Sliders

It has been hot here the last few days.  Hot and humid.  I really hate the humidity, and it makes me quite grumpy.  This makes coming up with fab dinner ideas nearly impossible.  I recently had a birthday, a big enough number not to disclose here, and got a great cookbook for my Thermie called Quirky Cooking by Jo Whitton.  She had a heap of dietary issues and has made up the best recipes to compensate.  I decided to try her Spelt Bread.  Miss A has never tried spelt, but I thought it was worth a go.

I made up the dough and it rose beautifully!  Like no GF dough as ever risen!  I was so excited!  I split into 12 small dinner rolls and baked.  The smell of baking bread that isn't GF is divine!  I had nearly forgotten the joy of kneading dough and stretching and moulding of elastic wheat dough.  It was a heavenly experience.

I had some meatballs in the freezer, pork and vegetable from Ottoway Pork, that flatten into beautiful little mini hamburger patties.  These went beautifully with our rolls to make yummy little sliders.  In case you haven't been bitten with the 'slider bug', a slider is two or three tiny hamburgers served in many restaurants at the moment.  I am not quite sure of the point, a normal size hamburger hits the spot the same, but these things seem to be everywhere.  They worked well for tonight as my kids only manage one of them.  Spelt rolls are much more filling than their GF counterparts.

Unfortunately, Miss A has had a gut reaction to these.  Within an hour of comsumption, her gut was swollen and hard.  I hope this is a small reaction so we can consider introducing again in a month's time, but if not, it was worth the try.  Any possibility of expanding her diet is worth the risk.

I will share the recipe anyway, you may be able to tolerate it where she cannot.  Just be aware that spelt is a type of wheat, and does contain gluten.  It is a more ancient form and can be more easily digested for a percentage of the population, but not for everyone.

SPELT BREAD ROLLS

Ingredients

100g brown rice

400g white spelt flour

2 tsp dried instant yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

40g olive oil

1 egg

230g water, room temperature

Method

Place brown rice into Thermomix mixing bowl and mill 1 min/ speed 9.

Add all remaining ingredients and mix 6 sec/speed 6.  Then knead 2 min/knead function.

Transfer dough to Thermomat and let rise until doubled in size, approx 30 mins.

Roll into 12 balls and place together on a tray lined with baking paper.  Bake 30 mins, 200C.

Non-Thermomix Option

Use brown rice flour instead of brown rice.  Mix and until smooth in a mixing bowl, knead until smooth on a pastry sheet or floured surface.  To rise, place in an oiled bowl in a cold oven on the middle rack.  Fill a roasting pan with boiling water and place on bottom of oven.  Shut door to keep in all the steam.  Allow to dough to rise for 30 mins.  Remove roasting pan before baking.

To turn into these cute sliders, I added butter (because it is yummy!), cheese, nomato sauce (recipe here) and lettuce.  For Mstr H's to be dairy free, I used Nuttelex and soy cheese on his slider.