Page 67 - Summer2009

you may see bubbles of different sizes and there starter for your next batch. Proceed with your recipe using the remaining
may be a hissing, burbling sound when they rise starter.
from the bottom of the bowl. Using my guidelines to get you started, I hope you and your family
It should take about four days for a new will soon be enjoying nutritious, satisfying and easily digested gluten-free
starter to be ready for cooking. It may take less baked goods. You’ll soon discover that there are many variations that you
time in warm weather and more in cold weather. can use to tempt your family. Happy baking and good health!
With a little practice you will get to know when
your starter is ready. If you want ongoing starter, Sharon A. Kane has successfully used food to recover from multiple ill-
when you’re ready to cook or bake, remove nesses. She developed the Food As Medicine workshop series to share
D VPDOO DPRXQW WR FXS DQG SXW LW LQ D her discoveries. She offers hands-on classes and phone consultations in
clean bowl. Feed with roughly equal amounts of fermented foods and gluten-free, dairy-free cooking and baking. Sharon’s
ÀRXU DQG ZDWHU DQG ZKLVN VPRRWK &RYHU DQG VHW new book,The Art of Gluten Free Sourdough Baking, can be purchased in
aside to continue fermenting. This will be your PDF format from www.food-medicine.com. Contact Sharon at (508)881-
5678 or Gpath2003@yahoo.com.

GLUTEN-FREE PANCAKE BREADS

With a few changes in the recipe, the gluten-free pancakes may be used as bread for sandwiches. Begin with three
to four cups of starter. Add a little water to the batter for a thin batter and make large pancakes, five to six inches in

diameter. Store them in a container in the refrigerator, and toast them before using as bread in sandwiches.
You may spice up basic pancakes with these suggested additions to the batter:

Cinnamon Pumpkin pie spice
Garam masala Ground hot pepper
Chopped apple Berries
Chopped or sautéed onion Ground sesame seed

You can use different flours in the starter as it grows or you can use a different variety of flour for the last feeding.
Each type of flour brings a different quality to the finished product: teff flour (grind in a coffee grinder) thickens it and
gives it weight; sorghum flour fluffs it up; amaranth flour (grind in a coffee grinder) lightens the batter and gives it a nutty
taste; gluten-free oat flour lightens and fluffs it; buckwheat thickens it almost to a cake-like consistency, and makes a very
substantial pancake.
Note that buckwheat flour is so dense that fermentation bubbles may not move through the starter easily. It will
nevertheless be alive and potent. Because of their density, buckwheat pancakes may not show bubbles in the pan so
look for darkening around the outer third and then flip them.
Another variation: Use leftover cooking water from boiled potatoes (including any starch or potato bits on the bot-
tom of the pot) for the water portion of the starter. This produces as excellent starter giving a wonderful potato pancake
taste. Try it cooked with chicken or duck fat and topped with chopped liver or liver pâté.

SPICE MUFFINS

4 cups boosted brown rice starter 1/2 cup sweet rice flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour 1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup gluten-free oat flour or arrowroot flour 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon stevia powder or 1 teaspoon crushed stevia leaf 2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup ground flaxseed 1/4 cup expeller expressed sunflower oil

Place flours, salt, stevia and spices in a bowl and whisk together. Put starter, ground flaxseed and oil in mixer bowl
and mix gently. Add flours to starter mixture and mix on low speed for 15-30 seconds until spongy. Do not overmix. Fill
greased muffin tins half full. Let rise for 8 hours. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and remove muffins
to rack. When completely cool, refrigerate, wrapped in a cloth in a plastic container. The muffins freeze very well and are
great toasted after freezing. Yield: 12 muffins or 24 mini muffins.

SUMMER 2009 Wise Traditions 65