Gluten Free Oat Flour Muffins

When I pulled a batch of gluten free oat flour muffins out of the oven over the weekend and saw that they were an immediate delicious hit - meaning my husband ate 3 - I decided that I should share the recipe.  To this particular batch of muffins I added 2 chopped apricots and 4 chopped dates which I happen to have had on hand. 

The recipe for the oat flour muffins is a variation on the basic gluten free blueberry muffins that I posted on this blog several years ago.

In that recipe I used buckwheat flour instead of oat flour.  I've found that buckwheat is a good gluten free substitution for recipes that require whole wheat flour. 

Although both muffin variations are quite tasty, using buckwheat will definitely give you a denser baked good.

Oat flour?  It's pretty simple to make your own.

I usually buy Bobs Red Mill Oats in bulk from Amazon. (gluten free variety)

I put pour a bag full in the food processed and grind it up.  It's then stored in an air tight glass canister with a screw on lid.  The oat flour will last a month or more.

You can use quick cooking oats, or rolled oats.  Rolled oats are denser and require a long cooking time when you prepare them for oatmeal.  They also make a denser oat flour.
Oat flour is a nutritious, delicious alternative for gluten free baked goods. White rice flour in gluten free baked goods lack texture and usually tastes rather bland, although gluten free baking in general has improved greatly over the last few years.

The texture of this oat flour muffin can be a bit crumbly sometimes, but there are ways around that.  If you bake the muffins using foil lined muffin papers it helps quite a bit.  Also don't forget to spray the muffin liners with cooking spray before you fill them.  And finally, allow them to cool down a bit before you try to eat one.  I know, it's hard when they come right out of the oven.

Enjoy!

1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup Yellow Corn Meal
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt (I use sea salt)
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cup milk


Preheat oven to 400.  Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or grease muffin tins.
Mix together all ingredients.  Batter will be thin so let the batter sit for a few minutes so it will thicken up.  Then stir in your add ons.  Fill muffin tins 2/3 full - the muffins will rise.
Bake aprox 15 minutes.

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Pizza - Gluten Free or Not, Your Choice

When I was growing up, Saturday night was pizza night.  My mom would begin making the tomato sauce early in the morning and let it simmer all day.  She would start the dough in the afternoon, letting it rise at a nice easy pace, then punch it down and let it rise again.  In the early evening she would roll out the dough very, very thin, put it in a round pizza pan, top it with the sauce, some mozzarella cheese and sometimes some ground beef or sausage.  The oregano would go on last.  My mom would bake her pizza it until it was very crispy.  It was so delicious, it honestly was to die for.  Everyone who tasted it was hooked.

Later on when I became older and met my husband, he too fell totally in love with my mom's pizza.  He began making it for us when we got married, using her her original recipe.  He was fascinated with the dough process and how also thin he could roll it and how crispy he could make it.  Our sauce, unfortunately, was never quite the same as my mother's.  It's probably because I did not can fresh tomatoes like she did, so I never could replicate that deep rich taste.  

Eventually we did create a substitute.

A few years ago when our household became gluten free, the pizza was one of the first things that had to go.  We missed it, the kids missed it, and even though we dutifully tried just about every gluten free crust and dough recipe, the pizzas were just never the same.

  The crusts were just too thick, and over all tasted pretty icky.

One day my husband came across my mom's dough recipe and decided he would try to make it exactly as written, only substituting gluten free flour.  No other additions or adjustments.  We had a feeling it might actually work because we were going to use the Cup 4 Cup Gluten Free Flour, which I think is the closest replication on the market to regular white or unbleached wheat flour for baking.

The big difference you'll find when using the Cup 4 Cup GF Flour compared to others is that it's so light.  So many GF flour blends that are used for baking, even by some of the most popular gluten free bakeries, are just way too heavy to be used for a lighter baked good.  The Cup 4 Cup GF flour is primarily a very light rice flour and you use as it is - literally substitute it cup for cup in any type of recipe.  No other additions are required.

As requested by friends, below is my mom's dough recipe. 

You'll have to work your own magic for the rest of the pizza.

Gluten free or not gluten free, enjoy!

This recipe will make 2 pizzas.

Pizza Dough

2 1/4 c. flour

3/4 c milk

1 Tb. sugar

1 pkg yeast

2 Tb. oil

1 tsp salt

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 c lukewarm water.  Scald milk, add oil, sugar and salt to milk.

When lukewarm add dissolved yeast and mix.

Put part of flour in milk and mix really well.

Then add the rest of the flour.

Grease top of dough and cover.

Let rise up to 1 1/2 hours.

Roll dough out very thin. 

Transfer to greased cookie sheet.

Add sauce and toppings.

Bake 15 - 20 minutes

Notes: If you use GF flour, your dough will not rise very much.  It also will not have the elasticity when you roll it out, so it may take some finesse on your part to learn how to manipulate it.

In addition, they do sell a Cup 4 Cup Pizza Crust Mix.  It think it's less expensive however, to buy a bag of the flour and make the dough recipe.

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