Baking As A Celiac

[sophiegoodswin]

Hello, everyone my name is Sophie and this is the first time in posting anything as I only found this amazing and wonderful site today. 

I have a problem. I have loved baking ever since I was a children and it always brings me joy, But lately ever since I have had to turn to free from things such as gluten-free Flour,  xanthan gum, Soy Milk etc. etc. I have found my baking has just been failing and not working half the time. 
Either the bake with fall flat, not rise, won't cook right. there's always something that goes wrong.

When I was doing normal cooking without any allergies It was all going fine, but now not so much

 

Does anyone have any tips of what might be going wrong or any tips for celiac, nut free, dairy free baking. 

 

Thanks 

 

SophieGoodswin 

 

xx

[StephanieL]

gluten-free baking isn't that off from normal if you can still do egg. Without egg is much more challenging. 

 

Different flours are better for different applications it has been said. I prefer one gluten-free flour (we use King Arthur's and I love it!)  For milk, I usually use hemp for most of my baking.  The difficulty would be butter. We use the soy free Earth Balance BUT it has a higher water content I have found so you need to cut the liquid a lot to make up for that. Or you could go with shortening, again, depends a bit on the recipe.  

 

There are hundreds of gluten-free/DF baking books out there (web sites as well). Just remember that baking relies a lot on chemistry so messing a lot with a recipe can lead to disaster if you aren't following the formula (recipe) just so.

[thepeach80]

What flour are you using? What recipes are you using? What are you trying to bake? Sometimes I have some recipes that turn out great and others are less than desirable. I remember the ones that work and toss the ones that don't.

[mamaw]

there is  a  learning curve  to  baking  gluten-free..... Here  are  some  gluten-free  flour blends  that  surpass  others: betterbatter (wwwbetterbatter.org) great  site  !  Jules Flour; tom  sawyer flour, cup for  cup ; King  Arthur, authentic  classic  blend....plus  several more...

For  breading  chicken or  fish  we  LOVE  Domato's  Seasoned  flour... 

Almond  flour  is  a  healthy  sub....

I  don't  do  soy  , many of us  can not  tolerate  soy...  it  also is  a  major  allergen.....a good sub  is  better then milk  or  almond  milk... we  use  almond ...

I too have  always  been a  baker....being  gluten-free  for over  eleven years now the  gluten-free  arena  has  changed  so much, things  have become  much  easier...

We   have been able to  find  subs  for all our  favorite  foods whether it  be  homemade  or  purchased  when time  doesn't  permit  us for  baking  at  home,  if  you  have  favs  please let us know  & we  can help you  with  a  recipe  sub  or tell you  which is  the  best  to purchase....

[AnnaChristine18]

There's a flour I use for everything and it's the perfect substitute for regular flour. Baking gluten free is exactly like baking with gluten containing flour. It's called "Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend"

It's a mixture of sweet brown rice flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, sorghum flour, and xanthan gum. Literally you can just use this in replace of regular flour in any recipe and it'll come out perfectly. 

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

It's expensive but completely worth it. I also have a baking addiction

[LauraTX]

For anyone just learning gluten-free baking, I highly recommend using a flour blend, and the recipes that the company has developed for it, first.  There are a few companies that make flour blends, and I like the ones that have xanthan gum/guar gum already in them.  My favorite thing to use is the King Arthur Flour gluten-free Baking Mix:

Open Original Shared Link

A while back I was baking for a dairy free friend, and when I wrote them to ask they said this product is top 8 allergen and gluten free.  Of course, it is always good to double check yourself before using.

 

They have a ton of recipes developed for their baking mix, and they include helpful tips that apply to all gluten-free baking, like mixing muffins extra well, versus with gluten muffins you mix until just combined.  It is pretty much a self rising flour, and I have used it in a lot of my old cookies and dessert recipes and treated it like self rising flour (use it in place of the flour and leavener-baking soda, salt, baking powder) with great results.  It is a little more dense than gluten flour, so measure it scant.

 

If you have a bunch of ingredients on hand and want some awesome awesome guidance on flour blends and individual tested recipes, I highly recommend picking up the America's Test Kitchen Bakes Gluten Free cookbook.  Even if you don't use the recipes, the tips and explanations they give in the book are wonderfully helpful.  In gluten-free baking you have to break a few of the rules that are pounded into your head with gluten baking and they explain things very well.

