Braised Oxtail is my idea of heaven on a cold winter’s day. So, with the frost on the ground and minus five on the thermometer I decided the time was right to get cooking.
For me Braised Oxtail is the pinnacle of meat eating. Its not difficult to cook, but it does take a little time. If the idea of having the oven on for such a long cook, use a slow cooker to do most of the cooking.
These Italian delicate almond cookies with a melt in the mouth centre are usually enjoyed during Christmas time in Tuscany. Try them out as an alternative to or in addition to mince pies when entertaining guest over the holiday.
This Simple Duck Confit is both rustic and refined. The process of curing and cooking the meat in fat produces a flavour unobtainable buy any other method. And I love it! I’m serving the confit with a Lentil, Bacon, and Chestnuts Stew, a great winter warmer.
This method of cooking meat originated with the need to preserve meat before the days of refrigeration. The general method of cooking the meat is similar to Rillettes but in this case the meat is cured then cooked slowly in fat. The cooked meat would have then been stored in jars covered with the cooking fat to exclude the air. This would have allowed the meat to be kept for several months. Of course the whole portioned bird would have been cooked but to day as we have no need to store the meat its generally the legs which are cooked. The breast been fried or roasted. Cooking the meat in this way produces a flavour unobtainable by any other method. And the gentle cooking renders a tender moist meat falling off the bone.
Chop the juniper berries and garlic cloves and add to the salt. Coarsely crush the peppercorns and stir into the salt along with the thyme leaves.
Using a sharp knife, make a cut down to the bone around the ‘ankle’ of each leg and trim off any excess fat. Don’t throw the fat away we will add it to the cooking fat to gain flavour.
Place the legs skin side down in a glass or stainless steel shallow dish and sprinkle with the salt cure. Rub the slat well into the meat using all the cure. Cover the dish and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours and a maximum of 12 hours for the flavours to penetrate the flesh.
Have a look at our Food Files page Astonishing Salt to get a better understanding on how salt works and how to use it.
Remove the legs from the dish, (some brine will have developed around the duck). Brush off the excess cure and rise under running water for 5 seconds, do not leave the legs sitting in water. Dab with a clean towel to remove any traces of moisture.
Set the legs into the casserole and pour the fat over, enough to cover the meat.
Add the thyme and bay leaf, then bruise the garlic with the back of a knife and add to the pan (do not season).
Bring the mixture up to almost a simmer, if the fat gets too hot the meat will start to fry and dry out. Place on the lid and cook in a very low oven for 2 to 3 hours. It’s very difficult to give an exact cooking time according to the thickness of the legs.
When the legs are cooked allow them to cool in the fat. When cool carefully lift the legs from the casserole onto a clean tray. Once completely cold cover and refrigerate until needed, )they should be good for about three to five days in the fridge.
Be sure to keep the cooking fat. Strain it into a heatproof bowl and cool completely. The fat can now be lifted from the meat jelly below and frozen until needed again. its also great for making the best roast potatoes possible. The jelly can also be frozen and used in making stews and sauces. Use it with care as it will be a little salty,
Heat the pan and add the oil. Tip the lardons into the pan and begin to fry. Don’t allow the pan to become too hot and burn the bacon. After 3 – 4 minutes reduce the heat slightly and add the shallots. Peel and slice the garlic and add to the shallots with the diced celery and carrot.
Cook carefully for another 3 minutes or so. Watch out you don’t burn the garlic as it’s a flavour that can’t be masked and will spoil the dish. If you are unlucky enough to burn it – start again, its not worth carrying on! Mix in the tomato puree followed by the stock, and sage, then bring to the simmer.
Rinse the lentils under running water checking from small stones. Add the lentils to the pan mixing well, don’t season yet. Bring the pan to a bear simmer, pop on the lid and cook for 40 minutes. Check the pan every 15 minutes stirring to avoid the lentils sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Turn on the oven and set it at 200˚c – 180˚c fan then remove the cooked duck from the fridge. The knuckle end of the leg should pull off easily due to the cut we made before cooking. This gives a clean end of bone which presents well.
Lay the legs skin side up on a tinfoil lined baking tray with a gap between them. Pop the legs into the oven and cook until heated through (83˚c if you’re using your probe thermometer) and the skin is golden and crispy. When ready brush with runny honey and keep warm
On your last check of the pan, slice the mushrooms and stir into the lentils with half the chopped parsley. When the lentils are cooked pull the pan to one side and heat four deep plates.
