For my Southern Hemisphere Wine Pairing Party, I had several new gluten free recipes for traditional wheat-based dishes. Two were giving me problems. Lamington cake flavor and Empanadas crust stability and color. If you find yourself in a similar situation, here’s cover the fixes used to rescue my recipes.
GF Lamingtons – A Blah Sponge Cake Issue
I researched a base recipe for gluten-free sponge cake dense enough to stand up to being sliced into little squares and maintain shape. The ingredients seemed fine and I didn’t want to unbalance it (if you ever messed with a gluten free recipe – little tweaks can make it all go sideways).
It was a dense sponge exactly as I wanted, but it lacked of good flavor. It was very bland but otherwise not bad tasting. Just lack of substance. Being short on time and ingredients, I decided to use it and infuse flavor into it in other ways.
First – Flavored Simple Syrup
Because it was a dense cake, it could use simple syrup soak. I took some orange juice, boiled it down a bit, then added a tooth ache worth of sugar. And voila, orange syrup.
I cut the cake in half through the middle, essentially making two layers. Then I soaked the inner parts of each layer. Then covered and popped them into the freezer for a bit to firm up.
Second – Filling Layers
Lamingtons can be filled or not filled. Not only did these need a filling, but it needed to be extra delicious. The solution was using raspberry jam for fresh tartness and Vanilla Chantilly Cream for richness.
I used the freezer a lot for preparing the lamingtons. Once the fillings were in the cake and it was sandwiched back together, I froze the cake for almost an hour. The fillings had to set enough so they wouldn’t drip out, but it needed to be cutable.
Once everthing seemed set enough, I cut the cake into the typical lamington squares. Then I covered and froze those little guys for several hours. Once each individual cake was solidly frozen, they got a good coating of dark chocolate icing and unsweetened desiccated coconut (smaller than the large flakes)
The combination of the syrup and filling saves the day. I sacrificed two for taste testing. My daughter gave it her stamp of her approval, which she proclaims is extra special because she is such a picky eater.
GF Empanadas – Unforgiving Pie Crust
The empanadas I needed for my dinner party were based on a Chilean recipe. They were meat (or potato) filled and quite juicy. Usually a thick type of pie crust works. However, I was doing these gluten free.
I tried many gluten free crust recipes with lots of failures. If you are just shoving them into a pie tin, there’s a lot more wiggle room. But hand-pies are free form, need to be flexible without tearing. Most gluten-free crusts could not handle being folded or they dissolved quickly when in contact with the juicy filling. Oh goddess of pie crusts, why do you vex me so!
Box Mix Solution
I was getting desperate. I couldn’t find any pre-made gluten free pie crusts. I was even considering a deconstructed empanada where I could just make some crust crackers over a bowl of filling. It’s good to have a backup plan.
However, I did find several mixes. Because I trust the brand, I went with King Arthur Gluten-Free Pie Crust mix. It also boasts a picture of hand-pies on their box so I was very hopeful.
Working with Fragile, Sticky Dough
It still wasn’t easy. They were fragile and sticky. It took extra gluten-free flour and parchment paper to roll out and fold over carefully. Parchment paper is my ultimate baking tool. The dough had to be just the right thickness. Too thin, it would break away. Too thick it would crack on folding. The filling had to be cooled completely, and only use so much as there was not much stretch to the dough.
The Trick to a Good Brown Crust
The other issue with this crust was it would not brown up well. A simple egg wash was not enough. I ended up doing about 3-4 egg wash/bake intervals, which was about double the bake time the box noted .
First, I would do an initial eggwash after assembling the pie on the tray and bake the first 20 minute stretch. Once the crusts were firm (but not browning) I would do another wash and bake for another 10 min. Then anywhere that wasn’t browning up I would do another layer of egg wash and bake. You could say I was watching my little pies like a mother hen, but that sounds cruel considering what I was using. Overall, it finally resulted in a nicely browned, flaky crust. Because the filling was juicy, it help us to the extra baking time.
Nobody Knows the Troubles I’ve Seen
Both of these dishes worked out with the fixes I mentioned. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed them during the wine pairing dinner. Most guests were quite surprised to discover its all gluten free. And they have no idea that anything went astray in my process of creating the dishes. That is, unless of course, they are now reading this article.
These cooking hurdle moment remind me to not give up. There are often little tricks you can try or a new approach you can take.
Here’s my mental checklist when facing a cooking issue:
- Take a breath
- What exactly is wrong
- Is it salvageable: reuse, modify, fix
- What would fix the problem (list all options)
- Take another breath
- Okay – lets try…
- (if still not fixed) Alright, if not that, then lets try…
- (if still not fixed) Hm, lets give it a rest today and try again tomorrow
Cheers!