Coconut Tea Bread (gluten free)

Dear Readers,

Gluten intolerance and celiac disease are all over the news these days. The Mister and I are both gluten intolerant ourselves. But, one need not give up delicious foods just because of that. I am going to let you in on a secret to making excellent gluten free baked goods. Measure by weight. I know if you are an American cook you may have never done this. You can purchase a digital cooking scale inexpensively for around $10.  A book that has been very influential for me in developing my own gluten free recipes is Ratio by Michael Ruhlman. This book has been a life saver. It is simply put a collection of chef’s master formulas. Many of the store-bought mixes I have tried simply did not turn out at all for me, and much of the readymade items are expensive, don’t taste very good, and have an ingredient list that read like the contents of a chemistry set. So here for your delight is a simple recipe for a coconut tea bread.

p.s. This recipe will work with regular a.p. flour as well. Also, you can substitute any milk or milk alternative that you prefer.

Coconut Tea Bread

Ingredients:

8 oz. gluten free flour blend (I make my own, but any should work)

4 oz. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. Baking Powder

8 oz. coconut milk

4 oz. melted fat (I used ½ butter and ½ coconut oil)

2 lg. eggs

2 tsp. vanilla (optional)

1 tsp almond extract (optional)

1 C. toasted coconut

Combine 1^st four ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add the liquid ingredients and stir or whisk till thoroughly mixed (no need to worry about over mixing with gluten free flour). Fold in the toasted coconut. Pour into a greased loafpan. Hint: if using butter, save the wrapper to grease your pan. Bake in a 350* oven for 1hour and 15 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan on a cooling rack. Enjoy with butter, jam, and a nice cup of tea.

Weaver