Sunday, February 20, 2011

The Freaking Awesome Burger and Single-Serving Soda Bread

This was an excellent discovery that I am very happy about. When I started cooking gluten and lactose-free, I was feeling bummed out about being unable to bake bread. Thankfully, I found a really good gluten-free soda bread recipe. I found it to be wonderfully biscuit-like, and decided to make a smaller version to use as a burger bun. Here is the modified soda bread recipe, complete with a simple and delicious burger recipe.

Single-serving Soda Bread Bun:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit; lightly butter or oil a small baking sheet or pie tin
Mix together:
1 cup baking flour (I used Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose baking flour)
Sprinkle of salt
Teaspoon or so of baking soda
A sprinkle of buckwheat flour, if you want a really rich flavor
Cut one tablespoon of cold butter into this mixture, mixing it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
Whisk together an egg and a cup of milk (I used Rice Dream), then mix that in with the dry ingredients.
Knead on a floured surface for a little bit, shaping dough into a ball.
Set the ball on the prepared sheet or tin, then pop into the oven for half an hour.

Freaking Awesome Burger:
Chop up a clove of garlic as fine as you'd like it, or leave it chunky. Throw the garlic into a small bowl, along with a BIG splash of Pickapeppa sauce, or just plain Worcestershire if you're boring and haven't bought any Pickapeppa yet (Get on it! I mean it, it's really good!), maybe a tablespoon or so. Add in a quarter pound of ground beef or turkey and knead it together until thoroughly combined.

Shape your now-awesome meat into a ball and press to about half-inch thickness. Add delicious meat-puck to a lightly oiled frying pan and cook to your preferences. I was using turkey, so I made sure that it was cooked well on both sides, but I know that many people are more lenient with beef.

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