Post Punk Kitchen Forum

My roommate is trying to avoid gluten for a little while because of some health issues she's having. I'd like to surprise her with some treats, but I'm really unfamiliar with gluten-free baking and cooking.

Will you help me, PPK Gluten-Free community?

Of course! I'd recommend starting with the gluten-free blogs listed in this sub-forum. VCIYCJ also has a gluten-free mix you can use with the recipes in the book. I wish I had a roommate like you :)

I'm in the same boat! I'm a residence assistant in a dorm and I have two students who can't have gluten, I've never baked gluten free before so I'm scared that it'll be a fail!

We'll experiment together! This can be the "Friends-and-Allies-of-the-Gluten-Free Support Thread."

It might be at first! But they will appreciate the gesture. Again, a lot of people have succeeded in making Isa and Terry's cookies gluten-free, and the gluten-freedom cupcakes from VCTOTW are decent. Or, instead of baking, you can make things that are gluten-free to begin with, like chocolate covered nuts or a yummy fruit plate or caramel apples or popcorn. Rice krispie squares are easy if you have dandies and you use a gluten-fee rice cereal (some are sweetened with barley malt).

me too. and it's looking more and more like i may need to go gf. seitan is no longer welcome in my diet, and when i ate a couple or five of the cookies i made last night my gut felt like it was full of cement.

this feeling is something totally new to me. for years i was the pasta and fresh bread queen and could eat with abandon. maybe i'm just getting old

I'm not GF either, but I'm not eating wheat at the moment in a sort of mini cleanse I suppose, (its been 3 weeks) and feel so much better for it.

I think I will try out of a couple of the cookie recipes first, and see how they go! Vegan marshmallows are hard to find around here, but I would love to make rice krispie squares!

The wheat-free chocolate chip cookies in Veganomicon are, hands-down, my favorite chocolate chip cookies. I'm not gf, just someone who really loves those cookies.

[x] and another ally!

i'd like to make a GF cake, but i also need it to be cheap.. so no sorghum, quinoa or whatever unavailable flour or ridiculously expensive GF mixes.
i was planning to make a big sheet cake (i'm not sure if this is the right word. the picture on the english wiki page for "sheet cake" is not what i have in mind.. i just want a cake baked in a large baking tray), and the only thing i can think of is syrup cake - the kind of arabian thing where you bake a cake with just a little sugar in the dough but pour tons of syrup over it after baking. i have a recipe that uses equal parts polenta/cornmeal, shredded coconut and flour. i guess that i could reduce the amount of flour in favor of more cornmeal and coconut.. but what to do with the remaining flour? is there any other option than using a GF mix?

any other ideas for GF cakes/sweets that make a lot but don't cost too much?

I made these one time over the summer, they were fantastic! I love the texture they have.

i have made progress.. or something.. i checked the ingredients of a cheaper GF mix and it's just cornstarch and corn flour.. so i guess i could try and replace the flour in the recipe with half cornstarch and half corn flour.. or something? would that work?

I don't think that would work, but it depends on the texture of your cake. I've heard of dense cakes made with polenta, maybe you're going for something like that. Gluten-free flours are expensive, but unfortunately, you need something like quinoa, chickpea, almond, millet, or sorghum as a protein. Some mixes use only white rice flour and tapioca, but that is all starch, and in my experience makes things taste like paste.

The rice krispy squares in VCIYCJ aren't made with marshmallows at all but are made with brown rice syrup and maple syrup. They are fantastic!

I have looked at that recipe but always feel like brown rice syrup is too pricey for my student budget, maybe I will splurge once and try them!