Category: Recipes

Wheatfree Recipe for Rye And Barley Bread

This Rye and Barley Bread is NOT gluten free.  Both barley and rye contain gluten, so do not use this bread as an alternative to wheat bread if you need a gluten free diet.

However, rye and barley are very nutritious grains and very tasty too.  This bread is quite light, and it is  a very simple recipe to follow.  It basically uses just the two ingredients – rye flour, and barley flour, with yeast and water to make it rise, and a touch of salt for flavouring.  For people who can tolerate gluten, it makes a nice change from wheat bread.

250 gm of rye flour

250 gm of barley flour

1 teaspoon sea salt or kelp powder

2 x 7gm packets of dried yeast granules

300 mls of warm water (about 1/2 a pint)

Set the yeast to start:  Use three tablespoons of the just warm water and sprinkle the yeast over the top.  Leave to work for 10 minutes.  Make sure that the water is not too warm, otherwise this will kill the yeast and your bread will not rise.

Put the rye flour and the barley flour into a bowl with the salt.  Add the yeast starter which has sat for 10 minutes.  Mix altogether.  Use a little more rye flour if necessary so that the dough does not stick to your hands.

Next, knead the dough lightly on a board.  Put into a floured bowl and leave overnight to rise.  The hot water cupboard is usually a good place for breads to rise.

Next day, punch down the dough a little, and knead again.  Put the dough back into the bowl, cover with a clean cloth, and leave  to rise for one hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 220C.

Flour your working board, turn out the dough, knead lightly and shape into a round.  Place on a greased baking tray and bake in the pre-heated oven for fifteen minutes, then turn the heat down to 180C and bake for a further 3/4 hour.

Two tablespoons carraway seeds may be added to this bread to give it some extra vroom.

 

 

Rich Black Rye Bread – Chicago Style Pumpernickel Recipe

This is a wheatless bread recipe for Black Rye Bread, which is also called ‘Pumpernickel Bread’.   However, because it is made with rye flour, which does contain gluten, it is not gluten free.  This makes it unsuitable for people on gluten-free diets.

Black Bread, or ‘Pumpernickel Rye Bread’, is popular in Germany, Austria, and in Scandinavian countries.

This ‘Chicago Style Pumpernickel’ bread recipe  is an adaptation of the original European rye bread recipes which German settlers took to America.  This bread is a good keeper.  It is still popular in parts of the USA because of its good keeping qualities, its nutritional food value, and its wonderful nutty, rich flavour.

All up, the recipe uses 750 gm of rye flour.  This is added in three  250 gm lots, with rising time allowed after each addition of rye flour.  You might need slightly more to use for kneading, and to make the dough a good consistency at the final kneading of the dough.

Yeast Starter:  First of all, start your yeast off:  Use can use a cake of fresh yeast, or  two 7gm packets of dried yeast.  Put 2/3 cup  (1/4 pint) of warm water  in a bowl and sprinkle over the yeast.

60 gm butter (2 oz)

1 1/4 cups (300mls)  of   milk

5 tablespoons of dark treacle or molasses

1 organic free range egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon of finely chopped lemon or orange rind.

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons caraway seeds

Put the butter into a saucepan and melt gently on the stove.  Add the milk and warm together.  Take off the stove and stir in the treacle or molasses if you prefer a really dark bread, and the salt, caraway seeds and lemon rind.   The mixture should be just luke-warm now – test by putting your finger into the liquid to make sure it is not too hot for the addition of the beaten egg and the yeast.  If it is too warm, the yeast will be killed and your bread will be too heavy and hard.

Now add to this liquid mixture 250 gm of rye flour.

Beat this mixture of rye flour, treacle, egg, yeast and milk until it is smooth, and leave covered in a warmish place to work for half an hour.

Then add another 250 gm of rye flour into the mixture. Again, cover with a damp cloth and leave to work for another 30 minutes.

Final Addition of Flour:  Add the last 250 gm of rye flour and knead the dough well for 10 minutes.  Use a little more rye flour if needed, to bring the dough to a nice kneadable consistency without being too sticky.  Divide the dough into two.  Grease two loaf tins.  Shape each piece of dough to roughly fit the size of the tine.  Press down the dough into the tins.

Leave to rise for an hour this time, in a warm place.  The hot water cylinder is good.  Cover up the tins with a dry tea towel.

