Gluten free Christmas pudding recipe

[Dilbertian]

Can anybody recommend a recipe for a GF Xmas pud? I’ve tried converting my own recipes, but never feel it comes out quite right.

I’ve stopped cooking them (everyone prefers a steamed syrup pudding) but this is what I have learnt. And it would always turn out more crumbly than I would prefer. I do a good fruit cake, though.

My flour mix is 500g tapioca flour, 500g glutinous rice flour, 200g millet flour, 200g bean/chick pea flour. I use xanthan gum but only a pinch. Almond or hazelnut flour have fat in them so a spoon of that into your flour mix might be of advantage. Soy is a natural emulsifier which is why you see it so often in product. A spoon of that might be useful. Lupin flour bakes beautifully but we don’t get on with it. But a spoon of that into your flour mix might be good, too.

I would soak the fruit for 12-24 hours. Use fruit that soaks well. Sultanas, raisins, fresh dates rather than dried, diced, dried fig diced. Prunes. Currants are a pain so I gave them a miss.

I couldn’t get suet to work. Everything would swim in the melted fat, not soak it up and then, once cold, I would have congealed fat everywhere. I reduced the amount to about 30% of the recipe and it still wouldn’t work. So, I used melted butter.

So, soak the fruit. Add your flour, xanthan, sugar (I used brown as its stickier), spices and mix. Whisk eggs and milk and start folding through. Duck eggs are stickier so are good for baking. Alternate with melted butter. Stop when you think your batter is good. Allow to sit for two hours. GF flour can take a long time to hydrate. Add more liquid if you need.

My pudding bowl holds 1 litre. My recipes all seem to make 2 litres so I cooked one on day one with the excess batter in the fridge ready for tomorrow. Never a problem. Into the slow cooker for about 6 hours. I found it wouldn’t need more.

Good luck with it. I would be interested to know how you get on. Merry Christmas.

This is very interesting, thanks.

I don’t get on terribly well with dried beans, so I avoid soya and bean flours. Not tried lupin flour. Chickpea tends to be OK in small quantities. My favourite flour is buckwheat flour plus ground almonds and a punch of xanthan gum - makes perfect pastry for the mince pies.

Does glutinous rice flour have the same crunchy grittiness as regular rice flour?

Regular Xmas pud has a lot of breadcrumbs, which give it some
lightness, but GF breadcrumbs are basically dust. No better, I suspect, than flour for aerating the mixture. I think that’s the biggest problem. I was going to try adding some baking powder this year.

You’re right about the fat swimming everywhere and then congealing. I shall try reducing the quantity this year.

I batch cook many small puddings, rather than one big one. But this takes much less time to steam. I had not taken into account the time it takes for the flour to hydrate. Perhaps the shorter cooking time is therefore a disadvantage.

Glutinous rice flour is similar to tapioca - it’s very fine, almost like icing sugar.

Regular rice flour can be gritty, I agree, but by accident one day, I made something and shoved it into the fridge for two days and it came out silky smooth so it’s all in the hydration time.

I have never used breadcrumbs so I don’t know where I got my recipe from but, yes, I cannot imagine that gf breadcrumbs would do well.

I admit that I have never used soy myself. The shorter cooking time is probably fine, particularly as you are doing smaller puddings but the real gf baking trick is in the hydration time beforehand. If ever in any doubt about your batter, rub a bit between your finger and thumb to see if any grittiness lingers. You can always add a little more liquid and leave a bit longer before looking.

I have mucked it up so badly once that I didn’t serve it as a pudding but layered bits of pudding with custard to make individual trifles. Silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

M&S has a lovely one - they have a fantastic range of gf puddings and cakes this year and their sticky toffee pudding is to die for!

I’ve got cassava flour. Quite a lot, actually, as I accidentally bought it three times! Do you think it would do as a substitute for tapioca flour? IIRC, tapioca flour is softer and higher in starch.

This is the recipe I have been using since finding it in Sainsbury’s magazine in 1999. It is simply dried fruit, nuts, fruit juice, eggs and rum! It makes a very traditional pudding and gets darker the longer you cook it. I have also split the mixture up and made mini individual ones too. Apologies for the writing all over the first page, different sizes and cooking methods have been used over the years!

I think you’ll have to wait for the 2 images to load…

Now I like that idea.

Decisions, decisions!

Cassava flour, DH has to Gluten free as he has an allergy to the stuff that can and has landed him with stays in hospital.

have tried this flour but DH complains if I use it in sweeter foods as it tastes cheesy, I would keep it for savoury bakes.