The Pike Pub Review

Jason here. I really like bar food. Particular appetizers, burgers, wings, and fries. However, most pubs don’t cater to gluten free, and when they do the appetizers are usually still fried along with everything else limiting my options. I was hesitant to agree to try out The Pike Pub for those very reasons, but I’m happy to say I was mistaken and this place has excellent gluten free options.

The menu is pretty expansive, and all gluten free options are labeled. To start I ordered a Bison Bacon Burger, with a side of fries. The fries were listed as gluten free, but I have found in the past that means nothing when it comes to fried foods. I asked my waiter, and he was very knowledgeable and let me know that only fries go in that fryer to keep them safe for that reason. He even let me know they would take off the Pale Ale braised onions which would not be gluten free. Having the waiter catch that made me feel very safe ordering off the menu, and I did not have worry about cross contamination.

The plate came out with a massive burger, and covered in fries. It also had two delicious pickle spears which I was not expecting. They were listed on the menu, so I must have been particularly absent minded that day. I love the burger, with plenty of crispy bacon and some sort of cheese I did not quite recognize. The menu listed it as Samish Bay Ladysmith cheese, but I’m not sure what that is. If you have never had bison burger I recommend you give it a try. I find I prefer the taste just a little bit more, and it has more of a solid patty consistency, as opposed to the ground beef. Ground beef tends to leave a fatty coating in my mouth, which bison does not. I’ve heard it described as sweeter, but that’s not been my experience. I think just having less of that fatty coating in my mouth brings out the flavor more.

Now that we have found a couple different places not too far from the convention center, I’ll feel more prepared when Emerald City, or PAX roll around and we are hunting for places to eat.

Kayleigh here. Despite always being on the lookout for gluten free restaurants with homey pub atmospheres, I had passed this one by so many times because I assumed it was just another tourist trap on the waterfront. But then I noticed it had actually won a few awards for their beers, and I decided it was worth giving the food a shot. The gluten free menu is mostly limited to sandwiches and pizzas ( a couple of the salads are also safe), but there are quite a few options to choose from, and being able to order actually gluten free french fries is such a rarity! Plus, they have some decent kimchi as a side dish option- who would have guessed?

Essential Baking Company Review

Jason here. A friend was up visiting recently and we wanted to find some places to eat out for breakfast-something we had yet to do since moving, and ended up giving Essential Baking Company a shot. We visited the location in downtown Bellevue which is located in the University Book Store. We went as early as we could and found the book store still closed, but bakery open, so don’t be scared away if it looks closed from the outside.

We have found it is difficult to find a gluten free breakfast place. Normally, for breakfast you get stuck ordering some eggs and bacon, an opting out of a side of toast. Not exactly something worthy of eating out. On the flip side, the Essential Baking Company stocks multiple gluten free breads to choose from, and can make almost any item gluten free. I recommend checking out their website, for finding which options might be of interest to you.

It was nice to find a place I could order a nice gluten free breakfast sandwich at. I ended up ordering a delicious Prosciutto and Asiago egg sandwich on gluten free bread. It is no small secret that I love cheese, and this sandwich hit the spot. The cheese and particularly the prosciutto gave it a salty taste. There is just something about Asiago cheese that I enjoy, but can’t find the right words for.

Kayleigh here. I agree- this out of the way bakery was an excellent discovery for a quick dining spot! Plenty of free parking underneath the building, plenty of options for the gluten free diner, and even a couple of desserts you can pick up to enjoy later. Of course, they are open until 7PM, with an equally extensive lunch and dinner menu. Or make it there during their happy hour to enjoy a glass of wine and a well-paired snack. How classy! You can also pick up a loaf of their gluten free bread from any café location, as well as many local supermarkets. And boy, is it nice to get some locally baked bread for a change.

Product Review - Manini's Bread

Kayleigh here. I'm just going to throw it out here: baking every loaf of bread from scratch isn't exactly friendly on your time. But after choking down one too many slices of store bought brands, we had simply resigned ourselves to laboring in the kitchen at least once a week to make sure something at least halfway edible would be in the fridge for quick lunch fixes. Those simple days of buying bread were simply gone... until a friend keyed us into Manini brand bread.

Yes, Manini isn't as widely available as Udi's or Rudi's, but there are still many markets in the Seattle area that carry this special brand. Dense, chewy, and flavorful, their sandwich bread hearkens back to the gluten-full brands of yore, with only the label to remind you otherwise.

Manini's bread has an interestingly light sourdough tang to the taste, so I would say the loaves are better used in savory meals, like cold cut sandwiches or veggie hummus combos. Toasting the slices does mellow this taste, making it a great vessel for jams, nut butters, or a simple drizzle of melted butter and honey. Really, I enjoy the slightly tangy contrast the bread provides- a far cry from bland rice loaves- but I could see where this may clash with certain condiments.

