It’s Monday, the Monday before Thanksgiving, and I am contemplating the dinner to come. What strikes me as a deep desire is to bake bread. Not just any bread but dinner rolls and not just any dinner rolls but a recipe from Ellen, Ellen’s Buns. (If you read down to Favorite Variations from King Arthur Baking Circle Friends; I am Barb.)
This is a recipe I made often, my family and I really enjoyed these buns in a multitude of variations but as regular dinner buns they were the favorite. Of course over the years I did make other recipes and the only other that stands out in my mind is Lenora’s Yeast Rolls from Bernard Clayton. Jr., this also was a family favorite.
Ellen’s Buns though was the recipe I turned to for Thanksgiving dinner. If I am honest with myself I know that I am incredibly healthier for not eating wheat and by being honest with myself there are days when my brain screams and my heart weeps at this thought. I love to bake and can turn out some damn fine gluten free foods; you won’t know you are eating gluten free! Gluten free dinner rolls though, meh!
I don’t like them, although my family will eat them and pretty much like them. I still don’t like them. Wheat-flour dinner rolls have a light texture even if they are substantial, and the flavor, so divine. Gluten free dinner rolls to me are heavy textured and the flavor turns me off. I grimace at the thought as my mouth waters and no, it isn’t the good kind of watering, literally it makes me ill. When I bake gluten free I am conscious of the fact that without wheat flour there is a flavor missing and even an unwanted flavor added in. My brain does not identify what that flavor is; it could be the xanthan gum, it could be the tapioca flour, it could be the cornstarch. No one has been able to identify what this flavor is for me. Although I don’t notice it as distinctly in purchased gluten free breads, it is still there.
I am in a bit of a quandary this year as half my brain wants to make gluten free dinner rolls and the other half wants to make Ellen’s Buns instead. The part of my brain that wants to make gluten free dinner rolls is the thinking part; the other part is pure desire. At this point in time I cannot tell you which side of my brain will win, give me a second or two.
As I cannot eat these rolls you may wonder why I would even consider making them. Ah but it is simple; only one other member of our family doesn’t eat wheat and said person won’t be at our table this year. He is starting a new life with his own traditions to make. I, on the other hand, am cooking for people that use to eat Ellen’s Buns and will recall them fondly and can still eat them. Is Thanksgiving not about being thankful for your family and the food on the table? Why of course it is but also it is about feeding not only your family’s stomachs but their hearts as well. What is on the Thanksgiving table as you grow up is in your memory forever and the food does feed the hearts and souls of our loved ones.
I ask again will I make Ellen’s Buns for Thanksgiving dinner this year. Why yes I believe I will.
Oh and just in case you can bake with wheat and you like the look of Ellen's other recipes, YES they are all good.
I had known for some time that Garlic Jims was offering gluten free pizza. We even tried it when it first came out, but didn’t try it again because we didn’t care for the crust. Before they originally had offered it at our local Garlic Jims I had emailed them asking if they were going to carry it, but never received a response. Six months later an email came from them stating that there were new owners and yes they were carrying gluten free (GF) pizza, yet I still didn’t try it. They are about 5 minutes from my house and the only other place with excellent GF pizza is about a half hour away and a bit expensive. I had wanted to try their pizza again when low and behold they started sending coupons for the GF pizza to my inbox. You too can sign up for coupons, check out the website.
It was time!
We ordered and instead of getting delivery (which btw we did have the first time, it took about an hour and the pizza was cold) we picked it up because we wanted this pizza hot out of the box. We tried it in the car and we ate half the pizza before we even made it home!
For those of you who have never tried GF pizza, there can be many issues with it. Have you tried to eat GF pizza and been disappointed? I know we have! Over the last couple of years we have tried a few different GF pizzas. Romio’s in Greenwood, Washington, has an excellent GF menu; is quite large for gluten free. They offer pizzas, pastas, appetizers, soups, salads, panninis, subs, grinders & gyros, desserts and beer! For those of you that don’t have food allergies this menu may not seem all that important, but to those of us gluten free this menu is HUGE!
For me the ONLY issue I have with Romio’s in Greenwood is that it isn’t close to home. Eating there is for a “going out” night and we don’t do this every day or even every week (or even every month). This is a full night out for us since it’s in a pretty cool area to hang out, Greenwood-Ballard - need I say more!
It’s not to say that we don’t go out, it’s the major nights out that we don’t do often.
There have been various other GF pizzas we have tried and not been interested in eating them twice. We’ve even made GF pizza at home, the results have been so-so. Honestly homemade GF pizza is fine but time consuming and when there is a group of people wanting to try it, it doesn’t go far.
Garlic Jims is less than 10 minutes from my house, they can deliver or we can pick it up on the way home. Can you say convenience and affordable? We really wanted this pizza to be good, the way you really crave something and there is nothing that stands between you and your craving. When I say we wanted it, we really wanted it!
Garlic Jims’ GF pizza did not disappoint. I was worried when I picked up the pizza though; the people working at this location were covered in flour. ACK! My brain froze on that thought, flour. I am totally flour and bread crumb phobic after being diagnosed with Celiac. It doesn’t control me, but it is something that floods my brain and can induce momentary panic. How could a gluten free pizza be served to me (albeit in a box) by someone wearing an apron covered in flour?! My thoughts quickly changed to how the pizza smelled and it smelled good. The box didn’t have any floury finger prints on it, so that was a bonus, and to be honest the person at the register wasn’t covered in flour. Once my momentary panic subsided I was able to eat 3 pieces (yes 3) in a matter of minutes! Yes I was hungry, but more importantly that was one helluva pizza! The crust is thin but chewy with a good flavor, the toppings were plentiful and it was darn good. One thought crossed my mind though, was this pizza really good or was it just me in a pizza starved state? I had a gluten eater try my pizza and he liked it too; one down! My oldest son also only eats gluten free so I had to save him a slice; he liked it so much he has bought many a pizza since then. It is also important to mention that neither of us got sick from the pizza, which is rather important.***Make sure you read the note below regarding the flour on the aprons.
All in all we loved the pizza from Garlic Jims and we will eat it again and again and again (you get the idea)! It seems worth mentioning the pizza is very reasonably priced also; what makes it reasonable is the size! The pizza is the same size as its wheat containing cousin, this is seems to be unusual as most Gluten Free pizzas are smaller, this is a great thing!
Enjoy!
***I need to add this as it is important. I received an email from Garlic Jims, the "flour" all over the aprons is Gluten Free!!!
When we decided to start selling GF pizzas, we switched our slapping flour from wheat-based to one that is a corn/rice mix. Our regular pizzas still have gluten in them, but they come already made as dough balls and just need to be slapped out and that can easily be done with our GF slapping flour.
Our processes have been completely certified by the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America as being safe of cross-contamination.
