I am relatively new to gluten free baking. Before we moved to Texas, I had absolutely no reason to bake anything gluten-free. I don’t have a gluten allergy and I didn’t know anyone who did either. However, it seems like every single person I know here in Texas is on a gluten-free diet. I have since made a few items like gluten free dinner rolls (delicious!) and have discovered gluten-free treats like macarons and macaroons (yes, these are two entirely different cookies). All of this to say, that I am still very new to gluten-free baking and, therefore, will explain what went wrong with this seemingly straightforward challenge.
Baking can be done with a few simple ingredients, so it’s about simplicity and nostalgia – people are reminded of their childhood.” ~Paul Hollywood
I decided to tackle this challenge during the day on Friday while Roydon was at the dentist’s office. It was just me and my little baking assistant, James. This recipe asked for very basic pantry items except for one thing, nigella seeds. None of my local stores carried nigella seeds. I found a solution, though! A fitting replacement for nigella seeds is caraway seeds….which I also did not have in the pantry. So I decided to use celery seed instead. That should work well enough. Heck, I’m sure I could have used just about any spice/seasoning and it would have been fine.
I started out gathering all of the ingredients on the counter. James was playing on the floor in front of me happy as can be chewing on whatever toy was closer. I turn my back for one second to get one last item out of the pantry, when I returned and saw that James had completely overturned his jungle gym and was giving me a look that stated quite clearly “Yeah, I did this! What you got to say about it.” 
After rescuing James, I returned to the task at hand. I measured out the sugar, salt, yeast, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and cracked the eggs. I then went to measure out the gluten free flour and discovered that I had “just” the right amount for the bread. *phew* I then mixed up all of the ingredients in a bowl with 300ml of water. It was extremely sticky. A little too sticky. I was supposed to be getting a soft dough that was only slightly sticky. It was so sticky that it would have made kneading it on the counter close to impossible. Let’s see how many times I can say “sticky”. 
With all of this sticky, sticky dough, I figured I needed to add a bit more flour….the only flour I had left was a gluten filled one. What else was I supposed to do? I added the flour to my sticky dough. It definitely helped the sticky situation. Now on to the kneading! Of course, I need more flour to sprinkle on the counter before I turned out the dough…thus, my gluten-free pita dough ended up having more regular flour than gluten-free. Paul Hollywood would be so disappointed that I was butchering his gluten-free recipe. 
The dough was left to rise for an hour and a half and then was divided into 6 even balls. Those balls were rolled out into flat ovals and placed in the oven to bake. They looked beautiful when I pulled them from the oven and I was anxious to see if I have achieved the infamous pocket in the pita bread. I, sadly, did not. So, as far as Technical Bakes go, I had failed. Though, the bread was delicious with the Turkey meatball and kale soup that I made for dinner that night. Might I also add that the celery seed was way too strong and I probably should have gone back out to the store to find caraway seed to replace the nigella seed.Well, you live and learn. I know I certainly do. 
The next challenge is Mary Berry’s Mokatines!
Paul Hollywood’s Gluten-Free Bread
From BBC Food
Ingredients
30g/1oz psyllium powder
750g/1lb 10oz gluten-free strong bread flour, plus extra for flouring
3 tbsp nigella seed
15g/½ oz sugar
1 tbsp salt
21g/¾ oz instant yeast
3 large eggs
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
6 tbsp olive oil
Method:
1. Mix the psyllium powder with 300ml/10fl oz water. Set aside to allow the mixture to thicken.
2. Tip the flour and nigella seeds into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Crack the eggs into the center of the flour, add the vinegar, olive oil and the psyllium mixture. Combine the ingredients to form a soft dough. Gradually add about 300ml/10fl oz water – you may not need it all, although the dough should be soft and slightly sticky.
3. Place onto a floured surface and knead to form a smooth dough. Place back in the bowl, cover and leave to rest for 1 ½ hours, or until doubled in size.
4. Heat the oven to 430° F and place 3 heavy baking trays in the oven to heat up.
5. Dust your work surface with flour. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape each one into a ball. Roll or press the pieces into oval shapes about 4mm thick.
6. Remove the baking tray from the oven and dust with a little flour. Lay four pitas on each tray and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until puffed up and cooked through. The pitas should have a slight color to them. Remove from the oven and wrap in a clean tea towel-this helps keep them soft.
Piece of Cake 