Gluten Free French Marjolaine #GBBOGlutenFree

Thursday, October 13, 2016

This nutty gluten free layered cake is made from meringues and with toasted almonds and hazelnuts!
 Gluten Free French Marjolaine - #GBBOGlutenFree | Anyonita Nibbles
Yield: 2 mini marjolaine cakes
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Gluten Free French Marjolaine

Here's last week's #GBBOGlutenFree TechnicalChallenge offering! It's really yummy, although I think it's a bit of a nut overload and perhaps not worth all the effort you'll put into this recipe! If you watched the show, you'll know that the contestants and Mary baked a large marjolaine, but that was too big for a family of three, so I've cut the recipe down make these two smaller cakes that are much more manageable. Still, even with all the hard work, I'd say these are great for a special occasion but not an every day bake. They're surprisingly easy to make, although labour intensive!

5 layered mini French marjolaine cake | Anyonita Nibbles

Gluten Free Frankenstein Macarons

Friday, October 7, 2016

These gluten free French macarons dressed up as Frankenstein are perfect for your Halloween party!
Gluten Free Vegetarian Halloween Frankenstein Macarons |Anyonita Nibbles

Yield: 24 shells, 12 macarons
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Gluten Free Frankenstein Macarons

I am a little obsessed with Halloween! I just love the idea of all that candy, the costumes and the cute decorations. Two years ago, I created a pretty simple orange Halloween macaron recipe that was a big hit, but this year I wanted to take my Halloween macarons one step further! These little Frankenstein heads are just the cutest. They're easy to do -- no, really; they are! And they'll be the talk of the table at your Halloween party! Don't worry if you're not the greatest artist, I'm not either! No one's going to care if your stitches are wonky or your mouths are too small; it's all about their incredible taste!

Spooky Frankenstein Halloween Macarons| Anyonita Nibbles
A couple of notes: feel free to make these as green as you'd like. If you're in the UK and not using American gel colours, you'll probably find that due to EU regulations, the colours aren't exactly vibrant. I think it's fine; there's not many E numbers in the gel paste colouring here. If you're in the US, however, your food dye is a lot more concentrated and will probably yield a deeper green. Either way is fine!
This worried little gluten free Frankenstein macaron was delicous! Anyonita Nibbles

Gluten Free Fougasse - #GBBOGlutenFree

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

A gluten free interpretation of a classic French fougasse, that's vegan-friendly!
 Gluten-Free-Vegan-Vegetarian-Dairy-Free-Herby-Fougasse-Anyonita-Nibbles
Yield: 4 fougasse
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Gluten Free Fougasse

I first encountered the fougasse about two years ago on a one-day baking workshop hosted by Pinterest. Then, the fougasse I made, with its poppy seeds and delicious herbs, was full of gluten and I couldn't eat it. I never went back to the idea of making a gluten free fougasse. When I saw it on Great British Bake Off last week, I was excited but also nervous. Gluten free bread can be difficult at the best of times, but trying to replicate a recipe from two years ago into a gluten-free version was daunting.

A batch of gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and vegetarian-friendly fougasse! Anyonita Nibbles

Still, here's my attempt and I have to say, it turned out much better than I thought! Just a few things to remember: gluten-free bread doesn't rely on the structure of gluten to give it that elastic texture. As a result, this is a more dense bread than its gluten counterpart, but it's still delicious! In my reasearch, I learned that the fougasse is eaten in dozens of different ways, from a savoury snack to a Christmas dessert. I decided to keep it simple and stick to French herbs, but you can use whatever you'd like!

Ingredients:

For the fougasse
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons easy blend yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
30 grams gluten free buckwheat flour
75 ml boiled water
150 ml cold water
270 grams gluten free bread flour
herbs de provence
sea salt
Need a conversion? Use this handy chart.

You can even add some caramelised onions to this recipe or a sprinkle of cheese or even a few twists of salty French salami or other cured meat. As I mentioned, there are dessert versions of fougasse, sweetened with sugar, dried fruits and nuts, giving you endless possibilities once you've mastered this delicious recipe!  

Gluten Free Vegan Fougasse

Gluten-free vegan Fougasse | Anyonita Nibbles

Instructions:

  1. Place the flour in a bowl and stir in the yeast and salt.
  2. Boil a kettle and fill a jug with 75 ml hot water and top with 150 ml cold water.
  3. Add the olive oil and honey to the water.
  4. Create a well in the middle of the dry mix and dump the water, oil and honey mix in the centre.
  5. Mix quickly to make a soft, sticky dough.
  6. Sprinkle a bit of the buckwheat flour onto a clean surface and knead the dough until smooth.
  7. Don't knead too much - remember gluten free dough behaves differently from gluten dough.
  8. Place back in the bowl and cover with a towel for an hour.
  9. Knock back the dough, divide into four equal parts and shape into vague leaf shapes.
  10. Use a bench scraper to cut one vertical line down the centre and three to six diagonal lines on either side.
  11. Sprinkle each fougasse with the herbs and a bit more salt and allow to rest for 20 minutes while the oven preheats to 240c / 450f.
  12. Bake the fougasse up to 20 minutes or until cooked through. If the fougasse isn't browning, feel free to brush each fougasse with a little olive oil or butter and return to the oven.

Fresh gluten-free fougasse with herbs de provence | Anyonita Nibbles

More Gluten Free Great British Bake Off Challenges: 

http://www.anyonita-nibbles.co.uk/2016/09/gluten-free-mini-bakewell-tarts.html



http://www.anyonita-nibbles.co.uk/2016/09/gluten-free-viennese-whirls.html