Pain au Chocolat -- the gluten free, whole foods, plant based version

The intersection of bread and chocolate.

I live with two people for whom both bread and chocolate hold special and exalted places in their palates and in their diets. That is to say, neither of them ever gets tired of these goodies. I thought, why not combine the two? Especially right now, everyone is showing off their COVID bread, and here we are, all sad and gluten-free. I figured it was time to kick it up a notch. Enter, the pain au chocolat, or what we could call the best of both worlds.

I decided to take a fairly typical but soft gluten free bread dough, sweeten it a little extra with coconut sugar, roll it out flat, sprinkle it with goodies, cut it into long triangles, and roll them individually.

I wanted these buns to be more like bread than pastry, but next time I may enrich them with coconut milk, coconut butter, or some avocado oil just to see what happens. People who enjoy butter on their bread may enjoy more richness in their bread. Still, they were very well received, and make a satisfying Sunday morning nosh with a cup of tea.

roll your dough out into a nice big rectangle! I roll it out on a jumbo silicone mat, but I also use plenty of flour underneath and on top to keep it from sticking to the mat, and to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin

brush the rolled out dough with coconut nectar -- about 1/4 cup. No coconut nectar? No problem. What  do you have in the way of liquid sweeteners? Rice syrup?

sprinkled the dough 'evenly' with your mixture of date sugar, kinako, and salt

fair trade, organic chocolate. Only have chunks? no problem.

grab a big knife and chop your chunks up!

evenly distribute the chopped up chocolate over the whole surface

cut the dough using something that won't damage the surface you are working on!  Triangles please!!

roll the dough triangles starting at the wide end, and finishing at the narrow end, so the inside part is the widest part

put the rolls with the end face down on your silicone mat-lined tray. No silicone mat? No problem! You can use baking parchment. No parchment? Please use plenty of coconut oil and flour on that pan so your buns don't stick.

let 'em rise

rise for a couple hours, maybe

fresh out of the oven. Can you smell them? So good.

hello I'm a super cute chocolate roll. Won't you be tempted by me?

how about now???

mmmmm ....

full of chocolate goodness

equipment needed:

whisk
mixing spoon
measuring cups
measuring spoons
mixing bowls
kettle or other way to heat up water
oven
baking sheet
baking mat or parchment
dull edged tool for cutting dough into long triangles (like a pastry cutter or a plastic spatula)
large counter surface for rolling out dough
large silicone mat for rolling dough on (optional)
spoon for sprinkling ingredients
brush for brushing coconut nectar
timer
rolling pin


ingredients:

A)
1 1/2 cups warm water (or plant based milk for extra richness)
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tbsp yeast
1 tsp vanilla
(1/4 cup coconut butter -- optional)

B)
1 tsp himalayan salt
2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp tonka bean powder (optional)

(1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp cream of tartar)

C)
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/4 cup soy milk powder
1/2 cup cassava flour (or tapioca starch if you don't have cassava flour)
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup oat flour

D)
1/4 cup coconut nectar (or other liquid sweetener of your choice)

E)
1/4 cup date sugar
1-3 tbsp kinako (roasted soybean powder) (optional)
1/16th - 1/8th tsp salt

F)
1 cup chocolate (I use fair-trade, organic dark chocolate chunks, and chop them into bits with a big knife). You can also use chocolate chips if you like!)


directions:

1) combine A, and set aside to proof
2) in a large bowl, combine B and C. I like to use a whisk (gently) to make sure these dry ingredients are all perfectly combine
3) once the yeast mixture has foamed, pour it into the bowl of dry ingredients, and mix well
4) once out your dough has successfully formed, turn it out onto a well floured surface (I use a large silicone mat on my kitchen counter, but that's not necessary)
5) roll out the dough (with enough flour to keep the rolling pin from sticking!) Try to make a nice big rectangular shape.
6) brush the dough with your coconut nectar
7) combine the ingredients from E and sprinkle all of it on the dough
8) chop your chocolate if necessary, and distribute evenly on the dough
9) cut the dough into long triangles. I got 9 (That was entirely random. If you cut rectangle in half half length wise, you  can make smaller roll ups -- approximately 20)
10) starting at the wide end of each triangle, roll the pieces of dough up (try to roll tightly, but handle them with care), and put them with the end face down on a lined baking sheet (I like silicone mats for lining my trays, but some people prefer parchment)
11) let them rise!
12) be patient
13) bake at 345 for around 40 minutes, depending on how big they are. (for little ones, bake for 30)
14) cool for at least 10 minutes before serving

ready to bake

baked for about 40 minutes

a cute pain au chocolat

imperfection is perfection

The Lunch Box Cookie -- a plant based, nutrient dense, DELICIOUS fuel source

Kids can be picky, right? Sometimes it can be challenging to provide them with food that they will enjoy while they are at school, that will also fuel them the way you want them to be fuelled. Sometimes mine won't eat because he feels stressed at school, and then he'll be that really adorable combination of stressed, hangry, surly, and explosive. #fml.

