Book of Yum

One thing that strikes me repeatedly is that while living gluten-free can be challenging, living gluten-free with additional allergies or intolerance is even more difficult. Upon diagnosis, many Celiacs are lactose intolerant because their villi (with those lactose digesting tips) have been damaged by the body’s response to gluten. Thus it is often recommended that new Celiacs refrain from consuming dairy (especially anything containing lactose) for at least the first six months after diagnosis. Issues with dairy often resolve as the body heals, but some have trouble with Casein, the protein in milk, or continue to be lactose intolerant. Among my gluten-intolerant friends, many of them have complex allergies and intolerances that make things even more complicated, such as eggs, corn, beans, nuts, shellfish, and perhaps most difficult of all, SOY. In recent years there has been a fair amount of negative press about soy, perhaps to counter-balance all the positive press back when it was thought to be the next, best cure for the world’s health problems. It seems like no matter what food you study, it turns out (shocker) that anything in too large of a quantity may have an effect on your body- with some positive effects, and some negative. I try not to worry about it too much, especially with foods that humans have been consuming successfully for centuries. However, whatever you think about the media hype surrounding soy- one fact remains… and that is that soy is a major allergen. In fact, it is required by both American and Japanese labeling laws to be marked on foods as one of the “great eight” allergens. And perhaps because of this, I know quite a few people that have trouble with the soy-monster. I say soy monster because both out of an interest in exploiting the positive hype surrounding soy in recent years, many companies began adding soy to their products. The food industry has also quietly been adding soy additives and derivatives to their products for years, interested by the low cost of soy as well as its versatility in products as diverse as vegetable oil, mayonnaise, margarine, chocolate, salad dressings, cookies, crackers, and fried foods. I don’t quite understand the extent to which American processed food companies stuff their products with difficult-to-pronounce and weird ingredients that no home cook would ever find in their kitchen- but apparently all these additives and strange ingredients add shelf life life and “flavor” to products. If they say so, but personally I find it more than a little creepy. The prevalence of soy in all of these products is really becoming more than a little alarming- and I’m very sorry to say that it makes life very difficult for my friends with soy-intolerance. Actually, even my non-Celiac mother is allergic to soy and has trouble in restaurants or even eating at people’s houses because that sneaky devil soy manages to creep in all sorts of places you wouldn’t expect. At a recent meeting of our Celiac Bay Area Support Group, we had an “allergen-free” themed dinner in honor of our Allergy-boy hosting the party as well as another woman who has recently found she is sensitive to all forms of soy, including soy lecithin. (Just try finding a tasty candy-bar without THAT little ingredient… DOH.) As I thought about what dishes to bring, I found myself confronting all sorts of unexpected hurdles. I really wanted to bring chocolate chip cookies, but my friend MARGARINE was no longer my friend as every brand I could find contained SOY PROTEIN or SOY LECITHIN or some other evil soy-derivative. (Butter was out because MILK is also an allergen.) And of course, chocolate chips almost always contain SOY LECITHIN as well, so it seemed like a lost cause. Luckily, some sectors of the food industry has noticed the need for gluten-free, soy-free (and other allergen-free) foods, and has stepped up with a few products that make life a little easier for the gluten-free, soy-free consumer. Over the next month or so, we’ll be featuring some of these gluten-free, soy-free products and sharing some great GF SF recipes with you in a series of GLUTEN-FREE, SOY-FREE CHALLENGES!

This week’s gluten-free, soy-free challenge is the CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE. One unexpected problem arises when you try to do soy-free and dairy-free baking, especially cookie recipes. Many cookies call for either butter or margarine. Butter contains dairy (although it is low in lactose), and most, if not all margarines contain soy. What to do? You can try to replace the fat with a combination of applesauce and olive or canola oil, but I’ve had mixed success with cooking oil substitutions. Vegetable oil or blends often contain soy ingredients, complicating the issue. However, Alton Brown showed us that shortening makes a perfectly delicious puffy cookie. Why?

