Easy Gluten-Free Baking

I've been buying gluten-free baking books for a while now, ever since I decided to cut back on gluten products, and they tend to be very much "hit or miss." This book, however, is a hit, even if not all of the recipes are perfect as is. The recipes are, as the title implies "easy," especially in relation to how difficult gluten-free baking can sometimes be. I've tried several of the recipes so far and the best were the muffins. As someone who loves muffins, giving up or cutting back on regular ones is a problem. I've tried the recipe now with throwing in frozen cranberries and with blueberries and, next time, might toss in some nuts, as well. While the Coffee Cake Muffins--OMG, they are so easy, easy...and so very good. I've made the Cheddar Dill Bread and it is also easy and tastes more like a biscuit than bread, which the author indicated. But I think I might experiment next time and not the dough all together in a loaf pan as the bread is very crumbly (far too much to even think of toasting it). If you really like dill, I might also add a tad more than what the recipe indicates. I think this recipe can be played with a fair bit as it is a nice basic savory bread recipe, but suffers from some of the complaints of non-gluten bread in regards to not holding together well. I suspect it would do better as biscuits. The book itself has a hard cover and is made so that you can open it to a page and it will lay flat, a problem with some cookbooks that aren't built in a "ring-binder" style so that you end up balancing cans or something on them in order to keep the page open while cooking. There are pictures of some of the baked goods, but this is not primarily a cookbook with lots of color pictures. I would have liked more pictures because that is one reason why I collect cookbooks, but as the recipes are so useful, I'll forgive that one "fault." This isn't truly a "beginner's" baking book, but it might be a good place to start if you are just getting into baking gluten-free. As someone who has years of practice in baking with gluten, this book is simple to deal with and easy to read and even make adjustments to as need be. I have tapioca and potato starch and all that, but I sometimes just use rice flour (white or brown) and the xanthan gum--a huge plus for any gluten-free baking--and it tends to turn out just fine anyway. But, probably for the first time, I'd follow the original recipe and then dabble later. Some things just AREN'T as good without the special flours. EDIT: I've just recently tried the chocolate cake and it was easy easy and turned out great. No one at the party ever would have guessed it was gluten free. I've also found that just using plain old rice flour rather than the sweet rice flour in some of the recipes works out just fine--I have a hard time finding sweet rice sometimes, whereas regular rice flour is much more common. Having tried out a few other gluten free baking books, I have upgraded this review to 5 Stars, as I now have much more of an appreciation for this gluten free baking book! I would snap up another baking cookbook from this author in a second!

If you are going to get only one gluten-free book, this is the one. Elizabeth Barbone has created wonderful recipes that taste like the old favorites that you remember before going gluten free. Before I had this book my family would always ask me to bring a gluten-free dish to family events--and I was basically the only one who ate it. Now I bring food from this book, and my family begs me to leave the leftovers with them. I recently brought the Classic Chocolate Cake (which is actually the same as the cake recipe on the back of the Hershey's cocoa box except gluten-free) to my mother's birthday, and my family raved. My mother went on and on about how it tasted just like her grandmother's chocolate cake--which, of course, was full of gluten. One thing that I love about these recipes is that they come out every time. The author has tested every recipe 30-40 times before publishing. My one daughter doesn't eat dairy, so I have exchanged coconut milk for regular milk in some recipes and organic palm shortening for butter, and the recipes are still fantastic. There is a wonderful recipe for sugar cookies that actually roll out and taste great. I have made these and brought them to baby showers, birthday parties, and church events, and people always say the same thing to me. The comment on how pretty the cookies are and how great they taste. Many, many people have told me that their experience with iced sugar cookies is that they look great and taste awful--not these cookies--they taste as good as they look! Although the book is called Easy Gluten-Free Baking, there are also recipes for main dishes like meatloaf and chicken and pizza. Our family favorites from this book are: No-Bake Peanut Butter Balls, Classic Chocolate Cake, Molasses Crackle Cookies, Chocolate Pixies, Rosie's Pumpkin Bread, Applesauce Bread, Snowball Cookies, Pie Crust II, Sugar Cookies, Thin Crust Pizza, Chicken with Apple Cider and Onions, Meatloaf and Cod Cakes. Update: 2014 The original review was written about the first edition of this cookbook which contained both main dishes as well as baked goods. The current edition only includes baked goods and will not have the recipes I mentioned like meatloaf and cod cakes. The classic yellow cake recipe in this edition is excellent--it's a true, moist yellow cake. It's new to this edition.

