GF Zucchini Bread

Yesterday was a snow day for my boys. So that meant extra time as a family. And or course, baking! It is my favorite way to warm up the house.

I had gone through our deep freeze to see what all we had for actual food since a lot of space is taken up by frozen breast milk right now. I came across my stock of grated zucchini that I froze this past summer. I figured it was as good a day as any to try making some GF zucchini bread. I recently ordered over 100 lbs of my favorite GF flours so I have plenty in the house right now to experiment with (and MORE than enough zucchini). So I started looking for GF recipes.

Several that I came across talked about just adapting their standard recipe to be GF. I have one that I really like so I decided to try it. Hubby claimed it was the best bread I have ever made. I wouldn't go that far but would say it is the best zucchini bread I have ever made. Which is interesting since it is the same recipe I have used for a few years. I guess it is all in the flavor and texture of my homemade  AP flour mix.

I have posted this in another recipe but again, here is the recipe for my flour (60% starch, 40% whole grain). I make a large batch to fit in my flour canister when I make it so I will list the amount I mix and in parenthesis I will put the percentage.
* 300 g Tapioca Flour (40%)
* 150 g White Rice Flour (20%)
* 150 g Sorghum Flour (20%)
* 150 g Brown Rice Flour (20%)

So now, on to the recipe.

*Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Mix together following dry ingredients and set aside:
* 420 g GF AP Flour (3 cups white flour if you are not GF)
* 2 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum (omit if you are not doing GF)
* 1 tsp Salt
* 1 tsp Baking Powder
* 3 tsp Cinnamon

Beat together the following:
* 3 eggs, slightly beaten
* 1/2 c. Unsweetened Apple Sauce
* 1/2 c. melted Coconut Oil (slightly cooled)
* 2 1/4 c. Sugar
* 3 tsp Vanilla

Add in Dry ingredients and mix well.

Stir in:
* 2 c. Shredded Zucchini (be sure to press out as much water as possible)
* chocolate chips or walnuts, to taste (optional)

Grease 2 loaf pans. Pour half of batter in each pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 40-60 mins, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 20 mins in the pan. Flip out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

Note: I prefer to use 1/2 c. Apple Sauce & 1/2 c. melted Coconut Oil. The original recipe calls for 1 c. vegetable oil)

Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Pancakes

We love pancakes in our house. This is something I did not want to give up with our new lifestyle. I also did not want to be stuck using GF Pancake mixes. They are expensive and just don't have the flavor I was looking for. By making them myself, I could adapt the flours to create the flavor I desired. It took only a couple tries and I found a recipe that we love. My 4 1/2 yr old sits quietly and eats slowly, not dropping a single crumb. Those of you who know him know that this is a rare occurrence for him during meal time.

I adapted my recipe from Gluten Free Girls GF Pancakes for the Ratio Rally.

The original recipe calls for 7 oz (or roughly 200 g) of Whole-Grain Flour mix. A good whole-grain flour mix is 70% whole grains and 30 % starch. The recipe listed below is exactly how I make them for my family.

40 g Tapioca Flour
20 g White Rice Flour
70 g Sorghum Flour
35 g Brown Rice Flour
35 g Almond Flour
2 Tbs Milled Chia Seeds (or ground flaxseed if you don't have Chia on hand)
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Cardamom
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbs Agave Nectar
8 oz Buttermilk (*see note)
1/4 tsp Almond Extract
2 large Eggs
4 Tbs Melted Butter

Whisk together the flours and chia seeds to combine them. Add baking powder, salt, Cardamom, and Cinnamon. Whisk all together. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

Whisk together agave nectar, buttermilk, almond extract, and eggs. Pour into the dry ingredients. Stir with a rubber spatula until batter is combined. Add the melted butter and stir until it is well incorporated.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Grease it liberally with butter (I add a small pat of butter everytime I add new batter). Pour the pancake batter into the buttered skillet, about 1/4 cup at a time. When bubbles have started to form and pop on the top of pancake, flip it. Cook for about 1 minute more. Serve with your favorite toppings.

If you plan to serve them all at once, put the pancakes on an oven-safe plate in a 250 degree oven to keep them warm. If you are like me, the kids will gobble them up as soon as they are off the skillet so I omit this step.

*Note about buttermilk*
I never have buttermilk on hand. So I take out my liquid measuring cup, add a squirt of lemon juice, then fill to the 8 oz line with regular milk. I let it set for a few minutes while I prepare the rest of the ingredients so it can 'sour up' a little and become buttermilk substitute.