Remove the rosemary then ladle the stew between the plates. Place a duck leg on each plate and garnish with chopped parsley.
Enjoy life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
If you enjoyed your visit with us, please subscribe up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at The Westcoaster. Subscribe Here
©John Webber. 2023
These Chocolate Custard Cookies are so easy to make, which is a good job as they don’t last long when people start tucking in. They are great just served as a cookie adults and children both love them.
If you are a lover of long cool drinks, then this is for you. They are easy to make and all you really need is some space to store the gin while it is steeping and the patience not to get stuck in too quickly. I always fill hold of some 250ml bottles to use as Christmas presents, always welcome gifts.
Astonishing Salt, no other ingredient I know has had a greater effect on cooking and the kitchen. We need it to live, but an excess is bad for us and may even kill us!
So why do we have a love affair with salt? And what does it actually do? Read on and I’ll do my best to explain.
Salt has a profound effect on flavour, or what we perceive as flavour.
How may times have you seen somebody receive their food and immediately sprinkle salt over the plate? The perceived wisdom been it will taste better by adding salt. Years ago, this practice led to some restaurants removing the salt and pepper from the tables.
Adding salt during a cooking process allows it to blend and react with the food. Adding salt at the table will allow it to become the dominant flavour. It doesn’t bind the flavours together and can leave a salty aftertaste in the mouth.
As we are programmed to like salt (as we need it to live) salty snacks are addictive. But not that’s not the affect we want from our cooking. Salt can make food taste better. It has the effect of reducing bitterness and enhances both sweet and savoury notes. Let’s have a look at that.
Surprisingly salt also lifts the aroma of food by drawing out more volatile substances into the air. And somehow enhances our sense of smell.
That trick alone is highly valuable to a chef as the aroma of food is one of the greatest assets in a customer’s flavour perception of a dish. Think of the smell of roasting coffee, cooking bacon or the memory of the markets on your last foreign holiday.
Ever wondered why your told to bake bread if you’re trying to sell your house? Or why supermarkets have on site bakeries? Aromas affect our mood and how we feel, and our enjoyment of the world around us.
One of the most useful ways of seasoning with salt is using it to reduce bitterness.
For this to work the salt needs to be taken together with the food. The salt and bitter need to be in contact with your flavour receptors on the tongue at the same time. There are many examples of this.
Some coffee perfectionists will add a tiny amount to the ground coffee before brewing.
The salted rim of a margarita cocktail has the effect of dampening bitter tastes. The rim helps to counteract any bitterness from the orange liqueur or the tequila, which, in turn, enhances both the drink’s sweet and sour notes.
In conjunction with reducing bitterness, salt can increase our perception of sweetness.
If we eat a food that has both bitter and sweet notes our brain will tend to cancel the two out against each other. By adding a little salt (not enough to become dominant) the bitter notes will be held back making the food taste sweeter to our brain.
Try this out on a grapefruit segment or tomato wedge. Add a few grains of salt and they will appear sweeter that they were.
Also known as “iodized salt,” table salt has very fine grains and contains potassium iodide and an anti-caking agent that helps prevent it from clumping. Because the anti-caking agent can give off a metallic taste when used in large quantities, table salt shouldn’t be used in savoury recipes. It can be used when baking, though, because these types of recipes typically only call for small quantities of salt.
Used only for pickling, this coarse salt contains no iodine, minerals, or caking agent.
Curing Salt is also known as Prague Powder, or Pink Salt by butchers. It is a salt used to cure meats while help preserve them and prevent the meat from turning brown. Sodium Nitrate is added to the salt and given a pink colour to identify it from normal salts.
Curing salt is used in the manufacture of hams, bacon and sausages. A variation of curing salt is used in dried meats like Salami.
My personal favourite, and immensely diverse.
Harvested from evaporated sea water, sea salt can be either very or lightly salty tasting, depending on where it’s harvested, so make sure to taste it before using it. Sea salt also contains loads of minerals so it can have an intricate flavour, but since it’s fine or medium grained, it can be used in either savoury or sweet recipes.
These are varieties of salt that have ether additional or added flavours. They are used to compliment or finish a dish by sprinkling on top.
Like U.K. Sea salt this is produced from Atlantic Sea water evaporated from tidal pods on the coast of France.
Often sold as Sel Gris it has a grey colour from the minerals deposited with the salt. Best used as a finishing salt, sprinkled on food.
Red Hawaiian salt is sea salt that is mixed with iron oxide-rich volcanic clay. Its flavour is described as nutty. Its striking red colour makes it perfect for garnishing finished dished.
