Cornless Corn Bread

I may have done it! I tried cooking this on the stove-top, like a big pancake, because I'm lazy, but it didn't like the idea of flipping over, so I got stir-fried bread batter. But it was so tasty I figured I'd better try again. I didn't use any measurements either time, but I did write down an estimate. Quick breads are pretty forgiving, though, right?

I have been fermenting a flour mix I found at India Bazaar called "dhokla flour" - so I call it my "sourdhokla starter." I tried making it into a sourdough bread loaf, and boy, does that recipe need some work. It made great crumbs for the top of my Thanksgiving Day butternut squash casserole, though! 

The starter does not end up smelling or tasting very sour, but it bubbles beautifully - especially when I leave it in the oven with the light on overnight. When I get up in the morning and see it thriving, I can't wait to feed it or use it in pancakes or devise a new recipe for it. So it keeps me eating, which is good...

Besides not being very sour, it is not very fine. The texture of the flour is very course - like cornmeal - and the fermentation process does little to break it down. Which is why it's perfect for Cornless Cornbread!

This recipe came together the way it did partly just because of what I had on hand or problems I anticipated needing to solve. The Nug had abandoned a bowl of pumpkin puree, so I dumped that into my mixing bowl. The starter has proven in the past to do very poorly with holding together, so I made a gel out of psyllium husks and water... And so on.

So here's what I did to produce the bread you see pictured above: 

Preheat oven. (I set mine at 375•F, but there is no reason to believe the old gal actually baked my bread at anything resembling that temperature...)

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine 1tsp psyllium husk with a couple tablespoons water; set aside (roughly five minutes).

In a medium to large mixing bowl, plop in a few heaping spoonfuls of pumpkin puree (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup), add a capful of unfiltered apple cider, a glob of ghee (about 1/8 to 1/4 cup), plenty of starter (1 to 1-1/2 cups), 2 eggs, the psyllium gel, and enough full-fat coconut milk to achieve a batter-like texture (somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 cup).

Grease the vessel in which you are to bake your Cornless Cornbread. I used a Pyrex I found in the cupboard, but I'm thinking next time I'll use my Pampered Chef fluted stoneware so the middle isn't too gooey.

Add salt, baking powder and baking soda. I have no clue how much of these I used. I shook the salt shaker seven times, dusted the surface of the batter with a few shakes of baking powder and tossed in a pinch or two of baking soda. Sorry I can't be more helpful there...

Mix it up, pour in the batter, bake the stuff. Mine went forty minutes and a toothpick came out clean, but I wish I'd done at least five minutes more. 

Regardless, it was a great way to start the day (and an unpleasant surprise for my mom, who was not expecting a sour taste)!

You Had Me at "Pigeon Peas"

The Nug knows "pizza." I know, the best-laid plans...

I've been fermenting a flour I found at India Bazaar called "Dhokla Flour." It's actually a blend of flours and might go by the name of "Handva Flour," depending if your local Indian grocer caters to those with a background in the north or the south. In this case, the blend is 64% rice,16% chickpeas, 10% pigeon peas, and 10% lentils (probably the split and skinned version of the lentils known as "udad" or "urid"). It is somewhat coarse, like cornmeal, and has cultured beautifully in the last few days. 

The "Gluten Free Girl and the Chef" blog recommends a ratio of 60% starch to 40% whole grain for an all-purpose flour mix. Noticing the similarities (64% rice to 36% beans, peas and lentils) I thought, "Hey, two pounds for $2.69? Might want to see what I can do with this!"

I tried a recipe for coconut steamed buns the night I bought it, but they were much too dense to enjoy without some ghee and spices to liven them up (ghee is technically a dairy product, but is produced in such a way that it eliminates the top three allergens: lactose, casein and whey). I think I've got to play with the recipe a bit. 

I like the fermented version of this flour so much better! All the little granules that made it seem like cornmeal at first (and that made the steamed buns so dense) soak up the moisture and soften, losing their individual identity and working together to form a cohesive, pillowy batter with a mildly tangy aroma.

Traditional dhokla is a fermented food, but it's achieved using curd or yogurt; so until I find a recipe that doesn't involve dairy, find a non-dairy yogurt cheap enough to experiment with, or feel comfortable enough approximating without dairy on my own, I will have to find other uses for my sourdhokla starter. Get it? Sourdough, sourdhokla? =D

Enter the pizza my son begged me to make today. I took a scoop of starter, a little extra besan (chickpea flour), an egg, a drizzle of soy sauce, and a pinch of baking soda and mixed them up while my wok heated to pancake-cooking level. Yes, wok. It's a Green Pan I got on clearance with Kohl's Cash and I love it so much I use it for everything! 

I brushed a little ghee onto the nonstick surface, poured all the batter into the pan, smoothed it into a circle with the wooden spoon I'd used to mix it, grated some aged sheep's milk cheese (Pecorino Romano) into a bowl, and added fresh-ground black pepper to that. By that time, my pizza crust was ready to be cooked on the other side; once I'd flipped it, I ladled pasta sauce on and then topped it with the cheese and pepper (to those who can't eat byproducts of sheep and goats, I apologize - if it's cow-free, it's good enough for me!), and then I covered it with the lid of my bamboo steamer for something under a minute - just long enough to melt the cheese. 

