cheese instead in most cases.)

[runpunkrun]

I would absolutely dump plain oat flour into things if the recipe let me get away with it, but I'm afraid of Failure. I'd love to hear about your oat flour successes.

[nerakrose]

the fear of Failure is Real. I once decided to try to bake a bread (one of those cast iron pot breads) using only oat flour and...uh, well it LOOKED great, the crust was strong, it smelled amazing, etc. only, when i cut into it, the inside was PORRIDGE.

i've found going oat flour only works best in cookies and cake recipes! and i have some of those i'll be happy to share. :D

[runpunkrun]

What you made was an Oatmeal Bread Bowl! Eat the oatmeal, then the bowl. And then probably don't eat again for a week because that's so much oats. D:

I look forward to your oat flour recipes!

[nerakrose]

oh god, if only. it was this really weird gooey mass, that just...goo'ed. it was inedible. i 100% did not have enough stabilisers (or used the wrong ones) in this bread, but chances are i should've had another flour in the mix too. i might repeat the experiment sometime, but we'll see. :'''D