This salt has a strong earthy flavour produced adding activated charcoal to the natural sea salt.
Smoked salt is made by literally smoking sea salt over hard woods. The longer the smoking process takes, the stronger the flavour and colour will be. Best used to impart a smoky flavour to sauces or just sprinkled on top of the food.
This is a very distinctive salt with the mild sulphurous taste and aroma of cooked eggs. Rock salt is cooked with charcoal, herbs, and seeds for a day.
Can be used in some spice blends and sometimes used in vegan cookery to add the flavour of egg.
This is a very interesting salt. It originates from the Himalayan Mountains in Pakistan where it is mined. It can be used as a seasoning salt, been one of the purest salt available, but is also available in a versatile block form.
A butcher friend of mine lined his cold store with blocks of pink salt. The blocks had the effect of drying out the air in the store to improve the texture of the meat and the salt imparted a subtle flavour into the meat as the exchange took place.
Now that’s not an option at home but its quite possible to cook food directly on a hot block of Himalayan salt. This is a great way of providing entertainment for your guest while creating a unique flavour. If you have a suitable heatproof stand for your salt block this can be done at the table. Letting your guests cook their own food themselves. This is best suited to quick cooking foods such as thinly sliced beef, fish, or shellfish. Avoid meats like chicken and pork for fears of undercooking. And watch out for your smoke alarm!
The first thing to do is heat the salt block. This needs to be slowly done to avoid the block from cracking. Pop the block into a cold oven and set the temperature to about 120˚c.
Turn on the oven and once the temperature is reached keep heating the block for 10minutes. Increase the temperature to 150˚c again for 10 minutes. Finally bring the temperature to 200-220. For a final 10 minutes.
It is possible to heat the block over a gas burner set to a low flame. The block will take a good 20 to 30 minutes to reach a cooking temperature. This can be tricky and needs care not to break the block moving it off the stove. Alternatively try the process on the BBQ were there’s no need to move the salt around.
The food to be cooked needs a light dusting of oil before been placed on the block, DON’T season it!
Shake off any excess oil then lay the food onto the hot block. Don’t move it around, let a crust form and it will not stick to the surface of the block. When watching somebody on a BBQ its common to see them constantly moving the food around. That’s a sure-fire way of making it stick. Leave it alone, watch the heat climb up through the food then turn it once and leave it until its ready.
The block will impart a pleasant salty slightly smoky flavour to the food. Remember the salt block will retain the heat a lot longer than a pan. Let the block cool naturally, before storing.
When working with stews and sauces add a little salt at the start of cooking. This gives time for the salt to interreact with the flavours in the food.
Add salt to the cooking water of green vegetables apart from peas and beans. The salt will increase the boiling point of the water helping keep the colour. But in the case of peas and broad beans the salt will toughen the sin of the vegetable.
Always, always, taste the food before finishing with salt.
When cooking pasta add a generous pinch of salt to the water as it boils. The salt in the water will season the pasta. Remember to use the cooking water in your pasta sauce if its needs thinning out.
Cake batters, biscuits and doughs benefit from a pinch of salt added to them.
Salt is essential for making bread but remember to keep it away from the yeast. Direct contact with salt will kill the yeast.
Never expose the surface of raw meat or fish to salt for any length of time unless you intend to cure the product. The salt will toughen the surface of the protein and begin to remove natural juices from the food.
The desiccating effect of salt can be useful in removing the bitterness from vegetables like aubergine and courgettes. Light sprinkle the cut surface of the vegetables with salt and leave for 10 minutes. Rinse off the salt and dry the vegetables before cooking.
TIP. A mixture of salt and sugar is very effective for this procedure.
Use a pinch of salt to crush garlic. This is the chef’s way of crushing garlic. Chop the garlic add a good pinch of salt then use the side of the knife to grind the garlic in the salt. Not only does this make a smooth paste of the garlic but also extracts more flavour out of the bulb.
Enjoy Life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
If you enjoyed your visit with us, please subscribe up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at The Westcoaster. Subscribe Here
©John Webber. 2023
Home-Made Sausages are one of the most flexible foods we have available to us. Whether it’s a comforting plate of bangers and mash, fending off the cold weather. A quick buttered sausage roll as a snack or the compulsory BBQ sausage, it’s a year round go to treat.
Learn how to sharpen your kitchen knives, and keep them sharp in this definitive guide. Part 1, using a whetstone.
Christmas is really a once-a-year dinner party. And this is my Essential 12 tips for a Successful Christmas Dinner, without all the stress.
