I was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease. As a lover of baked goods and pasta, this news hit me a little hard. I’m a hobby baker. I always have at least one baked good in my home at a time, mostly cookies. I’m the least picky eater that you will ever meet. I love food. Learning that I would have to cut out most of the food that I love was quite a shock. I learned to bake from my mom. I have always felt close to her when I cook. Baking has also been a stress relief for me. I imagine myself whisking out the anxieties of the week into the batter.
The thought of having to give up that aspect of my life threw me into a spiral. May is already a hard month for me personally. This news just added to it. I performed a deep clean of my kitchen and cleaned out so many things from my pantry and fridge. Things that I didn’t even know had gluten in them: soy sauce, oyster sauce, cereal (though that was kind of a no-brainer), pastas, and cream of mushroom soup. Even my Tony Chachere’s seasoning! My New Orleanian soul practically left my body.
The knife in the heart was my sourdough starter, Jesus Crust. It was give to me as Christmas present 2 years ago by my parents. Since, it was a Christmas present, it needed and Christmas name. I have kept it alive in my fridge for this long, only taking it out and activating it when I wanted to bake. I have made many things from it. Bread (of course), bagels, cookies, brownies, crackers, etc. I decided to give it to people who might use it, instead of throwing 2 years of life in the trash. So far a coworker and my best friend have inherited some of it, and a cousin will receive a bit more. It’s hard to part with it.
After some research, I found recipes for gluten-free sourdough starters. They use gluten-free all-purpose flour. The ratio was a little different than what I am used to. As opposed to the 1:1:1 ratio of starter, flour, and filtered water, the gluten-free ratio is more of a 1:0.5:1.75 ratio. When approaching a recipe, I go by the original recipe first and foremost. Once I get used to a recipe, then I experiment with additions and tweak the recipe to fit me. I decided to follow a recipe from the King Arthur Baking company. They are where Jesus Crust was born, so I trust them with most of my bread experiments.
I found some all-purpose gluten-free flour from my local Trader Joe’s. I will touch on my grocery shopping experience later. The flour can be used as a 1:1 substitute for regular flour. That was when my confusion about ratios started. If it could be used as an equal substitute, why are the ratios different to begin a gluten-free sourdough starter? But who am I to question the bread geniuses? According to the recipe, it would take 2-5 days for the starter to activate and grow to the desired volume for recipes. I mixed Day 1 in a spare mason jar, gave it the name “Celiac Dion” (courtesy of my best friend), and set her to do her magic in the pantry. Always place a starter in a cool dry place. In hindsight, I should have used a larger storage container to let her grow in. I usually work with equal parts of 50g for each ingredient. Days 2-5 called for half of day 1, 128g of filtered water, and 121g of gluten-free flour. I was to look for a SLIGHT rise. I put her back in the pantry and let her be. When I checked on her the next day, after work, I was surprised at what I found. Like the diva she is, Celiac Dion exploded! She had literally blown her top off. It took me 5 minutes to find the top of the mason jar, which was loosely on the jar when I left it. So don’t come for me about screwing the top too tight.
I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to me that a 1:1 flour substitute could actually be used as an equal substitute! I’m gonna try this for the next time. I’ll have to buy more flour (small bag for a slightly higher price, unfortunately) and some more jars. Luckily, the jars I can get from my local Dollar Tree. Until then, this is Celiac in the Crescent City signing off!
