PIZZA TIME!

Last night I tried my hand at the pizza dough made by the lovely and wonderful Shauna and Danny from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef. A couple of things first-- the flavor is great, the crust is chewy, and it is TASTY. I genuinely believe you should keep these 3 key things in mind if you decide to embark on a gluten free pizza making adventure. Another thing to keep in mind is that gluten free pizza dough does tend to be a bit sticky-- it is better to go into this baking adventure NOT expecting it to behave like a wheat based dough (remind yourself as you work!) despite your mind veering into the "I need to add more flour/use less water next time" train of thought you may find yourself mentally meandering through.

While I do have their fantastic cookbook where this recipe comes from, Shauna and Danny were generous enough to share their gluten free pizza dough recipe with Michael Ruhlman on his blog so you can taste test one of the many (and really, there are many) fantastic recipes these two have created.

The lead-in to the recipe will probably also make those of you living with celiac and gluten sensitivity a case of the chuckles... sometimes it's just funny to read about other people who are in the same boat. Anyway, enough blathering from me-- go check out the recipe here.

In terms of our experience with this dough, we rolled it out between two layers of waxed paper but I have read that other people have had more success rolling this out between layers of saran wrap. Next time we do this, we're going to try shaping the crust on parchment paper that we can put directly onto the pizza stone. We tried a couple of different ways to flip the dough onto our pizza stone and wound up with two pizzas with lots of... character. Another tip from Shauna and Danny is to let the dough hang out in the fridge overnight to help further develop some extra flavor. While we were both totally tickled with the flavor on the crust, we figure it's worth a shot! Also, this is critical, be sure to do a prebake on your crust-- it's a pretty important step in making a chewy and well cooked crust.

YUM.

a new fixation: wheat and gluten in shampoo, conditioner, lip balm, hair goop... all of it.

I've been on something I can only call a beauty product making rampage recently. I did some quick copywriting work for a beauty products company that is totally fantastic (and vegan!) and I got real hung up on the ingredients. Don't get me wrong-- this company has an absolutely outstanding ingredient list, but lots of their products contain hydrolyzed wheat proteins in them. While I was writing out the directions for use, I made a mental note to check out the ingredients in the shampoos, conditioners, and body wash in the house later. Boy, was I bummed out.

I've been pretty vigilant about makeup and lip goop especially, but never thought to investigate everything else (duh on me!). Anyway, what I turned up was that nearly every single thing in the shower had wheat in it. Smack dab in the middle of the Bumble and Bumble Quenching shampoo was Hydrolyzed wheat starch. BLERGH! Imagine forking over 28 bucks for some liquid gluten that winds up all over your face and body when you rinse. And then imagine, following that up with the conditioner, that contains not only wheat germ extract, but also barley extract, hydrolyzed wheat protein, and hydrolyzed wheat starch as the 4th, 5th, 6th, AND 7th ingredient. DOUBLE BLERGH!

Anyway, I've settled into using the totally great Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle and Rose shampoo (no wheat! gluten free!) but have yet to find a great conditioner that doesn't use wheat in it. Tips, anyone?

So, back to my new obsession-- lip balm. Since the weather started turning (for a brief moment there, since yesterday we hit 90 degrees?) my lips have been getting VERY dry and chapped. In my hunt for a good gluten free lip balm that wasn't going to set me back too much, I started thinking about making my own-- and I did it. I'm super tickled with how it all came out... I absolutely adore all things honey related (due to a serious bee obsession) so the lip balm I've made uses local Santa Barbara honey, beeswax (sadly, not local-- yet!), lanolin, sweet almond oil, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and right now, organic orange essential oil. It's smooth and wonderful-- not too thick, not too shiny... it's just right. Anyway, I've got it for sale in my Etsy shop-- Charles Vintage-- if you want to take a gander and maybe buy one.

the trouble with food allergies and sensitivities... being gluten free in santa barbara

When I first went gluten free, I struggled with the idea of losing my favorite foods and the satisfaction that went along with eating them... the donuts, pasta, and assorted sweets I tend to obsess over here on this blog every so often especially. I didn't fully realize how it would affect me socially. I was raised in a food-centric Mexican household where sharing a meal and cooking were inextricably linked to family and love-- we always gathered around the table to eat and talk... always.

Now that I'm older, the convenience of ordering up a pizza in 20 minutes or less, dropping into a restaurant during road trips, the absentminded food grazing at parties, the family get-togethers... all of my social 'food freedom' ended in a snap. Sure, I went through a period when I would have some pizza because I missed it so much (terrible, I know) and suffered the consequences immediately and for two weeks after... but it's the commitment my GF diet requires that sometimes has me daydreaming of a stomach that can handle gluten... if only to have an unguarded experience with food out in public. To talk about a recent party experience that involved platters of crazy deliciousness from C'est Cheese where the wheat crackers were spread around chunks of cheesy goodness and knives that had been used to spread the soft cheese on wheat causes me great pain-- it was like food hell... you can look and smell but can't eat it. BLERGH! Side note: GO TO C'EST CHEESE! It's cheese heaven... don't even get me started on the Burrata.

While my health has improved infinitely since I cut gluten out, I do miss the freedom of wandering into a restaurant and ordering anything off the menu without fear of the repercussions. There are some restaurants here in town that I have never had a problem with, but there have been some that are hit and miss, and some I just avoid like the plague-- even refusing to go for the "I'll have the salad" route... yikes.

Anyway, enough of my rant... and onto my gluten free chicken noodle soup.

final verdict: TASTY!

I finally found a place carrying the newish gluten free baked goods from Betty Crocker. Using the word tickled probably doesn't do right by my reaction in the grocery aisle. I have a been a faithful mixer of gluten free flours for years now and recently, due to laziness and really, many situations where the need/want for a cookie decimates my patience, I have been turning to premixed varieties from Pamela's (always delicious, although fairly expensive). I'm pretty happy to report that I now have some new 'stuff' to add to the mix!

I bought the chocolate cake mix, the yellow cake mix, and the chocolate cookie mix. So far I've only made the chocolate chip cookies... and let me tell you-- they are tasty.

These cookies, once they come out of the oven are much more along the lines of those tasty cookies that are more redolent of a buttery mix than a cake-y one. They have a very light texture-- slightly crumbly-- with a little bit of the typical gluten free texture (although not gristly or mealy at all!) with a bit more chew to them.

All you need is an egg, a teaspoon of gluten free vanilla, and a stick of room temperature butter... it literally took me two minutes to mix and they cook in ten minutes. It's immediate cookie satisfaction. Just be sure to gently slide them off of the cookie sheet because right when they come out of the oven, they tend to break easily. I let them rest for about 3 minutes on a cooling rack.


Yum.

Available at Albertson's at 5801 Calle Real in Goleta.

gluten free santa barbara

welcome to gluten free sb.

gluten free sb comes from the heart. being a celiac has its challenges and takes the support of family, friends, and even strangers to stay healthy and safe when you eat. sometimes going out to eat can feel like maneuvering a minefield in terms of getting accidentally glutened... and sometimes, you may even find that your old favorites that you make at home (like rice krispies for me!) have gluten in them... and you had no idea.

our hope for this little website is to help out people who live in santa barbara or are visiting to have a place to visit and do research on local restaurants that have gluten free offerings on their menu, places to shop to pick up gluten free goodies, and hopefully a place with decent recipes to try.