Gluten-Free Focaccia Recipe with Garlic + Tomato

Gluten-free focaccia recipe- with tomato, herbs and garlic.

Italian Flatbread for a Blue Moon

An Italian focaccia flatbread recipe from the archives- because this lovely bread is just too good not to share with all you new readers. When my husband and I were on our honeymoon we ate focaccia every morning for breakfast. After a few cappuccinos, that is. Six between us. To fortify us for the walk across the piazza to the tiny bakery. After all, we were in Italy. Doing what you do in Italy.

Wake up.

Rub the garlic infused sleep from your eyes.

Pull on your jeans.

Walk to the local espresso bar.

Zip.

Boom.

Buon giorno!

The always smiling owner of the Podere Villuzza would greet us every morning on our way out the door, wishing us, Good day, for your blue moon!

I am thinking about our honeymoon today because our anniversary just passed. March is our month. And this time around marked our eighteenth. [How is that even possible?]

In so many ways we are just getting started. It still feels new. Even through the toughest years- in New Mexico, the most difficult of our marriage. The most isolated. We wonder aloud over root beer and popcorn how we got through it, how we wandered into that commitment, buying that tiny casita in the middle of an empty, windswept desert. On impulse. Investing all we had in curved adobe walls and tile floors tough enough to break a hip on.

We look into each others eyes for answers.

There are none.

We were bewitched, I tell my husband. We were infatuated. With the light. The summer monsoon skies. The smell of roasting chile. It was a seduction. The desert pulled us in and whispered stories in our ear, weaving her magic like a smoke screen, letting us feel as if we belonged there. Soothing our east coast gringo fears that it might be rough giving up our roots, our community, the quick jaunt to fetch the morning newspaper, grab an espresso, or browse in a book store.

We believed in the power of space and sky. We imagined inspiration dripping from our pores in the sandpaper heat. We embraced the notion of alchemy and willingly submitted ourselves to burn, trusting the process.

It worked for Georgia O'Keeffe.

Be careful of your heroes, I've learned. Choose carefully. I identified so strongly with Georgia- her strength, her depression, her stubbornness. Her colors. The way she painted the world. It all felt so intimate and true, so deep down familiar. And so for years I spun a narrative in my associative brain. A dream of the painted desert and her earthy pigments. Images of mud huts and fierce blue sky. A belief these imaginings were destiny, a trust that I was meant to live in New Mexico, that it was here I would find my home.

Because I have never felt at home.

Except in my husband's grasp. The first time I shook his hand I knew. He was my country. And so we sit together and sift through possibilities once more, this time more sober. This time without the flush and dazzle of infatuation. We speak of dreams gingerly now. Step by step. We examine and turn over each impulse looking for the hidden. The unconsidered.

It took almost three years to sell the casita. We lowered our price. And lowered it again. To less than what we paid for it. We swept it clean every time the realtor called for a showing. We baked cookies to fill the kitchen with vanilla and spice. We crossed our fingers.

The truth is we fell out of love- not with each other- but with the desert. Why she clung to us we do not know. They like to say in Santa Fe that the desert pulls you in like a magnet, and if you don't belong she spits you out. The night I fell and broke my hip- the night that changed how I navigate the world- forever- I said to Steve-- She has spit me out.

Today in our Connecticut (rented) barn studio I stack unopened jars of paint next to a bundle of clean brushes and palette knives. I pick through memories. I think about beginnings. Our blue moon in Italy. Biting into tender, fresh baked breads scented with garlic and adorned with fresh tomatoes. I decide it's time to bake a focaccia. Like the ones we ate in San Gimignano. Before we set down roots. Before we ever bought a house.

I turn to my husband and tell him, I'm going to bake a focaccia today.

And from now on?

Let's rent first.


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Best Gluten-Free Pizza Crust, Goddess Style

My best gluten-free pizza crust to date.

For years I've missed pizza. Not because there isn't gluten-free pizza available. It's out there. You can find it if you look hard enough. Take a gander in the frozen food aisle of your favorite natural market. Snoop around in the dairy case, next to the gluten-free bagels. You might even hit pay dirt at your local pizza joint (if they understand the ins and outs of cross contamination). So yeah. There are some choices out there. Problem is, most gluten-free pizza sucks.

It's usually heavy on the chewy aspect. Or dry as dirt. With zero flavor. Yawningly bland. Certainly nothing to brag about. I mean, you wouldn't eat it if you didn't have to. You know what I'm sayin'? It's okay in a pinch. If you're famished on a Friday night. But it's not exactly inspiring.

