quinoa flour

I decided to make some banana bread this morning; it was an ex tempore kind of thing based on the fact that we had three blackened overripe bananas oozing with sweetness and a hint of the rot that will eventually devour them. This happens to almost everyone every once in a while - forgotten bananas that go black - but usually I just make some muffins with almond flour, eggs and bananas, it is simple, easy and fast. This time though I went for banana bread - sometimes you just need a change.

This all went well with my new decision to maybe post recipes without thinking about what kind of shots I want out of them, somehow this blogging has made me go a bit overboard with the planning of shots and a new simpler approach would do me some good. I invent recipes more often than I post them, just because I have become some sort of a perfectionist with the shooting; this should really be more about the food than the so called hunt for the perfect shot. I will still try my best to take the nicest photos possible and there is  so much I want to learn about photography, light etc. but I do not want it to act as a hindrance for posting recipes.

These bread shots were taken without planning, in natural daylight and it took me less than five minutes to edit them and shoot them; this all felt very relaxing, no more stress about the two things I love so much - photography and food.

Gluten-Free Banana Bread

This bread was made with quinoa flour and almond meal, you can easily replace the quinoa with for example rice flour.

The butter used here can also be replaced with vegetable oil, if you want to make this dairy-free.

Dry ingredients

-1 cup or 2,5 dl quinoa flour

-1 cup or 2,5 dl ground almonds

-2 tsp (gluten-free) baking powder

-1 tsp cinnamon

-1 tsp ground cardamom

- a pinch of nutmeg

-1 cup or 2,5 dl unrefined sugar, or brown sugar, or half a cup of maple syrup

-a pinch of salt

Wet ingredients

-3 eggs

-3 very ripe bananas

-1 tsp vanilla exctract

-1/2 cup or 1,2 dl melted butter, or vegetable oil

Heat an oven to 340F/170C.

Grease a bread pan and sprinkle some almond meal on it, or just line it with baking paper, this will make it easier to take the bread out of the pan.

Mix the wet ingredients together and mix the dry ingredients together.

Combine these two without over mixing them.

Bake for approximately 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

The bread is edible right away, but it will be more firm after cooling.

Winter is almost over and I have to say that I will really miss it.

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When I first started this blog, one of the very first recipes was a recipe for a pizza crust made with quinoa flour - now; over a year later I still make the same pizza crust because it is still my absolute favourite. I thought that I would make another post with it, this time with step by step pictures.

The one thing I maybe love the most about this recipe is the use of yeast; it gives you that nice fermented taste which at least I always associate with pizza. Sometimes when the crust is rolled very, very thin and I have topped the pizza with a thin layer of cheese, some Parma ham, fresh juicy tomatoes and some black oily olives, I close my eyes and feel the same joy of eating I had when I ate the best pizza on this earth.

It happened during a hot summer day in London, I was out with a friend, shopping, when we decided to stop at some tiny Italian restaurant in Soho; it was so refreshing to get out of the heat into a clean cool restaurant. I looked at the menu and then asked my friend to order for me, since she is and was the expert on Italian food; I just sat back and enjoyed the red wine they had just brought to our table. She ordered us some bruschetta with a thick black olive paste and then some pizza.

I really did not know what kind of a pizza I was going to get, I knew it was probably going to be delicious, but not so delicious that I would remember it for the rest of my life.

When the pizza finally arrived, the first thing I noticed was how crisp and thin the crust was, the second thing I noticed was the layers of Parma ham on top of it and then finally the juicy bright red tomatoes and the plump looking black olives.

I took one bite of that pizza and just closed my eyes; it was so good, I was in my own world for a while with that pizza, just really enjoying each piece - it was such perfection.

Sometimes I make a pizza with a thin fermented quinoa crust, the same toppings, I have some red wine and close my eyes - the experience is never the same as with that one perfect pizza on that particular summer day, but I will always be trying to make something that comes close to that moment of utter food bliss I once had.

A Gluten-Free Pizza Crust With Quinoa Flour

I usually use some powdered psyllium seed husks with this pizza crust - you can buy them on amazon for a very good price. Using eggs as a binder is also one option - I have not tried it - but you could always try adding one egg for each cup of flour and then using a little less water. Xanthan gum is also an option; I personally have great dislike for it, but some seem to tolerate it.

In these pictures my boyfriend is making his pizza and therefore it is very thick, if you want a very thin crust -I always prefer a thin crust - you can place the dough,  with flour so that it does not stick, between two sheets of baking paper and then use a rolling pin to flatten it. If you make your pizza crust thick, you might want to pre-bake it a for maybe 20-30 minutes (or more) before adding the toppings.

Pizza Crust Recipe

-50 grams fresh yeast

-5 dl or 2 cups quinoa flour

-1-2 tsp salt

-3 dl or 1 and 1/4 cups of water

-3 tbls olive oil

-3 tbls psyllium husk powder

Start by warming your water, add your yeast and your salt, mix everything together, and then add your psyllium husk into the mixture, and leave everything to sit for about ten minutes.

After that take your flour and mix it with the wet mixture, start kneading your dough and do it for about 2 minutes, then add your oil, knead again for a little while until you have formed a ball out of it, after that put your dough into a warm and dark place to rise.

When it has doubled in size spread it onto your pizza tray, you can spread it by hand or with a rolling pin, whatever works for you, pat it a little bit after you have stretched it and start applying your toppings.

The dough will look like this after it has risen.

Press it, so that the air comes out of it.

Add some flour on top of it and flatten it with your hands.

When it is the shape and thickness you want, place it on top of a pizza stone (highly recommended) or a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Add the tomato sauce and the toppings you like, I often add some balsamic vinegar, salt and black pepper to the tomato paste. I also like to add a small layer of parmesan on top of the tomato paste.

Some tomatoes and some wild boar salami.

Finally the pizza is topped with some mozzarella and black pepper.

Bake the pizza at 200 C/400 F for 20-40 minutes, the time differs so much because it depends on the thickness of the crust and on your oven. Keep an eye on the pizza while it is baking.

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