5/1/07  Gluten free baking is not easy. Let’s face it, bake goods get their flavor and texture from the flours used to prepare them. Most Americans learned their baking techniques working with wheat flour — when we change flours, everything else changes.

Fortunately, the problem can be solved. Celiacs can enjoy home-made bakery goodies and you can learn to prepare them. Here is some ideas that may help. You’ll probably want to start by reading a few introductory articles about gluten free baking. For example:

• consider these tips from Ellen’s Kitchen.
• listen to the Gluten Free Goddess; I appreciate both her excellent advice and her great attitude that is revealed in the name of her site.
• these baking hints are from the manufacturer of Tom Sawyer Gluten Free Flour, but certainly apply to all baking with all products.
• this article appears on a blog called Baking 911; what a great title!!!! With luck, you may escape the urge to call 911 concerning your gluten free baking.

   You may need a bread machine. Kitchen Contraptions offers a bread machine that is specifically designed for gluten free baking. Celiac.com has posted an article on bread machine tips. Ener-G Foods provides an article on the same subject.

  A mixture of several different flours is required to mimic the taste and texture of wheat flour. Most experts recommend preparing the mixture (which may involve 5-6 different types of carefully measured flours) ahead of time rather than adding the flour ingredients one at a time. Here is a link that will connect you with ten different recipes for “all-purpose flour”. To make your decision even more complicated, each manufacturer of gluten free food provides its own mixture.

  Which mixture is best? I have no idea! I searched the net diligently but could find no one who would give a firm answer. Perhaps it makes no real difference. I use the all-purpose mix  from Bob’s Red Mill, probably because I live only a few miles from Bob’s Red Mill and its products are readily available.

  The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread is your best source of details on this subject. Pay special attention to the chapters "Help! What Did I Do Wrong?", "A Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Gluten-Free Flours", and "Where to Find Gluten Free Baking Supplies".

The Gluten Free Mall carries this valuable book and at least one hundred other gluten free baking items. (You’ll find them in the categories “baking ingredients” and “bread”). Since I can’t possibly link you to everything that is available at “The Mall”, I’ll place their banner at the bottom of this article so that you can search for yourself.