Tweaking Favorite Recipes

[Guest Ang]

Has anyone tried subsituting gluten free flours in regular recipes, like for cookies which already have a small amount of regular white flour? I was just officially diagnosed with Celiac yesterday, after positive bloodwork and positive biopsies. I LOVE cooking and baking, and have a family of 5 to cook for. Dinners seem to be fine so far, but so far the rice bread I made is....a little bland. I already have a cookbook on the way, have collected some recipes. I would love to make this simple and just tweak some of our favorites?

Any real cooks or bakers out there?

Also, it seems a little foreign and a little extreme to me that now I can't use the family toaster? What about concentration (like, is a little malt extract or oat flour OK, if I don't seem to react to it?)

Ahhh....a lot of work ahead of me!

[tarnalberry]

Gluten free means gluten FREE! No contamination, or it's just like you're not following the diet. It's a chemical process that's damaging the intestines, and ingesting any gluten will set off that chemical cascade.

You can't ever get a used toaster *completely* free of crumbs, and if the crumbs get on your food, you will get contaminated. Think of it like an anaphylactic allergy, where you must avoid trace exposure. So trace ingredients in other foods are right out as well.

As for baking, in some recipes (particularly pancakes, muffins, and quickbreads - generally unleavened things), a simple substitution with a mix of gluten free flours can work, but you'll want to figure out what mix of flours works for your recipes and your taste buds. You may need to use some xanthum gum to help replace some of the gluten properties that wheat provided, or you may want to pay particularly close attention to the fat/protein content (NOT to avoid, but to include, since many gluten-free flours are lower in those than wheat, and that will affect the performance as well). There's lot of recipes on here that a number of members have tried and love!

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

Also, remember that you will need to buy your own condomints (or buy squeeze bottle condomints) and peanut butter -- if they touch it with a knife that has scarped normal bread, those crumbs will come back to haunt you later (if you eat it).

Think of the diet like this, if anything has touched gluten, it is NOT OKAY to eat. Period.

It takes a little while, but you will get used to it (or be sick all the time if you cheat).

Feel free to ask any questions you might have.

Bronco

[Guest Ang]

Thanks,

I guess I have a lot of trial and error ahead of me. It helps to actually talk with real people who have tried things...all the info just posted on the web or in books just doesn't answer all the questions that have popped up.

I think I have some hang-ups because it seems like there will be some expense just in shopping differently and "testing" things that may or may not taste so good. I did read somewhere, though, that food bought can be reimbursed through the many "health savings plans" or "cafeteria" options of health care insurances. We are going to look into this, because the specialty food is for a medical need. Anyone ever followed through with this?

[jaten]

You said the bread you've made so far tasted a little bland. It is different, but you get used to it if you find a few mixes or recipes that you like. Kinnikinnick breads are good, but you can only find them in the freezer section of a few chains or ordered directly. I haven't found another ready-made loaf that I like.

For making your own, there are two camps and plenty who migrate between. 1-The mix or 2- the homemade. I do mixes all the way because it's so simple and some of them are pretty good. In no particular order, Pamela's Amazing Wheat Free Bread, Gluten Free Pantry, Kinnikinnick, and Manna from Anna are some of the popular bread mixes around here. There are others, but these just came to mind. Chebe mix is really good, too!

Once you find the mixes/recipes that work for you, there's the oven vs bread machine decision. It's just a personal decision and both provide great results. I have a Zojirushi BBCCX20 bread machine that I love and would save if my house were on fire. It's the only bread machine I've ever had, so I can't compare it's features to any others. Anyway, search "bread" and you'll have lots of reading to help you.

For that matter, read, read, read here. This community has been a life-saver for me!

[Guest Ang]

Thanks, everyone! I have been a little overwhelmed...sometimes the internet can offer TOO many options, and I am a mother to three young children...I don't have tons of time to research everything, everywhere! I have been reading lots of helpful information on all sorts of celiac topics...it's interesting to read and has been helpful.

I was hesitant to post anything...it's the first time I've done this, but my husband encouraged me too, and now I know why! It's helpful to know that there are lots of people who have been in my situation. I'm glad to know I'm not alone.

Cheers!

[penguin]

I was hesitant to post anything...it's the first time I've done this, but my husband encouraged me too, and now I know why! It's helpful to know that there are lots of people who have been in my situation. I'm glad to know I'm not alone.

Cheers!

Yay for the hubby! Tell your family to tell you that the gluten-free food tastes good even if it doesn't!

Well, if there are any disasters, anyway. Most of the time the food is good!!!

[MallysMama]

Ang,

I have been celiac pretty much my whole life - so it was my mom who worried about what I ate for a long time. She never bought gluten free ready-made foods (don't know that there Were any 21 years ago). She always had to make dinner for everyone else in the family and a separate dinner (usually just modified) for me. (My mom is amazing!!) She found that if you use really fine rice flour (japanese rice flour is the best) and a little xanthan gum you can duplicate most recipes. I grew up eating pancakes, cupcakes, cookies, etc. (I didn't care for the bread she made...so she stopped making it after a while...so I can't help you on the bread topic... don't care to eat any to this day.) Today I made incredibly moist zucchini bread... yummy!!! I don't have to keep a million kinds of flour in my cupboards... just the perfect rice flour! I'm a really picky eater...so I don't usually try too many new things - and I haven't tried ready-made or mixes very often. I guess I'm still stuck in the "old-fashioned" frame of mind that my mom had. But I wish you the best of luck finding the foods that you can and love to eat!

[lonewolf]

Bread is something difficult to make gluten-free. Quick breads are usually successful though - banana bread turns out great. Sometimes I even eat almond butter sandwiches on thinly sliced banana bread. I've had great luck with almost everything else. I usually follow regular recipes (often Betty Crocker) and substitute gluten-free flour. I usually sift the flour before measuring and slightly reduce the amount of flour in recipes that are very moist, like pancakes, muffins or cake. I usually follow exact measurements for cookies. I agree that dinner is the easiest meal to do gluten-free.

My favorite flour is 3 Cups Brown rice flour, 1 C Potato starch, 1/2 C Tapioca starch and 3 tsp. xanthan gum. (I usually buy flour in bulk in the health food store (they keep it separate from wheat flour) and often buy 25 pounds of br. rice flour in sacks.) I make up 2-3 batches and store it in the refrigerator in a gallon container. Then it's ready whenever you want to bake. I have mixed in some Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour mix, but I've been reading comments on other threads that they've been "glutened" by Bob's stuff, so I haven't done that for a while.