lpellegr

Try adding less water than it calls for. I find with most of her bread recipes that if it calls for 1 cup, I end up using about 3/4 cup. Also try lowering the temp to 375 or even 350 rather than 400, and bake it longer, 5 minutes at a time. Knock on the top of the bread and wait for it to sound solid. Put it back if it still springs back when you touch it. Don't cut it until it's completely cool. I still get this problem sometimes - it looks perfect until I take it out of the pan, and then it starts to collapse, but I've been having more successes than failures since I cut back the water and lowered the temperature. And bread that's too ugly for sandwiches can still make great croutons and crumbs.

Stick with it until you have the procedure done, then regardless of what it shows, if you feel better eating gluten-free, then that's what you should do. More and more evidence is coming out that humans in general have trouble processing wheat, and many health problems are starting to be linked to wheat. Don't go broke buying gluten-free breads, bagels, mixes, etc - instead of substituting these things do without them and eat fruits and vegetables, meat, cheese, eggs, nuts. People in this forum will be a great help.

If you can afford a Palm PDA (the Z22 may be the cheapest), you can go to Clan Thompson online and get a subscription to a gluten-free database that includes all kinds of brand-name groceries and foods from specific restaurant chains. Maybe by now they have it for smartphones. It does cost some $, but when you're just getting started it really helps, especially when you suddenly have to go out to eat and need to find something safe. I used it for my first year or two of being gluten-free until I got the hang of it.

You'll find that over time you'll find what works for you and what doesn't. You start thinking in terms of what is safe and filling and you'll find out that hard boiled eggs and pepperoni slices might be someone else's weird breakfast but it works great for you because that's what you could find at 7-11 at 8 am. You'll start to stash boxes of raisins and bags of peanuts in your car for emergency food, and keep a mental list of things you can grab for lunch on the fly (foil pack of tuna and box of Nut Thins, or individual bowl of Bush's baked beans and a bag of Pirate Booty for lunch). It has been 6 years for me, and I pretty much don't miss bread-like products at all - no urge for pancakes or sandwiches. Sandwich fillings are just as good eaten out of a bowl (egg or tuna salad) or rolled up plain or with lettuce or a corn tortilla (ham, turkey, cheese). I know it would have been tough if I found this out when I was in college, or if I couldn't cook for myself - everyone else can just go grab a slice or a steak sandwich and there you are with your stupid allergy making everyone else wait or go without you. But you will manage. The more you can avoid processed food the better off you will be. I know people have said that you can have Doritos and chips, but you might want to avoid them for a while because many of them do have cross-contamination and you want to stay as clean as possible to let your insides heal. Stick to whole foods - meat, fruit, veggies, cheese, eggs, nuts. Look into the Paleo diet or the beginning of South Beach, and eat like that. And throw in a Snickers ice cream bar as a treat once in a while just to remind yourself that you can still have some very yummy things.

This recipe always works like normal pie crust for me: Vinegar Pastry by Betty Hagman. This makes two crusts.

1 c white rice flour

3/4 c tapioca flour

3/4 c cornstarch

1 t xanthan gum

3/4 t salt

1 T sugar

Combine all of the above. Cut into it: 3/4 c shortening.

Blend together:

1 egg, lightly beaten

1T vinegar

Add this to the flour mixture.

Add ice water, 1 T at a time, and toss with a fork until it holds together when squeezed without being crumbly or sticky. Divide in 2 and wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 min. At this point you can freeze it.

Roll out between pieces of rice-floured wax paper or plastic wrap, remove the top one and invert into the pie plate. Finish and bake as usual for your pie recipe. Bake all the scraps as well, spread them with jelly, and pretend they're poptarts.

I have had good luck thawing this after months of freezing, and gluten-eaters don't know there's anything different from regular crust.

I was wondering if anyone had ever made the peanut butter/egg/sugar cookies substituting Nutella for some or all of the peanut butter. Nutella probably has more sugar and less nut content than peanut butter, but it sounds like it would make very decadent cookies if it works! I'll probably try it eventually, but wondered if anyone here has already tried it and whether it turned out.

Here's something quiche-like and quick. Make it on Sunday and eat it all week.

Vegetables: I thaw frozen chopped spinach, but you can use any cooked veggies you have around.

Cheese: shredded swiss or cheddar or feta or whatever you want.

