Gluten-Free Baking Classics

I never was a huge baker before I found out I was allergic to wheat 10 years ago. Afterward, I would occasionally try to make gluten-free cakes and muffins and they turned out okay, but never great. Certainly nothing you'd feed to people who could eat wheat.When I saw the great reviews this book had on Amazon, I decided to give it a try. I made the lemon cake first. Wow. It was the best thing I've ever tasted. My boyfriend, who can eat wheat, ate both 8-inch cakes in 3 days (yes, I was mad ;-) ). Later he said he had a lemon cake at a nice restaurant and was disappointed because it wasn't as good as the one from this book. My 16 year-old cousin said it was his new favorite cupcake.After that, I started baking all the time and enjoyed tons of things I haven't been able to eat for 10 years. Carrot cake, ice cream sandwiches, doughnuts, I've made them all. I've also given these to people who can eat wheat and they love them. I make many things dairy free as well, I just substitute rice milk (I find the brands with a creamier texture work best).I do find, as some other reviewers have noted, that Annalise Roberts likes her baked goods quite sweet, and sometimes oily. I am not watching my weight or sugar intake, I just like the treats better with some small changes. Here is a list of the things I have made with my adjustments:Carrot cake: I used unsweetened coconut, and I added a cup of (well-drained) crushed pineapple. I replaced 1/4 of a cup of oil with applesauce, and I reduced the sugar by 1/8 of a cup. This was the first gluten free baked treat my roommates tried, and they kept saying for the next few months, "Hey... when are you going to bake again?" Actually, they kept asking until we moved out last September!Old-fashioned doughnuts: I changed nothing! They are perfect as is. I gave them to my dad and he ate them late at night. The next day he told me, "You know, I was expecting to feel sick after I ate those, or at least neutral. But, after I ate them I felt fantastic!" I felt the same way. I made the chocolate doughnuts too but I liked the old-fashioned ones much better. Next time I'm going to use fresh-ground nutmeg to see if that makes a difference.Banana muffins: I used half brown and half Roger's organic sugar, and I mashed some banana and put it in the rice milk (her recipe called for chopped banana only). I reduced the liquid by 1 tbs of milk and 1 tbs of oil to compensate. My boyfriend ate 6 right out of the oven. I ate 3.Chocolate chip muffins. I made these for a pro-D day at my school (I teach elementary school). I also made some morning glory muffins using her basic muffin recipe. They were all gone by 3 pm. ORDINARY muffins don't disappear at my school like that.Ice cream sandwiches: Fabulous. I was so excited and I told everyone I ate my first ice cream sandwich in 10 years. They are best after they have been in the freezer for 3 or 4 days because the ice cream has time to make the cookie soft.Coconut cake: I used 1/8 of a cup less sugar and I made this into a 4-layer cake by cutting 2 layers in half. This was for my mom's birthday. Her friend that stayed over said the next morning, "I was dreaming of that cake of yours. I'm having it for breakfast!" My mom did too. Another one of her friends told me about a month later, "I was driving the other day and I was thinking about that cake you made for your mom... will you make it again?" I'm thinking about it right now. Mmm... cake.Sandwich bread: I had trouble with this bread, it kept falling in the oven. I did some research and realized that since I live in Vancouver, Canada, the moisture in the air is affecting my bread. I reduced the liquid slightly and I added a tablespoon of flour. I put in a little apple cider vinegar to tenderize the loaf. Now it rises beautifully and stays that way. I will post a picture one day if I get the chance.Focaccia bread. Same as above. Less liquid, more flour and a little vinegar. I also added 1 teaspoon of gelatin. I topped mine with sun dried tomatoes and basil. Yum!I also made cheese puffs, popovers, fudge cake, the pie crust and challah bread without any adjustments and they were all great. I also think this book helped me convince my dad to go gluten-free too, because it helped him realize the food could be really good. He feels so much better now.Anyway this book gave me a new pastime and a healthier dad, so I have to give it five stars :-) .

