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Experiment Test!

I've wanted to do this for a whole year! AND I FINALLY DID!

I noted the taste, texture and any notes and possible uses for each according to my individual taste buds and preferences and (not so) educated guesses.

General notes.

All the white ones are starchy in behaviour. They act as a liquid when there's enough water, but when it's thick (ish, still runny) and given resistance it turns into a solid- it's confused. AND they all appear clearish, wet and squishy at the bottom and edges, and crunchy, dry, white and powdery in the center and top.

I mixed all starchy flours to a pourable consistency. And i mixed the others to a moist instant potato mash consistency, so when i stirred the spoon the flour would cave in immediately instead of sticking to the spoon and showing the bottom of the plate. So all were "pourable" to an extend even though the denser ones needed help being pushed out of the bowl. I thought the more moisture the better. I now see i may have over cooked them and added far too much starch to the "pourable" mixtures as cooking showed the extent to which how little i needed.

Arrowroot Flour

Taste- bland. No unpleasantness at all, similar to wheat.

Texture- Really chewy and clear with enough water, or crunchy dry on top.

Uses- sweet or savoury, perfect for bread as it imparts no flavour.

Notes- needed more water.

Glutinous Rice Flour

Taste- Bland, like rice with a very slight bitterness? or Sour...something unpleasant. But only very slight, very tolerable.

Texture - SOFT and squidgy- not squishy.

Notes - warped on itself. Undercooked or too much water.

Uses- Savoury or Bread. Maybe sweets.

Sorghum Flour

Taste- Bland, nutty, slight sour, reminiscent of wheat bix.

Texture- slightly dense, crumbly, crackly, heavy-sticks in your mouth.

Notes- ALLERGIC reaction, red sore irritated itch lip, itchy tongue throat nad mouth for about 30 minutes.

Uses- Anything i think. Be probably much better for sweets and muffins and things. Bread mix too.

Buckwheat

Taste- Has a tang/zang to it, reminds me of fruit. Sour? Slightly nutty. Ok.

Texture- Dense, holds well

Notes- Purplish colour? Fiberous.

Uses- Fruit loaves or fruit muffin type things. The taste would work well with fruit.

Potato Starch

Taste- Bland

Texture- Hard, calamari-chewy, dense

Notes- starchy (see explanation above)

Uses- Bread, sweet or savoury.

Green Bean Flour

Taste- Beany, pretty gross. Not a fan, in a mix might be ok.

Texture- Falls apart, soft

Notes- Smells nutty/beany

Uses- SAVOURY only

White Rice Powder (Note: Not a flour!)

Taste- Rice like, bland

Texture- Crumbly, soft, falls apart

Notes- Soft, dry centre

Uses- Bread, savoury or sweet.

Chickpea Flour (gram)

Taste- Nutty, SOUR aftertaste, Ew

Texture- Dense, hard

Notes- Smells like Taco, Bubbly top, Needs sugar or Salt

Uses- Savoury

Millet

Taste- Sour, seedish, not nice, ew

Texture- Crumbly

Notes- curled inwards, smells deceptively sweet, grey in colour.

Uses- i don't think i want to cook with this based on the taste, but i've cooked sweet things in the past and it worked yummy tasting

Corn Starch

Taste- Weird, bland, slightly oceanic but tolerable

Texture- Crumbly, hard

Notes- I think i didn't have enough water, starchy

Uses- savoury or sweet, better in sweet because of the blandness and sugar would hide the slight weird taste

Tapioca Flour

Taste- PLEASANT! Bland, tastes like nothing. I LOVE IT!

Texture- Squidgy, tough, chewy gel

Notes- Smells sweet, starchy

Uses- savoury or sweet, especially sweet, or breads!

Tapioca Starch

Taste- A mouthful of millipedes marinated in ocean water. Truely. NASTY!!!! EW!

Texture- dense squidgy

Notes- I threw it in the bin. Smells like ocean marinated millipedes

Uses- NEVER AGAIN!

Sago Flour

Taste- Bland, hint of sweet and bitter/sour. Weird, ok.

Texture- VERY Dense, chewy, slightly squidge to it, starch like also.

Notes- None.

Uses- Sweets only, perhaps in bread...

Corn Flour

Taste- YUMO! but with a sour after taste, nutty also

Texture- VERY Crumbly, dense with some squidge

Notes- yellow

Uses- sweet or savoury, sweets would probably work better as it is sweeter, but corn seems to match better with savoury. Tacos...

Rissoles

served on a gluten dairy free bun, i bought these, for 4 crumbly rolls it cost $8!!!

Rissoles

Bacon, mince, parsely, olives (green are intense too!) garlic, egg. Tomatoe sauce, rice flour coating, season. Fry. Really self explanatory.

Rice Cakes

I've tried all the rice cakes there are, and truth be told...these are the ones I can eat and love and their uses. I choose 3.5 main ones. I don't brand favourite, what eve is cheapest or on sale usually.

For sweet toppings nothing beats plain boring rice cakes, or the apple and cinnamon new ones out!

