Welcome!

Arts and Health, Sisters is devoted to exploring creative problem solving and coping strategies in our world, especially the links between artistic expression and personal and spiritual growth. It is also dedicated to honoring the value and power of women.

Search This Blog

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Gluten Free Olive oil Tortas

Last week I gave myself a treat and stopped at Dean and Delucca's and bought "Tortas Aciete" which I take to mean olive oil cookies/pastries. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven, but I'm not supposed to eat wheat flour. So... I'm going to be experimenting with making non-gluten ones and I thought I'd share my first try.

I started with finding a recipe on About.com for the wheat flour kind, then adapted it as follows:

1 package dried active yeast
6 T olive oil
12 T (about 1/2 c) warm water
1 t salt
2 c non-gluten flour (I used sweet sorghum, but will probably try buckwheat next time)
1/4 c ground golden flax seed

Dissolve yeast in about 1/4 c warm water and olive oil in a good sized mixing bowl. Combine salt, flour and flax seed. Slowly stir the flour mixture into the yeast mixture. When it gets thick add a bit more water.The mix will never get really smooth and dough like since there's no gluten. At the end you may need to mix with your hands to get it to adhere together. Put a towel over the top of the bowl and let rest in a warm place for about 30 minutes. I set the oven to 175 degrees F and then turned it off and put the bowl in there for 1/2 hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F

After it's raised a bit, roll or pat the dough out into about 6-8 inch rounds, very thin about 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. If you roll it out you may need or want to use a spatula to transfer the round to a baking sheet. I greased the sheet with some more olive oil, but that may not be necessary. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The tortas may be more or less crispy and should have some raised areas, like a cracker.

I enjoyed eating mine, the recipe made about 8 tortas, I think I would have gotten a lighter result if my baking yeast hadn't been over 3 years old!!! I'll get some new for my next trial. These have a bit of a nutty flavor from the flax seed, they are more chewy than wheat flour and more filling. Let me know what you think if you try them out.