It isn't often I feel passionately enough about a book or product to actually pen a review, but as the mother of a one-year-old with anaphylaxis-level allergies to wheat, I could kiss this author for "saving" my son's birthday party! My baby's wheat sensitivity is exactly the type parents dread, so severe it landed us in the ER the first time he was exposed to wheat, with such virulence his pediatrician banned wheat from MY diet as long as our son nurses. Overnight, our household became a wheat-barren landscape: our child never knowing animal crackers or teething biscuits, all of us happily substituting rice pasta into homemade mac-and cheese, my husband sneaking Subway at lunch.A month ago, though, we began planning the ubiquitous overdone first birthday celebration. We had some degree of faith we'd find a cookbook, but having tried market-ready wheat-free products ourselves, slogging through the dry, dense world of commercially-prepared baked goods and deciding we'd rather go without bread in the house than provide storage space for yet another crumbling compacted rice block, we had little faith in our final preparation. I did the requisite research, reluctantly settling on Ms. Roberts' Gluten-Free Baking Classics; the reviews looked good, the recipes at least had some variety, and if it was going to be bad, at least it was the best of the awful available in our newfound wheat-free world.So imagine my surprise when my husband, fearing social ostracization in the face of a probable brick-cake debacle, coyly suggested he'd like some cupcakes when our cookbook arrived? The author's introductory chapters list very specific mixing and handling instructions for her basic flour (another plus for this book, it uses a singular flour mix for the majority of the recipes), and while I followed her mixing instructions, I did defy the author's admonition not to scoop right out of the container once our project was underway! Having no idea how this wheatless batter would react anyway, I halved the recipe and only partially filled the cupcake tins, expecting little rise or texture. After all, these suckers would clearly not be something we wanted excess of cluttering our counter or fridge space with a party coming up. But within half an hour, lo and behold! Beautiful, peaked, butter-colored mounds rising just above the rims? The scent of warm vanilla permeating the kitchen?? My husband sneaking in, peeking into the oven, drooling with anticipation??? And me, ever the pessimist, shooing him away and reminding him this was, after all, gluten-free!The final verdict, though?Light, fluffy, sweet, moist cupcakes, spongy on the inside with delicately crisped edges: a resounding success! Ms. Roberts' vanilla cupcakes were our first outright baking success in almost a year!! We used the Coconut layer Cake recipe as a stepping-off point for my son's birthday cake (I adapted a certain cable "Network" that does "Food"s "Lime in the Coconut" cake instead, using this as my template). We've only had our cookbook two weeks, but if the rest of it is as good as what we've tried so far, we look forward to many continued successes!I guess the two questions I had when I was looking to at least be able to give my son a REAL birthday cake were a) can you tell these dishes are wheat-free, and b) despite all the glowing reviews, are these things really any good-- or just good by a wheat-free standard? Well, when it comes down to it, they are a tiny bit different, but not in a way that's truly discernable, and certainly not in a way that's "bad." It's hard to put your finger on exactly what varies from the original, and unless you've been baking (or eating baked goods) for some time, there's nothing you'll sincerely miss from the original. These products' difference may be as simple as their "lacking" the flavor of wheat, but when it comes down to it, there's no negativity implied in that difference. It's simply a new breed of culinary aestheticism. Ms. Roberts' recipes are truly priceless in the niche they fill, representing works of culinary art and sensory pleasure in their own right. And yes, they are good. Great even in some senses. Nothing you will ever regret, and certainly nothing that would ever lead you to look back on the wheat and gluten-laden diet you once revelled in with any sense of longing.This book quells the great carb demon, and re-establishes the parts of your diet you really do come to miss living wheat-free: pizza, cookies, sandwiches. Yes, even birthday cake, too. Follow the directions for the author's flour mix, blend well, and you'll have a canvas from which to work, take liberties, create your own decadent wheat-free treats.

This is one of the few gluten free baking books I would recommend - the recipes are for regular cakes and breads and if the recipes are followed exactly, they work excellently. I find it disappointing when a gluten free baking book suggests working simply with a gluten free all purpose flour because as an experienced baker, I can use all purpose gluten free flour in normal recipes, so why would I want to buy a book which is effectively like any other? This is where Annalise Roberts excels, the book begins with a guide to creating her gluten free flour mixes for the recipes. I personally don't like millet and sorghum which feature in her bread mix and which are used much more widely in the US where this book was written, but you can substitute white and/or brown rice flour for a flavour more usual to English gluten free baked goods.

Making gf bread. Excellent results. Very pleased

The glowing review on here sounds like an author or publisher plant.For UK based buyers, you'll find it near on impossible to locate the flour mix they explicitly state you must use. Where on Earth would you find in an English store potato starch (not flour), tapioca flour and 'extra fine' brown rice flour (not the usual brown rice flour)??The answer being, nowhere, not at As Nature Intended, nor Whole Foods, nor Holland & Barret or any number of independent health food stores in London or England for that matter. So you can kiss goodbye to all of the book's recipes, as they'll turn out gritty, dry and too crumbly to eat.A complete waste of money in my opinion.

I bought an earlier version for Kindle for myself, and my sister liked it so I got her a paper version for Christmas.The book is easy to use. There are many tips to convert favourite recipes. Also recipes for general baking flour mix and bread flour mix.A lot of the recipes use strange things you might never have heard of - xanthan gum? - but they are available online or in your health food shop or even in some big supermarkets. Also there are always tips for replacements, for example for lactose-free versions.I have tried many recipes and they all worked. They are all very tasty and you don't need to feel sad about doing without gluten!The recipes are in US units, so you need a set of cup measures.

This looks like a very good book, but I couldn't try the recipes, or really rate the book, because they all use xanthan gum, which I can't use.