Totally Discouraged About Baking

[huevo-no-bueno]

I'm feeling really discouraged. I've tried making Lorka's popular bread recipe three times and each time it is a flat, dense doorstop. I have to make substitutions, perhaps it is too many.

I hope this isn't too off-topic for the baking list.

I also immediately got a killer headache and shortness of breath when I ate a bit of it. When I was dealing with the flours, my skin started to itch on contact with some of the dust. I wonder if I should not eat sorghum; I have a moderate corn allergy. It seems the better I am at avoiding problem foods, the worse my reactions are when I do react. It isn't life threatening, but each time is a little scarier. I'm mad about this. And I'm mad that I paid $3.29 for that package of sorghum flour. Or maybe the problem is arrowroot. Is anyone allergic to that? Or xanthan gum? I've baked lots of crackers lately with xanthan gum, rice flour, and amaranth and had no reaction to them. I don't think I am sensitive to all corn derivatives.

I don't know of a single recipe that does not require substitutions. Google searches for recipes leave me feeling discouraged. I feel miserable right now, spending all afternoon baking just to have an allergic reaction.

I can't eat:

potato starch--indigestible

tapioca starch--indigestible

garfava flour--indigestible

corn anything--IgE allergy

sorghum(?)--related to corn?

soy--indigestible

eggs--severe allergy

Egg Replacer--gives me a headache

That pretty much means I'm limited to rice flours, coconut flour, millet, amaranth, and quinoa. I think arrowroot starch is probably ok, but I'm not sure right now.

[JNBunnie1]

Here, I have a few suggestions. I made Gluten Free By the Bay's (blogger) re-tooled version of Lorka's bread. Check out the bread section on his blog, you'll find the recipe. I made it with millet, sorghum, and amaranth. You could try millet-rice-amaranth, that's actually the combo he calls for. Now, can you tell me whether or not you have had a definitive reaction to flax seeds? If not, they can usually be used as an egg substitute. I forget the ratios, I'm sure there's info on this website. By the Bay's version calls for flaxseed anyway, so if you were to use all arrowroot, and the flax/water boiled solution for egg replacement, I think you'd get some decent bread. I would also try baking it in smaller sizes than a whole loaf. Maybe go for hamburger sized buns by baking them in texas-sized muffin cups, or mini-loaves. Also, your problem may not be sorghum at all, but yeast. Try drinking a bottle of gluten free beer sometime, that's got lots of yeast in it. Or maybe anything else with yeast, because I just remembered most gluten-free beers are made with sorghum. Does wine have natural yeast in it?

Also, there's a website called tropical traditions that sells coconut stuff & flour, has lots of recipes, some of which don't call for any eggs.

[huevo-no-bueno]

JNBunnie,

Thanks for replying. I looked at the sites you mentioned. I don't think Blogger by the Bay's recipe would work for me. I think I have to start from scratch.

I've never reacted to flaxseed before that I know of, but then again, I've never used quite so much in a recipe before. I can try eliminating it to see what happens.

The only new ingredient I tried this weekend was the arrowroot starch, so I believe that is the culprit. I'm probably only slightly sensitive to the sorghum. I'll eliminate the arrowroot and see if that solves the problem.

I think I will go back to the old recipe I was tinkering with that has a higher proportion of coconut flour in it, and add more flaxmeal like in Laurie's bread to give it a similar texture. Coconut flour made without eggs tends to be dense and moist and breakable, almost like the texture of a dessert.

I still have a headache and puffy lips this morning. I have to figure out what this was!

[dbmamaz]

Just want to give you some sympathy! When i first went off gluten, I quickly learned I cant handle tapioca. I tried Lorka's bread with some subs and it never really rose but then fell again anyways, and tasted awful to me to boot. Then i did some more testing which eliminated rice and yeast . . . i started on such a restrictive diet that I almost entirely gave up baking. I did come up with a corn meal muffin I can eat when its fresh (but only that same day), and I use it for bread crumbs for turkey burgers and i used them for frying scallops in too (tho the scallops ended up failing the challenge test ).

Now its even worse - i tested my son on the same test I used on me (A.L.C.A.T) and he was highly reactive to gliadin, mildy to wheat and not to gluten . . whihc is strange. But he reacted to rice and to millet . . .millet is almost the only grain i can eat other than corn. He, however, was fine with tapioca .. and almonds. SO now i want to experiment on breads I can make him for lunch sandwhiches . . except I cant taste them? Not sure this is going to work . . .

Here's my muffin recipe anyways, not sure if it will help at all - obviously you'd have to replace the potato starch with another starch, and the potato milk with another milk:

1 scant cup cornmeal

1/3 (or more) c corn starch

1/3 (or more) c potato starch flour

[huevo-no-bueno]

dbmamaz,

Thank you for your understanding! I can only handle tapioca starch in small amounts, but I'm better off avoiding it; it really has no nutritional value anyway. I just can't handle starches. The cornmeal is out, because of the corn allergy. Some corn-allergic people can't tolerate any corn derivatives--I find that the sugars don't bother me but the starches and whole grains do.

Millet is pretty hypo-allergenic, and the flour is relatively inexpensive and pleasant-tasting, so that and rice will be my staples for flour blends. I can use sweet rice flour or amaranth to get stickiness like tapioca.

I wonder if that Montina baking supplement would help the bread rise and be springy?

Does anyone know what choice of liquid, oil, or herbs can hide the taste of baking soda?

Thanks!

[Wonka]

I'm feeling really discouraged. I've tried making Lorka's popular bread recipe three times and each time it is a flat, dense doorstop. I have to make substitutions, perhaps it is too many.

I hope this isn't too off-topic for the baking list.

I also immediately got a killer headache and shortness of breath when I ate a bit of it. When I was dealing with the flours, my skin started to itch on contact with some of the dust. I wonder if I should not eat sorghum; I have a moderate corn allergy. It seems the better I am at avoiding problem foods, the worse my reactions are when I do react. It isn't life threatening, but each time is a little scarier. I'm mad about this. And I'm mad that I paid $3.29 for that package of sorghum flour. Or maybe the problem is arrowroot. Is anyone allergic to that? Or xanthan gum? I've baked lots of crackers lately with xanthan gum, rice flour, and amaranth and had no reaction to them. I don't think I am sensitive to all corn derivatives.

I don't know of a single recipe that does not require substitutions. Google searches for recipes leave me feeling discouraged. I feel miserable right now, spending all afternoon baking just to have an allergic reaction.

I can't eat:

potato starch--indigestible

tapioca starch--indigestible

garfava flour--indigestible

corn anything--IgE allergy

sorghum(?)--related to corn?

soy--indigestible

eggs--severe allergy

Egg Replacer--gives me a headache

That pretty much means I'm limited to rice flours, coconut flour, millet, amaranth, and quinoa. I think arrowroot starch is probably ok, but I'm not sure right now.

It sounds like you need a treat. Try these:

Chocolate Chunk Quinoa Cookies

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups quinoa flour

1 cup oats (gluten-free oats only, or try quinoa flakes)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2-1 cup chocolate chunks or chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1/4 cup dried cranberries or chopped dried apricots

Preheat oven to 325

[huevo-no-bueno]

Thanks Wonka!