Flour Power
Sep. 24th, 2013 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppetHere is a list of the gluten-free flours available in the baking lab:
* Generic rice flour
* Generic gluten-free mix (mostly rice flour, apparently)
* Almond meal
* Ground flax meal
* Millet flour
*Oat flour Not so much oat flour, apparently
*Graham flour??? Made from wheat! So no, it's glutenous.
Here is a list of the things called starches available in the baking lab:
* Corn starch
* That's it. That's all. There's nothing else.
Most of the recipes I found called for:
* Sorghum flour
* A specific type of rice flour, usually brown or sweet (or both)
* Potato starch
* Tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour apparently)
One of them also called for millet flour, and one for chickpea/garbanzo flour. I used the French Bread Rolls Again recipe because it said if I didn't have one flour then I could just double-up on the other, though I think what the author meant was if I didn't have millet flour then I could double up on sorghum. I also had to sub in corn starch for the missing starches, which ended up being exactly the same volume of material as the millet flour. (I also used half a teaspoon too much vinegar, and the wrong sort besides, but that's entirely on me.) I ended up with pasty-pale millet flour biscuits rather than French bread-y. They weren't bad, they just weren't anything like they were supposed to turn out.
The teacher had never even heard of my missing ingredients, and I was the one who knew about the almond meal. I am thoroughly unimpressed.
In a fit of pique, I stopped by New Pi on the way home, certain that they would have what I needed. Sure enough, they had potato starch, tapioca starch/flour, and chickpea flour. (No sorghum flour, but I'm going to be checking out sorghum flour on Wikipedia or something to see what it does/if there are any particularly good substitutes.) I bought all three of them, the chickpea flour being particularly out of frustration: I had originally planned to make Besan flatbread today but, since it doesn't have baking powder/soda/some other chemical levener, it doesn't count as a "quick bread". ...Probably.
To add to all of that, the teacher has spontaneously reversed the order of quick bread and dessert day. Which means quick bread tomorrow and dessert on Thursday. I am quite miffed.
And on top of everything, I'm not entirely sure that rice flour agrees with me. Or maybe it's the millet flour. Well, as long as I'm well enough to go into school tomorrow, I don't particularly care.
A pick-me-up:
A while back, my mom commissioned me to make a baby toy for a coworker of hers who was expecting. Mom's coworker and coworker's husband had taken to calling the soon-to-be-baby "Bug" and variations thereon. Mom therefore requested I crochet some sort of plush bug baby toy that she could give to them. Not a ladybug, because they knew the baby was going to be [medically assigned as] a boy (and I guess weird gender essentialism reasons; or maybe they just didn't feel like explaining all the time that, yes, they knew their baby was a boy, and no they didn't care; or maybe they just knew that ladybugs' full official title is "ladybird beetle" and are particularly picky about entomology and etymology; most likely the first, though), but some sort of bug would be great, with a black dog as a backup option. I thought about it for a while, and then it came to me: A lightning bug!
With a little design work, I whipped up a pattern I was happy with and pulled the lightning bug together. It turned out super adorable, and Mom was quite pleased with my work. I also heard secondhand that Mom's coworker also loved it. Today, Mom's coworker sent a card home to me. Inside was a message complimenting me on my crochet skills, informing me that the baby loves playing with the lightning bug, and asking if I would be interested in taking a commission to make a hat with bug antenna for the baby (which: ABSOLUTELY I WOULD!). It also included a screamingly adorable picture of the baby in question, hugging the stuffed lightning bug in question. It is soooooooo CUTE! The lightning bug is practically a third the baby's size in the picture, too o_O So that's a nice thing. I should whip up another lightning bug that I can take pictures of, and then offer the pattern at my Etsy store.
...It also occurs to me that I might finally have a reason to buy some of that ridiculous neon colored yarn now. Neon yellow would be about perfect for a lightning bug butt. Though honestly, wouldn't a rainbow range of lightning bugs be awesome, too?
I think I had another pick-me-up, but damned if I can remember it. Last breakfast shift tomorrow, so sleep now, other stuff later.
