Honey Bread - The best and most versitile dough!

This has become my go-to bread recipe. I can't begin to tell you how many different recipes I have tried in the 9 months since starting my gluten-free journey. Some were good, some were flops, and others were just "good for GF". I would find a nice recipe, make it a few times before looking for another to try. I couldn't settle on any one bread recipe.

This one is consistently awesome and it doesn't seem to matter which flours I swap in or out of the blend. And I do. I have my favorite flours. Buckwheat is my favorite and gives a whole-wheat feels to any recipe. Sorghum makes things slightly sour so I save it for when the end result is sweet or spiced. Potato starch keeps products moist so I love it in cakes. If you do a lot of GF baking, I am sure you know and have your own favorite flours.

Ethiopian spiced honey bread

1 large loaf

Ingredients

2-1/2 teaspoon Active dry yeast

1/4 cup Water, lukewarm (110°F)

1 Egg, beaten

1/2 cup Honey

1 tablespoon Ground coriander

1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon Ground cloves

1 teaspoon Salt

1 cup warm Milk

6 tablespoons Butter, melted

4 cups Flour

Method

1.    Proof the yeast with warm water in a small bowl. Set aside for about 10 minutes or until foamy. I do this step even for my instant active yeast.

2.    In the bowl of your mixer, beat together the egg, honey, spices and salt until smooth. Stir in the yeast mixture, milk and melted butter.

3.    Add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing after each addition to prevent billowing powder. I use ½ cup each: brown rice flour, white rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, cornstarch, teff flour, sorghum flour, and arrowroot starch plus 3 tsp Xanthan gum. Do not add all of the flour if the dough gets too stiff. Add more flour if the dough is too sticky. It should look like a

4.    Remove the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead with a spatula or with hands. Use a few more Tbsp white rice flour to knead the dough into a ball.

5.    Place the dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

6.    Remove the dough again to a lightly floured work surface. Form the dough into a round or braided loaf. Place on an oiled baking sheet or on parchment. Allow to rise again, another 30 to 45 minutes. Brush the top of the dough with an egg beaten with a little milk for a nice shiny brown crust.

7.    Bake at 325F for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until bread is lightly browned and sounds hollow when you tap on it. Let cool before slicing.

Variations

 

   Cinnamon Buns

           Omit coriander, cinnamon, and cloves. Roll dough into a large square for cinnamon buns or for fried doughnuts dusted with cinnamon sugar.

   Pizza

      Omit coriander, cinnamon, and cloves. Add another egg. Use fingers to form into several large pizza shells. Blind bake at 350F for 10 to 14 minutes, brushing with olive oil halfway through. Top with your choice of toppings and broil for 5 to 8 minutes. Dough is light, spongy with great taste. I prefer my pizza chewy, but as far as shells that cooked all the way through- this recipe has given me greatest success!

   White Bread

      Omit coriander, cumin and cloves. Substitute teff, sorghum flour for another lighter colored/flavoured flour. Reduce ingredients by one third in order to get a single standard loaf.

   Donuts
     Omit spices except cinnamon. Replace Teff flour with Buckwheat or Quinoa flour. Roll dough out until 3/4 inch thick. cut into donut shaped rings. I use a large glass and an old film container. Fry in oil at 355F until brown on both sides. Remove to papertowel. Cool enough so you don't burn your fingers and toss in cinnamon-sugar. The warmer the donut the better the sugar will stick.

Bean Cakes or Black-eyed Pea Fritters

I found this recipe courtesy of Pintrest. I was trying to find ways to use my dried black eyed peas and stumbled across this gem.  It tastes exactly like the Bean Cakes my family used to enjoy when we lived in Mali, West Africa. Even more exciting since no one knew the ingredients or how to replicate them. My mother remembers them having pieces of hot scotch bonnet peppers mixed in the fritters from Mali and pieces of dried fish in the version from Cote d’Ivoire. Either way, these are delicious!

The original recipe for Accara can be found on saveur.com with the description, “Crisp, light-as-air fritters like these are a popular street snack throughout Senegal and the rest of west Africa. They’re usually accompanied by chile-hot, tomato-based kaani sauce.”

Bean Cakes (Accara or Black-Eyed Pea Fritters)

MAKES 30 FRITTERS

INGREDIENTS

1 cup dried black-eyed peas
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ small onion, finely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Canola oil, for frying

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place the black-eyed peas in a large container or bowl and cover by at least 2 inches of water. Let soak for at least 12 hours or overnight.

2. Remove the skins from the peas. You can do this by massaging with your hands or by placing the peas in a blender and gently pulsing a few times to loosen. Rinse and massage the peas repeatedly until all the skins have been washed away. You should be left with perfectly white pieces. This step is time consuming but important.

3. Place peas, baking soda, onion, salt and pepper, and 3 tbsp. water in a blender and purée until smooth.

4. Heat 2 inches of oil in a pan or heat your deep fryer to 365°. Use two small spoons to drop tablespoon-sized balls of batter in oil and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes.

5. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Serve warm with kaani sauce.

Sosu Kaani (Chile Sauce)

MAKES 2 CUPS

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp. canola oil
1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1 tbsp. tomato paste
3 medium tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
1 Scotch bonnet chile, minced
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat; add onion and garlic, and cook, stirring, until soft. Add tomato paste, and cook, stirring, until lightly caramelized. Use gloves to chop the scotch bonnet pepper. Add to the pan with tomatoes and bay leaf. Cook, stirring often, until sauce is reduced and thickened. Our tomatoes did not add much water to the pan so cooking time was short.

2. Remove and discard bay leaf, and season with salt and pepper. Purée in a food processor or blender. If mixture is too thick, add water a teaspoon at a time. End result should be a thick paste. Store in a container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.