Exhibiting at the Gluten-Free Food Allergy Fest in Stamford, CT.

The Gluten-Free Food Allergy Fest was totally exhilarating. My good friend, Peggy Matthews, went above and beyond. I could not have done it without her! Thank you, thank you, Peggy! The conference staff was amazing as they were always helpful and efficient. The hotel staff at the Hilton Stamford was outstanding.

As I got to know the other vendors I was continually amazed at the stellar level of creativity in the products that people are bringing to the gluten-free community. Lots of whole grain pastas and chips, beautiful whole grain and grain-free breads and gorgeous healthy snacks and treats. We have waited a long time for the healthy products and I believe, they are here to stay!

We rented a cargo van to contain all the stuff we brought. Driving the van on the highway took a bit of getting used to but we eventually mastered it. Peggy loves to document events and took many fabulous photos. Here are the boxes finally unloaded in the exhibition area:

 

We brought those rolling carts as well as a toaster oven to warm up samples.
The 2-shelf cart doubled as extra table space, which we sorely needed.

 

Peggy and I leaning on each other in utter exhaustion
after driving all day and setting up for way too many hours.

 

Here are many labeled boxes of samples. (Peggy brought her label maker!)
We were left with many lbs. of samples due to much lower attendance than projected. Thanks to all of you readers who bought bread cubes for your holiday stuffing and cobblers!

 

I had the opportunity to meet many appreciative attendees during the 2-day fest!

There was one vendor sampling unbelievable Ethiopian food from a local gluten-free restaurant named, of all things, "Teff"!!
This is a family-owned business, with mom being the head cook. Check out their website: www.teffrestaurant.com/

 

Their samples were served on little strips of Injera,
which is traditional Ethiopian flatbread made of fermented teff.

The artfully spiced vegetables and meat dishes were complimented by the
very sour, very spongy injera.

Peggy found out that their restaurant was close to the hotel and we eagerly planned to have our Saturday night dinner there.

After working a very long day, we thought we would go for a swim and then go out for dinner...just after we laid down for a little rest. We rested in bed for what we thought was a little while and woke up 3 hours later, astonished that so much time had gone by. Thankfully, we managed to find the restaurant before they stopped serving dinner.


Notice my plate with cabbage, kale and meat placed on a giant injera flatbread. The waitress showed us the traditional method of ripping off a piece of injera and scooping up the food with it.

We began ripping and scooping and dipping and found it worked really well. The metal taste of the silverware never interferes with the taste of the food. I never noticed the taste of silverware until I experienced the absence of it.

Peggy is holding up a piece of injera that is practically transparent!! It must take years of practice to make injera that thin.

Since the food was fabulous, we decided to order take out for the next day's meals. Notice the injera flatbread neatly folded in a take-out container. We were happily well fed for the next 2 days until we got home.


Gluten-free people know how challenging it can be to eat out so Peggy and I deeply thank Teff Restaurant for feeding us with such care during our stay.

More about out the Gluten-Free Food Allergy Fest

Tips for Growing Sourdough in a Cold House

    As I write this from New England, we are receiving a huge major snowstorm. We have received nearly 3 feet and the snow is only now beginning to slow down after 24 hours of continuous snowing. The outdoors is like a marshmallow fantasy land with its billowy white shapes. I love the beauty of the snow but 3 feet is really challenging! We've also had many days of frigid temperatures. My little house is well insulated and toasty warm but my bake shop, located in an old mill building, is drafty and hard to heat.

During this period of arctic temps, It has been challenging to grow my starters and in this newsletter I share the tricks I've learned to help my starters ferment properly in a chilly space.           

                                                                          
Happy sourdough starter.
top, Rice, left Sorghum, right Teff

When we regularly buy a food product, we expect it to have the same taste and texture as the ones we bought in the past.  One of the challenges of making fermented products is being able to maintain a constant product from batch to batch. If you purchase my baked breads, you may have noticed some variation from batch to batch.
If you bake my bread mixes or breads, you may notice some differences in how they grow in warm weather versus cold weather. Alas, there are so many variables that can be difficult to control.

