Thursday, June 21, 2012

Gluten-Free Multi-Grain Miracle Bread


One of my sisters has Celiac Disease.  This means that she is very negatively affected if she ingests any gluten.  I made this bread for her when she came to visit a few years ago and she loved it.  It's super-easy and doesn't require any kneading.  I passed the recipe along to her and she enjoys it when she can.

Every so often, she sends me a frantic plea for help, "I lost the recipe!  Please send it to me again!"  I will also have the occasional family member ask to have the recipe so they can make bread when my sis is around.   So...

In order that all family can have the recipe if they need it, and in order that my sister will always be able to find it, here is my Gluten Free Multi-Grain Miracle Bread recipe, which I found somewhere on one of the gazillion websites out there.


Gluten-Free Multi-Grain Miracle Bread

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup amaranth flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup cornstarch or arrowroot starch
1/4 cup flax seed meal (ground flax seeds)
3 teaspoons xanthan gum
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 additional egg whites
1 cup water, room temperature
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 200F.

Sift the flours, yeast and all other dry ingredients together into a medium bowl. Stir in flax meal and combine.

Combine the wet ingredients in a separate large bowl using a hand-mixer on low or medium speed. When fully combined, slowly add dry ingredient mixture and mix until fully blended, with no lumps. Scrape the sides regularly.

Grease a 9x5" bread pan, and pour the dough into the pan. Turn off the oven and immediately place the pan in it. Do not open the door again, if possible. Allow the dough to rise for 90 minutes. It should rise to the very top of the pan.
Let it rise, uncovered, for 90 minutes.

Increase heat to 350F and bake for approximately 40 minutes. The crust should be golden-brown. Allow to cool slightly before removing it from the pan to finish cooling. Do not slice until the bread is no longer hot.

A nice, crunchy multi-grain bread.
This loaf does not need to be frozen, but if there are leftovers after a few days, place slices in airtight bags and freeze.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Sew Much Fun!


My super-mom friend and home-schooler extra-ordinaire, Momo, came over the other day to catch up.  It had been a while.  Since my ??th birthday was the day before, she surprised me with a lovely gift - a hand bag, sewn entirely by herself.  I immediately fell in love with it and then commissioned her nine-year-old daughter to make a cell-phone case to match.

Later that day, as I showed my new bag to my eight-year-old daughter, she asked if we could sew something like that too.  "Why not?"  So we jumped head first into the fun of sewing!  It's been just under a month, but we already have several crafts, made by our hands, and we're working on a few more. 

I thought this bookmark would be great for each of the kids to make for their teachers as an "end of the school year" gift.

An Apple Ribbon Bookmark

And we're taking our fun with us to Family Camp this year.  So far we've got T-shirt pillows, felt designs and Puppy Pals planned for activity time at camp with all our friends.  It'll be Sew Much Fun!
Her first project, a puppy pal!

Cut-out felt flowers attached to a hair elastic.
I haven't worn this shirt since college chorus days. 
I didn't want to get rid of it, but didn't know what to do with it. 
Voila!  A T-shirt pillow!



Are you Sew Crafty?  What were your beginner sewing projects and what are you working on now?  I'd love some tips on where to go from here!