I’ve been inspired by my daughter. She’s recently discovered that she’s gluten intolerant and has altered her eating habits accordingly. She was in town this past week for a job interview and I can tell you, she looks marvellous! She’s lost weight, and she looks healthy. It’s a wonderful thing to see. While she was here, we took some time to visit the bulk food store in the same complex where I work. I had told her about the great gluten free flours section and thought she might like to see it for herself and, perhaps, to buy some to take home. She did.
One of the results of seeing Kristen and hearing her talk of her adventures in eating gluten free (as well, she’s no longer eating meat, except for seafood and, occasionally, chicken… for health reasons… beef does nasty things to her intestines), we’ve tossed around the idea of reducing the wheat based foods in our diet. I, however, am a bread fiend. I love bread in all its forms. However, if I can bake gluten free and still get good results, I’m more than willing to give it a try. Though I may never go completely gluten free, I’m more than happy to experiment.
Then she posted about a muffin recipe she’d made. You can find her post here. Well, I started doing some research online and searched high and low for a website I had stumbled across last week that described how to make your own all-purpose gluten free flour mix. Do you think I could find it again? Eventually, I did and the website, Gluten-free Girl and the Chef, certainly has a wealth of information. While exploring Gluten Free Girl’s website, I came across a recipe for Gluten Free Whole Grain muffins and decided to give it a try. In the post, which you can find here, she gives options on making your own whole grain flour mix and the ratios of flours to starches. I made a blend using flours I had on hand: corn flour, almond flour, and buckwheat flour (70% of the mix). I used rice flour as my starch (30% of the mix).
The remainder of the recipe was followed pretty much as written. At the end, when adding the raisins and walnuts, I also threw in a handful of hemp hearts and some millet, both of which I quite like in muffins.
The result?
I’m pleasantly surprised at how well they rose.
The texture looks good, almost cake-like.
And the flavour? Mmm… Almost bran muffin-ish. Not overly sweet, which is not a bad thing at all.
Will I make these again? Yup, definitely! Even John gave his stamp of approval!
I’m already looking forward to experimenting with different flours.
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Gluten Free Whole Grain Muffins
Adapted from the recipe by Gluten-Free Girl
- 350 grams whole-grain flour mix (I used a blend of buckwheat, corn, almond, and rice flours)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 180 grams dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 300 grams buttermilk
- 100 grams grapeseed oil
- handful raisins
- handful walnuts
- handful of millet seeds
- handful of hemp hearts
Preheat the oven to 350*. Grease a large muffin tin thoroughly or line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk them together to combine and aerate.
Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and grapeseed oil until they are combined well. Add them to the dry ingredients. Use a rubber spatula until the batter is almost fully combined. Throw in the raisins, walnuts, millet and hemp hearts and continue stirring until all trace of flour is gone.
Fill the muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake until the muffins are browned with a bit of a crunch, the top springs back to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out cleanl, about 25 minutes to 35 minutes.
Makes about 15 muffins.
In Ev's Kitchen 