Jason here. Manini’s breads are pretty good. To be honest, at this point I’m starting to forget what normal bread tasted like. Manini’s does taste a little like sourdough bread. I like to take turkey, American cheese, and mayonnaise sandwiches to work. This bread works pretty well for those. Our Brown Rice Bread is also pretty good, but it has more of an earthly taste. We will certainly continue to bake our own breads, but for now I am happy to have two great breads to use for sandwiches. Perhaps soon we will get a light pastry bread to try. Stay tuned!

Brown Rice Bread Recipe

Kayleigh here. So, after many, many, MANY crumbly and dense loaves of bread, I think we've finally found a recipe for the perfect gluten free sandwich bread. The recipe? It came from my Great Grandmother.

Well, mostly. She had no concerns about using non-gluten flours, so I did have to modify it a bit to match our needs. But fortunately for us, nearly every baked good she wrote down the recipe for included 2, 3, or even 4 different sorts of flours. So instead of guessing at what would match what quantities of the All-Purpose flour, I just plugged in direct substitutes I knew would match the taste!

Another addition to this particular recipe came from the previous post, actually! After making a wonderfully light and fluffy Angel Food Cake, Jason wondered 'Why can't we just make sandwiches out of this?' Although a sandwich made out of cake sounds a bit tempting, we realized it was probably not the best idea, but there was nothing saying we could not take a couple pointers from the cake-making process.

For those of you who have made gluten-free bread before, you know how hard it is to make anything close to the light, springy wonder breads of yesteryears. Certainly, the right flour blend can help with this, but most of the success actually comes in the process. Sift the dry ingredients at least once or twice to introduce more air to the loaf. Make sure all the refrigerated ingredients are taken out well beforehand, so they are at room temperature. Before adding the egg, beat it with Cream of Tartar until it forms a stiff foam. And make sure to proof your yeast beforehand!

What is proofing? Well, just take your liquid (water or milk, depending on the recipe) and heat it until just slightly warm. Add a tablespoon or two of sugar, then pour in the yeast, stirring well. After ten minutes or so, the surface should be very foamy looking, which means the mixture is ready to use. If you give it a fair amount of time, and it still does bot foam, then either the liquid was too cold, or the yeast is no longer active. Either way, it is no good, and your bread would not have risen with it!

If you are using a breadmaker, like we are, then you do need take an extra step beyond pressing the 'start' button. Pay attention to the first stirring cycle. As soon as it ends, reach in and remove the stirring paddle. That way, the first rise can happen uninterrupted, and the second stirring cycle will not undo all of that. Really, this will make or break the final rise and texture of the loaf, so do not forget this step! Gluten-free loaves do not have enough elasticity or strength to rise a second time.

Well, suppose I should stop rambling. Onto the recipe!

Brown Rice Bread

Ingredients:

1 Cup Brown Rice Flour
1 Cup Tapioca Flour
1 Cup Tapioca Starch
2 ts Guar Gum
1 ts Baking Soda
1 1/2 ts Baking Powder
1/2 ts Salt
1 Packet Active Dry Yeast (or 2 1/2 TBS)
1 Cup Milk
2 TBS Sugar
2 ts Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 Cup Mollasses OR Corn Syrup
1 Egg
1/2 ts Cream of Tartar

Directions:

1) Heat the milk until just barely warm, then stir in sugar and yeast until dissolved. Let this sit for at least 10 minutes, or until proofed.
2) Sift all three flours, guar gum, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. If you're feeling ambitious, sift it two or three times!
3) Break the egg into another bowl, add the cream of tartar, and beat with an electric mixture until very foamy, and you can form stiff peaks.
4) Add the milk mixture to the breadmaker, followed by the molasses/corn syrup, vinegar, flour mixture, and egg.
5) Set the bread machine for a 1 1/2 lb loaf, and press start. We recommend checking a couple of times early on, and scraping off the sides if they are not getting combined properly. Remove the stirring paddle after the first mixing cycle, them just let the rest of the process run its course as normal.

By the end, you should have a beautiful, airy loaf with an earthy brown color. And we promise, it tastes even better than it looks!

Jason here. I’ll be brief, I promise.

Finally a decent home cooked bread I could enjoy. All of the previous breads turned to bland tasteless mush. This holds its texture fairly well, while having a distinct bread taste. The bread itself is harder than a regular bread, but not in a dense sort of way. It is more like how bread feels after you lightly toast it, just now all the way through.

It is missing the elasticity that gluten brings to regular bread. This can make it crumbly at times, so I have taken to occasionally eating my sandwich with a fork and knife. I don’t really mind, it just makes it a little messier. 

All in all, this makes for very decent sandwich bread, if you can spare a little mess.