It's not that this "pizza" would fool anyone besides my toddler - but it was another successful experiment in cooking that filled me up at mealtime and satisfied the Nug, so I thought I might as well share!

I Got the Moves Like Jaggery

The most commonly used sweetener in our house right now is jaggery. I used to buy it in powder form, but when the local Indian grocer ran out, I started buying it in "fresh," cake-like form. (Actually, a visitor to our home reportedly bit into one, thinking it was a cookie! Uh, yeah, a cookie made entirely of evaporated cane juice...)

Fresh jaggery was a lot harder to use at first. The powder was easy to swap 1:1 for brown or even granulated sugar - assuming we were okay with a more "earthy" tasting finished product (generally, we were). The cakes of jaggery were a bit perplexing. If you've ever bought a cone of chancaca, panela, piloncillo, raspadura, atado dulce, empanizao, papelon or panocha at a Latin market, you know the struggle. The stuff can be hard as a rock!

I started out trying to grate the necessary amount from each cake. This was effective, but not at all efficient (and quite humorous to the cashier when I told him upon my next trip to the Indian market)! The blender was a complete disaster. The shaved ice contraption was shot down before we even gave it a try. I found that one cake was just about right for a batch of rice cooker oatmeal, so I would just plop it in with the rest of the ingredients and let it melt as they cooked.

Remembering this as I prepared to make an experimental batch of brownies for The Dude's birthday, I measured out the proper amounts of coconut oil and fresh jaggery (two cakes) and set them to mingle in a non-stick pan over low heat while I assembled the rest of the recipe.

BAD PLAN.

It melted into a delightful, earthy, caramel-y substance... but then what?! Long story short, I ended up with a "baked good" not at all resembling the thing we like to call "brownies," you and I.

Only later did I remember that The Dude and I had already found the answer to this dilemma. Apparently, the traditional method is to crush the cakes, grinding them as finely as desired using a mortar and pestle. Another handy tip is to soften them in the microwave for a few seconds first. We have yet to acquire a mortar and pestle or to repair our broken microwave, so we made do with a rolling pin and a zip-locking sandwich bag. This method obliterates the bag, but is in all other ways a perfectly reasonable solution. I have no idea how it could have slipped my mind just in time for The Great Brownie Catastrophe of 2014...!

Luckily, I remembered before I attempted to bake the official birthday brownies. Taking what I'd learned from the first batch, I made a few adjustments and ended up with a recipe I described on Facebook as a "gluten-free, dairy-free, low-fat, low-glycemic, super-fudgy pumpkin coconut pecan brownie."

It may not be a One-Bowl Meal, but here's what I did:

Preheat oven to 350•F. 

Beat 2 eggs in large bowl. Add 1t vanilla extract, 6T pumpkin puree, and 3T coconut oil (should be melted or at least soft - I left mine on the stove while it preheated and took the opportunity to chop 1/2c each of pecans and semi-sweet chocolate chips). Beat well. 

Crush 3/4c to 1c worth of fresh jaggery; mix in another bowl with 21g desiccated coconut, 42g besan, 42g mung bean starch, 1/4c cocoa powder, and the aforementioned pecans and chocolate chips. Add dry ingredients to liquids, stir till smooth.

Grease 8x8 glass pan with coconut oil left over from measuring spoon; pour batter in, top with another 1/2c chocolate chips. Bake 15-20 minutes; cool at least 5.

NOTES 

1. The chocolate chips I use are from Costco; they are not made with milk-derived ingredients, and are ethically sourced. You can easily make this recipe healthier by leaving the second 1/2c off the top, and substituting nuts, coconuts or nothing at all!

2. Desiccated coconut is available at Asian and Indian grocers. It is like unsweetened, shredded coconut, but is dehydrated to a much greater degree and will therefore absorb much more moisture - kind of like coconut flour. If you use the shredded coconut, you may need to reduce - or even halve - the amount of pumpkin used. 

3. Besan is a flour of many names. The ones I'm familiar with include gram (not to be confused with graham), chickpea and garbanzo bean. The Indian word for split chickpea is "chana dal," so you might also run into that. It's available in different grinds, and there is a darker version known as "black." Mine is a pretty standard one, not a super coarse or fine grind, and relatively yellow in color.

4. Mung bean starch is not the same as mung (or "moong") bean flour. The flour is coarse, with dark flecks. The starch is a fine white powder just like corn starch, arrowroot, etc. I buy mine at an Asian market run by a Hmong family, but I've used it to make Korean recipes, and the language on the package looks like a mix of Thai and Chinese, so I have high hopes that it is readily available. I love this starch for GF all-purpose flour mixes!

5. Jaggery is made from either cane sugar or palm; I'm pretty sure the stuff I'm using is from cane sugar. If you can't find it, try any of the Latin alternatives mentioned above. It is lower-glycemic than most other sugar came products, as it contains more of the plant's original vitamins and minerals. It imparts less sweetness per unit than its refined counterparts, so bear in mind that while this brownie is rich and chocolatey, it is not nearly as sweet as one might expect on looking at it. 

6. This brownie crumbles, as there are no gums or binders other than eggs. If you need to transport it without it falling apart, you may want to add a bit of psyllium husk (I get mine at Trader Joe's) to the liquid bowl before attending to the dry ingredients.