But, i prefer the thin ones myself, i find them easier to fit in my tiny mouth and the crumble factor is less annoying.

For savory toppings the Tomato and Basil tops the charts. I'm sure the cheesy ones are better, but i cannot eat these unfortunately.

BUT, if what you are eating is salty or otherwise flavoured, or you don't feel like salt (the tomato and basil are quite salty!) then the best way to go is good old corn cakes!

I used to eat the rice AND corn cakes, only because corn tastes so great, and i had an allergic reaction to corn. For now that reaction has seemed to dissipate so I'm with the full corn, but the half half is a good compromise. I get an irritatingly burning itchy sensation in my mouth, tongue and throat for a good 2 hours. Now saying that i still will not dare touch polenta or chorizo sausage (that gave me a really scary, painful intense reaction).

What to put on top, you ask?!

Praise 97% fat free Mayo, with Tuna in old, or John West Pink Salmon, green Olives or kalmata olives, splash of lemon juice, Avocado, Mushrooms, Perino Tomatoes and some Spinach/rocket/mixed salad/alfalfa= DELISH! Anything you like really.

Mayo is sweet, I'm a sweet tooth. I love mayo with fish! I love lettuce! Lettuce Tip? I find if my topping is wet to use a lettuce leaf both below and on top, this stops the cracker from getting too soggy and falling to pieces and the top ones keep my fingers dry!

Opening a tin, splashing on some fresh vegetables, and squeezing a tube is my idea of a great, quick, healthy meal!

Alternatively you could use ham. I personally dislike it and am not in the mood for it 95% of the time. You can use chicken too, bacon, etc. My other alternative is egg. I love egg because it contains so many health benefits, i don't let the cholesterol scare me away. A, D, E, Iodine, Phosphorus, protein, lutein, glutamine and much more.

Want more of a quick snak? Rice crackers! Pick up some tomato and Basil Sakatas (my favourite flavour- they have kick according to me) and try some "yumi" Dips, my favourite is the olive (and mayo). Or try making your own dips! (I'm yet to try this, guacomole, hommus with tofutto cream cheese, or plain toffutu, perhaps with grated frozen soy cheese for another kick!)

Tip:

If you freeze soy chees you can GRATE it! I was so excited when i discovered this!

Cookies and Hot Cross

Choc Chip Cookies

3/4 buckwheat

1/2 sorgum

1/2 potato starch

1/4c corn starch

1tsp Xanthan Gum

1/2 tsp sea salt

2tsp Baking Powder

1/2c grape seed oil

1 1/2c brown sugar

1tbsp vanilla extract

2tbsp honey

5-6 tbsp milk

1 egg

1/4 c choc chips

Combine. Chill in the fridge for an hour. bake for 12-15 minutes in 200 degree oven.

These tasted delish! BUT mind you, they were probably overly sweet. I think that these are too soft, next time I'll add more starches to make them crispier and more cookie like. They weren't bad tasting by any means but I wouldn't sell my soul for one. They were satisfactory, the chewy cookies are nicer and i only played it by eye!

Hot Cross Buns! (they look retarded but taste BRILLIANT!)

3 tsp yeast

1 3/4c rice milk (warmed in the microwave)

2tbsp sugar

whisk and let it rest 10 minutes

In a mixer bowl combine: 3 c orgran self raising flour 1/4 cup millet flour 1/2 tsp baking powder (gluten free) and a sprinkle of vanilla sugar

Add 2 tsp cinnamon and 2tsp mixed spice and 1/2 tsp salt.

Rub in 60g of margarine. Add 1 1/2 cup fruit and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Add in 2 eggs, 1 tbsp honey, 1tsp Xantha gum, 1tbsp vanilla syrup and the rested yeast liquid. Beat for 7 minutes.

Use 1/3 cup to make the mounds-not 2 spoons like i did, and let it rest for 45 minutes.

Set the oven to 200 degrees while you get the crosses going: 2tbsp orgran self raising flour. 1tsp icing sugar and add 1 tbsp of water at a time to get a thick mixture (if its fluid it will run all over the place!).

Spoon into a bag and snip the end off and pipe crosses on the buns.

Bake it for 20-25 minutes. If they are large you might want to lower the temperature to cook it more evenly to 180 and cook for slightly longer.

Brush on melted jam as a glaze if you want! :)

DONE!

Heavily based on THIS recipe with a few changes to make them fluffier and yummier.

These however taste like REAL hot cross!!! Seriously. Epic.

Chewy Muckies!

butter and sugar in even proportions.

combine

add millet flour and potato starch

2 eggs

Xanthan Gum

and a tbsp of honey

choc chips, coacoa, drinking chocolate, and vanilla essence for flavour.

Cook for about 20 minutes or so, until you see it crisping on the top (getting browner)

These turned out NICE and moist. The moistest, together-est cookie/muffin hybrid EVER!

Bite into these, they will not crumble. They might slightly fall apart, but the honey holds it together with a nice chewy bite! BEAUTIFUL when dipped in milk- keep shape when soggy too! Wont hold so much heaviness though. Wonderfully nice and sweet!