“Shortening melts at a higher temperature than butter so it remains solid longer giving the batter time to rise and set before it spreads. Hah. Increasing the ratio of brown to white sugar also creates a more tender cookie.” (Transcript of Alton’s Cookie episode)

When I had to make an allergen-free cookie, I started looking for a good gluten-free cookie recipe using shortening. I like Spectrum Natural’s Organic Shortening without any trans fats and no soy oil. I recently bought Annalise Roberts’ book Gluten-Free Baking Classicsand found her recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies using shortening. This recipe was also published in Gourmet magazine, so you can see it too! I used Ener-g Foods egg replacer for the eggs to make it egg free. For those who are severely allergic to soy and can’t even have soy lecithin, Enjoy Life chocolate chips is the perfect (if rather pricey) solution that always wins raves. I shared my GF SF (and EF,DF) cookies with my Celiac SF Bay support group (many of whom have multiple allergies) and they were very popular. My non-GF DH also enjoyed them, although he prefers those made with butter or margarine. I froze the dough in logs at least one day before baking them because I find that the texture improves and they spread out less, although this isn’t so much of a problem with a cookie made with shortening. I then cut them into rounds, toss them in the oven, and have some delicious cookies. This is a good way to prevent an attack of the cookie monster… I have a pretty unlimited hunger for cookies and DH and I WILL eat way more than is good for us if they’re baked and looking all enticing on the counter. One other plus? An egg-free cookie dough tastes darned good even uncooked, and can be used for a homemade gluten-free cookie-dough ice cream. Mmmmm… Just sub in an alternative milk if dairy is an issue.

Looking for a pre-made frozen GF cookie dough or GF cookie tips? Read this post!

Here’s a list of my favorite gluten-free, soy-free BAKING INGREDIENTS:

Spectrum Organic Shortening is relatively easy to find in health food stores, and is trans fat free as well as dairy and soy free. It’s an excellent ingredient for baking and has a pleasant, if rather bland flavor. Make sure to boost flavor elements of your recipe, and you may also find it helpful to add high protein ingredients (almond meal, bean flour, or yogurt if not dairy-free) to your recipe to improve texture of final product.

Pam’s for Grilling seems to be the only non-stick cooking spray without that ol’ popular soy lecithin. Make sure to check the label before you buy as the formula could change at any time. I like to use nonstick cooking spray for grilling (especially this variety) and also for bread pans. I usually spray the pan and then dust it with flour or cornmeal before adding the dough and letting the bread rise. DO NOT use this kind of spray on nonstick cooking surfaces like fry pans, as it will ruin your finish. Trusts me on this one.

Mother’s Margarine is actually dairy AND soy-free. The catch? It seems to only be available during Passover. Doh. I suppose you could order it in bulk and then stock up in season… Here’s a detailed article on this margarine. Apparently there was a Passover Margarine Shortage in 2008, and there are rumors that Mother’s Margarine may have discontinued their product. Please share any links you have if you have more information on this…

Coconut oil is another interesting dairy-free, soy-free oil for baking. I haven’t been entirely satisfied with my experiments so far, but I think that this oil is promising and I know many gluten-free bakers who use it successfully. Here’s an intriguing recipe for gluten-free, soy free brownies using coconut oil.

These dairy, soy, and gluten-free chocolate chips have become legendary at our Celiac support group meetings. Turns out soy doesn’t really add anything in terms of FLAVOR to chocolate chips, and these little chocolate chips are delicious for snacking as well as in chocolate chip cookies. Unfortunately they are a little pricey. Sigh. I usually buy them at Whole Foods, but you can also buy them online at Allergy Grocery. If you find the price of these chips prohibitive, you can also find chocolate chips for Passover that are both dairy and soy-free.

When I made my recent gluten-free, soy-free eclairs for a friend, I was having trouble getting a nice glaze from the Enjoy Life chocolate chips, so I added some Bakers Unsweetened Baking Chocolate which is ONLY chocolate and contains no soy (or dairy, for that matter). It did help the recipe. This isn’t a good snacking chocolate, but it can be used for chocolate sauces.

Breads from Anna are popular gluten-free, soy-free (DF, EF etc) bread mixes that I haven’t had a chance to try yet…

Namaste Foods is another popular gluten-free mix company with products that are also free of soy, corn, potato, dairy, and nuts. Once you pick your favorites, you can get a good price online through Amazon (below).

