gluten-free log, hour 56

I went with my super cool friends Aundria and Rachel to the People's Food Co-op last night - it's an awesome place, with tons of bulk items. Sitting outside sippin' on smoothies from Sip, a dude approached us with a huge Rubbermaid bin, and offered leftover pretzel buns. Really? Worst timing ever, dude. Aundria took one and, I confess, interwebs - I had a nibble of a corner. Just enough to whet my appetite for gluten again. While my super cool friends enjoyed this pretzel bun right in front of me, I simmered in sullen silence (by which I mean, I vocalized my hatred of them...I take gluten seriously, interwebs.) So then I got proactive and Googled "gluten-free soft pretzels," and lo and behold, the interwebs is full of recipes! I used this recipe for Jules Gluten-Free Soft Pretzels, and ran back into the co-op to search for ingredients. They only had Bob's Red Mill All-Purple Gluten-Free Flour, which was almost better, because 1) I love Bob's Red Mill; and 2) it's LOCAL! (Does it count if they are national? I don't care.)


I only made one revision to this recipe: I used yeast that had been expired for three years. Thank Geoff for that one. The pretzels came out ok, but I would still use unexpired yeast next time, because it's really hard to purchase stuff that old anyway.

Oh, and I made another revision: Bob's Red Mill flour calls for xanthan gum. So I added a teaspoon of that to the dry ingredients. I also sampled a little bit of it dry, and it made my lips stick together.


Here are the little pretzel friends I made and then covered in olive oil. Yum!


Then I boiled my friends noooooooo


Then I baked them. The recipe warns not to overcook - this is for real, guys. I left them in there maybe a minute or two longer and they got shriveled. Keep a close eye on your pretzel friends!

I'm a fan of these, because the flour imparts a slightly nutty taste. And they have a really good texture. Would you guys believe it, this is my first foray into GF baking? I know, I'm kind of awesome.