Gluten Free Roll Kuchen

My Mennonite roots are coming out here.  Hot summer day + roll kuchen + watermelon = bliss.  Diagnose a few family members with celiac disease and the roll kuchen days were over.  Oh how we mourned that loss.  But for those of you following along, you know that I refuse to be told I can't have something.  If someone else has done it, then I'll find out and try it myself.

The final push to find a recipe (and try it) came when I spent a weekend in Steinbach for a family reunion and (unfortunately) ended up sitting beside the big bowl of roll kuchen (NOT gluten free).  Enough! I said.  I'm having roll kuchen when I get home.



This recipe comes from Mennonite Girls Can Cook.  I've been getting quite a few recipes from another website, The Baking Beauties, and I began my search there.  Make it a small world when I mention that the author of The Baking Beauties, Jeanine Friesen, is also mennonite and lives in Steinbach.  She pointed me in the direction of the Mennonite Girls, since that's the recipe she uses as well.

I used my dear husband as the judge for the end result (since he got to enjoy the real stuff in Steinbach just a few days earlier).  Verdict: in terms of flavor? Spot on.  Texture?  Not quite there yet.  Guess we'll be doing a little experimenting with this recipe as we try it.  The texture differences could have been due to a number of things - learning to use a new deep fryer, flour choices, not letting it rest in the fridge, etc.  To name a few.  We'll keep trying!  These were so delicious, but they didn't puff up as much as we would like.  Perhaps that's why the texture was off.  To be honest, it didn't even matter.  I was in heaven.

Gluten Free Roll Kuchen

Yeah!  Finally a picture of the food I made!

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup corn flour
1/4 cup bean flour
1/4 cup millet flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1 rounded Tbsp sour cream
1 egg

DIRECTIONS
1. Mix all dry ingredient thoroughly
2. Mix butter, egg, milk and sour cream
3. Add dry ingredients and beat on high until dough becomes smooth
4. Turn out onto dusted surface (we used sweet rice flour here)
5. Knead lightly into a ball, cover in a bowl and let rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour
6. On a dusted surface, roll the dough out quite thin (or if you like them a little doughy, not quite as thin)
7. Cut into strips (we add a little slit in the center of each to help with the cooking process)
8. Deep fry until golden brown on both sides.

We eat ours dipped in corn syrup and watermelon on the side!