Share any GF cookie baking tips OR your favorite soy-free products in the comments!

Coming Soon Gluten-Free, Soy-Free Living Challenge #2 Chinese Stir Fries without SOY SAUCE but with LOTS OF FLAVOR!

For now, check out Soy-free recipes at the Book of Yum
Cool gluten-free, soy-free (and other allergen-free ) recipes at Elanas Pantry
Soy-free recipes at Gluten-Free Goodness
and
Recipes at the Gluten-Free Soy-Free Vegan
Soy-Free Gluten-Free recipes at Cindalous Kitchen Blues*note margarine, and substitute accordingly

Have any other favorite gluten-free, soy-free blogs? Tell me and I’ll add them to the list!

*Don’t forget to Adopt-a-gluten-free-blogger! Deadline: Sep 8!

We had our most recent Celiac Bay Area Support Group Potluck this last August second, and as usual, everyone really outdid themselves. The hostess selected a BBQ theme for the event, so we had grilled bits, non-veg and some really superb thin, crispy stalks of asparagus, grilled red onion slices, and grilled peppers, along with potato salad, a lovely salad with tiny, sweet grapes, fruit and pickled veggies, a refreshing bean vinaigrette salad and some exotic slow-simmered fruits. Meanwhile, I made Bette Hagman’s wonderful rapid rise gluten-free french bread recipe and some fresh basil dipping oil, as well as a little dish of julienned fresh basil with halved sweet grape tomatoes in olive oil. I also made my favorite fresh lime soda, but there was lovely mint lemonade and a wide variety of wine for people to enjoy.

I loved all the savory dishes, but dessert time was especially fun, as we had all sorts of exotic fare from gluten-free cream puffs to allergy-free (egg-free, bean-free, soy-free, dairy-free etc) chocolate wacky cake and an absolutely divine allergy-free brandied apple cake. I was ecstatic over the cream puffs, as I’d only had them once before (in my life!) and I wasn’t the only one. I think everyone enjoyed them. The only problem with fluffy bread bits filled with ooey, gooey custard filling and topped with luscious chocolate frosting? You end up wearing as much filling and frosting as you ate- or maybe that’s just me. You can see the big ol’ mess I made on the left. But the recipe, the recipe was divine, and I was so thrilled that one of our members went to all the trouble to make them. Hurrah for ambitious gluten-free bakers! The recipe was based on Melonie Katz’ recipe for cream puffs from the SillyYaks message board through Yahoo, and then variations of filling recipes found online. I’m eager to make them myself. I will be contacting Melonie to see if she’ll let me share them with you on here. I’ll test the recipe with my own luxurious filling, and hopefully you’ll be seeing my version at the Book of Yum soon. In the meantime, feast your eyes on them above.

But I also really appreciated the allergy-friendly recipe for brandied apple cake that our master bakers, V and H, brought to the party. This allergen-free (but not taste-free) cake was gobbled up by those with special allergies as well as by the simply gluten-free folks. As one of our party commented “I think I like cakes with brandy.” Me too! This is my version of V and H’s excellent recipe. I would like to do some experiments in the future- maybe add a little more liquid ingredients (one half cup applesauce?) in addition to my dry brandied apples. Also a teaspoon or two of xanthan gum might make it less crumbly. Quinoa adds its own stamp to this cake, but you could also try it without for a lighter flavor. I have to admit, the powdered sugar V and H added really took it to a whole new level. Too bad we didn’t have any powdered sugar in the house… but that shouldn’t stop you from adding some. Trust me, it’s worth the sugar guilt. I would strongly recommend you visit V and H’s GF Recipe Web Page to check out their tasty recipes- there are tons of yummy gems in there, including their Simply Amazing Easy Cranberry Pie Recipe that I blogged about in October.

Isn’t it wonderful having gluten-free friends with such great kitchen voodoo? The meals I enjoy at these support group potlucks are always worlds better than most restaurant offerings- and certainly there’s way more variety and imagination present! If you haven’t tried joining a gluten-free support group, why not look into it? You may find, as I did, that there’s a whole community right outside your door that can understand better than anyone else the joys of GF online shopping, the best and worst of the latest gluten free products, and the highs and lows of the gluten-free lifestyle.