Gluten Free

MonicaBing

Hi all, my fella is Gluten intolerant and i was wondering is there a certain type of flour to use when baking bread and cakes? If there is, where do i purchase? Thanks:)

neuro-praxis

Yes. I'm genuinely not being smart but it's called "gluten free flour" and you can buy it in any supermarket.

However your cakes and breads will rarely taste as good as usual because gluten free flour is lacking an essential ingredient - gluten! This is what gives bread and cakes their wonderful texture. And most shop-bought gluten free products taste like ****e.

As you learn to cook gluten-free you can try different kinds of flours in different blends - rice flour, potato flour etc. They all have different tastes but you can develop nice enough combinations that taste ok.

I lived with a friend who has coeliac disease and I did all the cooking. I learned to make things that are naturally gluten free rather than try to make things that usually need flour etc. You can make really great flourless chocolate cakes, and you can even make a good lemon drizzle cake using mashed potatoes. Other dessert ideas might include things like fritters made from apples and a (rice flour) batter, fried and served with ice cream, or buckwheat pancakes served with nutella and cream. When making bread, I stuck to flatbreads and pittas because texture is less important with those kinds of breads.

The Black Oil

Odlums do a version. Should be in most supermarkets as neuro says.

Dulchie

The Coeliac Society have a website http://www.coeliac.ie/ which gives very good advice.
A lot of sauces and pre pepared foods contain gluten.
A list of "safe" foods i.e. foods that do not contain gluten is available from the society for a small payment.