EvaRuth’s Wheat Free/Gluten Free Bakery

We live on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island and around us we have limited options for gluten-free items.  There is one specialty grocery store near us, but we can’t afford to shop there very often, but if there is something specific that I need for a recipe, I would go there first.  Over the past six months we have realized that shopping at just one store for groceries isn’t going to cut it, you need to go to at least two…and if you want any form of gluten-free baked good, well you are pretty much out of luck and have to make it yourself.  Which I don’t really mind but somedays I want someone else to bake it for me.

About a month or so ago I was searching for a gluten free bakery or anything of the sort around me, thinking that like all my previous searchings I would come up with nothing, or if I did find something it would be about 45 minutes away.  To my surprise there was a gluten-free bakery, EvaRuth’s not that far from us!! Yesterday Bryan and I had an afternoon date to the movies and an early dinner but before we headed there we stopped over at the bakery to check it out.  It is located on Aquidneck Ave in Middletown, RI, located behind a little shopping center.

EvaRuth’s is owned and operated by Ruth herself.  Ruth is a very kind and inviting woman who also has celiac disease.  Here is a little information from her website about her and EvaRuth’s:

EvaRuth’s Foods, Inc. is owned and operated by Eva Ruth Flynn, CEO. The mission of EvaRuth’s is to create delicious wheat-free and gluten-free desserts that are convenient to eat and capable of satisfying even the choosiest of customers.

In 1995 Ruth was added to the ever-growing population of people diagnosed with celiac sprue disease. She experienced firsthand the difficulty of finding authentic tasting gluten-free desserts. So combining her love for business with her love for cooking, Ruth dedicated herself to creating true-tasting GF cookies, cakes, muffins, and brownies and the company from which they are sold. Prior to owning and operating EvaRuth’s, Ruth worked as the New England cardiovascular sales representative for GE Medical Systems.

EvaRuth’s is what is called an “old fashion bakery” which simply means, if they don’t have any seats, sell drinks and don’t offer you a fork/knife they don’t have to charge sales tax!! How awesome is that?  Well it gets better…They offer a great selection of freshly baked wheat free, gluten-free and many dairy free options: Cupcakes, Muffins, Scones, Cookies, Brownies and yes fresh-baked Bread. They also make cakes and pies that you can order. I was in love. I had the opportunity to taste some of EvaRuth’s Italian Garlic Herb bread, Pumpkin Muffin (dairy free!), Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Scone and I bought a Cranberry Muffin to take home with me.

 

The Italian Garlic Bread (they also had available yesterday some tomato herb bread and white bread) is very delicious and super moist.  Ruth said that all the breads slice well and are good as is for about 3-4 days or you can pre-slice it and freeze it like that. Next up with the pumpkin muffin – fresh out of the oven and perfectly flavored, not too over powering of pumpkin but just perfect, very moist and you could still taste the cinnamon, so good.  The Chocolate Chip and Cranberry scone was great too, I really enjoyed the combination of the two flavors.

Along with Ruth yesterday were two students from Johnson & Wales.  The bakery was very clean (which is always nice to see!), everything was measured out on scales to make sure that everything would bake evenly.  Also one of the staff was making a fresh batch of scones, measuring all around the dough with a ruler! I was impressed to say the least.

I had my cranberry muffin for breakfast this morning, and I can’t believe I actually waited until today to eat it.  It looked so pretty and smelled yummy yesterday but I restrained myself. This is probably one of the best gluten-free muffins I have had.  Hands down, awesome.  Fresh cranberries, moist and delicious.  I will definitely be back for more gluten-free goodness and some of that delicious bread.

If you are living around Aquidneck Island and are gluten-free, have a family member who is or are looking for a treat to bring to a friend’s house who is this is the place to go.  EvaRuth’s 796 Aquidneck Ave, Unit D, Middletown, RI 02842 (View Larger Map)

Eggs In A Nest – Canyon Bakehouse

My all time favorite breakfast as a child (and as an adult) is Eggs In A Nest (at least that is what we called it in our home, I know it goes by other names as well).  My mom used to make this for me when I was younger, and I love it.  It brings back so many memories.  It’s very quick and easy to make, so it makes a great breakfast option on the weekends or on week days when you are getting ready for work and need to make something quick.

