Gluten-free butternut squash galettes

Or, how it feels to try new things and why doing them with friends is more motivating.

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with celiac disease (disorder? syndrome? What do we call this thing these days?). The news sent me spinning: how could I - me, Ryan! - have been saddled with a body that would mutiny on me every time I ate delectable bread or beer? 

For a while, I lived in denial. At present, the only “cure” for celiac is to maintain a strict, gluten-free diet. So what did I do? I promptly continued eating noodles, pasta, and bread, duh! I love these foods. I love cooking with these foods and making them from scratch. But, when I would finally get over myself and stop for a while, I did start to notice that gluten actually made me feel awful.

(I’m sure somewhere out there is a loaf of fermented sourdough using ancient, non-GMO, organic grains…and I look forward to trying it. I’ll probably have to go to Europe…)

What happens when fear takes over 

I’ve stopped eating gluten now, and in most ways, life has moved on without a hitch. I mean, I still complain about it almost daily. I shouldn’t, though. Gluten-free pasta has come a long way and so has the beer. Thank goodness!

On the flip side, I’ve also stopped baking because if I’m being honest, I perceive gluten-free baking to be not exactly a cake-walk! (haha)

It seems that, as with gluten baking, gluten-free baking takes some practice.

At the beginning of this year, I made a list of goals, as one does when one feels ambitious in January. One of them was to get my ass in gear and figure out gluten-free baking. I used to love baking pies, cookies, and brownies! But, the fear of failure has really been holding me back.

Gluten-free baking requires a total mindset shift: the end product will never really be an exact replica of the gluten-filled version. It requires more ingredients to achieve the same effect. Those ingredients are sometimes expensive. And, because gluten-free baking requires more ingredients and more finesse, it takes a bit more time. All told, there’s a lot at stake when undertaking something like pie dough, that I used to to able to more or less make with my eyes closed.

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Why dough?

In the past, I barely had to think about it! I would pull up Martha’s trusty recipe, make sure my butter was chilled and that I had flour in the house, and get to it. Flour, water, salt, butter. (Gluten networks are a miracle.)

Now, the same outcome requires eight ingredients. And, while I’m sure I’ll get the consistency eventually, right now…my dough is not as doughy as I’d like.

I decided to tackle pie dough because, in my quest to get myself out of my cooking rut, I had come across

deb perelman

’s Butternut Squash galette recipe from her inaugural cookbook. It looked incredible and, in October, butternut squash was everywhere. I so wanted to make this but the damn dough was getting in my way!

The only reason I finally took the leap is because I had a friend encourage me to go for it and push through the stickiness (literally, this dough was sticky!).

Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!

One night over some wine, Casi and I decided to give the dough a whirl. She was staying with us for a few days before departing on an epic trip to California, and I wanted to make us some comfort food. The gluten-free dough recipe I chose was simpler than expected and it was all coming together…

Until the dough got sticky. Suuuuper sticky. 

And I didn’t make enough dough.

It wouldn’t roll out like regular pie dough.

Cue the meltdown. I started huffing and puffing.

Casi, bless her soul, kept encouraging me to stay the course and reassuring me that even it it wasn’t perfect, it would still probably be delicious. Which, was true. The dough was freaking tasty. (I am one of those people who eat the raw pie dough bits. Thanks, Mom! 😉)

After a fair bit of smooshing together what felt like an embarrassingly small amount of dough, we waited for it to chill and firm up. In the meantime, we talked about life and our random, squirrely mind tendencies (and wondered out loud how we might overcome them).

Then, we made the galettes.

The life of pie

I can’t even begin to explain how unbelievably delicious they ended up being. In most cases, the dough had done exactly what pie dough is supposed to do: turn into something crispy, light, and flaky.

The filling has to be the literal definition of cozy. I bet if you looked up “cozy” in the dictionary, it would come up, alongside sweaters and hot chocolate. Butternut squash paired with caramelized onions, fresh sage from the garden, and (because I’m all about substitutions here!) parmesan cheese in place of a more gooey variety. Still amazeballs.

You know how much better something feels/tastes/is when you experience/make/do it yourself? That’s what happened with the galettes. I’m pretty sure they were legitimately delicious but they tasted over the top because I had done it! I conquered my fear of gluten-free baking by dipping a toe in the water.

Moral of the story

• Fear holds us back, so unnecessarily!

• Friends help ease the existential crisis.

• Gluten-free baking can actually be fun!

Of course, that was in October and I haven’t baked since. 😆 Perhaps it’s time to try again. I downloaded a fun little wallpaper for my phone: a list of things to do in November. One of them is “bake treats.” Gluten-free brownies, anyone?