Growing up, my mom taught us all how to bake from scratch. We spent lots of time in the kitchen. I think I was baking cookies on my own by the time I was seven (I, however, am an over-protective mother, apparently, and haven’t given my children such free range in the kitchen).
I think, however, that my youth kitchen time was not the norm. Many of my friends don’t know how to cook at all. Even more than that, not many people have the time to cook from scratch, especially when a recipe calls for 10 or 20 ingredients (or more!). There are many days when I can’t afford the time for such recipes, either.
Well, I received the book 4 Ingredients Gluten-Free, by Kim McCosker and Rachel Bermingham, from the publisher, to peruse. I think many of you might like to check this book out.
Not including water or salt and pepper, these recipes use only 4 ingredients. I was a little skeptical about some of them, but I was pleasantly surprised.
These ladies come from Australia, and they are at a bit of an advantage there, as it appears that “gluten-free self-rising flour” may be easy to come by. I don’t have any of that, so when I needed some, I just threw in a little baking soda and called it good. 🙂
I would like to be able to tell you I read the whole book, but I just don’t have that kind of time anymore. I did read through quite a bit here and there, and liked what I saw.
So far, we’ve only made a few recipes from the book. We started with Apple Fritters. These are not like what you and I think of, the deep-fried donut things. They are definitely healthier, not as sweet, and it uses grated bread instead of a batter. Everyone liked them, though I think the Braden and Carter were initially disappointed that they didn’t taste like donuts (Forgive me. Reading over my shoulder, Braden says he was not initially disappointed). We tried frying a few (they are supposed to be just cooked in the skillet), but Braden said it best when he said that it kind of “ruined the goodness” of the recipe. It was fun to try, and though it wasn’t what we were expecting, it was definitely good.
We also tried the Citrus Pancakes. While not the fluffiest gluten-free pancakes I’ve ever had, I definitely learned you can make pancakes with only a handful of ingredients (gf flour – plus baking soda for me, tangerines – I used oranges, an egg, and milk). And they were good! I did end up adding a little sugar and nutmeg to mine, because I used a lot of buckwheat flour (I’ve got an insane amount of different flours that I never use).
This cookbook holds over 400 recipes, with quite a few that we have decided to try in the near future.
Check out the 4 Ingredients YouTube Channel to get to know them (and listen to their awesome Aussie accents!). They have also written mainstream cookbooks, so always remember to check ingredients before making something.