AppId is over the quota
I have been a baker all my life. From the time I could stand on a chair in the kitchen, I baked every chance I got. My family loved it that I had this baking obsession, because it meant a lot of homemade treats for them.
I used to make wedding cakes. I prided myself on making them delicious as well as beautiful. My daughter's brown bag lunches almost always had a homemade cookie or brownie for dessert. Pies are my personal favorite and I make a mean crust. I perfected what I think is the ultimate cream pie base years ago and have always used my grandmother's fruit pie formula. Then there is bread, which hot from the oven, is the ultimate comfort food.
My apologies to all my friends and family who have been contaminated over the years by my love of making unhealthy baked goods.
As my knowledge about healthful eating has increased, my love of baking has not decreased. Therefore, I am continually experimenting with different ingredients and figuring out what works with my eating plan and my sense of responsibility to those I cook for, as well as my passion for baking.
Since there are many people avoiding gluten, I've been experimenting with gluten-free baking lately. There are a lot of recipes out there for those on a gluten-free diet, but frankly, they are way too much trouble and sometimes contain ingredients I don't wish to use. Not being one to follow a recipe anyway, I've come up with some baked goods that are simple, delicious and do not involve ingredients with the word "gum" in them.
Trying different flours is a fun way to start baking without gluten. My favorites are brown rice, buckwheat, almond, and coconut. I also use oat flour that is simply organic oats that I put through a food processor. Chickpea and amaranth flours are also good alternatives.
Combining flours is much more interesting than just using one kind. Here are my current favorite combinations: rice and buckwheat, almond and buckwheat, oat and buckwheat, almond and oat. The combinations are endless and make for much more interesting flavors than just a single type of flour.
Of course if you are baking sans gluten, you have to add a substitute ingredient to hold things together. The best gluten substitute I know of is potato starch. Use about a tablespoon for each cup of gluten-free flour. Arrowroot starch is also a good alternative for baking and both of these starches are wonderful thickeners for sauces and soups.
Thankfully, I love to experiment with food so leaving my old ways of baking behind isn't too painful. I could buy a bunch of cookbooks and follow someone else's recipes, but where's the creativity in that? I'll post recipes on my website as I get them written down. In the meantime, here's to baking without guilt!