So last week I started experimenting. I tweaked and baked. And lo and behold. A new gluten-free pizza crust was born.

And this one doesn't suck.


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Gluten-Free Pecan Crackers Recipe

How to make your own gluten-free crackers- with pecan meal.

Crunchy, nutty, salty crackers. 


I have a confession to make. It begins with crackers. Crunchy, nutty, salty crackers. And the doom of shortening days. The curse of narrow daylight. The long slow creep of SAD and carb cravings has begun. The Fall Equinox is right around the corner. After-dinner walks will soon be pre-dinner walks. The wind that weaves through the cottonwoods down by the Chama riverbed will have a chilly edge to it that hints of winter skies and stirs the urge for goin'. I get that every year. The urge. The longing to clear out, let go and move on.

I feel the gypsy spirit in my bones--- screws and all.

And if I am stuck, as I now am stuck, back in this ancient rural desert where I feel--- screws and all- I don't belong, this urge goes underground. This urge- and it is a she- attempts a guise of humming patience and a veil of vague distraction knowing all the while that this ruse of hers is thin and she will soon be gnawing away at my futile attempts to remain buoyant and calm and satisfied with crudities and lettuce wraps. I will be rifling the cupboard for crackers and tortilla chips and baking starchy potatoes to smother with roasted vegetables and rustling up plates of steaming spaghetti and meatballs.

All to satiate The Need. The carb need. The Fix.

The serotonin impostor.

For those of you blessed with a friendly chemistry, those of you already anticipating the fall and winter holidays with their frosty allure of goodies and gaity, the ice skating and skiing, and the boisterous camaraderie of football- I salute you.

As for me?

I am preoccupied with conjuring lower carb crackers. And tossing up prayers to the wise and (one can only hope) merciful Real Estate Goddess. Maybe she'll take pity on me. If the house does not sell by November, we'll invent Plan B.

Gluten-free pecan crackers.

Gluten-Free Pecan Cracker Recipe

By Karina Allrich

These crackers taste a bit like rye crackers, due to the caraway and cocoa powder. If you're not a fan of rye bread or rye crackers, leave out the caraway.

Whisk together the dry ingredients:

1/2 cup millet flour or sorghum flour, more as needed*
1/4 cup potato starch (not potato flour!)
1/2 cup GF buckwheat flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons organic cocoa powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon caraway, to taste
1 teaspoon dried thyme or dried crushed rosemary

Stir in:

1 1/2 cups pecan meal
Ener-G Egg Replacer for 1 egg mixed with warm water
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 cup warm water or non-dairy milk, to start
1 teaspoon raw organic agave or brown sugar

Stir the ingredients until a stiff dough forms- you'll need to press the dough out into a thin layer, so if it appears too dry, or it falls apart, add a tablespoon of warm water at a time until the dough is malleable but not too sticky. My dough used almost 2/3 cup liquid- but this will vary according to flours and humidity.

Note*

The second time I made these crackers I needed three extra tablespoons of millet flour to get the dough sturdy and glossy. As always- dough and batters vary slightly with humidity.

Instructions:

When dough is mixed, divide in half.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or a reusable Exopat.

Using oiled hands flatten and spread half the dough on the prepared baking sheet. Make as thin a layer as possible. Use the edge of a rubber spatula to straighten outside edges, if you like. The thinner the cracker is, the crisper it will be.

Prick the dough with a fork- or not- it's your choice.

Score the flattened dough into cracker sized pieces. I used a pizza cutter to do this.

To bake:

Sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt, if desired.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes till firm and slightly crisp (they will crisp up more as they cool). I use an Exopat, so the crackers baked a little longer- and were done at 24 minutes. Keep an eye on them.

Remove and allow the crackers to cool on a rack.

Store in an air-tight container. Or freeze. If they soften from humidity, reheat them on a baking sheet for a few minutes before serving.

Makes 36 crackers.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

All images & content are copyright protected, all rights reserved. Please do not use our images or content without prior permission. Thank you. 

For substitutions, please see my guide to baking with substitutions here.

Gluten-Free Sun-Dried Tomato Focaccia Bread

Today's new recipe? Gluten-free sun-dried tomato bread.

 

A Focaccia To Love

Moving season is upon us. Yes, Los Angeles has a moving season. Southern Californians do not like to move in cold weather- in other words, when the mercury dips below the 60º mark. 58 degrees? It's time for UGGs and cocoa and ordering in. Not for hoisting sofas up or down a flight of stairs. Are you crazy?

