Gluten Free Frozen Roll Dough

Today, I am going to tackle my dinner rolls for Thanksgiving.  I love fresh baked rolls, but I don't have time to make them on Thanksgiving along with everything else.  I learned some tricks a while back for making frozen roll dough.  I like to make a double batch of rolls when I am baking and put the extra rolls into the freezer.

When making frozen dough, there are a couple things to consider.  There are different kinds of yeast available, and which kind you use matters.  When you are going to freeze some or all of the dough it is a good idea to use active dry yeast.  It lives longer in the freezer.  If you can find fresh yeast it is best but it can be hard to find and doesn't keep long.  Keep in mind that if you are using a different kind of yeast than what the recipe calls for, you will need to convert the volume (try this calculator).  If you want to use your own favorite recipe to make frozen dough, you should double the yeast.

Another thing to remember; yeast dies over time in the freezer.  Most of the time, your yeast production will decline significantly after 1-3 months in the freezer unless you are using one of the specialized yeasts that are hard to come by for home use.

I used to think scalding the milk served no purpose, since it's pasteurized anyway.  I learned that scalding, which heats the milk further than pasteurization, actually changes the protein structure of the milk which affects the quality of the finished bread.  If you don't want to use scalded milk, you can mix up powdered milk instead, just make sure you use 2 cups of milk, not 2 cups of water plus the powdered milk.

Here is my newest (and therefore my favorite) roll recipe:

2 Cups scalded milk, cooled to skin temperature
1/2 Cup (1 cube) melted butter
2 Tablespoons (for frozen dough) dry active yeast
1/4 Cup sugar

Combine and let rest for 10 minutes

1/4 Cup psyllium husk
1/2 Cup water

Combine and let rest

1/2 Cup tapioca starch
1/2 Cup potato starch
2 Cups brown rice flour
1 Cup amaranth flour
1/4 Cup corn flour
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1Tablespoon xanthan gum
2 Tablespoons baking powder

Combine dry ingredients in mixer bowl and blend.  Add the yeast mixture and the psyllium/water mixture and beat on low speed until combined.  Turn up to medium speed and beat 3-5 minutes.  The dough will look stiffer than your normal GF dough because the psyllium absorbs so much water.

Portion out the rolls.  This dough does spread more than I like, so I have taken to baking it in a muffin tin.  When I make the frozen rolls, I use an ice cream scoop (2 ounces) and put them on a cookie sheet, lined with freezer paper.  They are not going to rise, so you can place them close together, just not touching.  Place the tray in the freezer until they are frozen solid.  Remove from the tray any seal in a freezer bag.


When I'm ready to cook the frozen rolls, I have a couple options.  If I'm in a hurry, I thaw them in the microwave for a couple minutes at 40% power, then I put them in a warm oven to rise and bake them as usual.  Or I can pull them out between 4 and 6 hours and put them on a covered tray to thaw and rise before baking.

Allow rolls to rise about double.  If you let them rise too long they will shrink in the oven.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.  I like to either brush the hot rolls with butter or spray with cooking spray to make the crust softer.

This makes about 20 2 ounce rolls.
 

Oh No Not Turkey!

Last year on Christmas Eve, I tried cooking a brined turkey for the first time.  I had all these wonderful intentions of sharing pictures and results with everyone, but....

Dinner was almost done:  the veggies were hot, the bread was golden, the potatoes were about to be mashed.  I removed the turkey from the roaster so that I could pour the broth and make the gravy.  And fate intervened between me and my perfect Christmas Eve dinner.  Some celery hit the floor from the turkey, it got picked up, leaving a slight greasy spot on the floor.  I zipped over to mash the taters and BANG!  Take my advise and DO NOT try that at home.  I dislocated my knee and the last thing on my mind was posting about my turkey to all of my friends out there.

It just occurred to me that I never have shared my thoughts.  I was quite happy with the tender results.  I followed these directions.  In fact, being a food geek, I had to research why it made such a difference... and I found out some interesting science that's changing how I will cook my turkey again this year.

I knew from my food science courses that the salt affects the structure of the proteins.  I had also heard that osmosis was responsible for the added moisture, which, given what I remember from biology 101 seemed like a reasonable assumption.  I found this Food Lab article, and, since I am a food geek, I loved that he followed scientific procedure and posted pictures of the results.  So this year, along with the herbs I normally rub on the turkey, I will be rubbing salt into the skin as well, instead of soaking in a brine solution.  I tried the experiment with chicken breasts as well, and I did like the flavor/texture better this way.

