The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread: More Than 200 Wheat-Free Recipes

I am by no means a kitchen geek, but since I retired, I have enjoyed puttering in the kitchen and doing a lot of the cooking. In the last year we've learned that my wife is gluten-sensitive and a lot of what I have been preparing is now very much out of date: pastas, breads, etc. One of my favorites was pecan roll sticky buns, a batch of which was expected when the kids come to visit. My attempts to experiment with various G-F ingredients were spectacular failures.Well, last week I "discovered" Bette Hagman's gluten-free bread book and it arrived yesterday. I amassed the various flours and additives (well, almost all of them) and set to work this Sunday morning to make her sticky buns. In no time, I had hot sticky buns on the table. They were light, fluffy, and very tasty! Even in my first attempt, without the "dough enhancer," which I will search for more thoroughly for the next batch. Instead of a spectacular failure, I would have to count this first attempt by this novice a spectacular success. Maybe G-F doesn't have to be so boring after all.The chapters leading up to the actual recipes are also interesting and informative. There is NO DOUBT that I would recommend this book to anyone (not just G-F folks). In fact, any of us would probably be better off limiting our gluten intake, and this book would be a great beginning.

What I love about this book is that the main recipes can be modified to produce different types of bread (e.g. carrot, lemon poppy seed, etc.) and many start with the same basic stuff. So I made a huge batch of the basic recipe and divided the dry ingredients into 12 (can be different for various recipes) and have made two types of bread while putting the other 10 packages in ziplocks stored in the refrigerator until I am ready to make another loaf. I also enjoy the fact that you can easily adapt the recipes to a bread making machine...life is so much easier for me this way. In addition to the basic and varieties of bread (yeast based), there are non-yeast breads, and other items normally found with a flour base. I have yet to try some of those, but will soon. Being a Type I (insulin dependent) diabetic plus celiac limits my carb intake, so dividing the recipes is the best way to go in order to control my blood sugars...just wish my husband would eat gluten-free products with me as we now buy groceries for two different diets even more so now. Some may say the ingredients are costly, but in order to have better health I feel this is worth the extra effort in order to make the best tasting gluten-free products...but I do miss my wheat bread. Ah well, this book has provided me with more options than I ever thought possible.

Stunned by the price of gluten free breads at my local stores, disappointed by the cardboard texture and tiny size, I set out to make bread on my own. How hard could it be? I'm a seasoned whole wheat bread maker after all, and I love spending time in the kitchen whenever I can. Well, all of the recipes I tried on-line were failures. For all the celiacs out there, you know what I'm talking about - the bread falls apart with the first crumbly bite or sticks to the top of your mouth because it's so horribly dense. And forget about making a sandwich with it - none of them rise high to be able to fit a slice of cheese on it.I decided to bite the bullet and buy a gluten free recipe book and am I ever pleased to have chosen this book! With Bette Hagman's recipes, I was able to make bread that tasted like, well, bread! Bread with a springy texture, that rose high enough to produce a loaf that could be sliced for sandwiches, and which didn't crumble to pieces in my lap.I didn't give this book 5 stars because I've had problems with the recipes and some of them I just don't like. I've ended up with bread that has a "cap" on it - a huge empty space between the top of the loaf and the body of the loaf. She mentions this in her book and has troubleshooting tips but I haven't been able to fix this problem yet. There are a few recipes that I also didn't like, such as her foccacia recipe - it has an overpowering taste of eggs. The pita bread was hard and dense. The french bread is very, very dense but tastes good. The hamburger buns turn out tasting more like crumpets and they don't rise very high. The pizza crusts are a bit too chewy for me. Despite all that, her formulas actually produce, for the most part, a delicious tasting bread with a great consistancy and I have found my favorite: "flaxseed bean bread, egg and lactose free". It always works for me. The zucchini cheese bread and the dinner rolls are pretty darn good too.She has 4 flour blends that you can make to keep on hand for her recipes and she includes a nutritional comparison of many gluten free flours to wheat(I like that the garfava that she touts has twice as much protein and fibre than wheat flour). This has made it easier and cheaper for me - I only have to purchase 4 gluten free flours to keep on hand.There are so many recipes in here that I look forward to trying! Like the ricotta waffles, english muffins, quinoa bread and especially the sourdough.Bottom line: it's a book that's not perfect but with a little perserverence you'll find some recipes that work well and taste really, really good!

I have yet to try the recipes. The introduction section "What have I done wrong?" and "...understanding gluten free flours" have given me the confidence to finally try my first gluten free bread. Bette Hagman's explanations of the chemistry of gluten free baking are the best I have read so far.

I liked the information about gluten-free baking, had a lot of recipes.The only thing i did not like was that most of the recipes called for a blend of flour mix and that this was used for most of the recipes. I am new to gluten free baking and not comfortable to be blending flour mixes. would have liked a few recipes using for example: Bobs Red Mill or King Arthur1/1 blends.

solo in inglese

Excellent read,with a wealth of information and tasty recipes. It will be my "go to" for sourdough bread recipes especially

Best gluten free book ever my top choice for baking bread . . . . . . . . .

Anyone who is a Celiac will understand the frustrations of not being able to enjoy a 'straight-from-the-oven' loaf of soft, fluffy bread. Gluten free flours are by nature 'difficult and bad-tempered!' at the best of times. Bette Hagman's book gives me confidence that eventually I will be able to produce such a thing for my Husband. What I really like is the "What went wrong...?" chapters, detailing specifically what to do when your loaf has turned into another brick!! My first attempt out of the book is already 100% better than anything I've achieved so far from other books or recipes; with some fine-tuning, I'm feeling really optimistic!

Another one of her books a use on a routine basis, a huge help in the kitchen. I have done several recipes with successful substitution. I use less rice flour and more bean and seed flours. Highly recommended again.