Archive for the ‘Cookbooks’ Category
A reader has asked for advice on gluten free baking without tapioca flour. She says:
I’m just learning to bake GF for my daughter. She does not like the taste of tapioca flour. After baking a rejected bread, we lined up all the flours & tasted them to see which one was objectionable. What do you recommend to replace tapioca? Would potato starch, corn starch or arrowroot be closest, or a mixture of one of them and sweet rice flour?
Gf-Zing has the following advice:
We think the best option would be to obtain a book of recipes for
gluten free baking without tapioca. Our favorite is Great Gluten-Free
Baking by Louise Blair, published by Hamlyn in Great Britain in 2007.
This lovely book has some excellent recipes (don’t miss the Victoria
Sandwich Cake on page 124.) This book relies on a simple combination
of rice flour and cornstarch. The book is available in the U.S.
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Gluten-Free-Baking-Louise-Blair/dp/0600615839
Likewise, Healthy Gluten-Free Cooking by Darina Allen and Rosemary
Kenney, published by Stewart, Habori and Chang has a few excellent
baking recipes that do not include tapioca. The book does not have as
many recipes that exclude tapioca, but it is a great cookbook.This
book is also available in the U.S.
http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Gluten-free-Cooking-Recipes-Lovers/dp/1584794240
Best wishes for gluten-free holidays!
We tried a new cookbook, it’s not a gluten free cookbook, but it’s really fun, and the recipes are good and easy to convert to gf and there are two Gluten Free Cupcake recipes included in the book. The book is Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. On the back of the cookbook is the header “Prepare for Total Cupcake Domination” which gives a hint that the author has a sense of humor.
For a test, we tried Toasted Coconut Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream Frosting. For this recipe, we substituted 1/2 cup cornstarch and 1/2 cup gluten free cookie flour mix and added 1/2 teaspoon extra xantham gum to the batter. It took a little longer to bake these gluten free cupcakes than the instructions noted in the book - so test those cupcakes with a toothpick to make sure they are done.
We did not have “coffee extract” so we made our own using 1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee and a small amount of hot water. The cupcakes were yummy, with an interesting mochi-like texture, for those of you who like mochi - it’s chewy. We can’t wait to try other recipes from the cute little book.