When I cook a turkey dinner, I like to prep as much as I can before hand so I don't have to get up at 5 am and I can enjoy the day without being exhausted.  I make sure I thaw the turkey if using a frozen turkey a few days ahead of time.  The day before the dinner, I prep the bird.  I take out the neck and giblets (ick, this is why I don't cook turkeys so often) and then I stuff it loosely with an onion pealed and cut into large chunks and the tops of the celery I will be using for the dressing.  Celery is a wonderful vegetable, it doesn't seem to have much flavor of its own but somehow enhances the flavors around it.  So with the onion and celery tops, I will rub some poultry seasoning and salt on the inside and more on the outside.  Then I pop it into the roasting pan, cover it, and cram it into the fridge overnight.

I also go ahead and dice the onion and celery for the dressing at this point, again to reduce the work the actual day.

Now I'm ready to go, I just pop the turkey in the oven and all I have to do on the day is make the gravy and taters, everything else was prepared over the 2 or 3 days before.  Which means that even when I do slip and blow out a knee, it's possible to take narcotics and get through Christmas Eve with my kids.  Because I am an action hero and put the dislocated knee back  so I can put off a trip to the hospital until after dinner.  Just make sure that you don't slip!  Repeat after me, I will not end up in the emergency room this holiday:-)
 

Staying Safely Gluten Free at Family Events

The holiday's are rapidly approaching...  Okay Carol, take a deep breath, it will be okay.

I don't know about you, but the holidays always stress me out.  My favorite part of the holidays was the food, and with the coming into my life of celiac disease, that suddenly became complicated.

Every family with a celiac person has come up with their own strategies to dealing with gluten free at family events, and it seems to range from the whole extended family eating gluten free to the person on the diet being excluded, with many shades of gluten free in between.

My first gluten free Thanksgiving, I hosted and was able to make everything in my own kitchen.  It was exhausting, and a little kid dropped their gluteny roll into my gravy.  If I'm completely honest, I will have to admit that I went into my bedroom and cried at that point.

The next year, I went to my family, and got cross contaminated.  Someone put the wrong spoon in the wrong pot.  I was sick for a week.

The year after that, I told everyone I was going out of town and stayed home and ate all my favorites safely, and kept eating them for a month, because left overs are pretty ridiculous when you only have 1 person at Thanksgiving.  I didn't get sick, but really, while the food is my favorite part, there isn't much point in Thanksgiving without the people who you are thankful for (and some that you pretend to be thankful for because they are family).

After several years, I think I'm finding a balance.  I do still cook all my favorites in small portions for myself, I have worked to educate family members on what is okay and what isn't, and they understand better.  But still, there is the fear.  No one wants to spend Black Friday dealing with a glutening, it's only slightly less painful than Black Friday shopping at Walmart (though nothing is worse than both at the same time).

For me, I have learned to let go of the foods I don't absolutely love, and to make all the foods I do.  When I bring the foods to Mom's house, I no longer set them out with all the others, and I leave things covered to prevent crumbs making their way in.  After that, I rearrange the buffet, so that the gluten items are set after all of the  shared items that I want to eat too.  Turkey, gravy, potatoes, veggies all come first and then rolls and stuffing are spaced further down the way.  I go through a spiel reminding people that while I am happy to share anything I have brought I need them to be mindful of cross contamination.

There are a few places I think we are more likely to overlook possible gluten at family events:

• Butter:  I either bring my own or slice some off the new cube and set it aside, I just have to make sure no one sneaks some of my butter.
• The turkey:  Not all turkeys are gluten free, I check with the host and make sure they have a turkey I can eat.  Additionally, if the turkey is roasted in a turkey bag, the directions say to toss in a couple tablespoons of flour.  I offer to provide rice flour for the bag.  This takes some checking and planning ahead.  Don't be afraid to ask, if they love you enough to have you to Thanksgiving, this is a small accommodation to make.
• Gravy:  Many people like gravy on their stuffing, and it's easy to drag the dipper across the stuffing and stick it back in the pot without realizing you could make someone sick.  I often set some gravy aside for myself before serving begins to avoid this.
• Serving spoons:  People often accidentally set the wrong spoon in the wrong pan, I try to keep a physical space between gluten and gluten free items to avoid this, as well as keeping things covered as much as possible.
• Cutting boards:  A cutting board is often used to slice gluten bread, but on Thanksgiving it may be used to cut turkey.  If there are crumbs in the cuts on the board, the turkey will become contaminated.  I try to be in charge of slicing the turkey so I can make sure it is sliced on a surface that will not contaminate it.

What are things that work for you and your family?