And yes. We are moving. Come June 1st or thereabouts we are joining the migrating, apartment swapping masses. We are weeding through the promises that bloom on Craigslist (a veritable bouquet of alluring superlatives). Amazing! Gorgeous! Light and bright! And the ever popular- HUGE! This whole searching (and so far, not finding) process inevitably makes me insanely hungry for bread. Not store bought bread. Freshly baked warm from the oven bread. The kind of rustic, crusty loaf that conjures the word hearth. And home.

Because when you're searching for a place to live, nothing whispers home to your soul like the yeasty sweet aroma of baking bread.


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Gluten-Free Pizza Flatbread with Roasted Vegetables

An easy gluten-free pizza flatbread topped with roasted veggies.

Flatbread Topped With Roasted Veggies

I've been offering up picnic food recipes this week because we're eating easy picnic style here in the final countdown phase of leaving for our summer adventure in Los Angeles. Only four remaining stacks of books to box, a tilting fence of wet paintings to frame, and the all important decision of which t-shirts, pots and kitchen power tools to pack stand in the way of our coffee fueled departure early next week.

I am reminded of the opening scene of A Walk on the Moon where Pearl and Lilian Kantrowitz are cramming the family car with colanders and tablecloths and onions and potato peelers. Kitchen stuff for their summer cabin in the Catskills. Such a production this is. Planning ahead for gluten-free snacks on the road (chocolate cupcakes are a must, and popcorn) and an easy microwavable supper for the hotel in Arizona (I'm thinking I'll freeze some of my favorite Mac and Cheese). We still don't have a rental lined up. And the storms knocked out our Internet this week. I'm lucky to be on at all tonight.

So yours truly has been running out of steam by cocktail hour, whipped not only by the attention-to-detail process of organizing two lives and shedding old stuff, but by the monsoon season thunderstorms growling across the Chama River in the afternoons, sending wind and rain and howling coyotes up the mesa. And knocking out our web access.

So forgive me if I have not responded to a comment or a question. I haven't been on-line much. I've been a total social network slacker stranded out here in the wilds. Cooking up flatbreads and Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies between rinsing out empty shampoo bottles. Thinking of you.

Hoping you're having a wonderful week!

Karina's Gluten-Free Pizza Flatbread Recipe Topped with Roasted Vegetables

Originally posted May 2009.

Millet flour gives this chewy Italian flatbread a delicate nutty flavor. I also add plenty of minced onion, garlic and dried herbs to the dough to kick it up. Why not?

Ingredients:

1 cup GF millet flour or brown rice flour

1 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch (tapioca starch gives it a crusty bite)

1/2 cup potato starch (not potato flour!)

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon minced onion

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon chopped rosemary

1 teaspoon thyme

2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

5 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon honey or raw organic agave nectar

1/4 teaspoon light, mild vinegar

1 cup hot water (115 degrees F)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Lightly oil a large round pizza pan or baking sheet and dust it with a little cornmeal or rice flour.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the millet flour, sorghum flour and starches with salt, onion, garlic, herbs and yeast. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the olive oil, honey, vinegar and hot water. Mix with a wooden spoon until you get a dough that is more like a thick cake batter than a standard flatbread dough. It will be wet and sticky.

Scoop out the dough onto the prepared baking pan and using hands shape and press the dough into an even, flat round (or rectangular) shape. Smooth with wet fingers. Set the dough aside to rest and roast your vegetables.

Cut up an assortment of your favorite seasonal vegetables and toss them into a bowl. We used red onion, yellow pepper, Baby Bella mushrooms, asparagus, and grape tomatoes. Add chopped garlic and Italian herbs like thyme, oregano, basil, marjoram. Season with sea salt and pepper. If you like it hot, toss in a few red pepper flakes. Drizzle with a little olive oil and toss the vegetables to coat. Dump them into a roasting pan (or on to a baking sheet) and spread them out in an even layer.

Bake in the center of the hot oven for 15 to 20 minutes until tender crisp. They don't have to be completely cooked, just softened a bit.

Remove the pan from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F.

Brush the flatbread with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt over the top. Pre-bake the crust for about 7 to 10 minutes. You want to be somewhat firm and no longer sticky.

Remove the pan from the oven and spoon the roasted veggies all over the flatbread. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the dough is firm and slightly crisp. In my oven it was done after 18 minutes.

Slice with a pizza cutter and serve hot or at room temperature.

Add fresh chopped herbs just before serving- parsley, basil, mint, rosemary or cilantro.

Great picnic food- serve as an appetizer with a crisp green salad and a chilled glass of vino.

Makes 6 generous slices.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

All images & content are copyright protected, all rights reserved. Please do not use our images or content without prior permission. Thank you.