Book of Yum

This month the Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger event was hosted by the always helpful Thomas Dzomba at The GF CF Experience. I was momentarily at a loss- which of the fabulous bloggers that have recently come across my radar should I adopt? Gazing at my recently updated list of gluten-free bloggers I happened to spy Naomi Devlin of Straight into Bed Cakefree and Dried. Naomi is a force to be reckoned with in the gluten-free blogging community, not only for her incredible recipes, but also for her famous monthly Go Ahead Honey it is Gluten Free Blog Event. Naomi is also a pretty darned cool person all on her own, and is a homeopath across the sea in Bridport, Dorset. Naomi infuses her recipes with healthful ingredients in a creative way, and her blog is fun and interesting to read to boot. The tricky part for me this time was picking just one recipe. Luckily I was immediately inspired when I saw her photo for Sweet Potato Pitta Bread. Something about that orange, fluffy crust adorned with sesame seeds called my name, big time. And just like that, I had picked a recipe.

One slightly tricky thing about Naomi’s blog is that measurements are in ounces, and need to be weighed. Luckily I have a super handy kitchen scale that I picked up at Amazon just for these problems. Also, the recipe called for exotic sweet potato flour- this might seem like another problem except recently I discovered an incredible Korean Market, han kook in Sunnyvale that carried Sweet Potato Powder. This sweet potato powder was mixed with cornstarch, so if you want to buy some make sure you read the label. I don’t know if it is ever mixed with wheat starch, but anything is possible.

So, armed with all the ideal ingredients (except for date sugar), on one quiet weekday afternoon I prepared my ingredients, roasted a sweet potato, and tried Naomi’s tempting recipe.

I skinned and mashed my sweet potato, and as I was sifting the flour over it I started to have a really good feeling about the recipe. Sometimes you can just tell a recipe is well constructed. I got even happier as I mixed the dough. It was pliable and easy to work with, if a little sticky.

I shaped balls of dough:

And then I deviated from Naomi’s instructions a little. I put the ball of dough inside a quart sized ziploc bag:

And pressed it out into a circle by hand. It was so easy!

Without using any flour, the pita circle peeled right off:

I placed the dough circles in a pan:

I let the dough rise for an hour (although it didn’t rise much) and then baked it. The dough smelled and looked good, but unfortunately it didn’t puff for me the way it did for Naomi. I think it’s just one of those subtle things that happens when you get the recipe just-right. Then I split one of the pita to make a super tasty egg salad sandwich with fresh tomatoes and basil for garnish. Mmm… (And yes, tofu egg salad would have been just as good, if not better, but I was out…)

Our verdict?
I really liked the recipe and the balance of flours. The sweet potato added vibrant color, nutrition, and a great texture. Sorghum isn’t my favorite whole grain flour, but it worked here. I think Naomi’s come up with a winner with this recipe! DH liked it, but he didn’t rave. He is notoriously difficult to thrill with bread, though, and remember, he’s a glutenoid.
Any Changes?
If I were to make the recipe again, I think I would increase the yeast, because the pita really didn’t rise much for me. I think that would lighten them a bit and maybe (but not necessarily) make it more likely that they would do that lovely puffy air pocket thing. Many of the recipes that work well for me and are really reliable really amp up the yeast and I’d like to see what would happen here if I did that- I also might not let the dough rest before I rolled it out, or possibly might refrigerate the dough, but that’s crazy talk.
I had fun with this recipe and am so glad this event spurred me to make one of Naomi’s lovely recipes. And now, I really ought to get together an entry for her “go ahead honey” event, hosted this month by Ginger Lemon Girl. If somehow you haven’t seen Naomi’s blog, please go and take a look at her super-fabulous collection of recipes. Toothsome recipes that caught my eye include Poppyseed Cardamon Cake, Carrot Pulp Bread, and Peanut Butter and Coconut Mufins, but I have a feeling this is only the tip of the iceberg.
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Important Event Info:
For those interested, the next Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger event will be held between June 23rd- July 7th. If you are interested in hosting, please comment immediately. I had the feeling that someone had asked to host this month, but I can’t track down the comment or email, so please, if that was you, please post a comment here and let me know. If we don’t have any takers, I’ll host this month. Cheryl of Gluten Free Goodness will be hosting next month. Participants- you can always check the Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger Headquarters to verify the host(ess) and event dates! Thanks, dahlings! So glad we’ve managed to keep this fun event going!

