We created a gluten-free version of our classic apple pie!
At our last market we gave some left-over apple pies to other stall holders. We didn’t want to throw any pies away. And a shared pie is always better!
One of them was given to Peter, the husband of Msitu’s leading lady Mina. Peter happily accepted the pie, but mentioned that his wife would not be able to indulge. Mina (and thus her business Msitu) is all about gluten-free bakes. So, that doesn’t make her a good match with our gluten-based apple pies.
However, a couple of days later we received a message from her. She hadn’t eaten apple pie since she went gluten-free. And after her husband’s praise of ours, she was craving one. Her question was simple: Could we please create a gluten free version of the pie? If we wanted she could help us with this!
We had wanted to try our hand at gluten-free baking. But were a bit apprehensive about what is involved. Needless to say, we were very eager to meet up and learn from the queen of gluten-free! Now what you need to understand is that Mina is a scientist in the kitchen. She has every grain, seed, spice known to man in her kitchen and she uses them all. And it didn’t take her long to find the wheat flour substitutes that would most probably work best.
With the dough prepped and resting in the fridge we started on the filling. Now here comes even more geniousness from this lady. She is a foraging expert as well! She holds foraging walks in Leeds twice a month and knows everything there is to know about edible plants! So when we were prepping our normal filling Mina said: ” How about we make one with a foraged filling as well!” Yes please!!! 🙂
Foraged fillings
So the classic apple pie went on an adventure. In the end, we baked four pies with two different fillings. Two with apple, cinnamon & rosehip and the other two with apple & wild spice (hogweed- , alexander- & sweet cicely seed) HEAVENLY!! At this point in time you will just have to take our word for it.
Will we be selling gluten-free pies now?
The question in your head is most likely: “Will we be selling gluten-free apple pies now?” Yes we are. There are a few minor tweaks we need to make to the recipe. But we are hoping that at our next Kirkstall Deli Market event on the 30th of April we will be selling some by the slice.
We will make sure to confirm this in the week leading up to the market day. So follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get all the latest updates.
Thank you Mina for your experience, your enthusiasm, your amazing knowledge and your offer to collaborate. We loved it!!
If you want to know more about her gluten-free bakes (especially her most amazing sourdough bread) or if you are interested in joining her on one of her foraging walks in Leeds then have a look here on her website.
