On Gluten Free Baking

So, I have no problem digesting gluten, at least not in the amounts contained in breads and other baked goods. My problem is digesting lactose, or large servings of protein at a go. But I happen to have several friends who can't eat gluten, so I've recently started experimenting with gluten free baking. Lots of the information I've found on-line seems confusing, and many of the recipes use hard-to-find or expensive ingredients. Not really appealing to someone who just wants to bake gluten free now and again.

So I'm going to share with you a few of the things I've learned about easy gluten-free baking.

• Gluten free baking tends to be dry, so recipes that are moist to begin with - such as those that contain pureed fruits or vegetables - tend to convert best. Alternately, it's good to add a little extra liquid (a few tablespoons) when adapting recipes.

• Gluten, among other things, helps baked goods rise. Non-gluten baking doesn't rise as high in the pan, so you need to fill the pan or muffin cups pretty much to the top instead of 3/4 of the way if you want a regular sized cake/cupcake/muffin.

• Using a blend of several different gluten free flours in combination works much better than using one. I'd say use at least three types.

• Most gluten free flours are pretty expensive, at least around here. A cheaper option is to make your own flours using a coffee grinder. If you are going to use the flour in something you don't want to taste like coffee (ie. most things) buy a seperate coffee grinder to use for flour-making. (I got one at Canadian Tire for $10 that works fine. I have also seen them at yard sales, and they'd probably be fine if cleaned out). So far, I have successfully made rice and quinoa flour in mine. I will update when I try making my own bean flours. All you have to do to make flour is fill the grinder 3/4 of the way, and grind until you have a fine powder (ie. something that looks like flour!) It might take you more than one round of grinding to make enough flour, but not necessarily, since you might only be using 1/4 cup of each flour!

•Tapioca flour, aka tapioca starch, is reasonably priced, so I buy that. (Plus, I don't have a source of dry cassava root...)

• You can also use the coffee grinder to grind flax seeds, which I've found to be the best egg replacer in gluten-free baking (many gluten free recipes I've seen call for several eggs or egg whites, probably to lend the fluffiness gluten-free goods lack. As such, I've found it best to just adapt tried and true recipes using egg and wheat replacements). 3 tbsp water + 1 tbsp ground flax seed = 1 egg.

• Most gluten free baking batters taste horrible. So, if you lick the bowl after putting the cake in the oven and think "yuck," don't worry, it'll taste fine when it's cooked. Bean flour in particular has a pungent flavour when raw, and, though it adds nice texture, it is strongly flavoured even when cooked, so I recommend using a smaller proportion of bean flour in recipes.