NEW extended post deadline: post by April 10 to be included in the roundup!

It’s that time again! No, not daylight savings time- it’s time to adopt your very own Gluten-free blogger for the month of March.

Please sign up in the comments with your name (or pen name), the name of your blog, and the name and blog name of your adopted blogger! Then just write a post about your adopted blogger between March 25-April 7(10), having tried one of their recipes and blogged about it. Please follow your chosen blogger’s recipe as printed, making only minor changes for reasons of allergy or veg/non-veg diet. . I think it’s probably best to just link to your adopted blogger’s recipe rather than posting it in your blog. Don’t forget to link back to this blog event in your post, and after you post, EMAIL Me at seamaiden399[at]gmail[dot]com with the URL for your post and an attached PHOTO that you took of the food (very important if you want to be included in the round up!) Here’s my proposed adoption for this month, to start the ball rolling.

I’m Seamaiden, at the Book of Yum, and I’d like to “adopt” Naomi, of the Accidental Vegetarian this month because… I have a big bag of her Better Batter flour in my pantry and I can’t wait to make one of her famous gluten-free recipes for croissants or other goodies that once seemed out of reach for a gluten-free chef.

Now I’ve “adopted” Naomi for this month, and so other bloggers *sniff* can’t “adopt” her THIS MONTH. (But next month her blog is fair game!) I will write a post sometime in the next two weeks (Deadline: April 7) about Naomi, her blog, and a recipe that I tried recently.

I’ll keep a running list of bloggers that have been adopted at the bottom of this list. If we get repeats, the blogger who posted their claim earliest “gets” the blogger, and I’ll contact any bloggers who need to pick a new blog. (This is so we can discover the maximum number of GF bloggers and recipes!)

Once you adopt a blogger, you have until the event end date (2 weeks from opening of event- this month until APRIL 10th (formerly 7th) to try a recipe and blog about blogger and their recipe.

*To be eligible, your blogger must either be a gluten-free blogger OR consistently blog gluten-free recipes with a gluten-free tag for recipes that makes them easy to find. New GF bloggers would be terrific candidates for “adoption.” Recipe must be GF as written by the original poster.*

I’d like this to be a monthly event, and it would be great if we could get volunteers to host future months. The next event period would be from April 28-May 11. If you’d like to host next month, please email me or post in comments.

*You don’t have to host recipes at your site to ADOPT someone and blog about their recipes. Also, for those who are adopted- don’t worry! You don’t have to reciprocate and adopt anyone (not even the person who adopted you) unless you want to.. It would almost be more fun if people Didn’t automatically adopt the person who adopted them- to maximize the new blogs you get exposed to!

Our Adopted GF Bloggers, for the February 25- March 9th “Adopt a GF Blogger” Event
1) Naomi of the Accidental Vegetarian (adopted by Sea of the Book of Yum)
2) Natalie from Gluten Free Mommy (adopted by Heather at puff.muffins)
3) Jeena’s Kitchen (adopted by Rachel)
4) Childlife (adopted by Thomas)
5) Carol at Simply Gluten Free (adopted by Karen of Red Sox Fan)
6) Lea at Lea Is Gluten Free (adopted by Carrie)
7) Sea (me!) at this here site, Book of Yum! (Adopted by Kate of Gluten Free Gobsmacked) aww…
8 ) Pig in the Kitchen (Adopted by Lucy)
9) Naomi at Straight into Bed Cakefree and Dried (adopted by Carol at Simply Gluten-Free)
10)Kate at Gluten Free Gobsmacked (adopted by Naomi of The Accidental Vegetarian)
11)Cindalou (adopted by Cheryl)
12) You pick!
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Note:
Still Pending from last month:
6) Naomi of Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried [Adopted by BytheBay of Gluten Free By the Bay, postponed for next month.]
12) Christian at Stephen’s Recipes [Adopted by Cindalou of Cindalous Kitchen Blues]
13) Sally at Aprovechar adopted Melissa at Gluten-free for Good
14) Orla of Great Mastications adopted Lyra of The Gluten Free Hippie

You are welcome to use one of these Event Images in your post:

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Read about how this blog event started
See an Example of an entry for this event.
And check out Our Roundup for last month