Need Ideas On What I Need To Buy

[confused]

Im sending my mom to the city this weekend to do some shopping for me, since everything is so expenisive here. But im not sure on what all she should buy me. I want to start the recipes that everyone keeps sending in for gluten and dairy free baking, but I dont have most of the stuff.

so far i know for sure i need

xanthum gum

enjoy life choco chips

but what other stuff should my kitchen be stocked in. I need ideas on flours and starches and what brands are best.

thank you

paula

[JennyC]

As far as baking goes it is good to have a variety of flours. I prefer to make my own mixes. In my experience the more starches you can use the better. I use corn starch, potato starch, and tapioca starch/flour very frequently. You should also get brown and white rice flours. You may also want to get a bean flour. I don't know much about brands. I usually use Bob's Red Mill. They test each batch for gluten. I'm lucky enough to live by the store so I get to buy in bulk. Pamela's baking and waffle/pancake mixes are pretty good.

Happy Baking!

[blueeyedmanda]

I am not sure if you wanted to know about unedible things too.

Maybe a few new cookie sheets and spatulas and such. Might as well start over clean.

Gluten Free Pantry mixes are great! If she sees any of the Fudge brownie ones....mmm!

Good Luck Baking! I am just starting to get into it and it is alot of fun.

[missy'smom]

My staples are the same as JennyC.

[bbuster]

I'd recommend you look through a few cookbooks and pick out recipes that you want to try, then make your list. My favorite is Bette Hagman. I bake a lot for my 12-year old son with Celiac, and his younger sister who is not. Here are our staples.

Pamela's Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix - great for waffles, pancakes, and chocolate chip cookies. Easy because it already has Xanthan gum, etc. in the mix. Also makes a simple but delicious carrot cake flour base. You need to keep Pamela's in the refrigerator.

Flour mix for Pizza:

3 1/2 cups white rice flour

2 1/2 cups tapioca flour

2 tbsp Xanthan gum

2 7-gram packets plain gelatin

2 tbsp Egg Replacer1/4 cup sugar

For breadsticks:

potato starch

corn starch

Featherlight Flour mix - great for bread, Tollhouse cookies, tortillas, generally all-purpose.

You can buy this mix or make your own as follows:

white rice flour 1 cup

tapioca flour 1 cup

corn starch 1 cup

potato flour (not starch) 1 tbsp (you need to refrigerate or freeze, so buy as little as possible)

Almond meal

Sorghum flour

These two add great flavor to almost anything. I am experimenting a bit to add a tiny amount of molasses instead of sorghum flour with good results so far.

And then of course yeast, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa (for brownies and chocolate cake) that I get from a regular store.

I have tried the bean flours several times, and the kids absolutely hate the taste. It helps the texture a lot but tastes bitter to me. Sometimes I use just a tiny bit (like one tablespoon per 2-3 cups) with the other flour to add a little body.

All the items in bold are what I would get from a health food store. I don't have a particular brand preference besides Pamela's. Our store mostly carries Bob's Red Mill or EnerG.

[gfp]

I'd recommend you look through a few cookbooks and pick out recipes that you want to try, then make your list.

couldn't agree more... no point us making a list that allows you to nearly make 101 things but not quite

[confused]

No cookbooks here in this little town. I have called and looked at all places. I will have her pick me up a bette hagman cookbook, then go shop lol

paula

[bbuster]

No cookbooks here in this little town. I have called and looked at all places. I will have her pick me up a bette hagman cookbook, then go shop lol

paula

I've read through several cookbooks (our library has several books on Celiac and gluten-free cooking). The one I thought was worth buying was Bette Hagman's "The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread". Besides the recipes, it has an excellent intro on Celiac, and a good explanation of the different types of flours, what to use them for, how to do substitutions for people with other intolerances, and troubleshooting.

Most of the other recipes I use, I got from this Forum.

Pamela's Mix has recipes for pancakes, waffles, and cookies right on the package.

Good luck!

[RiceGuy]

When I want to check a recipe for something, I Google it.

Anyway, here are some of the baking ingredients I've been using:

Corn Meal, yellow

Millet Flour

Rice Flour, brown

Rice Flour, white

Rice Flour, Sweet White

Sorghum Flour

Soy Flour

Guar Gum (I don't use xanthan, and besides guar is way cheaper)

Baking Powder (aluminum-free)

Carob Powder (instead of cocoa)

Stevia (all-natural sweetener in place of sugar)

some spices/flavorings like cinnamon, ginger, allspice, vanilla, etc.

You may also need oil/margarine/shortening/etc depending on what you want to make.

