Homemade gluten-free bread & Lovely Candy Company candies

This week I did something I haven't done in many years; I made gluten-free bread from scratch. One of my coworker friends gave me a fabulous Lodge dutch oven (with a cute snail handle!) and I just had to use it right away. There's been a lot of conversation at work about making bread at home (bagels in one case) and it got me thinking that I should try it again. My previous attempts at breadmaking were not great, tasty, but not what I wanted. Sadly, this attempt wasn't much better.

After much searching on Pinterest, and skimming recipes, I settled on one: No Knead Dutch Oven bread from the baker upstairs. The recipe calls for all-purpose flour so I swapped it out with an gluten-free all purpose flour (1 of my favorite's is from Amy the Family Chef). The recipe calls to let the dough rise for 12-18 hours and I may have overdone it by a few hours.

dough

I followed all directions and this is what I got: a hard, crusty, soft-inside ball of bread. It does taste good though it is very dense. The top came out quite dry and I am not sure how to fix that. The bottom was a bit thick also. Next time I will use a different all purpose blend and maybe put some olive oil on top. If anyone has suggestions, please leave them!

This week I received an order from the Lovely Candy Company, which makes gluten-free licorice and other candies. I forgot to get licorice because I was excited about fruit chews and Raspberry Fudgey Rolls. The rolls remind me of Tootsie Rolls but with filling; oh so good and chewy. The fruit chews are very sweet but good! The berry ones have little chunks of dehydrated fruit, which I love.  I can't wait to try the licorice. Here is their candy list. Check 'em out! 

Yesterday I was sick, and today was my day off, so I have been catching up on the on-line stuff, as well as marathoning Transparent on Amazon Instant Video. If you haven't seen it, you should. It's about the family patriarch who makes a huge life change, family secrets come out, and everything goes to hell in a handbasket. Jeffrey Tambor is amazing as Mort/Maura. The cast is fabulous and it certainly represents some reality.  There are currently 2 seasons, though a 3rd season will be out this year. Watch it here on Amazon Prime! Now I can go back to making my way through Fringe, which is also good, but an entirely different type of show.

Until next time...love, love, love.