Wholemeal scones…no gluten, no dairy, no egg, no problem…

April 25, 2015 by colourmehappykitchen Leave a comment

I don’t really subscribe to the idea of food guilt. We all need a treat once in a while. And I’ve got enough on my conscience. But most of us have it sometimes. Food guilt that is.

So imagine a guilt-free scone. One that’s actually really good. It’s taken me a while to get there (batches and batches of too-dry, too-heavy or too-crumbly or just not-quite-right baked blobs) but, finally, a lovely, light-yet-hearty scone. As good with hummus or soup as jam or nut butter.

There’s no refined sugar, gluten, eggs, or dairy. I’ve used high-protein and fibre flours (buckwheat, gram, a mix of brown and white rice) for a nutty texture and flavour. Calcium-rich almonds. Heart-healthy olive oil. And omega-3 rich flaxseed as a binding againt, or flax “egg”.

Or “flaxative” as fitter half suggested, before I suggested I needed the grass cutting more than help with scone-making. (It’s shockingly traditional in our house, I’m not allowed near the petrol mower or strimmer and he’s not allowed near the high speed blender. Luckily the boy loves pink and the girl loves blue. If I could write songs that would make a great title…)

Anyway, here they are. Enjoy….

Makes 6:

• 80g rice flour
• 40g gram flour
• 40g cornflour
• 40g buckwheat flour
• 50g ground almonds
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 40g honey or maple syrup (or agave)
• 45ml light olive oil
• 45ml boiling water
• 15g ground flaxseed
• 100g plain soya yogurt or 100ml almond milk with half a teaspoon lemon juice added

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (180C fan).
2. Mix all the dry ingredients except the flaxseed in a bowl.
3. Add the boiling water to the flaxseed and stir, then leave it to form a gel.
4. Stir the almond milk mixture or yogurt into the flax gel with the honey or maple syrup and oil, then mix the wet ingredients into the dry bowl. Use a spatula to mix into a soft dough. (It should be firm enough to hold its shape but softer than your average scone dough.)
5. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or baking paper and scoop the dough onto the centre in a mound.
6. Dip your hands in some rice or buckwheat flour and pat the mound gently into a round.
7. Lightly oil a pallet knife (or large sharp knife) and cut the dough carefully into 6 triangles. If you are using a sharp knife and silicone mat be careful not to score the mat.
8. Again with floured hands get your fingers into the cuts and carefully pull the pieces of dough apart. Space them evenly on the baking tray. The dough is sticky and probably won’t stay in a perfect triangle – luckily these are rustic scones not garden party canapes…
9. Bake for 15 minutes until well risen and cracked on top.
10. Leave for 5 minutes on the tray then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
11. Split and top with pretty much anything. Honey, hummus, almond butter, banana, fresh strawberries, any jam…or totally naked, warm from the oven.

ps these are definitely best on the day you make them but still pretty yummy the next day.

My baking has gone a bit vegan recently. I cut out the dairy a few years ago. Now I’m experimenting without eggs. Not because I am vegan, though I do have a lot of admiration for anyone who is.

Fish, I will always love to eat. So I’m kind of a vegan who eats fish. And the odd bit of parma ham. Maybe a lamb curry once in a while.

I digress. So, why no eggs.? It seems the huge red scaly patch that starts from the one-year-old’s chin and, on occasion, spreads right down his chest, is, possibly related to egg consumption, not just dairy.

It started as a hunch, I noticed he would be super itchy after scrambled egg or pancakes, then it got better when I stopped giving him those, but kept coming back for no apparent reason.

I’m one of those mums who hasn’t quite got round to stopping breastfeeding. I’m kind of hoping he’ll do it for me but he’s showing no sign yet at 18 months. So then I figured if I wasn’t eating dairy because of his dairy allergy, maybe I should ditch the eggs for a while and see if that helped?

And it seems to. Sure, teething brings a rash in a smaller patch where the dribble never dries out, but not the fearsome itching and huge rash area that egg does. Maybe I’m right, maybe not. But I can’t bear seeing him in such discomfort so I will try anything.

Luckily he’s a great eater so I’m not worried about him missing out on vital nutrients. Of course, we have days when it’s hard to get anything into him except breast milk and banana chips, but that’s teething for you. And I thought I’d miss eggs. But I don’t.

Most of all, I’m loving experimenting with egg-free baking. It’s made harder that all my baking is gluten-free so I need to think even more carefully about how to get things light and fluffy and yet stick together. There’s nothing more frustrating than a cup cake that crumbles into nothing before you can get it from plate to palate.

Or a scone that breaks up before you can spread it with jam. Luckily, these don’t.