I often get asked about ways to help make gluten free baking a little easier. It is quite a bit different than cooking with wheat flour, textures are different and the results more often than not are markedly different. So in this section I will endeavour to share some of the tricks that I have learned over the past 10 years of making and baking the Elocin Foods products. Because a great deal of the baking at Elocin is small-batch, handmade (just like you would at home) it is easy to share some tips and tricks to make your journey into the world of gluten free cooking just that little bit easier.

All the information I am sharing here is my own simple opinions and experiences garnered from my gluten free journey. Some things may be way off the mark so please feel free to help me with this page and let me know your own experiences and share any helpful information. Send me an email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

 

Here are some quick notes, I will elaborate where and when I can.

Protein, gluten is a protein that has an important function when cooking so take that away and you need to find ways to mimic it. There are guar and xanthan gums which are thickeners that help to replace the binding characteristic of gluten.

Egg is another good binder, particularly the egg white. If you are converting a 'normal' recipe to GF and it asks for just an egg yolk (eg. pastry) I find it works better to use the whole egg and decrease the amount of the other liquids.

Nuts and seeds are high in protein and they can help to add to the texture and the flavour, particularly in breads. Grind them up on their own or in a mix.

Banana and carrot cakes are good cake options as they stay lovely and moist. There are chocolate cake recipes to be found (I'll see what I can do) that contain beetroot or courgette and these help to keep in the moisture too.

Cakes made with oil tend to be softer than those made with butter. No idea why, I've just found it to be so.

 

That is a wee start. I will continue to add things as I have 'eureka' moments or when I get some feedback from you folk out there. Anything to help add to this would be much appreciated by me (Nicole, elociN owner) and I am sure also by those new to this exciting challenge of living the gluten free life.

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26.10.11

I have received a couple of great emails from Heather (in Katikati) about her experiences with gluten free baking and thought that I would share them with you.

 

"I thought you might be interested to know about some recipe experiments I have done recently. If you think it might help someone starting off with gluten free baking I would be very pleased.
Certainly to begin with, I think most people sit there and wonder what on earth CAN I eat. When I also had to cut out dairy too, it was extra difficult. However, when I found I could use goats and sheep's milk and cheeses, things improved a little, and I find Olivani has worked well as a butter replacement.

 

My first efforts about 15 years ago when there wasn't much information around and few supplies, were often more like bricks! However, I have progressed J

 

I have some gluten free recipes I use, but now often use a "normal" recipe and just adapt it. I think anyone wanting to try and convert a recipe to gluten free would be best to use a recipe they already know, and know the consistency of using wheat flour, so you know what you should be aiming for. I'm sure that you too Nicole have found that out too, but at first many people are understandably reluctant to try. It is just having the courage to experiment, and accept you will sometimes have a failure or disappointment, but lots of good results along the way.

 

I have heard some people say converting a recipe that sometimes you need more liquid and sometimes more flour. So far, I have only found I sometimes need a little more flour. Some wheat flour biscuit/cookie recipes which you might roll out or roll into balls, with gluten free flour, you can try just making them as "drop" cookies - little piles of dough!! I have a couple of different sort of scoops (like different size ice cream scoops only smaller,) and find these very useful. By the careful addition of a little extra gluten free flour at time, you can often roll them into balls and flatten on a tray, but don't add too much flour or the mixture might get dry.
Recently I tried a new recipe, which uses polenta with flour for making shortcrust, and substituted gluten free flour. It seemed to turn out really well, but will try it again before I give you the recipe. The polenta seemed to make it nice and crisp.

 I have tried quite a few biscuit recipes and just changed the butter to Olivani and the flour to a gluten free flour mix. Sometimes I need to add more flour to get the right consistency, and the amount isn't always necessarily the same each time I make them unfortunately, - so bit of guess work at times. If I am unsure, I will just cook a couple of biscuits on a tray to see if I am happy with the results first before I continue.

 

A while back I had been watching Annabel Langbein's programs, and I looked at her Ultimate Chocolate Cake and how good she said it was. I thought I would try and see if I could make it too. I used Olivani instead of butter, the exact amount of gluten free flour as wheat flour. I changed the yoghurt to goats milk with a tsp of white vinegar to sour it, letting it stand for a few mins. Otherwise, - just followed the recipe. It makes an enormous cake, so the first time I made it I put it into two tins - one to freeze. The mix as Annabel says, can also be used for cup cakes - and again can be frozen. Now, I usually make one cake and use the rest of the mixture to make cup cakes. Of course I didn't make the ganache with the cream. Sometimes I just sprinkle icing sugar on the top or make a chocolate icing or mocha icing with a little coffee and cocoa powder. Anyone I have given it to say they couldn't tell it was gluten free. It kept well and stayed moist. Here is a link if you are interested http://tvnz.co.nz/free-range-cook/ultimate-chocolate-cake-3897011 ."

 Thank you very much Heather.

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