I started a gluten-free diet about a month ago and, as a serious baker, was gravely concerned about my ability to reproduce all my favorite foods. I researched and purchased many books to help me with the transition. This book has been, by far, the most successful and reliable. There has not been a single failure, and several recipes have become fast favorites, competing with or even exceeding past baking favorites made with wheat. Also, the book has a helpful lay-flat spiral binding and some lovely, always appreciated pictures. I'd say two things cause this book to stand out above the competition. First, the recipes are obviously exceptionally well tested. Second, these recipes are carefully calibrated to produce foods that very closely resemble the classic baked goods most Americans were likely familiar with before a gluten free diet. If you're craving chocolate chip cookies, pancakes, or chocolate cupcakes, this book will give you versions that, frankly, no one would guess lack wheat. The author herself is not gluten-intolerant, so she eats and compares 'regular' versions and gluten free versions. I think this perhaps gives her a leg-up in reproducing wheat based foods so exactly, without letting wishful thinking or shifting taste buds influence her judgments. There is even a chapter devoted to replicating store-bought products like twinkies, oreos and graham crackers. Although this book would be perfect for a family with celiac children, or all-american tastes, the basic recipes and techniques are so well-tested that it would be very useful to the celiac gourmet looking for help adapting the base recipes in his or her favorite creations. [The author also has a paid web site with more well-tested recipes and some product reviews. Although somewhat expensive, I have ultimately found this to be a good value given the quality of the recipes.] The 'classic american' focus of the book is it's main virtue, because most celiacs will be craving just these kinds of foods. However, this is not the book to turn to if you are looking to make healthy, low-calorie, or 'whole-grain' type recipes, multi-component five star restaurant style desserts, or want to experiment with the newest, most unusual or health-food-store type ingredients like stevia, amaranth flour, or mesquite. Most recipes use some combination of white rice flour, cornstarch, sweet rice flour (and also xanthan gum)-- i have often substituted brown rice flour with great success, just to avoid a totally refined sugar/starch bomb (and I have found that purchasing finely ground rice flour does make a difference for products like cakes). Otherwise, most of the ingredients are pretty standard ones: butter, sugar, eggs, baking powder, cinnamon etc.. There are occasional uses of ingredients like shortening and jello (in poke cake), but not very often. Except for those who object to refined products like sugar and cornstarch, it's hard to imagine a gluten intolerant baker who wouldn't find this book extremely helpful.

This is one of my favorite gluten-free cookbooks. I had several gluten-free failures when I first started baking gluten free. My family has celiac disease, but I don't. I was looking for recipes that would be similar to the gluten foods that we were all used to. Overall, this is a great pastry cookbook. I really helps to have someone, like this author, who can eat gluten foods and make recipes that compare. The tone of this cookbook is very reassuring and it's filled with helpful information. The first recipe I made, the sugar cookies, made me want to cry I because was so happy to find a recipe that was both delicious and very similar to gluten cookies. I have made muffins, brownies, biscuits, cake, bar cookies, and quick breads from this cookbook all were delicious. Some would benefit from some tweaking (the brown sugar bars were better with vanilla, for example), but all were tasty and turned out well on my first try. One of my favorite things about this cookbook is that each recipe includes all the ingredients required. There are no flour mixes to blend--that is one of my biggest pet peeves about other cookbooks! Who wants to have several different "all-purpose," "self-rising," "pastry" flours from multiple cookbooks to deal with. Barbonne does not assume that hers is the only cookbook you own, although if you only own one GF cookbook, this wouldn't be a bad one. However, I wouldn't give this 5 stars because there are a few misses. The bread recipes, while more moist and pliable that store-bought bread, are not very good. I've found better recipes in other cookbooks and online. Barbonne's recipes also use few healthier multigrain flours, and I prefer whole grain baking. The whole wheat clone bread, for example, uses coffee to achieve a brown color instead of just using teff or buckwheat flour (tastier and healthier). However, the use of a limited range of flours makes this a much more accessible cookbook than others I've tried. There are still a lot of flours, starches and other ingredients required, but I'd rather have a recipe with the best possible collection of ingredients to make it work, than a simpler recipe that will fail. I had a few other misses...the chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies never worked for me. The texture stayed a bit raw and doughy. They weren't terrible, but they definitely weren't as good as the other recipes I tried. The pie crust recipe had great flavor, but didn't brown and wasn't flaky at all. It wasn't the worst gluten-free crust I tried by far (I love pie, so I've made 11 different crusts so far and still have more to test) but it didn't match the author's glowing description. Another strange quirk of this cookbook is Barbonne's use of salted butter. Because salt preserves butter, unsalted butter is usually fresher. If you use unsalted butter in this recipes, you will need to add extra salt or things will taste bland. I also recommend Gluten Free Makeovers, for a good general GF cookbook.

