New And Love To Bake

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Hi BakingBarb,

I also bake alot or use to not as much since going gluten free and now actually getting back into it. I went looking for a book that I would use to make those all time favorites it is called Baking classics by Annalise Roberts. It has all the recipes I use to make and flour mixes you can make up for later baking. It does cost more to buy the flours and such but if it what you love to do and helps you feel better it is worth every penny. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Isn't that a great book????!!!

Just make sure that you ask the bookstore for Gluten-Free Baking Classics--if they look it up by title, they might not find it if you leave the "gluten-free" off. She does have other, gluteny recipes on her site, so she may have gluteny cookbooks, too!

The flours are NOT more expensive if you have an Asian grocery store nearby. White rice flour (and it IS finely ground ) can be substituted for at least half of the brown rice flour called for in the recipes, and it is only 69 cents for a one-pound bag. Potato starch and tapioca starch are the same price. The health food stores and grocery stores are totally ripping us off with what they charge!!

[JNBunnie1]

Thank you for your encouragment. I think that first off I will try a mix for a baked yummy that somehow includes chocolate! Thankfully my favorite chocolate for baking is gluten-free.

I guess I need to stop thinking in negatives and learn how to bake all over again. They didnt' teach this in any culinary classes I took!

Makes sense about the vinegar, if I wasn't so busy thinking why why now what I would have known that. Time to get back into life.

There is so much to learn. I had no idea about how serious I need to be about keeping my food away from theirs. Butter I would have never thought about crumbs on the butter.

BArb, if you don't want to go out and get a mix, here's a recipe i made a while ago that SO YUMMY! It's on the homepage of this site, you scroll down and click on the "gluten free recipes" link. For the gluten-free flour I'm pretty sure I just used white rice flour. This doesn't really rise much...... Much more like a brownie than anything, but soooooo good. Fabulous with ice cream.

Hot fudge cake

1 cup gluten-free flour

[2kids4me]

Hi and welcome,

I too enjoy baking and it was huge learning curve - I had a bad day when I purged my pantry of gluten and thought of all my favorite recipes that seemed to be part of the past....UNTIL I picked up some cook books (Bette Hagman), read more about baking with gluten-free flours, figured out which flour worked best in cookie or cake recipes, found a bread mix that the kids loved ...and then I re-discovered all my tried and true recipes and substituted with gluten-free alternatives. I mastered gingersnaps and choc chip cookies first as they are my kids favorites. That boosted my confidence and now I experiment all the time.

When I first started gluten-free baking - I felt like I was 13 again - learning through flops and disasters...except then I had my mom helping me figure it out!

This site became my "cyber mom" and I have found some fantastic hints and recipes on this site - kids loved the donuts I made from a recipe on this site.

Just give yourself time - dont be afraid to dive in - expect some "OMG moments" when the cookies crumble...you just need to play with the binding agents (eggs or xanthum gum) to keep your cookies intact and yummy.

Just like you probably played a bit with wheat flour recipes and added stuff that wasn't in the recipe - you can do that too as you get to know your flours

Often I get odd looks when I tell people I cook gluten free - you'd think I put chili powder in the cake! Now I just say - I cook with other types of flour, just not wheat. I have no idea why - but kids and grown ups alike are more likely to dive in if I say - "Try my cookies I made using a different kind of flour".....rather than tell them "try my gluten-free cookies".

Happy baking

Sandy

[bakingbarb]

Yesterday I baked some caramel apple bars with gluten-free flour mix. The recipe calls for ground nuts so it is kind of a sandy bar cookie anways so the crumbly was normal!!!! They turned out great, guests had no idea they were gluten-free. She took the recipe to use for a coffee stand she manages (she won't be using gluten-free flour tho). My daughter thinks she can tell the diff as does my son. I won't tell them next time, I will act like I made it with wheat flour for them and see if they can really tell. I don't think they can I think it was mental. It was so exciting for me to be able to bake something that turned out so wonderful. Over the next few weeks I am going to read some of my baking books and go back to understanding what ingredients do what in baking that way hopefully I can transfer some of it to this.

[wowzer]

BArb, if you don't want to go out and get a mix, here's a recipe i made a while ago that SO YUMMY! It's on the homepage of this site, you scroll down and click on the "gluten free recipes" link. For the gluten-free flour I'm pretty sure I just used white rice flour. This doesn't really rise much...... Much more like a brownie than anything, but soooooo good. Fabulous with ice cream.

Hot fudge cake

1 cup gluten-free flour

[wowzer]

I was trying to reply and did something wrong. Thank you for posting the Hot Fudge Cake recipe. I was just thinking about a recipe like that. I used to make it before going gluten free. I can't wait to try it. Wendy

[loco-ladi]

I found the "gluten free for dummies" book to be pretty informative about different flours and uses as well as combinations to make, not to mention the truly wonderful coffee cake recipe in there!