Meat: Bacon or ham if you have it and want it, if not leave it out.

Grease an 8x8 baking dish or a pie plate.

Spread the veggies evenly across the bottom.

If you have time and inclination, saute some onions or shallots or garlic or leeks and add these. Or just sprinkle with onion powder, etc, or ignore.

Distribute cheese and meat in any combination across the veggies according to your taste.

Beat 6 - 8 eggs with a glug of milk (probably 1/4 - 1/2 cup, I don't measure) and a little salt. Pour over everything else.

Bake at 375 for about 35 - 40 minutes. I will be somewhat browned on top and solid all the way through.

Let it cool, cover it with foil or plastic wrap, and refrigerate.

In the morning, cut it in 4 - 6 pieces. Take out one, microwave, eat. Put the rest back. It will keep all week. I do this all the time and it really keeps me full all morning.

Make sure they are very dry. I make some of Betty Hagman's loaves that crumble easily just for crumbs. When the bread is cool I slice it, cut the slices in cubes, let them dry out a few hours or overnight, then put into the oven at 250, checking and stirring them every 30 minutes. When all the cubes are completely dry and crunchy, they can be stored like that or made into croutons (fry them up a little in olive oil with seasonings) or immediately crushed into crumbs in the food processor. If they are dry enough they should be stable at room temperature, if not then you should store them in your freezer.

I haven't been ushered out, but I have been told in more than one restaurant in the US that they couldn't come up with anything safe for me (when I know darn well they could have). If you can possibly shop and cook, you might be better off with fruits and vegetables. Maybe canned tuna, eggs, nuts. It must be really hard when you don't know the language well enough. But, I would not be afraid to show the card again. It seems like the response you got last time was about the worst that could happen, so knowing that, your next experience would either be the same or more likely better. I'd say you found some ignorance in that restaurant and I wouldn't expect to find that reaction everywhere. Keep trying, because I think your chances of getting something to eat will be better if you keep trying than if you give up. Good luck, and I'll bet you can find advice on eating in Japan somewhere on this forum, maybe in the travel section.

If you like your cornbread to be on the coarse and gritty side (which oddly, I do), try adding some Bob's Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal in place of some of the cornmeal. Lots of texture in your corn muffins that way. What brands of cornmeal do people feel safe using? I have had trouble finding some that I feel are really gluten-free. Our grocery store hung a tag with "Gluten-free!" under a brand of cornmeal that stated "packed on shared equipment with wheat" on the label.

Some ideas for food that doesn't need heating:

Hummus with carrots or gluten-free crackers.

Cheese and fruit.

Salad - pile all the veggies (lettuce, leftover cooked veggies, shredded carrots) and some cheese in a big container. You can add cooked chicken and/or chopped hard-boiled egg if you can refrigerate it. Bacon is also awesome. Either add dressing at home (which tends to make the salad slightly soggy), or carry separately and add before you eat.

Roll up deli lunchmeat and cheese together and eat as a bread-free sandwich with some carrots or pickles.

Tuna salad, egg salad - take bread to make a sandwich or just scoop up with vegetables (small carrots, cucumber slices).

Yogurt, topped with nuts. I prefer plain whole milk yogurt to which I add fruit, but any kind will do. Cashews added to that is awesome and will keep you full a long time. Add the nuts later or they might get soggy.

If you include protein (nuts, eggs, meat, cheese) and plants (fruits, veggies) and minimize the bread/cracker/grain items you will feel full longer.

I grew up with fish breaded with Rice Krispies, and Rice Chex (well crushed!) substitutes well. Use thick fish filets (like haddock), dip in melted butter, shake in bag of crumbs. When all done, dump the rest of the crumbs over the fish and drizzle with the rest of the melted butter. 400 degree oven for 20 min, there you go. The kids fight over who gets the leftover crumbs from the baking sheet.

And so simple. I found out that if you put Rice Chex and chocolate chips in your mouth at the same time, it's awesome. Like a Kit Kat.

I got a gluten-free pizza there last year and it was GREAT! It was huge, the crust was awesome, and my gluten-eating teenager loved it too. I had to wait a little for it, but it was well worth it. I was really surprised, since I wasn't expecting much, but I'd eat it again anytime. I asked them about the crust, and they said it's D'Iorio's. I looked it up, but apparently they only supply it wholesale to restaurants.

