Gf Cookbooks

[discouragedmomof5]

Can anyone recommend and good gluten-free cookbooks or books to read?

Thanks

[lotusgem]

Hi! Don't be discouraged! We just have to do things a little bit differently than most folks. Stay with us on the board and you will learn much that can make the transition to a gluten-free diet and lifestyle easier. There are some very well informed people here, and we all share our experiences, opinions and advice.

I've looked at a lot of gluten-free cookbooks, and the one that I like the best is called, "Living Well Without the Wheat-The Gluten-Free Gourmet" by Bette Hagman.

She really is the guru of Celiacs. Her recipes for baked goods are pretty reliable. Some recipes, in my opinion, turn out superior products as compared to their wheaten

counterparts. For instance, the sugar cookies are the best ever...easy to handle, hold their shape, not prone to getting overdone. Also, the book serves as a primer for people that need to learn about the various flours, ingredients and principles behind this unique way of baking. If you are an experienced baker, then your skills and knowledge will be helpful, but if not, you can still have success under her guidance. If you could only own this one book, you'd do fine. And don't forget to check out the recipes on this site. Keep in touch.

Paula

[tarnalberry]

While I have two of Bette Hageman's cookbooks, they just don't do it for me so much. There's some useful stuff... I'm glad I have it in my bookshelf, but my favorite, so far, has been: The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook : Over 325 Natural Foods Recipes, Free of All Common Food Allergens: wheat-free, milk-free, egg-free, corn-free, sugar-free, yeast-free. Open Original Shared Link

[lotusgem]

Tiffany,

I have The Allergy self-help Cookbook too; a friend bought it for me. Overall, it has some great recipes, but the area of greatest interest for me, would be the baking section which I find to be frustrating and unusable unless I were to make substitutions. The reason being is that she relies very heavily upon amaranth flour and oats. Amaranth is so costly and difficult to find as to be impractical for me. When the author wrote the book, she was banking on the cost going down as it became a more widely known grain. But that doesn't seem to have happened. And oats are still, unless I'm mistaken, considered unsafe because of widespread cross contamination issues. I haven't done any experimenting yet with alternative flours, but the recipes look healthy and good.

What do you use? Do you make substitutions or do you actually bake with amaranth on a regular basis? I've never even bought any, because I figured, why tease myself? I'd probably like it, and then feel deprived because I couldn't afford to keep it in the house!

Waiting with interest,

Paula

[tarnalberry]

I love amaranth flour! It's one of my favorites. Perfect for pancakes. I don't use oats, but haven't yet made a recipe that calls for them. I also use quinoa, sorgum, millet, teff, buckwheat, and soy flours, besides the usual rice, potato, and tapioca flours.

[lbsteenwyk]

I agree with lotusgem, Bette Hagman's books are excellent. You should have at least one in your library, especially if you are not well versed in how to best use the different flours. Good luck! It takes time and patience to learn a new skill, so if you haven't baked much, don't be discouraged. You will get the hang of it with a little practice!

[lotusgem]

Tiffany, it certainly sounds like you have a well rounded culinary repertoire! I'm happy to hear that the amaranth is good stuff, but I will have to wait for its "exotic" status to change before being able to use it. We have an excellent, progressive food co-op in Boise, an hour's drive from our house. It would be the most likely supplier in the state,

yet, it's a special order item for them, and the time that I enquired, they didn't even have any in the store. It was so expensive, that ultimately, I declined their offer to get some for me. But things change. I remember when soy milk had to be made from gritty, yucky powder and now you can pick up a cold, delicious half gallon at main-stream Walmart.

With optimism,

Paula

[gospelgal]

Hi,

I have A LOT of gluten-free cookbooks, and the one I use the most is Roben Ryberg's The Gluten-Free Kitchen. Her book calls for very few ingredients, and is especially helpful to the newly diagnosed celiac because of it's simplicity. I use others like Bette Hagman's (her german chocolate cake is incredible), and Carol Fenster's (she has several good books as well). I'm often in a hurry, so Roben's book is the most handy for me! Hope this helps!

God Bless,

gospelgal

[Japsnoet]

I collect cookbooks so I have a number of non-gluten-free cookbooks that I have gfed. My all-time favourite gluten-free cookbook is Cooking gluten-free by Karen Robertson. I also have a number of Bette Hagman’s books, The gluten, wheat & diary free cookbook by Antoinette Savill and The big book of wheat – free cooking by Anoitte Savill and The tolerant cook the allergy and food intolerance cookbook by Tish Richardson etc I really like Tish book it has some great ideas in. If you googled Tish Richardson cookbook you will get to her website. If you send your intolerances through to her she will work out some recipes for you. If you after free gluten-free recipes try Celiac Disease On-Line Support Group they have a great gluten-free recipe site that gets updated daily.

[CateK]

I have used several of Hagman's books but my favorite bread recipes (so far) are from Fenster's Wheat Free Recipes and Menues. THe pumpernickle bread is dead on. I make a loaf every week and we have yet to throw any to the chickens. All the other gluten-free bread recipes got about half eaten before going moldy or too stale to consume and became livestock food. I am try some of her other recipes soon... we are just really hooked on the pumpernickle right now.

[meplusfive]

I am new on the boards and was wondering if there is a cookbook that uses more whole flours like brown rice or sorghum flour for breads etc. I have Betty Hagmans gluten free gourmet and was wondering if her gluten free gourmet cooks fast and healthy or bakes bread has more whole flours in it? I can use some of the tapioca,sweet rice and white rice but it is constipating for me.

thanks

sharon

[moving on]

Sharon,

Try Carol Fenster for sorghum flour recipes. One of her flour mixtures consist of sorghum, corn or bean (I use bean), tapioca starch and potato flour. I really like the texture of the bread, not as heavy and dense as those that use rice flour.

[Japsnoet]

My favourite yeast free bread recipes come from Carol Fenster. I do a lot of my baking with her Sorghum flour mix. I can definitely recommend her books “Gluten free 101: Easy, basic dishes without wheat” and “Wheat free recipes and menus”.

Have a look at Open Original Shared Link for the Yeast free Sorghum Bread recipe is really delicious.

[ponita]

I have several gluten-free cookbooks but my favorite is "Wheat-Free, Gluten-Free Cookbook for Kids and Busy Adults" BY Connie Sarros. It seems like I grab for this book over all the others for meals that have ingredients I tend to have on hand.

The other book I grab daily is the 3-ring binder I keep on my kitchen counter! I have compiled a 3 inch notebook of recipes I have copied from web-sites, changed over from "traditional" cookbooks or as someone said "gfed". I have the recipes in dividers and it seems like an I go it those recipes the most.

Sometimes I feel like a "recipe junkie"!