BlueSteele Cafe Review

Jason here. Kayleigh and I were recently town in Tacoma shopping around for a new car. Whenever we travel away from home we look for gluten free places to try that we might not have otherwise made the trip out for. This time Kayleigh found a recently opened café called BlueSteele Café.

Before I get into my order, let me say the service was fantastic and answered my reaffirmed that gluten free flatbread options were available. It’s a good feeling to look a menu and have the capability to order nearly everything on it.

To that end, I ordered the Chicken Bacon and Ranch (CBR) flatbread. I really wish there was a BlueSteele close buy, because this was freaking fantastic. I haven’t had any bacon and ranch items in a quite a while, which I am sure contributed to how delicious this tasted. Plenty of ranch, with crunchy bits of bacon and flatbread. I don’t eat flatbreads very often, so the comparison I was reminded of while eating my CBR was of a deliciously crunchy crusted pizza.

I also ordered a mocha with my meal, which is unusual as I rarely order coffee. I was impressed with the intricate design created from the cream on top, and it tasted delicious. However, it was easily eclipsed by the flatbread. While I really enjoyed my coffee, I’m not really a coffee connoisseur so I am curious about hearing some other opinions.

Kayleigh here. While the menu was somewhat short, I think it is important to note that this means every item is done well and made to order right behind the counter. Each section of the menu had a vegetarian option, to my delight- enough to please any palate! It was interesting to see a flatbread option with mozzarella and brown sugar, too- never seen one for a sweet tooth before! Looking at the specials menu, I ordered a white chocolate cherry almond concoction for my drink. It was absolutely delicious! Now, I need to figure out an excuse to be down in the area again, so I can try something else on the menu!

English Muffins Recipe

Kayleigh here. This recipe has probably been the most frustrating one of the blog so far. Yearning for an english muffin a couple years back, I made a mediocre batch and the plan to improve upon it. After a few more attempts, I was able to pat myself on the back and say that they were finally right enough to satisfy that craving.

I recorded the recipe, wrote up a blog post for it, then waited for the next week when I would post it. But when the time came, the hard drive the post was on had broken. Every blog post had been backed up except that english muffin recipe. Frustrated, I abandoned trying to recreate it for a year.

Until recently, when that craving struck again, so I tried in vain to remember what I had done. The result: It certainly tasted like an english muffin, but I had the amounts wrong. The dough that I thought would rise to become six puffy, chewy muffins instead stayed so flat that I could not even cut them in half for putting the toppings on.

I didn't give up though, and managed to get things right the second time through. Thank goodness it was not another month-long process to find the right combination! Admittedly, I may tweak this recipe in the future to get an even better nook-and-cranny texture on the inside, but this is a delicious, convenient breakfast as it is now.

English Muffins Recipe (makes 6 muffins)

Ingredients:

1 Cup Sweet Rice Flour

¼ Cups Garbanzo Flour

½ Cups Corn Starch

3 TB Dry Powdered Milk

½ ts Xanthan Gum

1 Egg

1 ts Baking Powder

½ ts Baking Soda

1 packet Yeast (or 2 ½ ts)

¼ ts Salt

1 ts Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Cups Milk

Corn Meal, for dusting

Directions:

1) Add all dry ingredients (flours, milk powder, xanthan gum, baking powder/soda, salt, yeast if it does not need proofing) into a bowl.
2) Heat the milk in the microwave for forty five seconds, or until just warm. Add the remainder of the ingredients except corn meal to the dry ingredients, stirring until it becomes a dense mixture, about like a biscuit dough. If it doesn't come together, add more water. If it doesn't hold it's shape, add more corn starch.
3) Grease a hamburger bun pan, english muffin rings, or whatever you plan to use (they do hold their shape reasonably well, if you want to shape them and lay them out on a cookie sheet). Sprinkle cornmeal into the pan, then add the dough. Using a wet finger or spoon, smooth out the top of the muffins, then sprinkle more cornmeal on top.
4) Let these sit for 2 hours in a warm spot, so they have time to rise fully. Towards the end, preheat an oven to 350 degrees.
5) Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve immediately, or warm them in a toaster oven as leftovers.

Jason here. I’ve eaten about a dozen of these breakfast baked goods. I’ll admit I ate them with some spreadable raw honey, and peanut butter every single time. I probably should have also tried them with some jelly, but the raw honey peanut butter combo was just too good to pass up. 

The English muffins most definitely had the taste of traditional English muffins, but were missing some of the original airiness. That’s not to say they did not have that crunchy texture that comes to mind when I think of English muffins, just not the full airiness. 

To be honest, I don’t think missing the airiness subtracted much. I smother my English muffins in peanut butter and honey so what I was really looking for was the crunchy texture to balance out the spreads, which this recipe provided.