Gf Grains Besides Rice

[BRCoats]

Hey all,

Does anyone have any experience with some of these other gluten-free grains, such as sorghum, quinoa, etc.? I am REALLY intolerant of rice, and wondered how these other grains taste. Also...in spite of it's name....buckwheat IS gluten free, yes?

Thanks for any help. I'm getting desperate for a bread product. Haven't had one in almost a year. I thought maybe some of the other grains could provide a way to do this.

~Brenda

[Jnkmnky]

Buckwheat is gluten free. I don't know much else.

[jenvan]

Others: Quinoa (you can buy and cook like a rice pilaf too--very tasty cooked in broth or spices. we love it!), Sorghum, Soy, yes-Buckwheat, Corn, Arrowroot, Potato, Tapioca, Bean (several varities there), Almond meal flour, Amaranth...to name a few. I've used several of these grains with success and know that Tiffany likes to use some of the more unsual ones as well. Are you wanting to buy or bake your own rice-free bread?

[tarnalberry]

  BRCoats said:

Hey all,

Does anyone have any experience with some of these other gluten-free grains, such as sorghum, quinoa, etc.? I am REALLY intolerant of rice, and wondered how these other grains taste. Also...in spite of it's name....buckwheat IS gluten free, yes?

Thanks for any help. I'm getting desperate for a bread product. Haven't had one in almost a year. I thought maybe some of the other grains could provide a way to do this.

~Brenda

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Buckwheat is indeed gluten free (it's not even technically a grain). It has a fairly hearty taste. You can use it in place of rice (either whole groats or roasted groats), as a hot cereal (grits - basically just groats ground up a bit), or as a flour.

Amaranth can be a tasty alternative as well. As a whole grain, it produces a creamy, slightly nutty dish with a somewhat creamy consistency akin to risotto, albeit with smaller grains. You could use it in hot cereal as well, I'm sure. It can also be found as a flour that works well in combination with other flours.

Millet is one of my favorite alternatives, with a relatively mild taste. You can toast the whole grain in a dry skillet before cooking to add a nutty taste. Millet grits also work great for hot cereals, muffins, and scones and the like. The flour, in my opinion, makes for a very good addition for quick breads, muffins, and pancakes.

Teff can be found in both whole grain and flour form. I haven't cooked it as a whole grain yet, but I think it is much like amaranth in producing a somewhat creamy texture, possibly even one that could be used for pudding. The flour has a fairly strong taste, so I don't generally use it straight.

Quinoa is also a good rice substitute - making sure you rinse the bitter saponin chemical off the grain first (it's a natural chemical the plant makes, but it doesn't taste good and you don't want to eat a lot of it). I prefer the red variety myself. I also like to use the flour in combination with other flours, but find that it can impart a bit of bitterness if I use too much in any one recipe.

Sorgum is also an alternative, and I like to use the flour in my muffins and pancakes for a denser texture with a mild flavor. I haven't found it as a whole grain yet, myself.

Other flours or similar things you can use to bake/cook with: bean flours (garbanzo, fava, black, etc.), lentil flours, arrowroot starch, tapioca starch, potato starch/flour (they're different, use as appropriate), soy flour, nut flours, and flax meal.

[BRCoats]

Jenvan,

Yes, I want to bake some bread, but rice really bothers me. I also need to find someone that makes the flour from these breads, but does not produce any other flours (or at least any other gluten containing flours). If it's made in the same place as gluten containing flours, I get deathly ill. So cross contamination is a biggie for me. I guess I could buy the bread, but it's hard to tell what their environment for cooking it is, plus I don't do well with a lot of the gums they put in it either....or the milk powder, etc. I have other problems besides celiac....it's complicated.

Thanks for the list of grains. I'll research them on the net to see where I can get flours.

~Brenda

[BRCoats]

Hey t-berry,

Thanks for the rundown on the list of grains. Sounds like there's lots of options out there!! I'm excited about trying them.....but doubtful. My diet is SO limited, and it's really hard to find something that agrees with me. But I'm SO bored with what I eat, and am trying to keep my weight up. I've eaten so many eggs....the other day....I fried one up and literally gagged on it. LOL!!! So yeah....variety would be AWESOME about now.

Hey, which of these grains is the least starchy? That'll be the one that agrees with me most.

Thanks again. You guys (and gals) are great!!

~Brenda

[BRCoats]

P.S. folks,

Where do you get all of these grains?? Health food stores?? I don't recall seeing any...but then, I wasn't really looking either.

~Brenda

[tarnalberry]

  BRCoats said:

My diet is SO limited, and it's really hard to find something that agrees with me. But I'm SO bored with what I eat, and am trying to keep my weight up. I've eaten so many eggs....the other day....I fried one up and literally gagged on it. LOL!!! So yeah....variety would be AWESOME about now. 

Hey, which of these grains is the least starchy? That'll be the one that agrees with me most.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmm... none of them are very starchy - I think quinoa and amaranth are on the lower end of them, though. What other food intolerances are you dealing with besides gluten and rice? I love modifying recipes and finding all kinds of variety in meals, so I'd love to take a crack at the problem. :-)

  BRCoats said:

Where do you get all of these grains?? Health food stores?? I don't recall seeing any...but then, I wasn't really looking either. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I get mine from Mother's Market or Wild Oats for the most part. But you can order most of these items from Bob's Red Mill website - and I believe all of them come from their dedicated gluten-free facility.

[jenvan]

Brenda-

Ck out this mix for rice free bread. Manna from Anna is a popular brand:

Open Original Shared Link

I know there are others out there, but can't think of them right now! I think Abby eats rice free bread. I'll have to ask her what she gets, I forget.