As its only once a year we want to make it special for everybody. But often the day become a chore that YOU don’t enjoy and leaves you no time to enjoy the day with the family.
What’s worse is that dinner party guest are normally very polite and complimentary. Of course, at Christmas we have the pickiest guest of all – The family. So, lets guide you through some hints and tips so make the day less stressful, less work, and more fun!
And if it’s not Christmas? Read on, most of these tips equally apply to any dinner party.
Don’t leave it until the week before to decide what you’re having for the meal. Remember that good looking starter you saw Jamie Thingamabob produce on TV last week? It may be a great dish, but can you make it in your kitchen? Do you have the right skills or even the right cookware to make it?
Always stick to something you know you can make and works in your kitchen. Don’t plan to roast everything, then find you don’t have enough oven space. Remember your Christmas KISS, (keep it simple, stupid).
If your still looking for ideas, don’t forget to check out our Christmas recipes.
Our Cranberry and Whisky Luxury Mince Pies.
The definitive Chestnut Stuffing.
Helston Pudding a light alternative Christmas pudding.
Now you know what you’re serving its time to make a time plan. This should start to when you need to order / buy the ingredients needed. Then work your way right through to putting the food on plates
Serve some snack and nibbles on the table as the family sit down. If you have ever eaten at a posh restaurant, you may have been served a complimentary ‘Amuse’ as you sit at the table. This originally was designed to sharpen the pallet for the meal, but the main reason may restaurant do this is to by time for then to prepare the starter and main course with you getting bored.
You can do the same thing just by laying out a few bought-in snacks and appointing someone to open the wine. You can now focus on the starter without the slow hand clap coming from the dining room.
Failing that, serve a cold starter that is already on the table before your guest sit down.
Work as far ahead as you practically can. If you make your own stuffing, make it a couple of weeks ahead then freeze. If you’re roasting a chicken in the weeks before Christmas, put some chicken winglets (you can sometimes by turkey winglets in the butchers) in with the chicken. Get some fresh stock from the supermarket and make your gravy in advance. You guessed it, pop it into the freezer. Some desserts also freeze well or even make a frozen dessert the week before Christmas.
Make sure if you are freezing cooked food, it is completely cold before freezing.
Root vegetables can be peeled and cut up the day before. Peel your sprouts ready to cook Place a sheet of damp kitchen paper on top then cling film and they will be fine overnight. That means a great deal of time saved on the day, and less mess to deal with.
Your firm green vegetables can be ‘Blanched’ in the morning ready to reheat later.
To do this have a large pan of boiling salted water ready on the stove. You will also need a bowl large enough to fit the vegetables three quarters full of iced water.
Drop the green vegetable into the boiling water and return the pan to the boil as quickly as possible. As soon as they are nearly done lift then from the pan into the iced water. When they are completely cold drain them well and dry them off on an old tea towel. Return the vegetables to the dried bowl then pour over a little melted butter. The butter should set on the outside of the veg at which point it can be transferred into microwavable containers. When needed reheat the vegetables in the microwave on half power (don’t nuke them on full power) ready to season and serve.
For me, this an essential piece of kitchen kit. I could spend all day discussing its benefits. For Christmas, its mainly making sure our meats are not over or under cooked
Turkey needs to be cooked all the way through whereas red meats like venison and beef don’t.
If you have bought a frozen bird, it must be completely thawed before cooking, and that’s harder than you think. Don’t however stick it in the bath or on top of the radiator as I have heard people doing. It will probably take a couple of days in the fridge. And put some kitchen paper around to absorb moisture. Follow the same basic rules as cooking chicken.
Don’t cook your turkey trussed up, it makes the legs difficult to cook through. When the bird has It’s estimated time push the probe of the thermometer into the thickest part of the breast and the thigh. It you get a reading of 74-75˚c, its cooked.
If you are having Christmas pudding or any steamed pudding like my Helston pudding it can take up valuable hob space. Slow cookers are not all that slow nowadays so why not use it to cook the pudding.
Make sure it’s been fully warmed up and filled with boiling water before you pop in the pudding.
When you have made or re-heated your gravy pour it into a clean, pre heated thermos flask. It will happily sit there until you are ready to serve. Less mess and one less thing on the hob.
N.B. this works well for custard or any sauce you need to store hot.
I’m thinking here of the meat not you. But if you have been clever with your time plan a break should be possible.
Meats need time to recover from the stresses of cooking. I would aim to rest by turkey for at least 45 minutes before carving.