The Mountain White Bread was the only bread I didn’t sample in the previous two days.  I already knew that I wanted to make Eggs In A Nest with this bread, so instead of having breakfast for three meals yesterday I figured I would save this one for today.  When you make these Eggs In A Nest, you’ll need to cut out little squares in the center of the bread to place the eggs.  When I was younger my mom would toast these up for me all so but today and I decided to just try them as they were, no butter, no toasting just pop it in my mouth and see how this bread tasted all by its self.

It’s truly great!  The texture is perfect, and has a slight sweetness to it.  I have to say this “white bread” could beat out all those main brand gluten filled breads in flavor.  This would make great sandwich bread with out even having to toast it before hand.    I also think that if you were to cut this up in cubes, mix it with some herbs and bake it in the oven it would make for some great croutons.  All in all it seems like a very versatile bread (same goes for the San Juan 7 Grain).

Eggs In A Nest

2 slices of bread – Canyon Bakehouse GF Mountain White Bread

2 eggs

butter

salt and pepper

• Cut out a small square in the center of each slice of bread
• Lightly butter both sides of bread and place in pre heated skillet (low-medium heat)
• Gently brown the first side of toast
• Crack one egg and place in the center of the first piece of bread (repeat for the second one – I do not eat the yoke so I use only the egg whites)
• Season with salt and pepper
• Once egg has started to set, flip and cook until egg is no longer runny
• Serve and enjoy!

Canyon Bakehouse – Gluten Free Bakery Products (Review)

Some time last week I was asked by Canyon Bakehouse if I would like to sample their products and review them.  Of course I said yes!  I have been reading all of these amazing reviews about them and couldn’t wait to try them for myself.

The past month has been a bit crazy with packing everything up that I need to ship and trying to figure out what to sell/get rid of and the next month is going to be even more intense.  I’ll be living with some friends for my last month in California to save some money (Thanks so much guys!!), so posting may not be as often until we get settled.

With the big move and all the shipping going on money has been tight so I’ve been trying to make meals that can either make good left overs or be turned in to something else.  One thing I don’t normally buy is bread products because fankly the ones that are out there (especially at Trader Joes) stink!  They are like eating bricks, the feel like one, look like one…you get the point.  I try to make my own, but I had to throw out my bread pan recently because it too stinks.

I come home on Friday after work to find a box full of tasty tooking/smelling products from Canyon Bakehouse.  I opened it up and couldn’t resist trying them right away.  The breads are fluffy and squishy (I’m sure plenty of people do this when they shop for bread..they squeeze first, who wants hard bread?).  Not only did it come with a sample of each of their breads: San Juan 7 Grain, Cinnamon Raisin, Mountain White, and Rosemary & Thyme Focaccia but it also comes with a sample of their Cranberry Crunch Muffins! A little surprise was also in the box…a sample of their hamburger buns (not currently on their website, but watch out for them!).

I first dug in to the Focaccia bread, had to try a little sample of it dipped in some nice warm olive oil.  For dinner last night was some cinnamon raisin toast.  Not only was this bread, soft and fluffy but it has the consistency of real bread that you would buy at any normal grocery store.  The flavor and texture is amazing,  you truly can’t tell there is not gluten to this bread. I think the Focaccia bread would bake for an awesome panini sandwich with some mozzarella cheese, basil and prosciutto (roasted red peppers for Bryan).

Today for breakfast I cut one of the muffins in half and grilled it (with just a little bit of butter).  I’m in love with these muffins…they are the perfect size, just the right amount of cranberries with the added crunch from pumpkin, poppy and sunflower seeds!  Cranberry nut muffins have always been my favorite type of muffin and these have stood up to the test and exceeded my expectations.

I’ve spent most of the morning and afternoon packing things up and sorting through everything else and left no time to go grocery shopping, so I’ve been very thankful for this box of goodies.  I looked around and thought oh I can make an egg sandwich for lunch! And so I did…on the San Juan 7 Grain Bread.  Just a lightly fried egg with some shredded/melted cheese on some toast bread.  Again, you can’t tell the difference with the consistency of the bread.  It’s extremely flavorful.

