Since I'm not coeliac and my intolerance is all about an immediate effect on my body, cross contamination doesn't affect how I feel, and neither do small amounts of wheat (soy sauce, certain crisp flavourings etc).
Over Christmas a family member was explaining the different between spelt and wheat flour. The ancient grain used to be the main staple for gluten based foods, and is even mentioned in the bible 9,000 years ago. As time went on though, and farmers began harvesting more and more, the grain of choice now is wheat as we know it. It has a much higher gluten content and is often processed in ways that the body has never learnt to digest properly, hence there being such a widespread (and sometimes misconceived) notion of wheat and gluten intolerances.
So I decided to give this a test. It's not that I'm struggling being gluten free, but finding tasty gluten free alternatives can be challenging/expensive, plus I've been meaning to get into home cooking more again.
I started by making the pastry, mixing spelt flour, butter and water together. I didn't really take measurements, as when I have in the past, I've always ended up changing them. It was approximately 200g of the flour, 150g butter and 150ml water. Everyone thinks making pastry is hard, but as long as you go in cautious it's pretty easy to get the consistency right. Using the spelt flour was an obvious difference from both wheat and gluten free. It seemed to have a higher elasticity than wheat which made it more difficult to mould at first, but this helped spread it out into the baking dish, unlike the gluten free pastry.
Pressed out into the pan, this is what the final product looked like:
Next my friend and flatmate Chelsea fried off some red onions to the point of being golden and caramelised, and then fried off button mushrooms with half a chicken stock cube.
I added these to a little bit of Red Leicester cheese (I cannot enjoy a meal without cheese) and dropped in three medium eggs, whisking it all together.
After baking the pastry for ten minutes by itself (I don't have a proper quiche pan so the bottom never gets cooked if just goes straight in) I added the two components together and put into the oven for 30 minutes at gas mark 7.
It rose extremely well and smelled absolutely incredible from the moment it exited the oven. It was an extremely painful waiting time while it cooled.
Finally, Chelsea and I took a taster, and another, and another. And then I remembered I had to take a picture. The pastry did stick in places, but that could be a variety of things. I've nibbled on it three times by now and am pleased to report no disagreeable symptoms are to be reported!
Final rating:
Sophie: 9 - Besides the sticking to the bottom of the pan, there were few noticeable differences between this and ordinary flour.
Chelsea (who is cautious to anything deemed 'healthier'): 8.5
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