Pie Crust and Corn Muffins! Very Yummy!

Brunch!!  Yes, I made the family a nice brunch this morning with a broccoli and cheddar quiche and corn muffins.  Yummy!  I've made the corn muffins before, but this time I added 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum which improved the texture.  They tasted and felt just like regular corn muffins.  Awesome!  I used the last bit of Arrowhead Mills rice flour so hopefully that's the end of the grit.  Can't tell there's grit in a corn muffin!  The recipes from today will follow.

I have recently made a quiche but got cold feet when it came to making a pie crust, so used potato slices instead.  While that worked really well, I knew I would have to practice making gluten free pie crust for the upcoming holidays.  So this morning I took the plunge and made the crust.  That had to be about the most frustrating thing I've done so far in gluten free cooking.  I am a very experienced baker and make pie crusts all the time but of course gluten free pie crust, as gluten free bread, does not handle or feel like the regular wheat counterparts.  Not in the least.

First of all, the dough consistency was all off, for me.  Rolling the dough was not a problem but once rolled, you can't really just pick it up and put it in the pie plate.  It falls apart.  I eventually rolled it out a bit and put in the pie plate then pushed it around and mushed into the pie plate by hand.  Luckily the consistency is good for that, almost like Play Doh.  While I was squishing it into place I would keep tearing off the pieces that were above the edge of the pie plate.  After I was finished, I took small sections of the leftover dough and rolled it into little snakes.  I took those and pushed them into place around the edge of the pie crust to make it look nice.  It worked like a charm!

                                            This is what was left of the quiche after brunch.

Notice the nice crust on the quiche? The taste of the crust was not exactly the same as a wheat pie crust but it was pretty good!  It was also flaky, or crumbly, in a way that was very pie-like.  I may try several different ways to make it so I can choose which way to make the crusts on my pies for the holidays. 

Corn Muffins (from epicurious)
(These were supposed to have blueberries in them but I made them without)

2 tablespoons tapioca flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1 1/4 cups yellow corn meal
2/3 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar (This is more sugar than the recipe calls for)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (the recipe did not have this but it worked very well)

1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter, melted (one stick)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
4 large eggs

 
Whisk together all the dry ingredients.  In another bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir.  Grease muffin pan and flour with the tapioca flour.  Fill muffin cups and bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.


Pie Crust (From the Gluten Free Homemaker)

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick of cold butter
1 large egg
cold water

 Whisk together all the dry ingredients and then cut in the butter.  Add the egg and then start adding SMALL amounts of water, 1 tablespoon at a time, to make a dough that will hold together. Roll out onto wax paper using some GF flour to keep from sticking.  I also used plastic wrap on top of the dough when rolling.  I found that rolling it out just a small amount worked well to move into the pie plate.  After that I used my fingers and the bottom of a drinking glass to push the dough around until it was the correct thickness in the pan. Bake as you would any other pie crust.
 

Corn Muffins!

Corn muffins are a family favorite here at Casa Portia. Today, after my daughter's doctor's appointment, we decided to find a muffin recipe to make gluten free.  Funny how my daughter found a corn muffin recipe right away!  This recipe calls for blueberries as well but my daughter nixed that idea for plain, old, ordinary cornbread muffins.  Since I am originally from the North corn muffins and corn bread should be SWEET!  I don't make a very good Southerner when it comes to cornbread.  

The recipe we tried is from Epicurious which is where I FINALLY found a great chocolate cake recipe only to discover, two weeks later, that I need to eat gluten free.  Bummer!  Click on the link for the recipe anyway if you can eat wheat!  

The Epicurious corn muffin recipe looked the best out of all of the muffin recipes, based on the photo and reviews, so we decided to try it.  Helps that I had all the ingredients as well.  

The result is a really good corn muffin (I added a little more sugar and maple syrup) with a good texture.  Since corn muffins are already gritty from the cornmeal there was no issue with a gritty texture as it was expected.  My family said that they tasted like corn muffins so that's a compliment. Next time I will most likely use a little xanthan gum to give it a less crumbly texture since I am pretty sure that, once they cool off, they'll crumble quite a bit. These will be served at my daughter's baby shower!

                             This shows the muffins and some of the ingredients

                                            This should show the texture of the muffin