Everyone loves a good afternoon tea, but if you’re anything like me, the concept of catering for friends with gluten intolerance is a little daunting. Fear not little friend, Daniel Phasey, manager of 100% gluten free café, Samuel Pepy’s shares his tips for gluten free entertaining.
Firstly, gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, oats, rye and many derivative products. Around 28% of the population are avoiding gluten, either by choice or due to medical conditions. “There is a growing market for gluten free food…there’s no reason it shouldn’t be available,” says Phasey. Here’s what you can do to cater for gluten free friends and family in your home.
Be fearless! Think not of what you can’t cook with but what you can. “It’s all a matter of perspective really…providing that you don’t expect gluten free alternatives to taste the same, you will probably be pleasantly surprised,” says Daniel. As he explained there are many wonderful gluten free alternatives to cook with. You can experiment with creating your own gluten free flour as opposed to commercially produced flours. Daniel experiments with varying ratios of tapioca, besan, maize and potato flour in his baking. The composition of the flour determines the density and therefore what the flour is best suited to. “Don’t be afraid to experiment, it won’t always turn out how you intended but sometimes that is where great new recipes come from… I mucked up a batch of muffins as early as this morning and I’ll muck up another batch tonight…but I’ll keep refining the mix until I get it right,” shares Phasey. He has found that broken down potato, rice flour or corn flour can act as great gluten free thickeners in sauces and pies.
“Cook from raw! Where possible create meals from fresh fruit, vegetables and meat.” Cooking from these raw ingredients and others such as nuts, milk and legumes is great because these are naturally gluten free products. When preparing such ingredients, be scrupulous to avoid cross contamination. For instance, any surface which has had contact with gluten (toaster, chopping board, deep fryer etc.) must be thoroughly cleaned before use. If you must use processed ingredients, read labels carefully and do not use if it says ‘contains gluten, rye, wheat, barley’ or ‘may contain gluten’. The use of words ‘gluten free’ or the ‘Crossed Grain Logo’ on a label indicates that it is safe. If in doubt, check with your gluten free guest.
“It doesn’t have to be beautiful!” Take for instance the bunsky, which is served at Samuel Pepy’s as an alternative to rolls, scones and more. “It’s the most amazing, versatile and beautiful, yet ugliest thing…and the closest thing to an English muffin that I’ve tasted,” says Daniel. The bunsky is somewhat freeform and a rather unpredictable character, going in the oven as a blob the size of a twenty cent piece and coming out in a variety of shapes – no two bunskies are the same!
Try this pear and almond cake, which is a recipe that I developed using these wonderful tips from Daniel.
Ingredients:
– 70g butter
– ½ cup brown sugar
– 1 egg
– 1 tsp vanilla
– ¾ cup sour cream (full cream as some low-fat versions use starches as thickening agents that aren’t gluten free)
– ½ cup almond meal
– ½ cup coconut flour
– 1 ½ tsp baking powder
– 1 pear, sliced
– 1 handful of slivered almonds to top
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 and line baking dish with baking paper. If flouring the tin be sure not to use wheat based flour!
Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, until smooth.
Add egg and vanilla, mix to combine.
Sift almond meal, coconut flour and baking powder in a separate bowl.
Add the sour cream and almond mix alternately, half at a time.
Mix to combine.
Pour into tin and arrange sliced pear over the top. Bake in moderate oven for 25-30 minutes or until brown.
Wait 15 minutes before turning cake out. Serve with custard or cream, perhaps a dusting of gluten free icing sugar.
The Vanguard 