fall is here and i love it!  for us that means a lot of nights hanging out around a fire with family & friends and “pudgy pies.”  i love pudgy pies, not necessarily because they are gourmet meals, but because of the experience of making them and the memories they trigger of fun evenings around a fire with friends.

the pudgy pie below were made when we were hanging out on my husband’s families’ farm.  his mom, created an entire gluten-free pudgy pie station and scrubbed down the cast-iron pudgy pie makers for us. our little boys loved them and the experience.

so what’s in our pudgy pies?

we like to make pizza ones:

• 2 slices of gluten-free, egg-free homemade bread (buttered – use earth balance or coconut oil for dairy-free)
• pizza sauce (our favorite is muir glen organic pizza sauce)
• browned ground beef or sausage
• pepperoni (our favorite is applegate farms)
• topped with raw sharp cheddar cheese

bread is core to a pudgy pie…so what do i do when we need gluten-free, egg-free bread?

we eat so little gluten free bread, that i rarely buy any, unless i am in a major pinch and need it fast (but even then, they aren’t usually egg free for my son).  there are a lot of gluten free breads on the market and they are getting better, but i honestly don’t love any of them and most have egg in it. early on in my gluten free days, i did eat millet & flax seed bread made by sami’s bakery, but unfortunately because of cross-contamination issues in their bakeries, it isn’t safe for me or any celiacs. i hope that some day they get their act together, because i really did like their products.

because we eat bread so little, i typically will just make my own.  i have a millet flour one that we like (i promise to share that recipe at some point), but a lot of times i am throwing stuff in the bread maker at the last minute, so when that happens i use bob’s red mill gluten-free homemade wonderful bread mix.  it is easy, and quick and makes a pretty good gluten free loaf in a bread maker.  i follow the instructions on the bag (except, for the egg and i use almond milk or flax milk in it).  for this particular bread, i make 2 flax seed eggs {6 Tbsp water, 2 Tbsp. ground flax seed, and about a tsp. of coconut oil), but then i also add 1 heaping Tbsp of chia seeds right to the dry mix in the bread machine.

every bread maker is different.  mine actually has a gluten-free setting on it, but i feel like that never quite gets the bread cooked, so i always add 10-15 minutes of baking time at the end of the cycle.  you don’t want to undercook gluten free bread…it will just collapse.

if anybody has any other, quick fool proof bread recipes, i would love to try them!