Gluten free baking

RacoonQueen

So I've recently gotten back into baking. I've also recently been in agony with digestive system issues and I've linked this to wheat/gluten etc so have taken myself off it.

I know gluten free flour doesn't really work the same way as normal flour, right? or can I bake the same stuff with gluten free flour? Can I substitute 200g of plain flour for 200g of gluten free?

Gracias in advance amigos.

Jellybaby1

You can, but it won't be exactly the same. If you are lucky enough to get a good result just remember home baked GF breads and cakes should be sliced up and frozen the minute they are cold 'cos they don't keep very well. Lidl have a nice selection of GF breads at the minute and I've been nibbling the Sourdough bread - it's not bad at all and stays fresh in a storage box. Can I suggest that you do not diagnose yourself though, as your symptoms could belong to some other problem and should be diagnosed properly. Hop along to your doctor asap and get yourself a hospital appointment for a test.

Stench Blossoms

I've baked with Odlums gluten free flour and nobody has known any different. I find it needs to be sieved though, even if the recipe doesn't suggest it.

It isn't great for pastries, haven't tried bread but any cakes/cupcakes etc it works well.

Jellybaby1

Yes, I agree about the cupcakes all right. Pastry is usually disastrous. Rich fruit cakes could be ok too. I have found eggless sponge flans to be ok if a little dry-ish so I usually would add a little fruit juice and cream to the sponge to make it moist and turn it into a dessert. One of the TV chefs was asked once to demo GF bread but he said 'better to buy it' because he never managed to do it successfully.

RacoonQueen

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

You can, but it won't be exactly the same. If you are lucky enough to get a good result just remember home baked GF breads and cakes should be sliced up and frozen the minute they are cold 'cos they don't keep very well. Lidl have a nice selection of GF breads at the minute and I've been nibbling the Sourdough bread - it's not bad at all and stays fresh in a storage box. Can I suggest that you do not diagnose yourself though, as your symptoms could belong to some other problem and should be diagnosed properly. Hop along to your doctor asap and get yourself a hospital appointment for a test.

Thanks. I plan to go to the doctor at some stage. So far with dropping the bit of bread I eat and not eating cake/biscuits I feel much better. If I still have problems after dropping it for two weeks or so I'll go to get things checked out. I am thinking it might be more to do with white bread...only really started to eat white bread again at the turn of the year and started having probs a couple of weeks later. Reading Coeliac.ie they said you'd need 4 slices of bread per day for 6 weeks for best results in a scope if you were looking for a diagnosis for coeliac disease. :eek:

A girl I used to work with made some great gluten free carrot cakes. I assume something like brownies that don't really use much flour and get most of their volume from the other ingredients taste the same? Maybe I'll try the brownies...was going to make lemon drizzle cake for the mammy for mothers day not sure I'll be making it with mashed potato though :eek:

I'm not really pushed on bread, don't eat much of it anyway and can live without it so wouldn't be bothered with gluten free stuff. Only time I'm really going to miss it is with my rashers for my Sunday fry up.

Any suggestions for a cheescake base? I usually use digestives.

edit: http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=268624646 hmmmm

Jellybaby1

I've used GF biscuit base for cheesecake and it was fine. Nigella Lawson's flourless brownies recipe is lovely and fudgy. If you are going to be tested the doctor would want you to 'eat normally' for several weeks before the test, that means include ordinary bread and GF-full food. Hope you get it sorted.
Edit: I meant to say gluten-full flood.

annamcmahon

I've had best results with flour less recipes like chocolate cakes or nut based cakes. When I using standard recipes and substitute with gluten free flour the results are always grand to good but rarely fanfastic. All the flours I've tried have a slight after taste. Personally I prefer Doves gf flour mix.
I made bread using mashed potato and it was lovely. It had kamut flour in it too so not gf but I might try using it in lemon cake.

tatumkelly

You can substitute almost anything in baking OP. What is important to keep in mind is that baking in a science, and generally ingredients have a specific function in a recipe (raising agent, sweetener etc).

I've been doing a lot of experimenting recently since giving up wheat, dairy, eggs and refined sugar. Believe me... making a cake without all of this is a challenge, but it can be done.

