Gluten Free Pizza Rolls Recipe

Based on a recipe from “Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” by Zoe François and Jeff Hertzberg

This recipe makes six gluten free pizza rolls

• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca starch (tapioca flour)
• 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon granulated yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon xanthan gum
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 large eggs + 1 additional large egg white, beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• Several more cups of cornstarch for rolling and dusting
• 1 1/2 cups pizza sauce, ideally homemade (though a jar sauce will do)
• 1 1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice (I used a mix of parmesan, asiago, fontina and provolone)
• A handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped (or chiffonade if you know how)

1. Whisk together the brown rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch, yeast, salt and xanthan gum in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
2. Combine the liquid ingredients and gradually mix them into the dry ingredients using one of the following: a spoon, a food processor (with dough attachment) or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix just until there are no dry bits of flour. You might need to use wet hands to get the last bits of flour to incorporate if you are not using a machine.
3. Cover (not airtight!) and allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 2 hours.
4. Coat your hands and a flat surface liberally with corn starch, and I mean liberally. Trust me – this dough sticks to everything, even parchment paper. Anything surface not covered in cornstarch will wind up sticking and causing drama.
5. Turn the dough out onto your starched surface, then spread and press with your hands until it is about 1 inch thick and roughly square shaped. Coat a rolling pin with cornstarch and sprinkle a little more starch on the surface of your dough. Roll the dough until it is 1/2 inch thick.
6. Using a knife dipped in cornstarch, cut the edges of the dough so it’s relatively close to square-shaped. With a spoon, spread pizza sauce evenly around the dough, leaving a 1″ sauce-free border around the edges to allow for easier rolling. Sprinkle grated cheese around the dough square, giving it a good coating. Sprinkle chopped basil leaves around on top of the cheese, layering evenly.
7. As tightly as you can without breaking it, roll the dough into a thick log. Cut into 6 equal-sized rolls with a very sharp knife. Coat your hands with a little more cornstarch and gently form the rolls into rough ball shapes.
8. Line a 8″ square baking dish with a piece of parchment (don’t worry – with the amount of cornstarch you used by now, nothing should stick at this point) and pack the pizza rolls snuggly together. Cover loosely and allow dough to rest for 60 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F while you’re waiting, allowing at least 30 minutes for the oven to heat properly.
9. Bake in the center of the oven for about 45 minutes. The pizza rolls are done once they start to brown nicely and the tops are firm to the touch.
10. Once out of the oven, sprinkle the rolls with parmesan cheese, allowing it to melt on the surface of the bread. If you like, you can pop the dish back in the oven for two minutes to crisp the cheese topping.
11. Let pizza rolls cool somewhat before eating. Eat warm, right out of the baking dish, or allow them to cool fully before storing them in the refrigerator for up to three days. Don’t seal them up for cover them in plastic wrap while they’re warm or they will get soggy.

Variations on this gluten free pizza rolls recipe

• Cook up some diced pepperoni or other Italian sausage until it’s nice and crunchy, then sprinkle heartily onto the dough with the pizza sauce.
• If you’re not feeling a melty kind of cheese, feel free to use fresh mozzarella or a generous sprinkling of parmesan instead of the four-cheese mixture.
• Love hawaiian pizza? Try adding diced ham and pineapple chunks (dry the pineapple first on paper towels to avoid gooshy, soggy rolls).
• Add a variety of veggies to up the health-quotient, making sure to dry them first. I recommend diced spinach, sundried tomato, or onions. Mushrooms go great as well if you slice them and leave them on the counter for an hour to give up some of their moisture.

Learn How to Make Whipped Cream

(with the best ever whipped cream recipe)

• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Pour whipping cream into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add sugar and vanilla.
2. Beat with a hand mixer on high until the cream starts to stiffen up. You’ll notice that at first everything will flow around the beaters for a bit, then the whole thing will suddenly seize and begin to clump together at about 30-45 seconds. This is where you should stop – your whipped cream will still be light and airy at this point. If you beat it for two long, you’ll end up with butter! Which can be nice, but not for topping ice cream or piping onto cakes.
3. Feel free to add a little more sugar if you like your whipped topping recipe even sweeter. Be sure to add just a few tablespoons as a time, and it’s very easily to make this recipe too sweet. If that happens, just add more heavy cream and keep beating.