I have been a serious baker for many years now so when I needed to go gluten-free for health reasons I was pretty sure I would have to do without any delicious tasting baked goods ever again. I am definitely grateful a book like this exists and I would recommend it to anyone whether they are eating a gluten-free diet or not. This book is well organized and very easy to use. The recipes do not require massive amounts of time nor are the recipes such that they resemble a science fiction chemistry experiment gone wrong. This could be a great book for someone that has never baked before as well as for someone who has baked professionally, like myself. I think the author does a wonderful job explaining anything that needs to be explained and provides many wonderful tips and suggestions. As I scanned over the recipes I quickly recognized just how similar these gluten-free versions were to the versions I had already been using for many years. The brownie and chocolate cake recipe are nearly identical to the Hershey recipes that I have always loved. When I tried the brownies I was truly amazed. Everything was EXACTLY as mine had always turned out with the regular Hershey recipe except it was gluten-free. In fact, both my husband and I agreed that we thought it tasted even better. This is a book that I am sure will be well used rather than collecting dust on the shelf. However, keep in mind that although these recipes are gluten-free they still have sugar and fat and all the calories that go along with it. I bought this book for occasional use when I have guests, for special treats, and for holidays. The bread sections might get at least a once a week use (especially the pizza crusts and the hot dog/burger buns). This book would be especially beneficial for parents of children who have celiac disease as the recipes can easily be shared and enjoyed by others without anyone being the wiser to the food being gluten-free. The children will not have to feel weird for not having a "real" birthday cake or "real" cookies packed in their lunch box. WHAT THIS BOOK IS NOT: It is definitely not a "healthy" cookbook although the things contained in it could be a part of a healthy diet in small quantities now and then. So if you are in the market for a book that uses all natural sweeteners, healthy fats, and whole grains then this is not for you. It is also NOT dairy free but that can be worked around. It is NOT egg free but I am sure that could be worked around as well. Some recipe use nuts or nut butter but you can skip those OR you can use alternate ingredients (sometimes allergy alternatives are even listed).

Since my son was diagnosed with Celiac Sprue in Dec. 2006 our whole family has gone gluten free at home. Being an avid baker I purchased over 20 different gluten free baking books, only to find that most of them used flours and ingredients that I cannot find in Europe where we live (garfava flour for instance). Then I stumbled on Elizabeth Barbone's website mid-2007 and now her cookbook and I finally had easy to follow recipes, with easy to find ingredients that NEVER FAIL. Every recipe I've tried on her website and in this book have quickly become family favorites; such as: Traditional pancakes, Gingerbread pancakes, Jalapeno Cheddar Corn muffins, Cranberry bread, Rosie's perfect pumpkin bread, Classic chocolate chip cookies, Homespun sugar cookies, Brownies, Classic chocolate cake with basic chocolate buttercream, Classic yellow cake with basic buttercream, (both classic cakes make great cupcakes for kids' birthdays), these are only the recipes from the cookbook, I could go on and on if I mentioned all the great recipes on the author's website... I take these baked goods to any picnics or potlucks we go to to ensure that my son can safely have something sweet with the other kids and I usually have to keep one or two pieces aside for him because these baked goods go fast...nobody seems to miss the gluten in them! Great book, easy to read and easy to follow instructions...thank you Elizabeth Barbone, my son is now 5 and he is enjoying baking with me...safely.