These little cookies pack a nutritional punch, and provide excellent energy, and are super dense with all kinds of goodness. Believe it or not, each one of these is about 3 g of protein, in addition to superb fats, and slow carbs. The protein content and slow burning fat are great mood and energy stabilizers. Plus, dark chocolate is actually a mood elevator. 

equipment needed:

kettle

measuring cups

measuring spoons

whisk

mixing spoons

mixing bowls

2 tbsp scoop (optional) 

small bowl or cup of water and fork (to flatten cookies prior to baking)

baking trays line with silicone mats or with parchment paper

ingredients:

A)

1 cup warm water

1/2 cup coconut butter

2 tbsp molasses

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

B)

1 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup date sugar

C)

1 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp sea salt

D)

1/4 cup cacao 

1/4 cup white bean flour (or chickpea flour)

1/4 cup pea protein powder

1/4 cup soy milk powder 

1/4 cup tapioca starch

E)

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup large oatmeal flakes

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

F)

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

directions:

1. preheat the oven to 345
2. combine the ingredients in A) in a bowl, and let the coconut butter melt. Add in B), and whisk until everything is combined, melted, and homogenous.
3. In a separate bowl, combine C) and D), and E) and mix really well.
4. Combine the contents of the two bowls, adding the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, not the other way around. Mix well with a spoon. 
5. finally, when the mixture is combine to perfection, add your mix-ins from F) and stir well
6. on your lined baking sheets, put 12 x 2 tbsps of cookie dough per baking sheet. Flatten the mounds with a fork dipped in water. These cookies will not spread as they bake. At all. 
7. Bake for approximately 30 minutes at 345
8. makes about 36 cookies
9. store in an airtight container in the fridge

baker’s notes:

-if you don’t feel like chocolate cookies, skip the cacao and add 2-4 tbsp extra oatmeal flakes

-instead of oatmeal flakes, try quinoa flakes for an added protein punch

-instead of chocolate chips, you can try pumpkin seeds, raisins, or sunflower seeds. Dried cranberries? Why not!

-if they aren’t for school, why not try almond butter instead of coconut butter, for fun. 

-These are a nutritionally dense snack that are high in protein, and packed full of micro-nutrients to keep you going for the rest of the day. 

-fat, such as the fat in coconuts, almonds, peanuts, etc is amazing for you, and provides great, high quality fuel

The Gluten-Free Toast Loaf

It may not be adequately scientific, but migraines drove me to eliminate gluten, following my own research down the rabbit hole of chronic pain etc.

This journey into the bunny warren of bread-alternatives has definitely engendered more than its share of experiments. The main challenges were coming up with a cohesive symbiosis of ingredients that are soft enough to allow the loaf to rise, but aren't too wet inside once the baking is finished. I know there are an exhausting number of books out there in the Toronto Public Library on how to make bread without gluten, but here experimentation is the name of the game, the journey being just as important as the destination. Although the toast eaters in this home might declare the quality of the toast to be the pinnacle of their concern.

This option is very popular in our household right now, especially cut a little bit thick, and toasted with determination and thoroughness.

It's tricky to make bread that does that bread thing without gluten in it. However, there are some secret ingredients that help the cause. One of them is xanthan gum, one of them is starch like tapioca, and one of them is a bean flour like white bean flour or chickpea flour. In addition to that, some grain flour, rolled oats, etc. Tapioca starch adds wonderful springiness and sponginess, and also functions as a powerful prebiotic, nourishing your optimal intestinal flora as well as you. The combination of ingredients that I am sharing with you here is by no means the only option, but we've been quite happy with the texture and taste of this little toast loaf.

equipment needed:

loaf pan lined with parchment paper

kettle

measuring cups

measuring spoons

mixing bowls

mixing spoons

oven 

(personal hack: I use a small roaster oven -- the kind other people use for thanksgiving -- to rise and cook my bread loaves, especially when it's hot outside and I don't want to run the oven. You can often pick them up for dead cheap on kijiji)

ingredients:

A)
1 1/2 cups warm water (comfortable bath warm)
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tbsp bread yeast

B)
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 heaping tsp mountain salt
1/2 cup white bean flour (or chickpea flour)
1 cup sorghum flour (you can opt for other flours like millet or buckwheat, but may need a little less buckwheat as it absorbs more water)
1 cup quick oat flakes
3/4 cup tapioca starch


directions:

1. combine A), stir well, and set aside
2. in a separate mixing bowl, add all ingredients from B) and mix very very well until completely combined.
3. when A) has foamed up, add it to B), and mix well.
4. the dough should be sticky, but hold its form.
5. scoop it into a lined loaf pan, and smooth the surface with wet hands or a wet silicone scraper.
6. allow to rise. I do this in the oven with the light on, or in my little roaster oven, or on the counter in the sun
7. after it has risen for 3 hours, bake at 375 for 1 hour
8. when finished, remove from pan, and let cool on a cooling rack
9. store in an airtight wrap (we keep it in the fridge, but you do you)