Amy Ruth's all-purpose baking mix
Cressida took Amy Ruth's mix home to experiment with – here is her report:
This mix has a lovely ingredients list: brown rice, teff, quinoa flours, combined with flax and chia seeds. It has added potato and tapioca starches, xanthan gum, baking soda and powder, and a little salt.
I used it to make pancakes for breakfast, for which I found an easy recipe on Amy Ruth’s website. As with pancakes, it tookmes about four goes to get a really good hot pan and produce a perfect pancake, but all my breakfast guests from five year old Tom to 72 year old Alastair gave their pancakes thumbs up for taste and texture, and everyone wanted more!
Then I made some cheese straws:
100g Amy Ruth’s All-Purpose Baking Mix
50g dairy free margarine
2 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)
100g grated dairy-free cheese (suggestions for plant-milk cheeses)
half a tsp dry mustard powder
pinch salt & pepper
2 egg yolks
a little water
Rub the margarine into the flour mix, and then mix in the seeds, cheese, mustard, salt and pepper. Mix to a dough with the egg yolks and a little water. Roll out into 5 mm thickness on a floury (Amy Ruth’s mix, or cornflour or any other gluten and wheat free flour will do) board and cut into strips or any shapes you like. Bake at 180 degrees for 7-15 mins, or until golden brown. Scoff.
Amy Ruth’s flour gives them a nice wholemeal texture, made a little rougher by the sesame seeds. Using 100g of Vegusto mild aromatic cheese gives a mildly cheesy flavoured straw, so either up the quantity or the cheese strength for a cheesier taste. The dough cracked a little around the edges when being rolled out, but the straws themselves held together well after cooking. You could use an egg replacement if you cannot tolerate or are allergic to the egg yolks – try Goodness Direct for some options.
The mix is over 70% whole grains and seeds, which contain essential omega fatty acids. The mix is gluten, nut, dairy and sugar free.
Available from their website for £6.99 for a 500g bag, and from various stockists in London.
