Gluten Free Buttermilk Buns

Bread is a matrix of cross-linked proteins and gelatinised starch. Most of the proteins, around 80% are made of gluten. Unfortunately not everyone can digest this protein with a sticky nature, it can cause an autoimmune disorder, the coeliac disease. Round about 1 in 500 people have this autoimmune disorder and need to avoid gluten under all circumstances. These buns are made from a mix of rice flour and potatoe starch, therefor free of any gluten. I wanted to test the taste and learn more about baking bread. Additionally I made a spread with fresh gluten-free ingredients, since gluten can be a food additive in almost any processed food, even cold cuts.

2nd part, mango spread.

For the buns you need:

Ingredients:

• 350 grams gluten free flour
• 150 ml water (3/4 cup)
• 150 ml buttermilk (1 cup)
• 40 grams butter
• 40 grams baker's yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 egg
• coatings

The seeds of the coatings I used were:

• Poppy
• Sunflower
• Pumpkin
• Sesame
• Anis
• Fennel
• Oatmeal (gluten!)
• Oat bran (gluten!)

Yes, I also used coatings with gluten to test if I could taste a difference.

Measure 350 grams of the gluten-free flour, 40 grams of butter and 150ml of water. Crumble the baker's yeast.

Mix the flour with the crumbled yeast in a bowl, sprinkle with the teaspoon of sugar and add the water. Knead to a pre-dough. It will all be like dry crumbs because the dough has not enough liquid yet. First we have to multiply the yeast. Usually you cover a dough with a dishcloth, but the gluten free dough needs to be covered with plastic wrap to avoid losing moisture.

Let it rest for 15 minutes at a warm place.

After 15 minutes, add the 150 ml buttermilk (1 cup), the egg, the teaspoon of salt and the 40 grams of butter. Whisk the egg in a cup before you add it. After mixing, cover in plastic wrap again.

Let it rest for another 30 minutes at a warm place.

After 30 minutes the dough has visibly risen and we preheat our stove to 200°C (400°F) so we can start forming our buns. Prepare 2 spoons in a cup of cold water. With one spoon you take out a part of the dough and with the other one you give it a round shape. Then you sprinkle the coating over the bun. After every bun dunk the spoons into the cold water.

Place the coated buns on the baking tray either with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Give them a little space because they will expand in the stove.

While baking the buttermilk buns at 200°C (400°F) you should have a secound baking tray with some water underneath to create steam for a nice crust. The buns are ready after 25 minutes. As you can see in pictures 2 and 3 they will gain some size, but the surface will only be smoothly like in picture 4, if you work it with a spoon. The last picture shows the spongy bottom and what probably happens if you don't steam your buns.

The crumb of these buns looks spongy but it is not whippy. You have to cut them thoroughly in 2 halfs, letting them connected at one side to easily put in spread does not work, the buns will break before they bend. They taste like a fat free plain cake and dry out after 3 days. The crust is very thin but tasty. I tried to make a burger with one but somehow the bun seemed to "sweat" fat at the crust with the hot meat inside. Still tasted good and wasn't too dry.

A healthy spread that pairs well with the buttermilk buns.

Ingredients:

• 1 mango
• 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons pistacchios
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cardamom

Equipment:

• Kitchenknife
• Hand blender
• Mortar and pestle
• ginger grater
• peeler
• grater
• jars
• citrus juicer

Peel the mango and dice the flesh of fruit. Then cut the dices off close to the pit that you can see in picture 3.

Peel the ginger and grate it into the plastic beaker of your hand blender.

Open the cardamom and pistacchios, remove the shells. Crush in a mortar with a pestle. Add to beaker.

Abrade the zest of the lime, then squeeze the inside on a citrus juicer. You can use the juice to clean the grate to gain more aroma when you add it to the beaker.

Now that everything is in the beaker, use the hand blender to create a smooth spread. Fill it in the cleaned jars.

Spicy and fruity, you can add crushed walnuts on top when you use the spread on the buttermilk buns. I hope the instructable is complete and comprehensible, if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Enjoy your meal!