[BRCoats]

t-berry,

Hmmm.....I thought I had heard all sort of bad stuff about Bob's red mill....like cross contamination issues, etc.

As far as other food intolerances, it would be easier to tell you what I CAN have instead of what I can't. So....

My basic diet is meat (mostly tuna, salmon, cod, some hamburger, and chicken), cheese (little bits), one brand of white corn chips, butter, coconut oil, soy milk, cashews, green beans, onion, bell peppers, eggs, and carrot, celery and bellpepper juice. And I do eat chocolate, although it doesn't usually sit that well with me. Kinda pathetic, huh? I know it's not much variety, but that the foods that sit well with me and don't cause as much problems. I have gastroparesis, and just can't handle hardly any fiber or anything acidic. And definitley NO milk.

So, having said all of that.....do you have any ingenious ideas? ;-)

I do have lots of trouble eating enough carbs. Seems like most of them come from the chocolate, which I would really like to see change. If I could drink some fruit juices, that would help a lot. But all of them have acid in them. I've even tried the low acid orange juice. I was sick for a week straight.

Look forward to hearing from you. :-)

~Brenda

[BRCoats]

jenvan,

Thanks for the link. I'll be sure and check it out!

~Brenda

P.S. Who's Abby?

[tarnalberry]

  BRCoats said:

My basic diet is meat (mostly tuna, salmon, cod, some hamburger, and chicken), cheese (little bits), one brand of white corn chips, butter, coconut oil, soy milk, cashews, green beans, onion, bell peppers, eggs, and carrot, celery and bellpepper juice. And I do eat chocolate, although it doesn't usually sit that well with me. Kinda pathetic, huh? I know it's not much variety, but that the foods that sit well with me and don't cause as much problems. I have gastroparesis, and just can't handle hardly any fiber or anything acidic. And definitley NO milk.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've heard one or two people on all the message boards I'm on worry about Bob's Red Mill, but not most. Things made in their gluten-free facility are marked with their gluten free symbol and regularly tested. I've never reacted to their stuff, and know a bunch of people who haven't. (Their corn products are NOT manufactured in their gluten-free facility, so that may have been the problem? I don't know...)

Hmm... if milk is a problem, you may want to also get rid of the cheese and butter... casein is a more insidious problem ingredient than many of us suspect, I think. Anyway...

Hmm... so, verify for me that the following are out:

* all fruits

* all beans

* all lentils

* all root vegetables besides carrots

* spices?

Assuming all those are out, and just working with the ingredients you listed, here are a couple things I would make:

* chicken stir-fry (a theme with me, I know, but I'd go with chicken breast, sauteed in a bit of oil, with sugar snap peas (I'm assuming these are alright since you list green beans, if not, go with the green beans), red bell pepper, and a splash of soy sauce - obviously not over rice in this case, but just plain, with a few chili flakes, or, if you can have it, with a bit of Thai Kitchen's Chili paste)

* broiled salmon, with just a bit of salt on top served with:

* baked carrots - just baby carrots, tossed in oil with a bit of salt (I usually use olive, but coconut would probably be fine) and baked in a ceramic dish in a single layer (or so) for... an hour at least, turned once or twice, until they start to brown and caramelize

* baked chicken - a whole chicken in a baking dish, with carrots, onions, and italian spices with a bit of salt cooked in the oven

* carrot soup - I usually make it with chicken broth, boiling the carrots until they are very soft, then blending with a hand blender (or in a jar blender in batches), and add a pinch of cumin and a pinch of cayanne pepper (optional)

* tacos - ground turkey, onion, and a bit of fajita seasoning if you can have it (if not, a bit of italian spices, cumin, any cayanne pepper you can have) and corn tortillas (if store bought ones are a problem, you can make your own with masa and water, but it can be time consuming, alternatively, you can eat is as a dip with the corn chips)

* stuffed bell peppers - chop up the vegetables you can have, combine with a bit of ground meat, add some of your preferred seasoning (if any), and put in open topped bell peppers and bake

* veggie omlette - shred a large carrot and dice up a bell pepper, combine with an egg or two (just enough to hold the vegetables together), and cook through on low heat (probably more like a frittata than an omlette, really...)

As for getting enough carbs, I'm really curious if you could have any of the other grains, but also things like sweet potatoes, summer squash, winter squash, cauliflower, cabbage, non-acidic fruits (bananas, apples, pears, peaches, mango etc.), lentils, any variety of beans (black, garbanzo, pinto, kidney), polenta (corn meal), avocado, lettuce, etc.

[mstrain]

Hi Brenda:

I'm new to this celiac disease thing, so my experience is limited. I'm in the process of making pasta (mixer is on as I type this) that is composed of Garfava bean flour, tapioca flour and cornstarch (1:1 ratio for all flours) - first time making it - I'll let you know how it ends up. My new recipe book says this mixture makes wonderful breads. There is also a mixture called "Four Flour Bean Mix" that contains no rice flour. Have yet to try that one - maybe next weekend. I found these mixtures in The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread by Bette Hagman. Don't know about copyright stuff - maybe if you e-mail me directly it would be OK for me to send you some recipes! michelek@hotmail.com (this offer is for anyone looking for new recipes - email me!)

[jenvan]

Brenda-

Abby is another friend on the board. I asked her to post what rice-free bread she eats here....

[mytummyhurts]

  BRCoats said:

P.S. Who's Abby?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am!

I eat Ener-Gs Tapioca bread. But I'm not sure it's entirely rice free, I haven't ever looked at the label for that as rice does not bother me. Most people on here complain about Ener-Gs bread, but I don't mind it for toasted tuna sandwiches or toast with pb&j. But it is better toasted.

[mytummyhurts]

I just checked my tapioca bread and rice flour is the second ingredient.

[jenvan]

thanks for trying atleast