I've been struggling with GF baking for more than 9 months now. In a way, I'm a self-imposed test kitchen...lol. After working through GF books that produced expensive 'concreters' or bread the consistency of sawdust, Elizabeth's book is refreshing because every recipe WORKS. What's more, there's very useful information in these pages about the GF flours, starches and techniques (such as why we preheat ovens to get spring). Oh sure, I use sorghum (my go-to flour), along with super fine flour versions of the nutritious grains for better and lighter crumb. When I want 'wholesome wheat-less', I bake with the grain flours - millet, teff, sorghum, brown rice, amaranth, garbanzo, toasted oat, etc. I have developed my nutritious recipes for muffins, breads and cakes with these flours. My recipes took many long months of experimentation and testing because none of the recipes from the highly rated GF books were ever quite right. Also, thank goodness for all of the generous bakers who share their recipes on the web. This is where I found the most useful recipes and explanations of ingredient characteristics so that I could develop my recipes successfully. But, in the land of cookies, cakes, cupcakes and yes, Twinkies, Elizabeth's recipes rock! Most of these goodies have no nutritional value and the world can't seem to get enough of these empty calories. Remember the great Twinkie protest? Why not have a great GF recipe book that faithfully replicates these delicious treats? Indeed... Because most people still stigmatize gluten free as inferior, Elizabeth's recipes will make believers out of everyone. My family takes all of my GF baked goods to work as sandwiches, meals, snacks and desserts. My jumbo whole grain pumpkin carrot raisin, bananarama or bacon cheddar zucchini muffins are envied by their co-workers just for size/appearance alone. If no one wants to share, it's announced that these are GF baked goods. Co-workers turn up their noses and vanish; my family just chuckles. As a public service, I use Elizabeth's recipes to fake out all of the cake/cookie/bread/pancake/waffle snobs. Thanks to Elizabeth, GF is as good or better than wheat. BTW, Elizabeth's GF pancakes and waffles are also divine. Because of modern over-glutenized wheat (oh, no thank you Monsanto and Bayer), why not offer everyone the lowest common denominator in baked/skillet goods? The entire universe should eat gluten free, live long and prosper. Even if it's GF junk food, our GI tracts are still better off without the gluten. n.b. - Elizabeth, I hope that you tackle the more nutritious grains in your future GF baking endeavors and maybe provide us with another book of fabulous recipes. Oh, and LOVE the spiral binding! Thank you! Why more publishers don't do this is a mystery.

This cookbook is absolutely amazing! Upon being diagnosed as gluten intolerant I became downright depressed to read some of the gluten free recipes I found. They had bizarre bean flours and unusual ingredients that can only be ordered online if you live anywhere marginally remote. So I tried a mix I found at the store for brownies. It was absolutely terrible, I threw most of it out. The Betty Crocker gluten free line was ok. The brownies are great, the cakes are decent and the cookies, not so much. However, I would like to eat more than two types of cake, brownies, and chocolate chip cookies for the rest of my life. I found this cookbook on Amazon and I had hope. The reviews are great. I can't believe someone gave it two stars because it is high in carbs and sugar, isn't that the point of good tasting baked goods? It's gluten-free baking, not low carb, low sugar baking.... The flours are easy to find, or make as I have done. The only thing I had a little trouble finding was dried sweet dairy whey, which was easily found on Amazon. The recipes are easy to follow and the results are amazing. The food is delicious and you would never know it was gluten-free. My kids are loving the food I am making and so am I! After all this, my greatest challenge with gluten-free baking will be not getting fat!

Ce livre est vraiment très facile à lire et à consulter. Les recettes sont clairement expliquées et très simples à suivre. The Blueberry Cheesecake Bars are simply awesome! Je recommande fortement ce livre aux personnes qui cherchent des recettes simples et délicieuses pour manger SG! Enfin, un livre de recettes qui démystifie la cuisine SG!

The recipes are really easy to follow and there is so much variety.

This is a great baking book for those who are gluten free. The chocolate cake recipe is amazing, I make the pancakes every Sunday and they are delicious. I have not had much luck with the hamburger and hot dog buns, or the chocolate chip cookies - not sure why as I followed the recipes exactly. I do recommend this baking book if you like to bake gluten free.

El libro esta bien, explicado de forma sencilla y con recetas sencillas. Para mi la pega principal es que utiliza almidon de maiz en las mezclas, pero esta bien como referencia.

I chose this rating because Elizabeth was right. The recipes work and you don't need 10 different flours to create the gluten free baking. I tried several recipes and they all turned out and taste good. I have recommended it to so many people already, because most of them are tired of trying the ones on the internet that most of the times don't work or need way more ingredients.