Six Home Ed in Kent: Saturday morning bake off

Been cooking again today :-)

First, a gluten free olive oil boule from the recipe from Healthy Aritsan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book. If you know anything about gluten free bread, you'll know from looking at this picture that the recipe is AWESOME! Not only does it look like real bread, slice like real bread, taste like real bread, it SMELLS like real bread!

Next I used some of the dough to make "burger buns" to take for our church community date tomorrow, so that Samuel and William and others in the church who are gluten free can have buns with their Hog Roast or (for the kids) barbeque.

Then by popular demand (and I mean demand!) I made some more gluten free chocolate eclairs.

First, put 75g of diced butter, a pinch of salt and 200ml water into a saucepan and warm gently until it all melts.

Then bring to the boil. As soon as it boils take it off the heat and immediately add 100g plain gluten free flour (I use the AiA mix of 4 parts rice flour to 1 part tapioca starch and 1 part potato starch). If you've never made choux before don't panic - it will immediately go lumpy. Beat like mad with a wooden spoon for just a few seconds and you will see it comes together. When it comes away cleanly from the sides, then this stage is done.

Allow the mixture to cool for a few moments before adding three beaten eggs a little at a time and beating well after each addition. You want a smooth, glossy, thick mixture (a little looser than normal gluten choux). You might reach that stage before using up all the egg if you are using large eggs. Should look like this:

I am fortunate enough to have an eclair tin - much easier than piping it because you have a looser mixture if you are making gluten free due to the need to have a little more liquid as gluten free flours absorb more liquid than gluten flours. I use the eclair tin actually a lot to make gluten free finger rolls so it is worth investing in one. Bake in the oven, at 200C/180C fan for 30 minutes until puffed up and lightly golden. Take them out of the oven and out of the tin immediately. Make a slit along the side of each one to let the steam out otherwise you end up with soft insides.

Get 1/4 pint of double cream, add 1 tbs milk, and beat until stiff enough to spoon in to the inside of the eclair. Put 100g sugar and 100ml of water into a saucepan. Warm through until the sugar is all dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil for 3 minutes. Allow it to cool slightly and when it is still very warm (but not hot) add 50g dark chocolate and 25g diced butter. Stir it until it has melted in then wait for the sauce to cool enough to be thick enough to top your eclairs. Or, if you are like us, grab a bowl and just pour the sauce over :-)