Go Gluten Free Blog Event

I was delighted to be asked by Katie over at Apple & Spice to take part in her first bloggers event “Go Gluten Free” as part of Coeliac UK’s Gluten Free Challenge for Coeliac Awareness Week .

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease that affects an estimated 1 in 100 people (though only 3% of these are likely to be diagnosed/know they have the disease). Gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye triggers an immune reaction in people with coeliac disease which means their immune system incorrectly identifies gluten as an allergen causing an inflammatory response which damages the lining of the small intestine. My Dad, my Brother, myself and one of my sons all have coeliac disease.

There is no cure for coeliac disease and the only way to manage the condition is to avoid eating any and all gluten so that your intestine heals – and stays healed.

The internet is a great resource for gluten free recipes but as I blogged recently I think the best, least confusing approach – especially for those recently diagnosed – is to focus on simple recipes that can be made gluten free just with a straight substitution of gluten free flour.

As part of the Go Gluten Free challenge we were asked to post a recipe that we had converted to gluten free.  My immediate thought was waffles!  Waffles are a great addition to the gluten free diet as they are so versatile.  When you are looking to replace toast for breakfast, or sandwiches for lunch, waffles work.  They also make great standby desserts – just add a little sugar to the batter and top with maple or golden syrup, fresh fruit, ice cream… you get the idea!  These are made using Dove’s Gluten Free Plain Flour, readily available in all supermarkets as well as health food shops.

If you don’t have a waffle maker, you can use this batter and make thick fluffy pancakes in a non-stick frying pan or omelette pan.

Gluten Free Waffles

300g Dove’s Plain Gluten Free Flour
1tsp baking powder (make sure it is gluten free)
Pinch of salt
250ml milk
110g unsalted butter, melted
3 eggs, beaten

Weigh out the flour, add the salt and baking powder.  Sieve these dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Sieving aerates the flour which is important when you want anything light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl beat the eggs, add the milk and beat again.  Pour this wet mixture into the bowl with the flour and mix.  Pour over the melted butter and mix again to get a relatively smooth batter.

Oil your waffle maker or pan and add the mixture.  We find that a Half Cup measuring cup or a full ladle is about the right about of mix to make one waffle in our waffle maker and we end up with 9 waffles, but you may get one more or less depending on how you are cooking them.

Our waffle maker is rather old and well used and we find that we need to turn our waffles over for 30 seconds once they looked cooked on top in order to get a nice crispy top and bottom.

Today we used these for lunches.  One of my kids had his spread with jam, two others topped their with cheese and ham, and my other son covered his in cheese and topped it with sliced pepperoni.

I had mine with three cheeses, crispy spicy chorizo and some sauteed cherry tomatoes – yum! Who needs bread anyway?!

Three Cheese Gluten Free Waffles with Spicy Chorizo