No, it won’t get cold but keep it out of a drafts. Lay a piece of foil over the bird, but don’t wrap it up like a Christmas present. Think of it this way. If it’s been in a red-hot oven for two hours, is it going to cool down in a few minutes? No. In fact meat continues to get hotter in the few minutes after cooking is completed. Check it with your thermometer if you don’t believe me!
The full Christmas dinner can be a heck of a lot of items on one plate. Don’t try and get all of them onto the plate at once. By the time you have done that the food will be cold, and your guest fallen asleep. Rope in a spare pair of hands to distribute stuffing or chipolatas. Place the vegetables in warm bowls on the table so your guests can serve themselves. Get the meat and stuffing onto the plate with some gravy to keep it warm and serve. The bowls of vegetables will keep hot for some time.
Wash up your utensils as you go. If you’re in the habit of pudding dirty items in the sink, you can guarantee the item you need is at the bottom of the sink. Also, if you need to drain anything, you can’t, its already full of equipment. I prefer to keep the dishwasher for the plates and cutlery, but you may be able to fit in a dishwasher load before the meal begins.
Its amazing how many people associate cooking and drinking together. Its better to keep eating and drinking together. Resist that glass or two of wine when getting the meal ready. It’s the only recipe you don’t need, and that’s disaster! Keep yourself, focused and steadily work down your time plan.
Once you’re at the table, there’s plenty of time to catch up.
Enjoy Life! and have a Wonderful Christmas.
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
If you enjoyed your visit with us, please subscribe up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at The Westcoaster. Subscribe Here
©John Webber. 2023
Learn how to make the best Basil Pesto. Simple tips and tricks to get the best from this classic sauce.
Want to know how to make Blackberry Jelly? It’s not that difficult, and so satisfying to make the best of the (free) autumn harvest.
This guide to Flour Types and uses will explain the difference between flours. How and why we use different types of flour and explain alternative types of flour available.
It’s is one of those ingredients we use all the time. But are we using the correct type of flour for the dish we are creating? Were not just talking white or brown here but what grain was used in its production. What are the characteristics of the flour we are using? Will it help us? Make things difficult, or just cause an absolute disaster.
Read on and we will aim to solve some of the mysteries. use this guide along with our pages on Making Bread at Home, and What is yeast.
For more flour facts look up fabflour.co.uk and flour.com
Well, what is flour? A type of flour can be made from many grains, beans, nuts, roots, or seeds. As long as they have enough starch content to allow us to grind them into flour.
Most of the time we are talking about wheat flour but there are many other options out there. For example, rye, spelt, cassava, arrowroot, corn, rice, chickpeas, potato, and nuts.
Each of these flours have there uses but as a baker our primary consideration is gluten. The gluten content of the flour provides strength and elasticity to a dough. While a high gluten content may be an advantage in making a perfect loaf. It would spoil our attempts at making perfect shortbread.
Gluten is formed when two proteins in the flour are hydrated and merged together. The higher the ratio of protein in the grains the more gluten can be formed in a dough. By stretching the gluten (kneading). We can strengthen its elasticity, allowing the dough to rise in the oven without breaking.
If you have ever wondered why your pastry shrinks back as you try to roll it out, it’s the gluten. The dough has been overworked. This toughens the gluten which like an elastic band is pulling back against been stretched. That’s why a lighter hand produces the best pastry and shortbread.
It’s important to use the correct flour for the job in hand. In British kitchens we refer to cake flour, plain flour, and strong flour. This is simply a useful reference to the amount of protein in the flour.
Cake Flour. 8-9% protein. Not that easy to find now, most people use plain flour as a replacement. If you want to try it out add roughly 15% cornflour to plain flour and sift together. Semolina or rice flour can also be used for a coarser texture. This is quite a common technique in making shortbread.
Plain Flour, 10-12% protein. Readily available and possible the most common flour found at home. Self-Raising flour is simply plain flour with chemical raising agents added.
Strong Flour, 12-16% More commonly used for bread or leavened products. We will cover this in more detail with a later post on bread making.
The everyday flour you will use. This is made by crushing the kernel of the wheat to make flour. The flour is then sieved to remove the outer layers. This process removes flavour from the flour. But been so fine allows for better gluten development.
Most flour is produced on a roller mill which is very efficient keeping costs down. Some flour is still produced by stoneground milling where two millstones are used to crush the grains. This is less aggressive than a rolled mill. And more of the nutrients are retained within the flour and have a better flavour.
