Monday Links: Gluten Free Beers

Can I just say that 2012 has been my best year ever so far?  I feel healthy, I have so much love, and I am filling my life with wonderful moments.  In fact, just last week when the temperature topped at 65 degrees and the sun was warm on my face, Tim and I sat on our patio, listening to a Spotify playlist that I made for him, a cold beer in front of each of us, and chatted about our days.

Welcome back to my life, Beer.  You are most welcome to keep coming around.

If you are looking for a gluten free beer for yourself or if you'd like to buy something special for when a gluten free friend or family member comes over for dinner, I recommend any of these options.

My very favorite beer is Green's Gluten Free Amber Ale (pictured above).  I ordered it this past weekend at Brazenhead and even my husband agreed that it was a fantastic option as far as gluten free goes.  It really has a smooth, rich taste without being too heavy and no metallic aftertaste.  (Also, I'm so pleased that Brazenhead had several options for gluten free customers including a few gluten free beers and several ciders on tap.  Way to go, Brazenhead!)

I also tried Green's Gluten Free Dark Ale at Dilly Cafe, and I was impressed that it was just as dark and thick as a Guinness.  It had a strong chocolate and coffee flavor at the first taste but finished didn't leave a heavy or sticky mouthfeel.  I thought it was awesome to have the option of a serious dark beer, but I'd prefer it as an after dinner drink rather than something to pair with food.  

Also discovered at Dilly Cafe is DogFish Head Tweason'ale.  It's a seasonal gluten free beer that has a lovely scent of strawberries on the nose but is not overly sweet on the palate.  Also, the strawberry flavor doesn't last much after the first sip, and I appreciated that as I don't usually like my beers too fruity.  It's a medium bodied beer, very refreshing and would pair wonderfully with some simple roast chicken or a salad.  If you can find it, I'd definitely recommend seeking this out!

A big thank you to the Cincy Beer Festival for including New Planet Gluten Free Beer in their vendor list.  I discovered this beer there and all of the selections offered were wonderful.  I particularly liked their lightest beer, the Tread Lightly Ale.  It's the perfect backyard barbeque beer, and it's light enough that it would probably be unnoticeable to any non-gluten free beer drinks that it's missing the gluten!  Locally, it can be found at the Dorothy Lane Markets in Dayton, and trust me--it's worth the drive to check out DLM and get this beer!  (I picked up some on Saturday and it was stacked in front of the beer coolers.)

Lastly, I might as well tell you that in just about every well stocked Kroger that I've been into around Cincinnati, you can find Anheuser-Busch's gluten free beer offering, Redbridge.  It's not my favorite--just like Bud Light was never my favorite--but in a pinch, it's easy to find, not too expensive, and definitely drinkable.  I've picked some up when I just wanted a convenient choice.

I truly appreciate every single one of these companies for pioneering--or jumping on the bandwagon of--gluten free beers!  You all get a big thumbs up from me.

To my gluten free readers, am I missing any of your favorites?

Bread, My Love

I was all set to do a post about preparing the home for Thanksgiving where I was going to tell you how Tim and I got serious on our clutter this weekend, but then bread happened.  Yes, bread.

As I told you we would, we spent Saturday morning acting like tourists around downtown Cincinnati, snapping pictures of Findlay Market and then of the incredible gardens at Krohn Conservatory.  Tim teased me a little bit, calling me the paparazzi, but once I handed the camera over to him at the Conservatory to take photos of the Orchid House, he started to really get into taking pictures.  I think he took a picture of every single orchid in the installation.  Every. Single. One. 

When we got home, Tim settled in to watch college football and I took up my post in the kitchen, experimentally baking, as I told you I would.  My lofty dream of re-creating a family favorite dessert went south--quickly--as just about everything went wrong.  Then I mixed up the dough for gluten-free, egg-free baguettes and that seemed to flop as well.  My pre-ground flax, when mixed with water, wasn't gelling the way it was supposed to do and the dough was off.  It wasn't until I baked up some gluten-free, vegan, soy-free chocolate chip blondies that I felt like I was getting my baking mojo back.  I was ready for round two of bread-making.

I followed the directions on the Artisan Bread in 5 Blog exactly as written, even grinding my own whole flax seed to fine powder for an egg-replacer, and said a small prayer over the mixing bowl.  As we waited for it to rise, we tackled some clutter (all inspired by Tracy's post on the Homefries blog) by decluttering the living room bookshelf and then emptying out our cabinet with the lazy-susan and ridding ourselves of half full bags of dried cranberries.  It felt great to tame our overflowing cabinet, and as a reward for our efforts, the universe cooperated, allowing the stars to align, and our dough rose perfectly.

After we chilled it, formed the baguette shapes (a delicate procedure when working with somewhat goopy, squishy gluten-free dough), and let them rest for another 40 minutes, I finally popped them into a hot oven to bake. 

The house smelled like warm, yeasty bread.  A smell so missed that I think I had hidden my longing for it deep inside so that even I couldn't recognize it until the smell of a bread I could actually eat awoke it.  I could only think, Oh bread, my love, this is our reunion!

It's been over 5 weeks since I've eaten bread that even remotely reminded me of bread. This bread was divine.  Even Tim said that it was so similar to traditional bread that he was pleasantly surprised.  The outside was firm and crisp, the inside was slightly fluffy with a little bit of the trademark bready chew.

Should you decide to make this bread for yourself or a gluten-free loved one, I do have a few tips.  Wait until the bread has cooled completely before eating it.  If you break it open too soon, the inside might be a little squishy.  It tastes perfectly wonderful at room temperature and has more traditional bread-like structure.  Also, I didn't top it with the seeds as shown in the original recipe, but I think seeds would be an excellent addition to the bread.  Lastly--and this is the most important--you can't swap out any of the ingredients and expect the same result.  For the best gluten-free bread, use the King Arthur Flour mixes exactly as listed.  I can purchase KAF Gluten Free Multi-Purpose Flour at Whole Foods and possibly my local supermarket, but I had to order the KAF Ancient Grains Flour from the KAF website.

Happy baking!

(And if you missed it, you can find the recipe with step-by-step photos for Gluten-free, Egg-free Baguettes here.)