Since you're just looking at gluten free baking, you have lots of options... ground almonds (this will give a dense texture in comparison to normal flour), coconut flour, gluten free baking powder is available in supermarkets. Like someone mentioned above, there is a Doves Farm flour mix which is quite good, AFAIK it's wheat and gluten free (worth noting that just because a product is gluten free, it doesn't mean it's wheat free... wheat by-products can cause digestive problems too so attention to labels is important)

A quick search will yield lots of gluten free recipes, and if you chose to go a little further in cutting dairy etc, then there are loads of Paleo baking sites which give great advice on how to adapt your recipes to suit your new lifestyle.

Sigma Force

OP make sure you stay on the gluten before you have the celiac/gluten test eating the equivilent of 4 slices of bread a day. Am off the gluten/wheat as well and feel much better but still love to bake so have tried the Doves gluten free self raising flour for buns I used the recipe on the pack and they were actually nice. I know nothing really beats something made with regular flour but you can get gluten free baking powder (Dr Oetker does one). I haven't tried the Odlums GF flour which one is that coz it'd be cheaper.

You can bake things like macaroons and meringues or pavlovas and Nigella has a flourless chocolate cake recipe. Chocolate can contain gluten or traces but if you pick a reliable kind (try health food store) there's so many things you can do once you have the basic ingredients in. Things like ground almonds can be used in some recipes instead of flour, you can add nuts like hazelnuts instead of choc chips to things.

A lot of GF stuff is pricey but if you treat yourself to a packet of GF biscuits or two you can make a nice cheesecake or banoffee base.

Jellybaby1

Sigma Force wrote: »

..... I haven't tried the Odlums GF flour which one is that coz it'd be cheaper.

I use Odlum's Trytamil flour in a fruit bread I bake and for raising agent I use a teasp of Bicarb and a teasp of plain vinegar. Works a treat! It's got a lovely texture and taste, but as I said before, I have to slice and freeze it in small portions as soon as its cold. Works for me and I'm happy with it. I don't experiment too much any more as it costs a lot to have failures.

RacoonQueen

Do most supermarkets have this stuff? Supervalu didin't the other day.

Made cookies on Sunday (with gluten) and had 4...not happy. Not going to go back on the stuff to get tested. Going to make sure nothing else is wrong and stay off this crazy stuff as much as possible. Lifestyle won't support that suffering just to get tested if I can feel better cutting it out.

tatumkelly

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Do most supermarkets have this stuff? Supervalu didin't the other day.

Made cookies on Sunday (with gluten) and had 4...not happy. Not going to go back on the stuff to get tested. Going to make sure nothing else is wrong and stay off this crazy stuff as much as possible. Lifestyle won't support that suffering just to get tested if I can feel better cutting it out.

If you feel better, cut it out. There are plenty of alternatives which are far better for you. I'm not coeliac, but feel 1000 times better without wheat and dairy in my diet.

Check out this article about gluten sensitivity...

I agree that you shouldn't go back to a diet that makes you feel miserable just for the sake of getting a definitive diagnosis.

Most supermarkets will have gluten free alternatives for baking... they usually have a section with gluten free products. The Dr Oetker GF baking powder is usually with all the normal baking products. You should get the Odlums Tritamyl flour in the GF aisle, it's worth noting that it's more expensive than normal flour but you can't really put a price on your health so bear that in mind.

Almond/coconut flour is just ground almond/coconut. Ground almond is readily available, I'm not sure about coconut flour (you can use food processor to grind up shredded coconut if you can't find it). I've heard it's cheaper in Asian supermarkets and available in larger quantities. I'll be checking this out so will post again if I find it

Jellybaby1

Odlum's Trytamil flour is available in Dunne's alongside all the other 'normal' flours. I'm sure it should be with the other GF products but unfortunately supermarkets don't follow the rules that Coeliacs must do in their everyday lives.

Just a postscript to all above. I was misdiagnosed for many years and I paid for that error with extremely bad health, underweight and seriously malnourished. I would not wish it on anybody. I suggest anyone who thinks they are gluten intolerant to get medically tested so you know it is not something else.