This is flour which contains 100% of the kernel, endosperm, germ, and bran. The bran content produces a coarser texture that white flour. As most of the nutrients in the grain are in the bran the flour is more nutritious than white flour.
Similar to above but brown flour will contain less bran and may not contain any germ. This will produce a smother, and lighter dough than wholemeal flour.
One of the best flavoured flours for baking bread. Rye is a grass (like wheat) and has a rich fruity flavour. Bread made with rye flour don’t need as much working as with white flour. This means less work, and a shorter production time.
Basically, an intermediate process in the flour production. Semolina is the coarsely ground endosperm of wheat. This can be found both coarse and fine milled grades. Soft wheat versions are used cooked as a dessert. The classic Durum wheat version been used for the production of pasta and breads.
Durum Wheat produces a high gluten content flour that is difficult to turn into fine flour. And is more commonly found in a semolina version.
The French and Italians use a grading system to describe their flour. The French have a ‘T, number attached to regulate the ash content of the flour. T110 is a brown flour and as the numbers go down so does the flour’s ash content. This makes the flour finer and whiter. T55 been a common grade to use in kitchens. The flour will be named according to its purpose. So in a French bakery you will see sacks of flour marked croissant, baguette, etc
The Italians again tend to name their flours but grade them differently according to milling and bran content.
000, very fine flour.
00, fine flour.
0, medium fine flour
Tipo 1, a coarse grade
Tipo 2, very coarse flour
Farina almost straight from the mill, a wholemeal flour.
00 flour is the version banded about on the media and is really an all-purpose flour.
Gluten free almond flour is basically very finely ground almonds. It is possible to make at home by blanching and peeling the almonds. Then dry them off and grind in a food processor.
Chickpea flour is made as you might suspect from chickpeas.
It’s an extremely useful flour with a mild and slightly sweet flavour. It has both a high protein and fibre content and is very useful as a gluten free alternative.
Commonly used to thicken sauces this is made from whole corn kernels, and is gluten free
It can also be mixed with wheat flours to reduce the protein content of the flour in pastry, shortbread, and cakes.
As the name may suggest, arrowroot flour is made with the starch of the root of the arrow, a type of tuber.
Mainly used to thicken dishes it gives a clearer, glossier finish that cornflour. It is very low in protein and again gluten free.
Nutritionally it is very high in carbohydrates with minimal amounts of fat and protein.
Not In common use, but with a sweet nutty taste can but used to make breads, muffins, flatbreads, and pastries. Naturally gluten free it is commonly mixed with other flour.
Buckwheat flour is ground from buckwheat seeds which are actually a herb. The resulting flour with its earthy flavour is both healthy and again gluten free.
Oat flour is a whole grain flour made from oats. Once more the flour is gluten free, (see tips below) Great mixed with other flours and easy to make at home.
Yet another gluten free flour, Cassava flour comes from a starchy tuber called cassava, and it has a nutty and savoury taste.
Great for desserts, cakes, and pastries this is a very starchy flour with a sweet flavour. While not as well-known as other flours it is gaining in popularity and is a feature of some Italian cooking.
A good tip when making a wholemeal loaf is to remove the bran with a fine sieve and set it aside while making the dough. This stops the shards of bran cutting into the dough, which makes gluten development harder. Once the dough has had its initial development the bran can be added back in or dusted on top. So, you still get enjoy the extra flavour and texture of wholemeal flour.
Wholemeal and rye flour have a wonderful flavour, but the bread can be heavy textured and difficult to cut. Adding a proportion of white bread flour to the recipe will give structure and lift to the dough.
Baking with rye flour? It makes great bread however it is very sticky and can be difficult to handle.
The best solution to this is to wet your hands and tools with cold water, before handling the dough. This will allow the dough to slide off and not stick.
When using nut-based flours remember to check for nut allergies with your guests.
Use semolina or polenta as a dusting agent when rolling out the dough. When baked you will have a crisp, sandy crust.
Remember not to make your dough too dry when bread making. A dry dough will be difficult to knead and will inhibit the creation of gluten.
As you will have seen there are a number of Gluten free flours available to us. But beware! Just because the product used to make the flour is in itself, gluten free be careful. It may have become cross contaminated in production or packaging. Be careful to check that the product is certified gluten free before serving to anybody on a gluten free diet.
Enjoy Life!.
John.
©John Webber. 2023
Making bread at home? All your questions answered here. Together with hints and tips to help you.
This baker’s guide to yeast will explain all you need to know about using yeast.
Learn the different types of yeast available and how to use them to get the best results in your bread and baking