Gluten-free however truly good_ lemon drizzle cake, tacky buns and chocolate cookies – recipes

A number of years in the past, my youngest daughter Lucia and I had been recognized with coeliac illness (mine not full-blown, solely latent). We now eat a strict gluten-free weight loss plan, as that is the one remedy for coeliac illness.

On receiving Lucia’s prognosis, I wished to make sure that she nonetheless had entry to wholesome and scrumptious meals: good bread and pastries, the occasional candy deal with. This was, partially, because of my background as a skilled nutritionist, but in addition a results of my upbringing.

Rising up in New Zealand with Tongan and Dutch dad and mom, all my early glad reminiscences revolve round meals: the consuming, for certain, but in addition the preparation. From baking banana bread to make use of up bananas that had been going black, to creating coconut milk from scratch or getting ready dinner for the numerous aunties, uncles and cousins who inevitably turned up each evening at my grandparents’ home anticipating to be fed. Cooking in our home was a option to share love, and I wished to verify Lucia didn’t miss out.

So I started to dip my toes into the world of gluten-free baking – which ought to come as little shock, I suppose, as baking runs within the household. My grandfather was a baker and wooed my grandmother with contemporary loaves of bread.

However the gluten-free recipes I might discover had been fairly hit-and-miss, so I experimented till I used to be glad.

If my daughter and I had been dealing with this problem, I assumed certainly others had been too, so I opened the Wholegreen Bakery in Sydney.

Within the years since, it has been such a pleasure to see the enterprise develop and to assist return the pleasure of consuming to so many individuals. It’s a particularly humbling and rewarding expertise to offer somebody again the meals they like to eat.

Lemon and coconut cake with lemon glaze

(Pictured above)

Grain- and dairy-free, gentle, mushy and moist – this is among the hottest lemon muffins now we have ever made within the bakery.

Serves 8

80g coconut flour (⅔ cup)

100g almond meal (1 cup)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp floor cinnamon

6 eggs, at room temperature

295g caster sugar

330ml sunflower oil (1⅓ cups)

1 tsp vanilla paste

Zest and juice of two lemons, plus juice of 1 further lemon for brushing

Toasted coconut flakes, to brighten

For the lemon glaze

250g gluten-free icing sugar, sifted (2 cups)

60ml lemon juice (¼ cup)

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus further strands of zest to brighten

Preheat the oven to 170C/150C fan with the oven rack positioned in the midst of the oven. Grease a 20cm spherical spring-form cake tin and line the bottom and sides with baking paper.

Sift the coconut flour, almond meal, baking powder and cinnamon right into a bowl and whisk collectively totally. (Don’t be tempted to skip this step – the coconut flour specifically wants sifting because it tends to be lumpy and difficult to interrupt down through the mixing course of.)

Utilizing a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or in a big bowl with a hand mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar collectively on excessive pace till pale and fluffy. Slowly add the oil and vanilla and proceed to whisk for 30 seconds extra.

Utilizing the paddle attachment on low pace, add the sifted dry substances and fold in till all the things is combined collectively totally. Then add the zest and juice of two lemons and blend effectively. Pour the batter into the ready tin and easy the highest with the again of a spoon.

Bake for 1 hour and quarter-hour, rotating midway by means of for even cooking, till the cake is darkish golden, a skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clear, or the cake springs again whenever you press down gently on the highest with two fingers. (If the cake is trying a bit of darkish on high in the direction of the tip of the cooking time, don’t fear – that’s the way it ought to look. It received’t be burnt.)

Take away the cake from the oven and brush the highest with lemon juice. Depart to chill fully within the tin earlier than releasing the spring, eradicating the perimeters and peeling away any baking paper as crucial. Take away the cake tin base by sliding the cake on to a serving plate.

For the lemon glaze, mix the icing sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest collectively in a bowl till easy.

Pour the glaze excessive of the cake, then use a flat-bladed spatula to shortly easy so it gently spills over the perimeters to create a drip impact. Beautify with toasted coconut flakes and a bit of lemon zest. If you need the icing to set (which makes it simpler to slice), place the cake within the fridge for 10 minutes earlier than slicing.

Storage: This cake will keep contemporary in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 5 days. It additionally freezes fantastically – merely wrap the (un-iced) cake in plastic wrap and freeze for as much as one month. When able to eat, take away from the freezer and glaze and slice your cake whereas nonetheless frozen for excellent slices. Enable 20 minutes to defrost after slicing earlier than serving.

Tacky garlic pull-apart buns

Serve these sizzling whereas the cheese remains to be splendidly molten.

Molten and moreish: Lyden’s tacky garlic pull-apart buns. {Photograph}: Benjamin Dearnley/Murdoch Books

Makes roughly 18 buns

205ggluten-free self-raising flour (1¼ cups, see recipe beneath)

250g gluten-free cornflour (2 cups)

2½ tsp salt, plus ½ tsp further for sprinkling

1 tsp cracked black pepper

1 tbsp xanthan gum

75g butter, melted, or 75ml gentle oil (eg sunflower, rice bran, canola, gentle olive oil)

1 massive egg, at room temperature

1½ cups full-cream milk, or non-dairy different (375ml)

1 tbsp psyllium husk powder

125ml water (½ cup)

1½ tsp on the spot dried yeast

50g parmesan, coarsely grated (½ cup)

250g mozzarella, coarsely grated (2 cups): Be happy to make use of whichever cheeses you like, however stick with ones which might be simply melted, with a pointy flavour profile.

6 massive garlic cloves, crushed

⅓ bunch flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped, plus further to serve

Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan with the oven rack positioned in the midst of the oven. Grease a 22.5 x 33 x 6cm baking dish and line with baking paper.

