Pizza: Orgran Natural Foods Pizza & Pastry Multimix

Pizza remains one of Rob's favorite meals, so I didn't hesitate to try Orgran Natural Foods wheat free, gluten free Pizza & Pastry Multimix.

The celiac safe mix can be made in 5 minute and only requires water. I was a bit puzzled however by the multimix part. For us pizza has a distinct flavor that is completely different than pie or pastry. The package does point out that yeast may be added to enhance pizza flavor, and cane sugar may be added to enhance pastry flavor. Hmmm an all-in-one mix that is many things to many people.

I followed the directions, made my well and added 250 ml water and stirred. But what I stirred soon became the gloopiest mess ever. My hands were so covered in dough, I couldn't feel my fingers. Finally able to scrape the dough back into the bowl, I miraculously formed a ball. This stuff is no joke! I was slightly put off too, I should note, by the "oaty" grain smell that emanated from the bowl.

After coating a pan with olive oil, I rolled the dough out, sprinkled some salt and pepper on the crust and examined it. The dough had a nice yellow hue and looked appetizing enough. Even though the directions didn't say to, I baked for 10 minutes then added Sundried Tomato Tapenade, ricotta, fresh basil and fresh sundried tomato-infused mozzerella. I topped with a drizzle of olive oil and baked the additional 20 minutes.

What emerged was a fantasy for celiacs and non-celiacs alike. The cheese had melted beautifully and the basil gave a fresh shock of color to the gluten free pizza.

Unfortunately the pizza did not taste as satisfying as it looked. Rob and I decided the crust lacked flavor and had a poor mouth-feel. It was not crusty or chewy- or rather it was chewy for a moment before breaking down quickly. It seemed more like a pastry crust than a pizza in truth.

In sum, I plan on trying this again but making a pie crust instead. I won't be using this for gluten free pizza.

Ingredients:
Maize starch, tapioca, rice flour, soya flour, glucona delta factone, sodium bicarbonate, guar gum, fruit pectin.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1.4 oz/ 40g Dry
Servings per container: 9
Calories: 135
Calories from fat: 8 g
Total fat: .8g
Sat fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 220 mg
Total Carb: 31 g
Dietary fiber: .8g
Sugars: .2 g
Protein: 3.7 g

Cookies- Orgran Natural Choc Chip Biscotti

Lately Rob has been on a gluten-free buying spree and voila he surprised me with chocolate chip biscotti cookies by Orgran Natural. The bite-sized cookies are wheat free, gluten free, dairy free, casein free, yeast free, egg free and edible for vegans. They look charmingly tasty, though looks can be deceiving I soon discovered. I wouldn’t say Orgran Biscotti are bad, just confused. On first bite the biscotti seemed stale, even though they weren’t. Perhaps it was because they so resembled a cookie that I was surprised by the airy lightness of a biscotti. But then, I tasted more coconut rather than airy lightness. Was this a coconut cookie or a chocolate chip biscotti? I would have to go with the former. Admittedly Orgran’s biscotti does grow on you, and I found myself popping several into my mouth. So if you do purchase Orgran’s biscotti, just be prepared for a more coconut cookie than a chocolate chip biscotti.

On the very plus side, Orgran’s Natural Choc Chip Biscotti contains an impressive list of non-chemical ingredients (minus the palm kernel oil) including:

Maize starch, water, raw sugar, palm vegetable oil, rice flour, 11% coconut desiccated, choc chips 9.0% (cane sugar, palm kernel oil, soy flour, cocoa mass, emulsifier: soy lecithin), brown rice syrup, pea flour, cocoa powder, emulsifier: monoglycerides from vegetable, natural vanilla flavour, sodium bicarbonate, salt. Made from local and imported materials.

Nutrition Information

Servings per pack: 19

Energy: 36 kcal

Protein: 0.2 g

Carbohydrates: 4.6 g

Sugars: 2.2 g

Starch: 2.4 g

Fat: 1.8 g

Sat fat: 1.1 g

Fiber: 0.1 g

Sodium: 0.01 g

Gluten: 0 g

In summary, though Orgran Choc Chip biscotti is truly a wonderful product simply because it is appropriate for so many with dietary restrictions, there are certainly tastier cookies out there my celiac friends!

Happy Eating!

Diana