I found some Annie's and Kraft salad dressings in individual packets at minimus.biz, and you can easily look up which of those are gluten-free. This was about 5 years ago but you can still find them. Also look at foodservicedirect.com.

A little further south in Mercer county, there is a PF Chang's near Princeton and an Uno in Hamilton, both of which are chains with gluten-free menus. Otherwise not much. The Blue Bottle Inn in Hopewell marks their menu items when they are gluten-free and they know what it means. Brothers Moon in Hopewell usually has some things that are or can be gluten-free. As for shopping, there is DeLiteful Food on Quakerbridge road with all kinds of foods for special diets (gluten-free, Weight Watchers, diabetic) and a Whole Foods, Wegman's, and Trader Joe's on Rt. 1 near Princeton. And a Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Ewing!

You're going to have to spend some money, unfortunately, for some of these flours but if you shop around you might be able to find them cheaper in some places than others. No, don't buy from bulk bins because someone could have used the wheat flour scoop in the rice flour which would make it no longer gluten-free. Rice flour can be found cheapest at Asian grocery stores. Some things are cheap on Am__azon if you can get the shipping price down. Many stores are now carrying Bob's Red Mill products, but the price varies. In many cases you could probably total up all the cups of different flours in a recipe and replace it with a premade gluten-free flour mix - just check to see whether you need to add xanthan gum (that's expensive but a little goes a long way and you will need it).

It's a "maybe" on the cakes, cookies, pancakes, etc, but a definite NO on making bread by just substituting gluten-free flour. Our breads are not kneaded and are very fussy. You should consult a gluten-free cookbook for bread recipes or search this site. If you want your family to eat gluten-free, there's a lot more to it than just switching the flour in your homemade baked goods. You have to consider everything that goes into their mouths, because most processed food contains some form of gluten, and even pills and drinks and makeup can contain something with gluten. So if you're serious about going gluten-free, consult this website as a start to find out about the multiple changes you'll have to make and the many places gluten can lurk. For example, if you buy gluten-free pasta but drain it in the same colander you have been using for normal pasta, you'll contaminate it with gluten because it's pretty much impossible to remove every trace of it from the holes in the colander. That innocent-seeming box of corn flakes or Rice Krispies can't be eaten because it contains malt flavoring. So if you want to go gluten-free, be prepared for a lot of work, but you could also achieve some considerable improvement in health, so it's worth it.

Cornstarch: check the box. Some of them now say "gluten-free". I haven't had a problem with any of the brands I've used.

I've had mixed results from our local Aldi. I haven't seen anything labeled gluten-free (maybe they don't do it in the US), and there's little information about whether things are made on lines or in facilities with gluten. Some products have been fine, and others gave me a reaction (pistachios? deli ham? Really?). They have no consumer contact info on their website, so there's no one to call. I'd say stick to the non-processed items like produce and eggs.

If you haven't already divided things like margarine, peanut butter, mayo, etc into the gluten-free jar and the other jar, then make sure you do that for anything they could possibly want to share with you.

Dedicate a drawer in your fridge to your food.

Get a big Rubbermaid bin for your dry foods and mark it "Gluten-free only".

Get a scissors just for opening gluten-free packages and label it gluten-free.

Get your own set of wooden spoons and use a Sharpie to color the handles black and keep them in a separate place from the "gluten spoons".

Get a can opener just for you and label it.

Get your own cutting board and colander.

MARK EVERYTHING so it's obvious it's yours and not theirs. Or keep it in a place that's inconvenient for them to get to.

Educate them and re-educate them as often as needed.

If they cook ramen noodles or pasta in a stainless steel pot, be sure to scrub out the residue clinging to it before it goes in the dishwasher.

Before you work on the cupboard, wipe it down to remove crumbs and then lay down a layer of newspaper just in case.

NEVER eat anything that falls on the cupboard or the table, just in case.

Never share a glass.

Never let them drink out of something and put it back in the fridge.

Make them wash their hands before the empty the dishwasher, in case they have gluten on their fingers.

Minimize or outlaw mixes with flour in them - no pancake or muffin mix, which could spew gluten into the air for hours - or have them go outside or to a separate room to open the package and dump it in the bowl and mix it.