After all the packing the last thing I wanted to do (obviously if you can’t tell by my last few meals I just wrote about) was to cook a meal.  I was planning on sushi but it just didn’t work out tonight so instead I headed down the road to the little pub and ordered a gluten free cheeseburger to go.  I came home and tried out one of the hamburger buns.  These also are fantastic.  The burger from the pub was a little bigger than my sesame bun and when getting towards the end of my burger I noticed that the bread was starting to fall apart a little bit, but over all it was very good.

I would buy all of these products over and over again.  In fact I already told Bryan that I will be trying to get these in the Whole Foods nearest us when we move and if we can’t find them we need to order them online for sure.  When you are out shopping next time look  for these products.  Here is a little blurb from their site if you can’t find them in your stores:

“You can find our products at the following stores. We are working to expand into additional stores in additional states. If you would like to see our products in your community, please send your suggestions and support to stores@canyonbakehouse.com.”
A very big thank you to Canyon Bakehouse for the samples and the amazing products that you are making…keep it up!  You all are doing an amazing job.  I truly do not miss “real” bread when eating your products.  I truly think this is the best manufactured gluten free bread that I have had.  And yes….all of their products are gluten free!

White Farmhouse Loaf

One of the best allergy/gluten free cookbooks that I have come across is called Allergy-Free Cookbook by Alice Sherwood.  This cookbook gives you recipes that can be made with out: dairy eggs, nut and gluten. Simply said, its amazing.  I love trying and re-creating these recipes.  I truly love her bread recipe – White Farmhouse Bread.  The quote on the page for the gluten free version is “Crustier, lighter and tastier than many store-bought equivalents” and hands down I agree.  Its nice and fluffy on the inside with a great crust.  I use this for sandwiches, toast or just spreading some yummy cheeses on it.  This would be great to make breadcrumbs too.

White Farmhouse Loaf – Gluten Free (also dairy and nut free)

1 3/4 cup gluten free all purpose flour (Plus extra for dusting) – I use Bob’s Red Mill’s all purpose flour

1tbsp xantham gum

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 tbsp raw sugar

1 tbsp instant yeast

4 tbsp flavorless nut-free vegetable oil, plus extra for the loaf pan

1 tsp lemon juice (I use fresh lemon juice)

1 egg, beaten

1 1/3 cups lukewarm water

- Sift the flour, xantham gum, salt and sugar into a bowl.  Add the yeast, oil, lemon juice and beaten egg.

- Add the water and mix to form a thick paste.  Beat well with an electric mixer for 2 minutes until smooth.

- Transfer the dough to an oiled 2lb loaf pan, dusted with a little gluten free flour.  Smooth the surface.  Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap.  Leave in a warm place until the mixture reaches the top of the pan, about 30 minutes.  Dust with a little gluten free flour.

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees

- Bake in the oven until risen, richly golden in color and the base sounds hollow when turned out and tapped, about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

- Cool on a wired rack

-Don’t be tempted to cut it before it cools because you’ll spoil its lovely soft texture!

Gluten Free Bagels

Last year for my birthday my sister gave me a subscription to Living Without Magazine. They have some great recipes in there and lots of articles and resources. However the October/November issue this year had a recipe called “Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Best Bagels”, of course I was dying to make these. I love Bagels, bread, pasta…carbs you name it, I love them!! And I kow they aren’t really dairy free when you put cream cheese on top but I’m only Gluten Free so its ok The Tofuti Cream “Cheese” is really good too for all of you how are Dairy Free!!

These came out great!! Oh man, its like a real bagel, not as fluffy but still amazing. I did some salt, garlic and then some plain ones. I thought I would mix it up a bit.

The whole process was really really easy, don’t be intimidated by the ingredients especially in the flour mixture. Its well worth it! I will be making these again. The recipe says that you can freeze these, and I’m sure I’ll be doing that and NOT eating all 8 bagels right now, even though they are that good.

