Gluten-Free Wish List: Sweet and Savory Treats You've Missed the Most

by Jeanne Sauvage

Finally, a cookbook that includes gluten-free recipes for pizza crust, bagels, and all of the other wheat-laden staples folks miss most after eliminating gluten from their diets. Here author Jeanne Sauvage proves that gluten-free should never be anything less than delicious. Whether diagnosed as celiac, living with gluten and wheat intolerances, or simply adhering to a healthier diet, anyone can enjoy each and every one of the 100 mouthwatering creations found here—from sweet treats like waffles, doughnuts, and chocolate chip cookies to savory favorites such as sourdough baguettes, ramen noodles, and fried chicken. For beginning home cooks and seasoned chefs alike, this reference will be the cornerstone of every gluten-free kitchen.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 29, 2015

About the author

In addition to being a writer, I am a wife, mom, wine-drinker, urban chix owner, organic gardener, voracious reader, knitter, canner and preserver, and a PhD In Performance Studies.

I am a lifelong baker. Baking is in my blood. I need to bake to be happy. I've baked since I was old enough to stand on a chair and reach the kitchen counter.

When I was diagnosed with gluten-intolerance in 2000 (after the birth of my daughter), I thought I would never be able to bake again. After feeling sorry for myself for awhile, I picked myself up and decided to learn how to bake gluten-free. My goal has always been to bake things that taste and feel the same way they did when I baked with wheat. And I have succeeded! I am thrilled to be able to share my success with my readers!

Reviews

[Ashley]

pros

- 2/3rd of the recipes appeal to me right off the bat. I’m impressed. Of the remaining recipes, the majority are items that I am ignorant about (ex. lefse, knishes) and only occasionally items I personally don't care to make right now (ex. blondies, crackers).
- There is one flour mix. One. What's even better is that it consists of only 4 flours and xanthin gum. This is so doable (vs some of the 5+ flour mixes online or various flours per recipe)
- (The flour mix is somewhat similar to a few commercial brands, which are functional replacements for those who want to try the recipes before taking the plunge to make their own mix)
- Easy! I have always been intimidated by bread recipes. I was amazed with how easy these recipes are.
- I didn't know what gougères were before this book. They are my new favorite food.

Cons

- Everything takes time. I‘m exaggerating because I have no motivation to make my pancakes overnight, even though I know they will be amazing. Dang it. Still… it pays to read the recipe the day before to understand how much time it’ll take. (This could also be a pro because sometimes I only have 30 minutes to spare so I could start a recipe that I didn’t have to finish until later that night.)

Neutral

- No calorie information, which makes sense considering how many variables, but I was still looking forward to a general idea without calculating it myself
- It’s been months and I finally stopped giggling about puff pastry dough being best made in kitchens between 60-67 degrees so, if it’s going to be a warm day, start early. It’s legit and well explained, but I read this in summer in a place where we tell the seasons by the coconut oil jar - is it melted? It’s summer. Is it solid? Winter. Is it half melted? Oooo, Swing season week. It would cost > $1k to make croissants in the summer so I’m pretty excited that winter is coming.

[Kim]

I am going to withhold a rating until I have prepared more items from this cookbook. At first pass, the good: mostly simple recipes for many foods that are not routinely available gluten free. As the number of products on the market increases, the need for some of these recipes has declined - eg you can get pretty good animal crackers now, and gf ramen is commercially available. My biggest concerns: Sauvage has taken some steps I do not - and would not - take in baking. For ex, in a chocolate recipe semi sweet vs 70% vs unsweetened chocolate makes a difference. Weighing ingredients - which she downplays - is really the only way to get a consistent result each time you cook, and the only way to truly replicate someone else’s recipe. I am withholding judgment on the flour blend until I see how it performs. Many recipes look like exact copies of their non GF counterparts, which is also concerning - GF flours don’t absorb fat or liquids the same way non GF flours do. Anyway. So far I have tried the pretzels, which were pretty good. I will bake another item or two this week and will post back. In the meantime, it is intriguing - if, indeed, these recipes faithfully reproduce their gluten-containing brethren, I will be impressed

[Punk]

This is a nice looking book that covers breakfast to dinner and uses a custom flour blend of brown rice flour, white rice flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca flour, and xanthan gum, and don't talk to Sauvage about substitutions because she won't have it. She specifically says so, and that you can swap out the tapioca for potato starch, but that's as far as she's willing to go. She picked those materials because they were as allergen-free as possible. Though she does go into substitutions for other ingredients like butter, sugar, eggs, etc.

The book has an extensive introduction, each recipe itself has an introduction and instructions on how to store it and how long it will last. Savory items are all things that normally require wheat (bread, onion rings, gnocchi, ramen, dumplings) so they're not gluten-free by virtue of just normally being that way. There are some great color photographs, but only for a third of the recipes. Measurements are by volume and weight (grams), and it has a useful index.

[Anne]

It would have gotten a higher rating if it had pictures for each of the recipes... Also, many of the items didn't work for me because they also contained meat but that's more about me, I suppose.
However, gives a fairly in depth look at the different types of gluten free flours and how they work and what substitutes can be made for different things. She also talks about how she developed her recipe for GF all purpose flour and why it works as is and not to make other changes to it and then complain about it not working. =P
But, as advertised, does have recipes for many of the things that one immediately thinks they have to give up when going gluten free.

[Linda Hartlaub]

Jeanne has made a wonderful cookbook filled with treats and recipes that you crave. If you are celiac, gluten sensitive or have multiple food allergies, this is a book you want...no, you need to own. There are not a lot of photos, but those the book contains make the food look delicious and mouth-watering. Thumbs up!

[Ietrio]

Probably the gluten-free movement is just another superstition, but it is nice to see some variation among the cook books.

[Christine]

great recipes!

[Micky Cox]

The first line inside the cover is "Finally a cookbook that includes gluten free recipes for pizza crust, bagels, and all of the other wheat staples you've been missing." Ok, that sounds interesting to me as I'm newly diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder and am now gluten, dairy and soy free. While this book doesn't specifically address the dairy and soy free issues, most of the recipes allow for substitution for those items so as long as you know how to do that, you are good to go. The book is beautiful. Great pics that go with the recipes, easy to follow instructions and a good basic starter cookbook. A lot of the recipes are very similar, but could easily be jazzed up with herbs and spices. In general, I find it a helpful cookbook to have and would suggest it to other bakers especially ones in the beginning stages of dealing with gluten free lifestyles. I checked the book out from the public library, but will be adding it to my kitchen bookshelf soon.

[Marcia]

I got as far as the foreword and the first section, and it's the best cookbook I've read in a while as far as explaining the physical chemistry of baking rather than "just sub in rice flour!" But life happened and I wasn't in shape to finish it. Hope to get back to it this summer.

[Shirley]

All the recipes used the same basic baking mix, but it has in it the white rice powder.
Only one recipe of granola was helpful. It mostly has desserts in the book.