Sift the flour, cornflour, salt, pepper and xanthan gum into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to mix.

Whisk the butter, egg and milk collectively in a small bowl, then pour this combination on to the sifted dry substances.

Utilizing the dough hook attachment, combine on low for one minute to mix, then improve the pace to medium and blend for an additional eight minutes to work the xanthan gum into the batter. Stir the psyllium and water collectively to type a slurry, add to the bowl with the yeast, parmesan, half the mozzarella, garlic and parsley and blend for one minute extra. (Alternatively, combine the substances collectively in a mixing bowl with a hand mixer.) Depart the dough to sit down for 5 minutes.

Utilizing a ¹⁄3 cup spring-loaded ice-cream scoop, switch barely heaped scoops of dough into the ready dish, retaining them 1cm aside, beginning in a single nook and dealing your method throughout the dish, repeating till it’s full and there’s no extra batter to scoop. Depart in a heat, draught-free spot to show for half-hour, till risen by a 3rd.

As soon as proved, scatter the additional salt and remaining mozzarella excessive. (The salt sprinkled on with the cheese actually helps carry out the flavours, so don’t be scared so as to add it.) Bake for 40 to 45 minutes till the buns are risen and golden, the cheese is effectively melted and the tops spring again whenever you press down gently on them with two fingers.

Take away from the oven and go away to chill barely for 2 minutes. Serve sizzling with a bit of further chopped parsley scattered excessive.

Storage: These buns will hold within the fridge in an hermetic container for as much as three days. Reheat earlier than consuming.

Chocolate chunk cookies

I promised my children I’d develop a chocolate chip cookie for my cookbook, though I’ve made the chips extra like chunks.

Why take a chip when you can take a piece? Lyden’s chocolate chunk cookies. {Photograph}: Benjamin Dearnley/Murdoch Books

Makes 13 to 14 cookies

205g gluten-free plain flour (1¼ cups, see recipe beneath)

½ tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

150g butter, lower into small cubes and at room temperature

60g brown sugar (⅓ cup)

65g uncooked caster sugar (⅓ cup)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 massive egg

250g darkish cooking chocolate, damaged into small chunks (or substitute with with any chocolate of your selection)

Line three massive baking trays with baking paper.

Sift the flour, xanthan gum and bicarbonate of soda right into a bowl and whisk collectively totally.

Add the butter and sugars to the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment fitted, and cream collectively on low–medium pace for one minute. (Alternatively, combine the substances collectively in a mixing bowl with a hand mixer.)

Step by step add the vanilla extract and egg whereas the motor is operating, growing the pace to medium–excessive, for 2 minutes, scraping down the perimeters of the bowl midway by means of. Step by step add the sifted dry substances till all the things is simply mixed. Fold within the chocolate utilizing a spatula, then switch the bowl to the fridge and go away for 20 minutes for the dough to relax and agency.

Divide the chilled dough into 50g parts and form every right into a ball. Organize the dough balls on the lined trays unfold 10cm aside, then switch to the fridge and go away to relax for half-hour. (It will assist relaxation the dough in order that when it bakes, it retains its form and doesn’t unfold too far.)

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan with the oven racks positioned in the midst of the oven. Gently press every dough ball to flatten barely, then bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the trays after eight minutes, till calmly golden.

Take away from the oven and go away to chill for 5 minutes earlier than transferring to a wire rack to chill fully. These cookies are additionally scrumptious eaten heat whereas the chocolate is gooey.

Tip: To make these into double chocolate cookies, add ¼ cup cocoa powder to the dry substances and reduce the flour amount by 40g (¼ cup).

Storage: These cookies will keep contemporary in an hermetic container for seven days. As soon as rolled into balls, the dough could be frozen for up toone month. To bake, merely defrost barely, flatten and prepare dinner as above.

Gluten-free plain flour

This plain flour mix can turn into your go-to for nearly all gluten-free baking recipes. The substances are simply accessible both on-line or within the gluten-free part of your grocery store or well being meals retailer, although simply be certain the cornflour you’re buying is derived from corn and never wheat. Due to the excessive ratio of brown rice flour to starch, I discover this flour mix to be constant in my baking, particularly in contrast with lots of the grocery store gluten-free blends, which are sometimes excessive in starch and low in rice flour.

I like to make use of brown rice flour right here because it’s extra healthful and leads to moister baked merchandise than white rice flour. In my recipes, after I check with plain flour it’s to this mix with the xanthan gum included. The xanthan gum helps along with your bake’s texture and creates lightness and elasticity, in addition to stopping the pastry from crumbling. In the event you want a mix that’s gum-free for no matter cause, merely omit it.

Makes roughly 1kg

850g brown rice flour

100g potato starch

50g gluten-free cornflour

7g xanthan gum

Sift all of the substances collectively into a big mixing bowl, then whisk collectively effectively to make sure they’re effectively combined. Retailer in an hermetic container in a cool dry place for as much as three months.

Gluten-free self-raising flour

This is similar as my plain flour mix above, plus gluten-free baking powder. Merely omit the xanthan gum for a gum-free recipe and remember to get hold of gluten-free baking powder that’s particularly labelled as such, as many baking powders are derived from wheat.

Makes roughly 1kg

850g brown rice flour

100g potato starch

50g gluten-free cornflour

55g gluten-free baking powder

7g xanthan gum

Sift all of the substances collectively into a big mixing bowl, then whisk collectively effectively to make sure they’re effectively combined. Retailer in an hermetic container in a cool dry place for as much as three months.