Gluten Free, Dairy Free – Best Bagel

Makes 8

3 cups gluten-free Multi-Grain Flour Blend – See below
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons flax meal
1½ teaspoons egg replacer
1 tablespoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon yeast
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1¼ cups warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
Brown rice flour, for rolling bagels
Cornmeal, for dusting pan

1. Line a baking pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle it with cornmeal. Put some brown rice flour on a second baking pan or cookie sheet.
2. Put Multi-Grain Flour Blend, salt, flax meal, egg replacer, xanthan gum and yeast into a mixing bowl and whisk together.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together honey, oil, cider vinegar, and 1  cup warm water.
4. Using the paddle attachment of the mixer, slowly incorporate the liquid mixture into dry ingredients. Add more warm water, if necessary, to create a smooth consistency. Mixture should be quite thick. Beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes.
5. To shape the bagels, use a large spoon to scoop out the batter. Drop a spoonful on to the baking pan or cookie sheet sprinkled with the flour. Lightly roll dough in the flour to coat it and then shape into a ball. Flatten the ball slightly and using your index finger, create a hole in the center, large enough not to close during rising and baking. Repeat until all the dough is used.
6. Place each bagel on the baking pan sprinkled with cornmeal. Lightly cover bagels with an oiled piece of plastic wrap and place pan in a warm place for bagels to rise, about 20 to 30 minutes.
7. When bagels have risen, bring a skillet of water to boil. Add 1 teaspoon sugar to the water. (Sugar helps create a shiny crust.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
8. Drop a few bagels into the boiling water. Simmer for 30 seconds, turn over and cook for another 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, remove bagels, drain away excess water and put bagels back on same baking pan. Once all bagels are boiled, bake them for 25 minutes in preheated oven. Cool on a rack

You’ll love the taste of these flavorful bagels. And they freeze well.

Multi-Grain Flour Blend
MAKES 9 CUPS

1¼ cups garfava flour
1¾ cups super-fine brown rice flour
2 cups potato starch or arrowroot flour or chestnut flour
2 cups cornstarch or potato starch
1 cup tapioca starch/ flour
1 cup sorghum flour or amaranth flour

Mix all ingredients together. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator until used.

Zucchini Bread

Last week there was a party at work and someone had made zucchini bread. It looked and smelled so good but sadly I couldn’t taste it. I’ve been looking for fall recipes that include pumpkin, apples, breads, muffins, pies etc. I want warm, tasty comfort fall treats. I plan to make a pumpkin cheesecake soon, but I really wanted to make a bread or muffin this time to have an alternate thing to eat for breakfast.

So I did some searching online today for zucchini bread. I came across this recipe. I didn’t follow it exactly (go figure!). Below is my adaptation

Gluten Free Zucchini Bread with walnuts

Moist Ingredients:
1 cup diced zucchini (washed but not peeled)
2 egg
1⁄2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla

Dry Ingredients:
1⁄2 cup white rice flour
1⁄2 cup sweet rice flour
1⁄4 cup corn starch
2 Tablespoons tapioca starch
1⁄2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup sugar
3⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped walnuts*
Zest from one small lemon*

Glaze Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

Combine moist ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Combine the dry ingredients by mixing together well in a large bowl.

Add moist ingredient mix to dry ingredient mix. Stir until blended well. Grease a loaf pan and put mixture in pan. Bake 1 hour at 325 °. Check center for doneness with a toothpick. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Prepare glaze, which should be runny. Remove bread from pan and drizzle with glaze. Let cool.

*The original recipe says combine moist ingredients in a blender and mix until it resembles a milkshake. I don’t own a blender so I finely chopped the zucchini. The original recipe also did not call for any chopped nuts or lemon zest.

Featured on The Whole Gang’s Friday Foodie Fix! (http://www.thewholegang.org/2012/06/friday-foodie-fix-zucchini-gluten-free-recipes/)

Bagels

For my birthday my sister Sara got my a subscription to Living Without (a gluten free magazine), which is awesome. Lots of cool tips, recipes and resources. One thing I found was Mariposa Baking Company . This place is awesome…they make bagels, brownies, bread, pizza crusts and biscotti! You can even order gluten free gift baskets from them. I ordered plain and sesame seed bagels on Saturday and got them in the mail today…so of course I had one for dinner tonight. They are pretty darn tasty I must say!

BREAD

I don’t have any of my own pictures to post yet but this weekend I made my first loaf of gluten free bread. And the best part…its not as bad as it sounds, actually its really tasty.

I bought a bag of bread mix from Bob’s Red Mill and thought I would give it a try and I’m happy I did. I just ordered some of their other products and can’t wait to give them a try!