[user001]

I know how you feel and have been trying to get used to it too. I have been enjoying using coconut flour. I ended up baking twice last week because it all got ate up! I used regular recipes and used 1/2 c coconut flour instead of 1 cup regular. But you need to increase eggs to 3-4, or about 6 per cup of coconut flour.I made brownies, which were very good, but could have been more moist. I used 4 eggs, but I was thinking maybe 2 whole eggs and 2 whites would make it more moist.

[NatureChick]

NPR had an article about the best gluten free flour a while back and they came up with their own recipe, and recommended King Arthur brand. 

Here is the link to their flour recipe which is pretty close to the King Arthur blend.

Open Original Shared Link

I personally don't care for the gums - xanthum gum and guar gum. They are super condensed fiber that absorbs liquid, which is why they add to the texture of baked products in positive ways. But during digestion, the same property could result in negative consequences, i.e. constipation. 

I bought a "dough enhancer" product that can be used in similar ways as the gums but is based on tapioca. Haven't tried it yet. Heck, I quit baking entirely when going gluten-free, primarily because I spend so much time cooking already.

[sophiegoodswin]

  On 6/9/2014 at 11:32 PM, thepeach80 said:

What flour are you using? What recipes are you using? What are you trying to bake? Sometimes I have some recipes that turn out great and others are less than desirable. I remember the ones that work and toss the ones that don't.

I am using gluten-free, Plain flour, gluten-free self rasing flour, Depending on what the recipe calls for. I have tried to make sponge cakes, brownies, cookies etc.

[sophiegoodswin]

  On 6/10/2014 at 12:12 AM, mamaw said:

there is  a  learning curve  to  baking  gluten-free..... Here  are  some  gluten-free  flour blends  that  surpass  others: betterbatter (wwwbetterbatter.org) great  site  !  Jules Flour; tom  sawyer flour, cup for  cup ; King  Arthur, authentic  classic  blend....plus  several more...

For  breading  chicken or  fish  we  LOVE  Domato's  Seasoned  flour... 

Almond  flour  is  a  healthy  sub....

I  don't  do  soy  , many of us  can not  tolerate  soy...  it  also is  a  major  allergen.....a good sub  is  better then milk  or  almond  milk... we  use  almond ...

I too have  always  been a  baker....being  gluten-free  for over  eleven years now the  gluten-free  arena  has  changed  so much, things  have become  much  easier...

We   have been able to  find  subs  for all our  favorite  foods whether it  be  homemade  or  purchased  when time  doesn't  permit  us for  baking  at  home,  if  you  have  favs  please let us know  & we  can help you  with  a  recipe  sub  or tell you  which is  the  best  to purchase....

I would use such things but I am allergic to all nuts as well x

[kareng]

  On 6/10/2014 at 12:23 PM, sophiegoodswin said:

I am using gluten-free, Plain flour, gluten-free self rasing flour, Depending on what the recipe calls for. I have tried to make sponge cakes, brownies, cookies etc.

 

 

I think she wants to know what brand.  Different brands are made with a different combo of flours.  Some combos seem to work better than others for different baked goods.

[sophiegoodswin]

Thank you for everyone who has replied to me. I have brought a few gluten-free cook books (4 of them) and their is things about different flours etc. SO I hope that this might help  me out. xx

[sophiegoodswin]

  On 6/10/2014 at 12:26 PM, kareng said:

I think she wants to know what brand.  Different brands are made with a different combo of flours.  Some combos seem to work better than others for different baked goods.

Ohh haha thanks, it is Doves Farm flour

[sophiegoodswin]

  On 6/9/2014 at 11:32 PM, thepeach80 said:

What flour are you using? What recipes are you using? What are you trying to bake? Sometimes I have some recipes that turn out great and others are less than desirable. I remember the ones that work and toss the ones that don't.

It is Doves Farm flour

[user001]

I recently used this recipe, It was like real baking!

Open Original Shared Link

I really loved the results, they were good but not quite moist enough! I used sugar instead of honey or maple.

I was talking to my sister in law and she suggested using vegetable oil instead of butter to fix the moistness problem.

[user001]

I use bobs red mill coconut flour. I love it, plus you use half as much as regular flours. The brownie recipe i posted is made with coconut flour already, so you dont need to do any math, just bake! I would add chips of some sort, chocolate or something.