Recipe Questions

[ErinG29]

My boyfriend just found out he has celiac disease (finally confirmed it, we had kind of an inkling, but he had all the tests done to be sure). I'm German, and I have this killer recipe for Schnecken, which are like German sticky buns. I have heard that substituting gluten free flour works to a point (I've heard from people that they say don't use it in recipes that ask for more than 2 cups of flour) and my schnecken recipe does, it asks for about 3 1/2 cups of flour. I really want to be able to make this for him, it's tradition in my family and it is so delicious. I haven't been baking/cooking gluten free very long at all, but I want him to try this! Any tips? Thank you so much for helping a newbie out.

[xjrosie]

Here's what I've been doing and it's worked well. It's fine to use a recipe with more than 2 cups of flour - you just want to make sure you still have the same amount of dry ingredients and wet ingredients as the original.

You may need to tweak based on your recipe.

How to Convert a Traditional Recipe to Gluten and/or Dairy Free

1. Start with a combination of flours in these ratios: 50% grain flour (brown rice or sorghum), 25% starch (cornstarch, tapioca or potato starch) and 25% protein flour (navy, fava, garbanzo, soy, gafava flour) or a different grain flour. One cup of wheat flour translates into 1/4 cup of grain flour, 1/4 cup of bean flour and 1/4 cup of starch.

2. Add 25-50% more leavening (baking powder, baking soda or yeast).

3. Add 1/2 to 1 tsp. acid (vinegar, citric acid, ascorbic acid dough enhancer, cream of tartar or citrus juice).

4. Add 1/2 tsp. of either xanthan gum to the dry ingredients or guar gum to the wet ingredients for every cup of flour, or 1/4 tsp. of each. For smaller baked items, gums can be omitted.

5. Substitute butter with oil or ghee, cow

[lpellegr]

Also be aware that gluten-free breads are batter breads - you not only don't knead them, you really can't, and rolling them out requires different techniques than wheat bread. Because the batter is sticky, you will want to roll or pat out between sheets of wax paper or plastic generously coated with gluten-free flour, and don't expect it to behave the way you are used to. There may be a few bad words involved before you finish.

Another thing to be very aware of is that if you haven't been baking gluten-free long but you have been baking with regular flour, you could unknowingly contaminate the gluten-free stuff with gluten. Check that all utensils (pans, bowls, etc) are completely free of old crumbs. Don't use a sieve or colander that has been used for regular flour. Don't use butter or Crisco that you have used for gluten baking, because you might have reached into it with something contaminated by gluten. Open new packages. Did you ever dip into the sugar or brown sugar with a cup that had been filled with flour? You would have contaminated the entire container of sugar. Wooden spoons are porous and will trap gluten, so get separate spoons for gluten-free work. Carefully clean all work surfaces to make sure there are no crumbs left from anything with gluten. Could there be flour trapped in the crevices of your mixer? Think of all these things before you bake something gluten-free. We know you want to provide your loved one with the comforts of good food, but you have to be sure not to accidently include any nasty surprises!

[mamaw]

There are some awesome gluten-free chemist on this site!!! Why not post the recipe & some of the pros can tweak the recipe for you & we all will profit from another good recipe?

mamaw

PS--- I'm not one of the chemist guru's ..... but I love to bake gluten-free!!!

[mamaw]

Why not post your recipe on here... There are some excellent gluten-free chemist on here that can make-over your recipe... & you will not have to experment......

And we can share another yummy recipe!

Sorry , I thought I forgot to hit the reply button to post so I did another quick message & now two is on here! Deleting did not take the second one away...

[ErinG29]

I really appreciate all your guys help. I haven't tried the recipe yet, but I'm excited to. Thank you so much, you guys!

[ErinG29]

Here is the recipe for schnecken. Help with the tweaking? Thanks so much! (I don't need it to be dairy free) I think the dough is the only problem, but I'll include it all because Schnecken is maybe the most delicious thing in the world.

Dough

3 1/3 cups bread flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 ounce fast rise yeast or 1 tablespoon fresh yeast

1/3 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup milk , plus

2 tablespoons milk

2 large eggs

Syrup

1/2 cup unsalted butter , plus

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (brand Sugar in the Raw)

4 tablespoons maple syrup

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 cup walnut pieces or 1 cup pecan pieces

Glaze

1 large egg

2 tablespoons milk

Filling

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup light brown raw sugar (demerara) or 1/2 cup turbinado sugar(brand Sugar in the Raw)

1 tablespoon cinnamon

[mamaw]

I hope someone here tweakes the recipe for you.. If you don't get any tweakers I suggest going to Open Original Shared Link & posting the recipe on that site & Naomi will tweak it for you. She has a great recipe file...

[Simona19]

Here is the recipe for schnecken. Help with the tweaking? Thanks so much! (I don't need it to be dairy free) I think the dough is the only problem, but I'll include it all because Schnecken is maybe the most delicious thing in the world.

Dough

3 1/3 cups bread flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 ounce fast rise yeast or 1 tablespoon fresh yeast

1/3 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup milk , plus

2 tablespoons milk

2 large eggs

Syrup

1/2 cup unsalted butter , plus

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (brand Sugar in the Raw)

4 tablespoons maple syrup

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 cup walnut pieces or 1 cup pecan pieces

Glaze

1 large egg

2 tablespoons milk

Filling

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup light brown raw sugar (demerara) or 1/2 cup turbinado sugar(brand Sugar in the Raw)

1 tablespoon cinnamon