RacoonQueen

Thanks for all your tips and ideas. Have discovered this place http://www.ecodirect.ie/catalog/ is right between my house and work...about 5 minutes away from each so might pay them a visit tomorrow as they've a walk in shop also.

Sure be fun learning to bake and cook a different way.

Sigma Force

Cripes that's going to save me a fortune if the Trytamil flour if GF looking forward to experimenting a bit now. It'll work out cheaper than the other brand I was using.

annamcmahon

Doves gluten free flour mix is about €2a kg in tesco or dunnes. I think it's the best mix. I haven't used the odlums one but I haven't liked the cakes other people have made with it

RacoonQueen

First attempt at gluten free baking at the weekend was a terrible waste of sugar and chocolate.

Going to try a recipe from the back of the doves flour at the weekend. I'm baking for cake day in work on Friday so have to produce something gluteny since I haven't mastered gluten free baking.

annamcmahon

Do you want a brownie recipe?

Elottois

Just to make you aware Dove's Farm have an excellent section on their website for GF recipes for a variety of goodies. The recipes are tried, tested and star rated by their customers.

For what it's worth, my suggestion is use your traditional recipes and substitute the amounts stated for flour and baking powder with GF equivalents. Dove's Farm have the greatest variety of flours available for GF baking, with very little taste compromise on the finished product.

Sodas, cakes, buns and sponges are straight forward to make, yeast breads are the only compromise with GF flours.

annamcmahon

Elottois wrote: »

Just to make you aware Dove's Farm have an excellent section on their website for GF recipes for a variety of goodies. The recipes are tried, tested and star rated by their customers.

For what it's worth, my suggestion is use your traditional recipes and substitute the amounts stated for flour and baking powder with GF equivalents. Dove's Farm have the greatest variety of flours available for GF baking, with very little taste compromise on the finished product.

Sodas, cakes, buns and sponges are straight forward to make, yeast breads are the only compromise with GF flours.

I'd agree with this advice. I find straight substitution works much better than special gluten free recipes that seem to complicate matters.

Stench Blossoms

RacoonQueen wrote: »

First attempt at gluten free baking at the weekend was a terrible waste of sugar and chocolate.

Going to try a recipe from the back of the doves flour at the weekend. I'm baking for cake day in work on Friday so have to produce something gluteny since I haven't mastered gluten free baking.

What did you try making?

RacoonQueen

annamcmahon wrote: »

Do you want a brownie recipe?

Yes please

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

What did you try making?

Choc chip muffins. Had a feeling looking at the recipe that it wouldn't work. Alas, I tried anyway. Tasted like cardboard.

annamcmahon

I make ones using this recipe.
100g butter
80g sugar
2eggs
100g flour
1tsp baking powder
50-100g chocolate chopped into chunks
Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs and flour and bp
Beat until uniform
mix through the chocolate
divide into 10-12 buns cases depending on the size you want
Bake at 180 for 20mins

You can add other flavour instead of chocolate. I've found gf buns don't rise much so fill the cases 3/4 full

dudara

I eat wheat-free and I've used Dove's Farm wheat-free, gluten-free flour as a replacement in recipes. I've found that it can be substituted into simple cake-type recipes without much difficulty. The bake is a little heavier, but not desperately so. I haven't tried it in anything complicated like pastry mind.

annamcmahon

Doves is grand for pastry though it's a little tough.

RacoonQueen

Success with lemon cupcakes :cool:

Queen-Mise

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Success with lemon cupcakes :cool:

Recipe please.

A friend asked me to make her a few things gluten free. I thought it would just be a case of substituting one thing for another but from this thread it doesn't seem to be:(

RacoonQueen

I just used the fairy cake recipe from the back of the dove self raising flour and added in the juice and rind of one lemon and toped them off with the juice and rind of two lemons and a load of granulated suger.

I can post up the recipe for the fairy cakes if you don't have the flour. They may have been a bit overly moist so you could probably either leave them in a little longer or leave out some of the milk.

December2012

Hi folks,

Newbie to this forum although I love baking.

Child can't have sugar so I've found www.susanjanewhite.com is great for recipes, most of which are gluten free.

I buy ingredients from www.organicsupermarket.ie and The Health Store. Hope this helps!