Gluten Free Friday: Biscuit Buns

I swear I’ve been cooking, y’all, I just haven’t gotten my posts put together.  It’s been a crazy, crazy week.  I signed with an agent. I was buried under several simultaneous major deadlines at work.  And there was some major personal stuff going on with a friend who needed support, and posting just didn’t happen.  But I took pictures and hopefully I’ll remember what I put in these dishes so I can write them up for you for next week.

As I said earlier, the only thing that is going to make this gluten free lifestyle tolerable in our house is if I can come up with a good gluten free burger bun recipe and pizza dough.  So last week I tried this recipe for Hamburger Buns and Focaccia from The Gluten Free Homemaker.  I had to make a few adjustments, as I did not have instant yeast (just the standard active kind), so I took 3/4ths a cup of the water and “proofed” the yeast with the sugar (honey the second time) before adding it to the rest of the mixture.  I have NO FLIPPING CLUE how she got hers smooth because mine, as you see, look like giant drop biscuits.  Taste a lot like biscuits too.  Hence, in our house they’ve been dubbed “Biscuit Buns”.  The first time I made these (sans onion powder), hubby raved.  The second time, when I made it more like proper focaccia and added the onion powder, we both agreed it had a kinda funky flavor, so we’re 86ing the onion powder.  I really don’t think these make great buns, but I think they’re a really reasonable GF biscuit. Soooo, the hunt for the burger bun is ongoing, and we’re trying pizza this weekend.  We shall see.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/3 c. brown rice flour
  • 2/3 c. sweet rice flour
  • 1 c. tapioca starch
  • 1 Tbsp. instant yeast (not having instant yeast, I used 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of the active dry yeast)
  • 2 tsp. unflavored gelatin
  • 1 Tbsp. xanthan gum
  • 1/2 tsp. onion powder (optional)
  • 1 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. sugar or honey
  • 1 – 1 1/4 c. warm water
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 c. olive oil
  • 1 tsp. vinegar

Directions:

  1. Haul out that Kitchenaid folks.  It’s gonna make life easier.  Be sure to use the PADDLE not the dough hook.
  2. Dump all the wet ingredients (including the proofed yeast if you used active dry) into the bowl of your mixer.
  3. Combine all the dry stuff in a separate bowl and whisk together.
  4. Add the dry stuff to the wet in the mixing bowl and beat for 2 minutes.
  5. I conclude that all gluten free dough smells funky.  And is going to be really soft and sticky.
  6. Turn your oven to warm.
  7. Transfer the dough to whatever pan you’re using.  I covered a large cookie sheet with parchment paper (Godsend…be sure to use it) and dropped 1/4 cup fulls onto the paper.  Then I used very oiled hands to try to smooth them down into something approximating buns.  Your mileage may vary.  If you’re gonna make biscuits, I’d use like a tablespoon and a half because they rise a lot.
  8. Turn OFF the oven and slide your pan in for half an hour to rise.
  9. Just before you’re ready to bake, brush the top of the dough with olive oil.
  10. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, until the top is nicely browned.

This is how I did it the first time.  The second time I made focaccia, used 2 TABLESPOONS of honey when I proofed my yeast, and added the optional onion powder.  Oh, and I used room temperature eggs, which is supposed to help with the rising.  Next time I want to stick with the honey, no onion powder, and then we’ll see.  As the author of Gluten Free Cooking For Dummies says, these ingredients are too costly to waste, so the second batch that we were both kinda meh on, I baked until they were fully dried out, then blitzed into breadcrumbs in the food processor and added a pinch of garlic powder, paprika, and parsley to form my own batch of gluten free seasoned breadcrumbs for casseroles or whatever.  Made about 2 cups.

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