Heat up the oven to 200C degrees, or 400F.  After an hour of rising the bread, put the two loaf tins into the already hot oven.  Bake for 1/2 hour at 200C,  then turn the oven down to 180C for a further 15 minutes.

Take out the bread and run a knife around the edges of the tins.  Using a teatowel, hold the tins upside down and sharply tap the bottom of the tins to remove the bread.  Allow the loaves  to cool on a wire tray.

This bread is actually best kept for a day or two before cutting.  It will cut better, and the flavour will be improved if it is left for two days to mature.

 

Home Made Coffee Substitute Recipe With Gluten Free Option

Home Made Cereal Coffee substitute:  Here is a very old recipe for Coffee which is made from grains and treacle.  I will give two recipes here, a wheat version, and a gluten free version. The recipe which I have discovered in an ancient cooking book  is not gluten free.   If you wish to make a gluten free coffee substitute, then  basically substitute ground soy beans and millet for the flour and the bran in this recipe

I have not tried this recipe which uses wheat grains and treacle,  but I have used other grains to make a substitute for coffee in the past.  Roasted soybeans worked well, I found, with brown sugar sprinkled over before roasting. Soy beans are gluten free, and so is brown sugar.   I also found roasted barley to be good, also with a sprinkling of brown sugar put over before roasting,  although barley is NOT gluten free, so avoid this one if you eat only gluten free food.

These options for coffee substitute were very tasty and, I think, nutritious. You can virtually use any grain or bean to make a coffee substitute.  The secret is in the roasting.

This is the recipe from an un-named old recipe book – so well used that it does not even have a cover on it anymore, so I cannot tell you anything about it except that it says “Two-Burner Gas Cookers” at the top of the very first page of recipes.

Recipe For Coffee Substitute Made With Cereals and Treacle:

2 cups whole raw bran

1 cup of ground rice, or rice flour

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup ground corn groats – coarse yellow cornmeal

1 cup coarse wholemeal flour

1 cup of dark treacle

Slightly warm the treacle in a pot so that it will mix easily with the dry ingredients.  Then add the grains and flours, and mix everything up together.

Spread out over a greased baking tray or a large pyrex dish.  Bake in a moderate oven until the ‘coffee’ is a nice dark brown colour.  Take care not to burn it, otherwise it will be spoiled.

Let cool completely, then put into an air-tight tin or jar.

To Make a Cup Of  Coffee Substitute:

Use 4 tablespoons of the cereal coffee mix.  Put into a small saucepan, add a pinch of sea salt and 1 cup of boiling water.  Simmer this mixture for 5 minutes.  Strain. This will make about 4-6 cups of caffeine free coffee.  Use milk to make the coffee.  the proportions are 2 tablespoons of the coffee liquid to one cup of hot milk to make one cup of coffee.

Gluten Free Recipe For Coffee Substitute:

1 cup of treacle

2 cups of ground soy beans

2 cups cornmeal groats or coarse cornmeal flour

2 cups millet flour or millet porridge mix

Follow the same method as for the Cereal Coffee above.

Banana Alfalfa Drink- A Natural RemedyTo Help Arthritis And Lose Weight

This is a Natural Cleansing Technique:  Banana Alfalfa Drink can help  combat constipation. I have included  gluten free options in the recipe below.

Most arthritics suffer congestion in the bowels of some sort.  Every degenerative disease, in fact, begins in the bowel.  Even if you are not aware of having ‘constipation’, chances are you will have congested bowels, known as constipation.  If  you have cancer, or arthritis, or some other disease, then the bowels will most certainly need plenty of attention, to reverse the condition.   Pockets of waste material can gather in the intestines, and these build up over time, causing auto-intoxication of the body. This can cause uncomfortable reactions, with bloating, tiredness, irritability and depression,  but the end result will be a degenerative disease if the situation is allowed to continue.

So – here is a dietary remedy to cure constipation.  It will also help you to lose weight if it is taken instead of other foods for breakfast several times a week.  Of course, you will need to be prudent with your food choices for the rest of the day.  AND, if you have a health problem and are taking medication of any sort, then you should ask your doctor or naturopath or homeopath about whether this banana smoothie drink is right for you.

The foods in this smoothie will  help to make the body more alkaline – always a help in avoiding disease of any kind – It will provide that essential  bulk, or roughage, which will help to cleanse those clogged intestines, which is another disease-deterrent.

