Durham's Gluten Free Network

Tired, achy feet? Itchy? Dry? Strange neuropathies in your feet? Fibro feet? MS feet? Feet that burn or ache at night? Well I have some suggestions based on real science, and they actually work. These ideas may be used by anyone, and are especially appropriate for those who work standing and senior citizens.  If you want to skip the why's and wherefores, scroll down to the techniques section.  But first, a story. My father in law suffered a stroke and soon afterward he had difficulty maintaining a good self care routine. Both my in laws are very responsible about their feet because my mother in law has a rare condition called Charcot Feet, and my father in law had frostbite in WW2. I'm guesstimating that since their 60's they've had a routine of self care with their feet. But it's easy to let it slip when you're suffering the aftereffects of a stroke. And the slower immune system of seniors can lead to a rapid progression from Athlete's Foot ...

Say goodbye to itty-bitty bread slices. Another experimental recipe today, part of the learning curve for a bread machine.  Gluten free, no diary, high fiber bread.  I brought up the hydration a whole lot and increased the baking time accordingly.  I added the refinement of a baking alarm after the normal bake was complete, to tell me exactly how long I have to bake it.  This recipe is about the limit in how many cups of flour you can add to a 3 lb capacity machine, about 8 cups if you include the flax, chia and collagen in the flour calculation! There is no psyllium powder in this recipe so if you're sensitive to that, need to stay psyllium free, then this is a good option.  The top did rise, but it formed a valley soon after, probably due to me messing with it too much.  The dough was more like batter and when it rose it was easy to lose air from it by just bumping the machine a bit.  I wanted to try just chia and flax though, to see how it ...

Oat cinnamon raisin toast. So here I am again experimenting with a West Bend Hi-Rise Bread Machine !  This one has two paddles and mixes much better.  However still not as nice as having a mixer, but for the reasons already mentioned, bread machines are the way I want to go for now. As always, this is NOT an affiliate link or any other kind of ad.  It's what I use. I'm happy to shine a light their way though, because this is a great appliance, worth the money. I have three loaves to show you and an experimental recipe for one of them.  One of the nice things about having your own machine is that you can use oat flour, if you tolerate it.  Only about 10% of people with Celiac have a gluten reaction to avenin, the "gluten" in oats.  And oats have a familiar flavor that many people like.  GF bread manufacturers don't use oats because it's risky.  Most farms rotate from oats to wheat or barley and back again on the same land.  And no matte...

A substantial sandwich bread, gluten free! Taking a tiny break from bread machine recipes to present a Stand-Mixer bread recipe today.  I also want to talk about Amylose and what vinegar has to do with gluten free bread.  In the previous articles in this series, I discovered that mixing is a big problem for most bread machines.  That ends today with a Stand Mixer.  I will go back to a bread machine soon, for all the reasons I've already listed, but let's explore the mixer option a bit first. Today the Kitchen Aid is the standard in baking mixer machines, but I decided to go with a budget model instead since it got rave reviews just last year.  Few bells and whistles, but an excellent mixer. Since gluten free recipes use flours that absorb water more slowly and they have to form a gel "hydrocolloid", not gluten, usually this means bread machine recipes call for more water than you might expect.  As a result, the bread's structure may suffer, and the...

Today's results are a bit denser, with zero gummy texture, a lot like a multigrain bread, and it's a great source of dietary fiber. So far the success rate has been 3 out of 4, but at no time has it been easy or "set it and forget it" which is the promise of bread machines.  And I hit yet another snag.  As a result I'm considering a different machine.  I'm noticing that a lot of people say similar things in reviews where families have tried two or three different models before settling on one that works.  That's a bit of a problem, I would think, for the manufacturers. Either we expect too much, or they aren't giving us enough. There also seems to be a trend in bread machines toward one or two high end options and tons of cheap models with limited flexibility in baking.  I've soured on my purchase decision and have regretted buying a cheap model.  I didn't think it was that cheap really.  There are models out right now in the $65 range and...