I have finally started frequenting a couple blog sites and forums that target the Celiac and gluten free and wheat free population. I spent a bit of time checking out the recipe discussions that blog and forum members have on a regular basis, and the feedback amazed me.
Many of the recipes I ran into were either "cop outs" (i.e., recipes that generally would not require gluten even in their "normal" variants), and if they weren't, they would make use of the gums (xanthan, guar, etc) to keep things together. I always find myself wondering if people try the recipe without the gums prior to adding them. Got me.
Over and over I would see people comment how the recipes they tried out produced crumbly or powdery foods, but they accept it as "OK" in general, because overwhelmingly many GF foods are just not that good. I found exceptions - where people raved about the quality of certain foods, most typically among recipes I consider cop-outs... leaving just a very few that people agreed were really breakthrough GF recipes. I saw a nice looking flax-seed bread (looked good - need to try it, and do it my own way since it used a TBSP of xanthan, which I avoid).
Well, I am launching a
gluten-free recipes gallery where I plan to show off, with nice color photos, exactly what is possible with GF recipes - none of which use the gums. Initially it will focus on desserts, and mainly desserts that are in my new book. I don't wish to offend anyone by complaining about the quality of gluten free recipes that may really be good, but instead want to demonstrate that there really is hope for celiacs looking for gourmet-quality GF foods.