You can substitute this drink for your normal breakfast several days in the week.  It is nutritionally sound, with raw egg, wheat germ, almonds, sesame seeds, dates and banana, which provide many B vitamins, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, magnesium, calcium,  and other nutrients.  Note:  While raw egg white is not recommended because it depletes the body of Biotin, egg white can be safely taken raw without depleting any vitamins,  if it is beaten up with other foods.  Raw egg yolk is highly nutritious, and is given by some therapists such as Walter Last and Dr max Gerson, for treating serious illness such as cancer, arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

Recipe For Cleansing Nourishing Banana Smoothie Breakfast

One large ripe banana.

5  dried apricots OR 5 dates

One cup full cream milk, or soy milk

1 raw egg

2 tablespoons wheat bran:  Omit this if you are gluten sensitive and use 2 tablespoons dessicated coconut instead.

1 tablespoon wheatgerm:  Omit this if you are gluten sensitive and use a tablespoon of sunflower seeds instead.

1 tablespoon psyllium husks

1 teaspoon brewer’s yeast:  Omit this if you are gluten sensitive

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

3 almonds

1/2 cup of alfalfa sprouts

Into the blender bowl put the sesame seeds and almonds.  Blend these up first of all.  Then add the banana, milk, egg, and all other ingredients.

Blend altogether for two minutes.  Drink in place of breakfast.  This is a good breakfast replacement for people who are inclined to rush out the door without eating breakfast.  Take a cup before you leave, and take the rest to work with you.

Easy Wheat-Free Bread Recipes

Gluten-Free Cooking is so easy when you know how.  The secret is in the flours you use to substitute that wheat.  Cornmeal, Arrowroot flour,  Fine Millet, Soy Flour, Tapioca Flour, Rice Flour, and Besan Flour, or Chick -Pea Flours, can all be used to make breads.  Learning how to combine them to good effect, so that you get a nice lightish loaf, is the secret.  This can take some practice before you get the perfect loaf.

IMG_6923

But here are some really neat “Never Fail”  Corn-Bread Recipes which are all Yeast-Free,  Gluten-Free, and Wheat-Free. Yeast free breads are ideal for people who suffer from candida infections and eczema due to candida:  Yeasts of any kind encourage candida albicans to take off in the digestive tract, and so foods which contain yeast, such as vinegars, wines, soy sauces, and breads, are best avoided by yeast-sensitive people.

This particular Yeast-Free recipe is very high in protein, and is a good substitute for meat.

Easy Wheat-Free Corn-Bread Recipe

5 oz fine millet flour

3 oz fine yellow cornmeal

2 tablespoons of peanut butter

3 teaspoons of baking powder

About a cup of goat’s milk, or soy milk, or water if you do not have milk.

1 or 2 eggs

2 tablespoons soya oil, or rice bran oil, or olive oil.

A pinch of sea salt.

Mix all ingredients together and bake in a greased shallow pan for around 30 minutes in a moderate oven.  This mixture can be used as a topping for bean dishes, or vegetable pies of any sort.

For variation, a finely chopped onion can be added to the mixture with a teaspoonful of curry powder.   I used to make these yeast-free, wheat-free bread recipes  several times a week for my children.

Cornmeal Bread With Soy Flour

1 1/2 cups fine yellow cornmeal.

3 tablespoons soy oil or another cooking oil

1 cup goat’s milk or soy milk

3/4 cup soy milk powder – or soy flour

3 tablespoons of peanut butter

1 tbsp goat’s milk powder, or other milk powder.

2 eggs

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking powder.

Beat all ingredients together.  Pour into a greased flattish dish, or alternatively, bake in muffin tins.  This wheat-free bread recipe is also good to use over the top of a vegetable pie, or a bean dish.

It makes a very nice bread to accompany a meal, especially when it is served hot with butter.

Delicious Corn-Bread Pie

1 tin of creamed corn

1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal

1 onion, finely diced and fried lightly in a little butter

1/2 cup goat’s milk, or soy milk, or yoghurt

1/3 cup olive oil

3 eggs

1/4 cup besan flour, known as chick-pea flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased oven dish.  I found that a cast iron frying pan made a great cooking vessel for this wheat-free, gluten-free cornbread.  You need to take care in bringing out the cast iron pan when it is ready, and to keep it away out of reach of children until it cools:  It is a temptation to grasp the hot handle which will, of course, burn you when it comes out of the oven unless you use adequate cloths around it.

Leave the cornbread to cool just a little before cutting and serving with butter, salad, and/or cooked vegetables.  A freshly-made hot tomato sauce with chopped basil is a nice accompaniment.