My kids eat gluten foods but are very sensitive to my needs and have become very good at not contaminating the house. Sure, there are crumbs, but they are very good at using their designated items and not mine, and I haven't had a problem for years. The Ex, well, that was another story. Some adults are harder to train than children.

I'm trying to find places online that have good prices and I can't find anything. So, where do you buy your flours? More than one place?

Can you give me a general idea on how much you spend (price for product + shipping costs)?

Thanks!

Do you mean premixed flours or components to make your own? I mix my own blends from components using Bette Hagman's cookbooks, and here is where I get flours:

Rice flour, tapioca flour, sweet rice flour - Asian grocery stores carry these at the best price. I use Flying Horse brand. You should be able to get them at less than a dollar a pound.

Brown rice flour, sorghum flour, millet flour, bean flour, etc - Bob's Red Mill is one source of these, but if you order online the shipping can be pretty high. See if you can find them at a health food store or Whole Foods. Shop around - mainstream stores are beginning to carry these, and there can be big price differences. Some also carry Bob's Red Mill premixed gluten-free flour. These generally come in bags of a pound or less, and cost $4 - $6 per bag depending on what you get.

Potato starch flour for some reason is harder to find. Look at health food stores/Whole Foods, but also in the Jewish food section of bigger grocery stores. Again, $4 - $6/pound depending on where you find it.

If you're going to bake you'll need xanthan gum. This is quite expensive, but a little goes a long way. I usually see it for $11 - $14/bag, which could be less than a pound. Shop around, because it varies. You might see it with the Bob's Red Mill display at the regular grocery store, or you might have to go to a health food/Whole Foods for it. It's a very fine powder, so be careful not to accidentally spill it.

Gelatin (in many bread recipes) - regular grocery store.

Dry milk powder: nonfat dry milk is in any regular grocery store, but King Arthur Flour sells dry milk especially for bread.

As for the mixes, from what I've seen on this forum Ama_ _zon might be the cheapest place to get them in bulk.

Good luck! Baking with these flours requires patience and practice. Don't throw away your failures - make them into crumbs or croutons.

Cornstarch is in any grocery store. Costco or Sam's Club or such might have bigger containers.

Awesome! I was wondering about those. A lot of their other products make me react, so I would like to know whether they are made on gluten-free lines before I indulge.

If some food disappoints, you can sometimes use it for another purpose so you haven't wasted your money. The day-old cake would probably make a great trifle - layer cubes or slices of it in a bowl with fruit preserves and vanilla pudding (or chocolate pudding for chocolate cake). Crappy bread can be reborn as croutons or bread crumbs - cut into cubes, dry them out in a 250 oven until totally dry, then pulverize for crumbs or shake with a little olive oil and seasonings for croutons.

Ever since the forum format changed, I randomly get a warning popup when using my browser's "back" arrow button after reading a post. It's not every time, either, which is especially weird. I'm using Safari. When I hit the back button to get back to the list of posts, the popup asks me if I really want to send a form again. Sometimes, though, it just goes back to the previous page with no popup. I haven't seen anything happening to cause it. Suggestions?

If you're familiar with how to make regular wheat pie crusts, this one from Bette Hagman should be easy for you. It always works for me and gluten-eaters can't tell the difference.

From The Gluten-Free Gourmet by Bette Hagman (with some editing from me):

Vinegar Pastry

1 c white rice flour

3/4 c tapioca flour

3/4 c cornstarch

1 rounded t xanthan gum

3/4 t salt

1 T sugar

3/4 c shortening

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 T vinegar

Ice water

Combine all the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender - don't get the pieces too small, because each intact lump of shortening makes a flaky spot in the pastry. Add the egg and vinegar and toss with a fork until everything is evenly blended. Start adding the ice water 1-2 T at a time and tossing with the fork. Keep adding until all the dry ingredients are just moist enough for the whole thing to stick together in a ball when you squeeze it. This is enough for two crusts. At this point you can divide it into two balls, chill them and roll them out, or wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze. I have made a good crust from a ball of dough frozen nearly a year. You might want to roll it out between two sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper, sprinkled with rice flour to keep stickiness down. Get it into the pie pan, shape, and either prick with a fork and bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes or just add filling and bake as directed. And if you have leftover after trimming the crusts to shape, you can bake them too and spread them with jelly and pretend they're pop-tarts!