Here are some things I have not tried:

Almond Flour/Meal

Amaranth Flour

Arrowroot Starch

Buckwheat Flour

Coconut Flour

Corn Starch

Fava Bean Flour

Flaxseed Meal

Garbanzo Bean Flour

Garbanzo & Fava Flour

Green Pea Flour

Potato Flour

Potato Starch

Quinoa Flour

Teff Flour

[confused]

When I want to check a recipe for something, I Google it.

Anyway, here are some of the baking ingredients I've been using:

Corn Meal, yellow

Millet Flour

Rice Flour, brown

Rice Flour, white

Rice Flour, Sweet White

Sorghum Flour

Soy Flour

Guar Gum (I don't use xanthan, and besides guar is way cheaper)

Baking Powder (aluminum-free)

Carob Powder (instead of cocoa)

Stevia (all-natural sweetener in place of sugar)

some spices/flavorings like cinnamon, ginger, allspice, vanilla, etc.

thanks for all of those. I never knew guar gum can be used for xanthum. I like the idea that is it cheaper. lol

paula

You may also need oil/margarine/shortening/etc depending on what you want to make.

Here are some things I have not tried:

Almond Flour/Meal

Amaranth Flour

Arrowroot Starch

Buckwheat Flour

Coconut Flour

Corn Starch

Fava Bean Flour

Flaxseed Meal

Garbanzo Bean Flour

Garbanzo & Fava Flour

Green Pea Flour

Potato Flour

Potato Starch

Quinoa Flour

Teff Flour

[RiceGuy]

thanks for all of those. I never knew guar gum can be used for xanthum. I like the idea that is it cheaper. lol

Yep. I recently bought a pound of it for about $6. It works great for smoothies and pudding too Plus it's a soluble fiber, which is a good thing when your recipe uses mostly starches like tapioca, white rice flour, cornstarch, etc.

[Cheri A]

Do you sub the guar on a 1:1 basis for the xanthan gum? Even though it is expensive, it lasts me about 3 months or so.

Paula ~ I also got a lot of cook books from the library. I have only bought a few. Bette Hagman and also Carol Fenster are great. Also the Incredible Edible book by Shari Sanderson.

[RiceGuy]

Do you sub the guar on a 1:1 basis for the xanthan gum?

That seems to be the general rule, though I've never used xanthan, so I cannot say from experience. I typically use about 1 tsp per cup flour, which seems to be about right. Some say there are different strengths to xanthan depending on the manufacturer, so you may have to adjust the amount slightly. Most references suggest the two are interchangeable, at equal amounts.

[larry mac]

No cookbooks here in this little town. I have called and looked at all places. I will have her pick me up a bette hagman cookbook, then go shop lol

paula

You can order two cookbooks from amazon .com for about $25 with free shipping. Thats pretty reasonable, they discount everything.

I'd recommend:

Living Gluten Free for Dummies, by Danna Korn. Not so much the best cookbook, but very good for beginning Celiacs. Packed with all kinds of useful information, inspirational, amusing, and comprehensive. Highly recommended.

The Best Gluten-Free Family Cookbook, by Donna Washburn & Heather Butt. A good cookbook and lots of good, useful information.

best regards, lm

[confused]

You can order two cookbooks from amazon .com for about $25 with free shipping. Thats pretty reasonable, they discount everything.

I'd recommend:

Living Gluten Free for Dummies, by Danna Korn. Not so much the best cookbook, but very good for beginning Celiacs. Packed with all kinds of useful information, inspirational, amusing, and comprehensive. Highly recommended.

The Best Gluten-Free Family Cookbook, by Donna Washburn & Heather Butt. A good cookbook and lots of good, useful information.

best regards, lm

Thank you for those cookbook ideas. I do have gluten free for dummies, I had spaced out the recipes in that book, even tho i remember the tortialla recipe, that is one of the first im going to try out lol

I am going to go check out the family cookbook. I love the idea of free shipping on amazon.

paula

[grantschoep]

My only recommmendation, is careful with "overstocking..." I've ended up impulsivly buying "the case" version of things online, and eat one package, and then the other 11 sit there in my pantry. I'm horrible able this, it drives my wife insane.

-grant

[lcbannon]

I shop at asian markets for the rice flour, tapicoa and potato starch, MUCH Cheaper..

Great cookbooks are out there and I am having good luck using some of my normal dessert reciepes and using diff flour. I use teff sometimes and like the texture it provides in certain products, esp choc items and some breads. I strongly reccomend using a silpat for baking cookies and use silicone items for baking as well, gluten free items stick something fierce. I also purchased a special bagette pan and it is wonderful for my breads, nice crispy french bread. YUM