* Generic rice flour
* Generic gluten-free mix (mostly rice flour, apparently)
* Almond meal
* Ground flax meal
* Millet flour
*
*
Here is a list of the things called starches available in the baking lab:
* Corn starch
* That's it. That's all. There's nothing else.
Most of the recipes I found called for:
* Sorghum flour
* A specific type of rice flour, usually brown or sweet (or both)
* Potato starch
* Tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour apparently)
One of them also called for millet flour, and one for chickpea/garbanzo flour. I used the French Bread Rolls Again recipe because it said if I didn't have one flour then I could just double-up on the other, though I think what the author meant was if I didn't have millet flour then I could double up on sorghum. I also had to sub in corn starch for the missing starches, which ended up being exactly the same volume of material as the millet flour. (I also used half a teaspoon too much vinegar, and the wrong sort besides, but that's entirely on me.) I ended up with pasty-pale millet flour biscuits rather than French bread-y. They weren't bad, they just weren't anything like they were supposed to turn out.
The teacher had never even heard of my missing ingredients, and I was the one who knew about the almond meal. I am thoroughly unimpressed.
In a fit of pique, I stopped by New Pi on the way home, certain that they would have what I needed. Sure enough, they had potato starch, tapioca starch/flour, and chickpea flour. (No sorghum flour, but I'm going to be checking out sorghum flour on Wikipedia or something to see what it does/if there are any particularly good substitutes.) I bought all three of them, the chickpea flour being particularly out of frustration: I had originally planned to make Besan flatbread today but, since it doesn't have baking powder/soda/some other chemical levener, it doesn't count as a "quick bread". ...Probably.
To add to all of that, the teacher has spontaneously reversed the order of quick bread and dessert day. Which means quick bread tomorrow and dessert on Thursday. I am quite miffed.
And on top of everything, I'm not entirely sure that rice flour agrees with me. Or maybe it's the millet flour. Well, as long as I'm well enough to go into school tomorrow, I don't particularly care.
A pick-me-up:
A while back, my mom commissioned me to make a baby toy for a coworker of hers who was expecting. Mom's coworker and coworker's husband had taken to calling the soon-to-be-baby "Bug" and variations thereon. Mom therefore requested I crochet some sort of plush bug baby toy that she could give to them. Not a ladybug, because they knew the baby was going to be [medically assigned as] a boy (and I guess weird gender essentialism reasons; or maybe they just didn't feel like explaining all the time that, yes, they knew their baby was a boy, and no they didn't care; or maybe they just knew that ladybugs' full official title is "ladybird beetle" and are particularly picky about entomology and etymology; most likely the first, though), but some sort of bug would be great, with a black dog as a backup option. I thought about it for a while, and then it came to me: A lightning bug!
With a little design work, I whipped up a pattern I was happy with and pulled the lightning bug together. It turned out super adorable, and Mom was quite pleased with my work. I also heard secondhand that Mom's coworker also loved it. Today, Mom's coworker sent a card home to me. Inside was a message complimenting me on my crochet skills, informing me that the baby loves playing with the lightning bug, and asking if I would be interested in taking a commission to make a hat with bug antenna for the baby (which: ABSOLUTELY I WOULD!). It also included a screamingly adorable picture of the baby in question, hugging the stuffed lightning bug in question. It is soooooooo CUTE! The lightning bug is practically a third the baby's size in the picture, too o_O So that's a nice thing. I should whip up another lightning bug that I can take pictures of, and then offer the pattern at my Etsy store.
...It also occurs to me that I might finally have a reason to buy some of that ridiculous neon colored yarn now. Neon yellow would be about perfect for a lightning bug butt. Though honestly, wouldn't a rainbow range of lightning bugs be awesome, too?
I think I had another pick-me-up, but damned if I can remember it. Last breakfast shift tomorrow, so sleep now, other stuff later.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-25 10:02 am (UTC)I shouldn't be this smug about the substitution thing, but I totally am. I had a feeling that all those recipes were calling for specific flours for a reason.
I might fare better with it; I remember being fond of red bean paste. Though the chickpea flour recipe was supposed to be savory, I'm pretty sure.