How to Roast a Turkey to Perfection

• First things first: thaw your bird completely before putting it in the oven. Thaw it in the fridge for a few days – up to four, depending on the size of your turkey.
• 400°F is the perfect temperature for cooking a whole turkey. You’ll get crispy skin without compromising tenderness.
• Depending on the size of your bird, it should take anywhere from 3-6 hours to roast at 400°F. I highly recommend a meat thermometer, one that stays in the turkey while it cooks and lets you set an alarm for when it reaches the proper temperature. This keeps you from continually opening the oven door, which will greatly increase your cooking time. Here’s a great time chart for turkey roasting.
• Basting the bird won’t give you crispier skin. In fact, you’ll get limp, soggy skin and it only marginally affects the flavor.
• Some argue that rubbing the entire bird with fat, inside and out, doesn’t affect the flavor, but I disagree. It depends on the fat, though – olive oil won’t give you a flavor boost, but butter mixed with a heaping dose of salt and herbs will yield a tasty dish indeed.
• It doesn’t matter what orientation you roast your turkey in. Breast up, breast down, flipped over halfway through or hanging from the rafters – no position will make the breast more moist.
• Stuffing some flavored fat (such as butter with salt and herbs) under the skin will help flavor meat, but don’t go overboard. Too much fat will just just make the meat greasy.
• They (whoever “they” are) say that you’re supposed to cook a whole turkey to 180°F, but I find that 170° yields a perfectly moist bird that’s still cooked completely through. Make sure to measure in the thickest part of the breast.
• I don’t recommend stuffing your turkey before roasting, and this can lead to all sorts of holiday misery – namely salmonella. If you insist on stuffing the bird, make sure you roast it until the stuffing has an internal temperature of at least 165°F.
• Let your bird rest for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven. A good 20 minute nap will let everything settle and keep the moisture where it belongs: in the meat.
• The easiest way to guarantee that pieces of breast will be moist is to let them soak in the turkey’s juices for a few minutes after they’ve been cut. This includes the fatty runoff from what you’ve rubbed over the surface or stuffed under the skin.
• You want the entire turkey to roast evenly and have crispy skin all over, so consider elevating it off the surface of the roasting pan. A good-sized roasting rack will do the trick, which allows air to circulate under the bird – crisping it all the way around.
• Get a decent oven thermometer, one for measuring the turkey and one for measuring your oven’s temperature. ‘Nuff said.
• Don’t waste the juices in the bottom of the pan! Reduce in a saucepan with a little white wine, add a little cornstarch and you’ve got an amazing gravy.

Do you have tips on learning how to roast a turkey? What are your secrets for creating the perfect roast turkey experience? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Laurie Colwin’s Fried Chicken Recipe (Gluten Free)

Or, a crispy southern fried chicken recipe for the rest of us

Modified a bit by Stephanie Stiavetti
Serves four people

• 1 three pound chicken, cut into parts
• 1 cup milk
• 3 cups chickpea flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon pimentón dulce (smoked paprika)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
• Several cups of oil for frying
• Light sesame oil

Here are Laurie’s tips:

• Fried chicken should be served warm. It should never be eaten straight from the fryer – it needs time to cool down and set.
• Contrary to popular belief, fried chicken should not be deep fried.
• Anyone who says you merely shake up the chicken in a bag of flour is fooling himself.
• Fried chicken must be made in a chicken fryer – a steep-sided frying pan with a domed top. Ed. Note: A deep sauté pan or a Dutch oven work just fine, as long as you have a lid.
• It must never be breaded or coated with anything except flour (which can be spiced with salt, pepper and paprika). No egg, no crumbs, no crushed Rice Krispies.

And, her recipe (paraphrased):

1. Chicken pieces should be roughly the same size – this means that you should cut breasts into quarters. If you don’t quarter the breast, you’ll end up with large underdone pieces.
2. The chicken should be put in a dish and covered with a little water or milk, which will help keep the flour on (I used milk). Let the chicken stand at room temperature – it is a bad idea to put cold chicken into hot oil!
3. Put the flour in a deep, wide bowl and season with salt, pepper, and optional smoked paprika and cayenne. Laurie recommends paprika because she adores paprika and feels it gives the chicken a smoky taste and beautiful color.
4. Now, coat the chicken with the flour. To do this, lay a few pieces of chicken in the bowl and “pack the flour on a if you were a child making sand pies. Any excess flour should be packed between the layers. It’s important to make sure that every inch of chicken has a nice thick cover.”
5. Let the chicken sit while you work with the frying oil. Laurie says that many folks recommend frying chicken in Crisco, but she prefers Wesson oil with about one-quarter part light sesame oil mixed in, which gives the chicken “a wonderful taste and is worth the extra expense.” For me, I used rice bran oil with light sesame oil mixed in, and it worked fabulously.
6. The oil should come up to just under the halfway mark on your chicken fryer – say, about 1 to 1-1/2 inches deep. Over a medium flame, heat the oil to 360°F (or until a piece of bread on a skewer fries as soon as you dip it on).
7. Carefully slip into the oil as many pieces as will fit in the pan. Laurie says that the rule is to crowd the pan a bit. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cover the pan. She says, “the idea of covering frying chicken makes many people squeal, but it is the only correct method. It gets the chicken cooked through.” Ed. note: don’t mess with your chicken while it’s cooking. Poking and prodding will knock off your coating… so just let it alone!
8. The chicken must be just done to that it is crispy but still juicy. She recommends about six minutes per side, turning only once. Dark meat will take a little longer, and use a sharp form to test the chicken to see if it’s done – when the chicken just slips off the fork, it is done inside.

9. Take off the lid and turn up the heat to medium-high. Fry the chicken until it is “the color of Colonial pine stain – a dark honey color.”
10. Remove the chicken from the oil and set it on a platter, then put the platter in the oven. If your oven has a gas pilot light, that should be enough heat. If you have an electric oven, flip it on ahead of time to the lowest setting and turn it off after two minutes. Let the chicken sit until it has cooled to a warm temperature. She doesn’t specify how long, though I let mine sit for at least half an hour.

11. At this point, she says “You have now made the perfect fried chicken,” and that every time you make this recipe it will get even better.