My bake shop is in a drafty old mill building. Some of the suites are well heated but mine is not. In order to really get my starters going, I have needed to get creative about getting them some supplemental heat. If you have a cold kitchen, my tips might help you:

1. Use room temperature flour rather than chilled flour
2. Use warmed water rather than chilled or even room temperature water
3. Place your bowl of starter in sunny window
4. Place your bowl of starter near a gentle heat source such as:

• on top of the fridge or freezer
• near a pot of simmering soup
• near a crock pot
• near a wood stove
• in a warm oven
• in a warm dehydrator
• near a radiator

Keep in mind that too much heat may kill rather than energize the bacteria and yeast. You just want the bowl itself, and the sourdough starter, to be warm rather than cold. With practice and experience you can gain a feel for what the starter needs.

If you buy my breads, I ask for your understanding if batches are not exactly the same each time. I do my best to work with Mother Nature as well as with the billions of bacteria and yeast I have the pleasure of raising.
5% Discount Coupon Code on all orders $50 or more (excluding shipping). Type RC5 into the coupon box on the shopping cart.
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Why Gluten-Free Sourdough?

I created these breads and bread recipes to cope with my own multiple food allergies and sensitivities. After mastering and enjoying old fashioned sourdough rye bread I learned I was gluten intolerant and could no longer eat rye. I learned I was also allergic to eggs,dairy and soy products, ingredients that are often used in gluten-free breads. There were other ingredients used in conventional gluten-free baking that I would rather not use: commercial yeast, baking soda, baking powder, xanthan and guar gums, and sweeteners.

Wanting to continue eating bread, I looked at the ingredients in retail gluten free breads and found there was at least one ingredient I needed to avoid in each one. If I was going to be able to eat bread I needed to be able to control the ingredients.

I began experimenting with some gluten-free flours using the sourdough techniques I had mastered for the rye bread. I learned pretty quickly that gluten-free flours are more delicate than gluten flours and spoil easily. I solved this challenge by boosting the starter with a small amount of a lacto-fermented drink called Water Kefir. I used it to begin all my starters for a number of years. Now, I dehydrate and sell my own Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter as an alternative.

What is Water Kefir?

Water Kefir cultures

Water Kefir is a culture, which is a colony of bacteria and yeast, similar to a yogurt culture. The water kefir culture is added to water, that has had sugar dissolved into it. The fermentation process begins when the bacteria and yeast eat the sugars and in exchange, put probiotics and enzymes into the sugar water. Most of the sugar will actually be consumed by the bacteria and yeast during fermentation. The sugar water turns from very sweet to sweet/sour/bubbly.

There are many uses for this tasty liquid. It can be drunk in small amounts as a tonic or digestive. It can also use it in a gluten-free sourdough starter to kick-start the bacterial activity and prevent spoilage in the starter. This enables the starter to stay fresh as it grows to the size needed for  baking. Water kefir is a culture that must be acquired and cared for. Cultures for Health is an excellent company that offers dehydrated water kefir culture with directions for rehydration.

Finished Water Kefir
Ready to drink or use as a booster

An Alternative Booster: 
Dehydrated Sourdough Starter:

An alternative to boosting a starter with water kefir is to boost it with  Dehydrated Sourdough Starter.  I recently began offering 2 of my own Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter cultures, Brown Rice and Teff. While you have to regularly care for a water kefir culture, the dehydrated sourdough starter will last many months in the refrigerator or freezer until you need it.

Learn more and purchase Sourdough Starter Here

The starters are grown in my recenlty opened dedicated Gluten-free commercial kitchen. Click for photos of the construction!

Track Record of Sourdough
Sourdough baking is an ancient and time tested bread baking technique that was used exclusively until the discovery of modern commercial yeast. It utilizes the natural yeasts and bacteria present on the grain and in the air to leaven bread. Sourdough bread becomes highly digestible because the flours are “soaked” in the starter and as well as during the long rise period.

