Atop each of Jules Shepard’s free weekly recipe newsletters is her mantra: “Perfecting Gluten-Free Baking, Together.” From her easy-to-read cookbook (“Nearly Normal Cooking for Gluten Free Eating”) to her highly rated reference for making the transition to living gluten free easier (“The First Year: Celiac Disease and Living Gluten Free”), Jules is tireless in the kitchen, at the keyboard and in person in helping people eating gluten free do it with ease, with style and with no compromises.In the kitchen, she creates recipes for beautiful, tasty gluten-free foods that most people could never tell are gluten free. As a writer, she produces a steady stream of baking tips, living advice, encouragement and insights through magazine articles, her web site (JulesGlutenFree.com), newsletter, e-books and on sites like http://celiac.com and others. Jules also maintains a busy schedule of speaking at celiac and gluten-free gatherings, appearing on TV and radio shows, baking industry conventions, as well as teaching classes on the ease and freedom of baking at home.
Her patent-pending all-purpose flour literally has changed lives for families who thought going gluten free meant going without. Thousands read her weekly newsletter, follow her on Twitter and interact with her on FaceBook. Her third book, "Free for All Cooking," will be available November, 2010.
When I first set about to create a great gluten-free English Muffin, I was initially worried that I wouldn't have success since I did not own the so-called "bun" pans necessary to make nice, flat, traditional English Muffins. Never one to shy away from baking challenges, I let necessity be the proverbial mother of invention once more (something that has served me well in this gluten free world!). I actually ended up simply using my trusty popover pans, and slicing each “popover” twice, to wind up with three English Muffins per popover. Bonus!
The results were exceptional: as one non-gluten-free friend told me when she sampled them, "I tried them cold; I tried them toasted; I tried them with jelly; I tried them plain - they were delicious any way you cut 'em!" ... I'll take that as a ringing endorsement, thank you very much!
Jules' Gluten-Free English Muffins
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup very warm water
1 tsp. granulated cane sugar
1 Tbs. rapid rise yeast (you may use a packet of yeast granules here, which will be between 2 ¼ tsp. and 1 Tbs. yeast)
3 cups Jules Gluten Free All Purpose Flour*
½ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. gluten-free baking powder
3 Tbs. granulated cane sugar
3 egg whites
4 Tbs. canola oil
*Recipes for making a homemade all purpose flour can be found in my books, Nearly Normal Cooking for Gluten-Free Eating and The First Year: Celiac Disease and Living Gluten-Free, as well as in various free media links on my website, NearlyNormalCooking.com. My all purpose flour is also available pre-mixed at JulesGlutenFree.com.
Directions:
Add the yeast, 1 teaspoon of sugar and warm water mixture together and set aside.
Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside.
In a large bowl, add the 3 tablespoons of sugar, egg whites and oil. Mix well, then add the yeast mixture. Beat with an electric mixer and slowly add the flour mixture, beating for 2-3 minutes after mixed to make the dough lighter.
Oil or butter popover tins, jumbo muffin tins or bun trays, then spoon the dough into the trays, filling about 2/3 full. Cover, set aside in a warm place, and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350F static or 325F convection.
Bake raised muffins for 20 minutes, or until they are cooked through and are light brown.
Makes 10-12 popover buns, slice with a serrated bread knife 2 times each to make into English Muffins, just perfect for toasting!