You're Not My Type...

What have I been doing, you say?  I have been marinating.  Thinking, reading, sleeping, changing my diet, and trying not to worry about the future.  I started craft club up again in private sessions and its nice to have something messy to do on a Saturday morning again :)  We used a resist and I taught my student how to make a pouch for her phone that evolved into a proper little handbag.  It's cute and drying now and next week we will embellish the flap and work on something new.

Pizza with gluten-free base for Fionn's birthday.  Did a
gluten-free cake also and turned out lovely!

I took the big step of making radical food changes.  I had been wondering for some time about the blood group diet and I picked up a copy of Dr. Peter D'Adamo book Eat For Your Right Type and was instantly intrigued.  I've had a hard time the last two years with fatigue and joint pain like arthritis and his theories on eating and blood type are interesting.  Historically, we are predisposed to eat and properly digest certain foods.  I am type O and we are predisposed to thyroid problems, blood clotting issues, and immune system issues.  We have a lot of acid in the stomach and so when highly acidic foods are consumed then there are problems. The program recommended removing all wheat, dairy, and corn from my diet.  So last week I made the big effort and started experimenting with non-wheat recipes.

Wheat and corn free breads are easy to make, as it turns out.  I bought a whole pantry of white rice flour, rice bran, tapioca, and potato flour and I can make a lovely brown soda bread with nuts and seeds.  It is best eaten on the same day baked, but it isn't hard work for the two of us to polish it off in the same day.  I did a little Internet hunting and found an excellent spelt bread recipe.  It bakes just the same as wheat bread but spelt is much more moist and it stays lovely for cutting for four days, which is handy for mid-week when you are busy.  I'll take pics and post the yeast recipe next time as it takes a couple days for the starter to develop, but for now here is the quick and easy soda bread...it is from Darina Allen's gluten free cookbook.

It might seem like a lot of ingredients, but once you buy them, they last a long time...

Brown Soda Bread

50g Sunflower seeds         1 t. gluten-free baking powder
50g Pumpkin seeds           1/2 t salt
110g rice flour                   1 t xanthan gum (health food stores stock it)
60g rice bran                     1 T sugar
50 g tapioca flour               1 egg, free range
25g buckwheat flour          175-200ml buttermilk
25g dried milk                    1 t baking soda


Preheat the oven to 230c/45of/gas mark 8.

Chop the seeds and place in a large bowl (I didn't and I also added sesame seeds).  Add the rest of the dry ingredients and make a well in the center.  Lightly beat the eggs and add to the well along with the buttermilk.  Mix well, but do not over stir, taking care to add a bit more rice flour if needed.

Add some rice flour to the baking tray and form a circle with the dough.  Place it on the tray and cut a cross into the bread with a serrated knife, taking care to prick the corners to let the fairies out!  Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes and then reduce to 180c/350f/gas mark 4 for 25-30 minutes.  You may wish to turn the loaf upside down for the final 5 minutes to let the bottom get crusty.  The seeds really make this loaf and you will want a piece slathered with butter straight out of the oven!