Some people may remember their grandparents soaking oatmeal the night before cooking it for breakfast. Soaking neutralizes natural enzyme inhibitors in the grain, begins breaking down the tough cellulose fibers, fosters the formation of probiotics and enzymes and releases vitamins. All this makes for a more nutritious finished product that is easy on the digestion with many more nutrients available for assimilation. Sourdough breads have a robust taste, a long shelf life and freeze well.

One other benefit of the sourdough process in gluten-free breads is that it eliminates the need for gums and sodium-based leaveners. For people who want to eat as simply and cleanly as possible, this is a tremendous benefit!


The recipes in my book, The Art of Gluten-Free Sourdough Baking, are free of gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, yeast, baking powder/soda, and xanthan and guar gums. They use whole grain ingredients and minimal amounts of starch flours and sweeteners.

My New Recipes PDF are recipes that I perfected after publishing The Art of Gluten-Free Sourdough Baking. They were developed upon the foundation of experience I gained from the first 5 years and are simpler and use less ingredients. They will become part of my next book and are now available in PDF. The cost is only $10 for all the recipes as they become perfected.

My  baking technique is different than what most bakers are accustomed to but with a little time and patience the technique can be easily mastered. You could be baking your own high quality homemade breads soon!

 Teff Tapioca
 

Rice Quinoa Cranberry English Muffins
 

Teff Pumpernickel

Learn more about my breads and other products

Happy Accident-25 Lbs. of Teff Flour-Part 1

I thought I was ordering Teff Whole Grain but I obviously made a mistake somewhere along the line because when my order arrived I opened a 25 lb. bag of Teff Flour! I went back to my original order slip and saw that, indeed, I had ordered 25 lbs. of flour. I just looked at this massive amount of flour and wondered how long will it take to use this up. Ugh.

I usually buy whole grain teff and grind it up as I need it. Teff is a potent high protein seed grain and has been a blessing after learning I had to go off gluten. I also use whole grain teff for a power breakfast. I soak the teff grain the night before, 1 cup teff to 3 cups water, add a little water kefir to boost the enzyme activity, cover and let it sit overnight. The next morning I simmer it for about 15 minutes to cook. Mixed with chia gel, flax seed oil and soaked nuts, I'm off and running. I'll often pour the leftovers into a loaf pan where it becomes like polenta. I'll slice it and toast or saute it. Using spices and herbs it could be made sweet or savory.

Since I was missing my teff breakfasts I ordered some more whole grain, this time only 10 lbs. To my horror, I opened a box of 10 lbs. of teff flour, again! I really must slow down, I'm making way too many mistakes.

Anyway, what to do with my 35 lbs. of teff flour?
My book, The Art of Gluten Free Sourdough Baking, is based on brown rice flour starters. I'd begun to experiment with buckwheat sorghum starters and have had some great results. I figured I better move on to Teff starters so I wouldn't have pounds and pounds of teff flour either stuffed into the freezer or sprouting critters with legs.

I began a new starter using only teff flour and water in a ratio of 1 to 1. I chose this because teff absorbs a lot of water. I usually use teff to thicken and give structure to some bread recipes. I was surprised that this starter was actually very soupy but I continued along with my 1 to 1 experiment, feeding it every 8 hours or so for a couple of days.

I used the bubbly starter to make Teff pancakes and was pleasantly surprised that they were as good as or even better than the rice pancakes! They were naturally slightly sweet with a great cake-like texture. The leftovers were great toasted the next day. Since I can't eat sweet stuff I used them as an accompaniment to a bean stew. I'm sure they would be great with maple syrup or fruit.

Starter Recipe:
Make a starter by mixing equal amounts of teff flour and water. Add a tablespoon of water kefir or other fermented liquid.
Feed every 8 hours or so with equal amounts of teff flour and water.
After 2 days it should be ready to use.

Pancake Recipe:
One cup of starter makes about 4 pancakes.
Add a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoons of any oil or fat and 1 tablespoons ground flax seeds.
Mix let it sit about 10 minutes and cook.
The pancakes will not show bubbles so flip it when it starts to dry out around the outer third.
Sometimes I cover it while it's cooking. It cooks faster and more thoroughly.

My next experiment will be making breads using this teff starter. I'll keep you posted.