I love breakfast. It's my favorite meal of the day. And the older I get, the more I like to linger over breakfast and just savor it. Even if it's just a bowl of cereal, I still enjoy it! And a cup or two of hot coffee.....life is good!
Every now and then, mostly every now, I love to start the day with something sweet to go with my coffee. I don't know why, it's just me. I love coffee cakes, and doughnuts, and muffins, and pastries, and sweet breads. Of course, being gluten free makes that a little more difficult. I go without it mostly. But, I try to bake myself some treats for when I really get a craving. And this past week I was craving carbs big time. I know, I know, the whole low carb thing. But sometimes I just want to eat what I want to eat. Like today.
Yesterday I decided to make a quick bread so I could have a leisurely Sunday breakfast, sipping coffee and munching on some cake-like bread. The recipe I was looking at was for regular old glutened up zucchini bread, and I didn't have any zucchini, but the rest of the recipe sounded good as long as I used gluten free flour. So, I decided to use up a bag of baby carrots in place of the zucchini. And since I didn't make myself a gluten free carrot cake at Easter, I decided to add a small can of pineapple with the carrots to see what happened.
And guess what? It worked like a charm! It smelled so good as it was baking, rose beautifully, and was soft and moist with a really nice crumb. It tastes like Carrot Cake's little cousin. Delicious!
Now, a couple notes. I used a 1 pound bag of baby carrots, and grated them in my food processor. I used half of the bag in the recipe (2 cups), and there was about 2 cups left over. So I threw the rest of the grated carrots in a bowl, added another small can of crushed pineapple (drained), a couple hands full of raisins, and enough mayonnaise to moisten it. Voila! Easy peasy carrot raisin salad!
Also, I used Bob's Red Mill Cup for Cup Gluten Free Flour. It already has xantham gum in the flour mix. But, if you use a different flour that does not have xantham gum in it, you need to add 1 teaspoon of xantham gum to the recipe.
Another note, be sure to USE THE JUICE from the can of pineapple. Gluten free flours tend to need more moisture than regular all-purpose flour, and the juice from the pineapple really works in this recipe to keep the bread deliciously moist.
I find that most gluten free baked goods begin to dry out after a day or two. So, since this recipe makes 2 loaves, here is what I do. I thickly slice one loaf, and wrap each slice individually in foil. I buy a box of individual foil wrappers at Sam's Club for this. Then I put the wrapped slices in a gallon Ziploc freezer bag, and freeze it. I just pull out a piece at a time when I want one, let it thaw, and it's just like fresh! For the second loaf, I slice whatever we haven't eaten by the end of the day, wrap it and refrigerate it. It stays good in the fridge for 2-3 days. If there's more than we will eat in a couple days, I freeze it.
If you want to make the glutened version of this, just use 3 cups regular all-purpose flour, and DRAIN THE PINEAPPLE. I think the batter will be too runny with the juice and regular flour.
Here is the recipe:
For a printable version of this recipe, click
HERE.
If you try it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
This recipe post is linked to
Meal Plan Monday #109 at
Southern Bite.
