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Its a sleepy Monday today. We had the first 90+ degrees F weekend this summer, so we pale Seattle-lites were all out in the Sun. Drives around Lake Washington, a dip here and there in the cool water. I could go knee high in the water, which is a yay for me! We also, looked at some houses, but none seem to catch our fancy, location preference and budget.
Evening hours disappear watching the Olympics coverage, even though NBC keeps making gaffes all day like ” hey if you dont want to know the results till the telecast late night, please Mute your TV now. And a second later, there on your screen, bright red big letters scroll .. Phelps won gold.” duh!
Cara passed on the Hope Relay baton to me. The point is to write about this little enigmatic word and pass it along. So here we go…
Hope is me standing in line to pick up cupcakes for a friend, who just had a cute little baby, for 10 minutes without giving up. It was hot, humid, claustrophobic with the crowd, people taking their time to taste ice creams(me=frustrated), the constantly moving crowd always upsets my depth perception and balance, and all this can also give me anxiety attack! I contemplated giving up 3 times in between, but finally made it. picked up the cupcakes, and headed to the car for the trip to meet the baby!
Hope is the smile on hubbs face when he gives me a good job fist pump when I get back to the car. Isnt he the sweetest.
Hope is the happiness that your dog showers on you when you come back from anywhere whether you were gone 1 minute or 10 hours. The wiggly bum, the rapidly fanning tail, the toothy smile “I am so happy that you are back”!
Hope is me making and eating up chocolate cakes in the name of trying to create the perfect molten lava version ;), everyday. Please save me and my teeth from chocolate.
I am sure hubbs is going to read this and look at me like.. really, where does all this go when you need it!:) I am passing on this baton to the following inspiring bloggers. No pressure for participating in the relay.
Caralynn at Glutenfree Happy Tummy. Though I dont think she needs to write a separate post. All of Caralynn’s posts are filled with hope and positive energy.
Vicky at Gluten Free scd and Veggie Vicky’s blog is full of amazing creations and her never give up attitude.
Kris at Spabettie Kris has something new every single day, come rain or shine.
Ella at Lifeologia Ella captures hope and beauty in her timeless photography and posts.
And since we are talking chocolate, here is a Chocolate Pretzel. Lightly sweet, lightly chocolatey mochaish bitter and crunchy salt. Just about perfect dont you think. To make plain pretzels, reduce sugar to 1 Tablespoon, leave out the cocoa and coffee, add 2 Tablespoons more starch to balance the missing cocoa. Or use the dough of my glutenfree Oat bread loaf.
These pretzels are my usual Oat and rice flour glutenfree bread dough with added sweet and cocoa. More glutenfree Breads here
For regular wheat flour pretzels see Stuffed pretzels here. Add cocoa powder to get desired color and extra sugar. Rest of the steps like normal pretzels.
You know hubbs reads my blog when he comes home and asks, when did u make these? I want some. (I had made glutenfree pretzies 2 weeks back and the post was in draft). Short memory anyone. So I made some regular half wheat half bread flour ones for him today. Pictured below.
Concetta, you won The Starch Solution Book! Please email me your address at richahingle(at)gmail(dot)com .:)
GF Batter before rise
Batter after rise
The batter becomes doughy after the rise and with some flour can be easily shaped into balls. To make long pretzel ropes, it will need a couple of tablespoons of starch to make it dry and sturdy enough.
Baked.
Time: Prep and Rise time: 1 hour
Cook time: 30 minutes
Utensils:
Bowl, whisk, measuring spoons, measuring cups, deep pan, parchment paper, baking sheet
Chocolate Pretzels
Gluten, dairy, egg, soy free. can be made nut free. Makes 8-10 2 inch pretzels
Ingredients:
Dry
1/2 cup Oat flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch( or any starch)
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder(more for darker)
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee, powdered (optional)
3 Tablespoons ground raw sugar or equivalent sweetener
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon active yeast
Wet:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup almond milk or any non dairy non nut milk for nut free
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon virgin coconut oil
Additional
1/8 cup of Oat flour to work
granulated Kosher/pretzel/sea salt for sprinkling
5-6 cups of water
1 Tablespoon baking soda
Method:
In a bowl, mix 1/4 cup warm water, 1 teaspoon raw sugar and yeast. Let sit until frothy. 7-8 minutes.
In another bowl, mix rest of the dry ingredients.
Add the dry to the yeast and mix.
Add in the almond milk, apple cider vinegar, oil and mix well to make a thick stiff batter.
Let sit for 1.5 hours, covered in a warm place.
Oil hands, and Using some oat flour, make balls or ovals. Place on parchment sprinkled with coarse oat flour.(let sit for 5 minutes until the water comes to a boil).
If the dough is too wet to handle, add a few teaspoons of starch and mix, to make it less sticky and easier to handle, but not too dry. Since this dough is a soft wetter dough, it is easier to make balls instead of ropes.
Bring water to a boil on high in a deep pan. Add baking soda carefully.
Carefully dip the pretzels in the water and boil 30 seconds. You can use a strainer for easy handling.
Place back on parchment.
Sprinkle liberally with granulated salt and press lightly and immediately transfer to the oven.
Bake in preheated 400 degrees F for 15-18 minutes.
Let cool for 10 minutes.
These pretzies are being shared at Slighty Indulgent Tuesdays, Hearth and soul blog hop, Allergy free wednesdays. Ricki’s wellness weekend, Healthy Vegan Friday, Susan’s Yeastspotting
I was excited for this recipe till I saw oat flour and instant coffee 🙁 Oats typically aren’t gluten free because of how they are processed (I don’t know if this applies to oat flour but I would assume so), and same with coffee. From the research I’ve done, coffee is almost never gluten free unless specified since it all contains some trace amount of gluten from processing. Are there any substitutes for those two things?
Also, I just discovered your blog from pinterest and I’m so excited to be trying out some of these recipes!
Thank you for dropping by. I use certified glutenfree Oats from Bob’s red mill(they are processed on different equipment), which some other bloggers with diet restrictions have used without problems. For coffee, you can skip it. The chocolate flavor is good enough by itself!
I have not made these with a different flour. I have used oat And sorghum or millet in combination before. Any other flour though will require some more starch to be added. So you might have to experiment a bit. the dough should be soft and moist before shaping pretzels and it should be fine. Do let me know if you do try it.