250 Gluten-Free Favorites: Includes Dairy-Free, Egg-Free and White Sugar-Free Recipes

by Donna Washburn, Heather Butt

Great gluten-free recipes that the whole family will enjoy. When a family member has gluten intolerance, the cooking responsibilities are seriously challenged. Donna Washburn and Heather Butt have created tantalizing recipes that not only deal with that allergy but will please the rest of the family, too. This comprehensive kitchen companion includes tasty and innovative ideas for baked goods, pasta dishes, appetizers, family meals and mouthwatering desserts. Since many who must manage a gluten intolerance also have other allergies, the authors provide recipes for dairy-free, egg-free and white sugar-free dishes as well. Here's a small sampling of the 250 tantalizing recipes: The authors also include extensive information on grains, including amaranth, corn, Montina (a flour created from Indian rice grass), quinoa and teff (a grain from northeastern Africa). A special section on gluten-free grains deals with their appearance, flavor and texture, plus it also provides suggestions on how to use and store them.

Genres: Cooking, Health

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Punk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because it says it includes dairy-free, egg-free, and white sugar-free recipes, and it does, but it's not like they went out of their way. Minestrone soup is going to be all three of those things unless you've taken a weird turn somewhere. They go over substitutions for dairy and eggs in the introduction, but don't say if they've tested any of those substitutions in the recipes that still call for dairy or eggs, and I didn't notice any recipes that actually call for non-dairy milk or egg replacers. Instead of white sugar, they occasionally use honey or molasses, though I wasn't paying as much attention to that.

So that's not a reason to pick this up, but if you're looking for a huge gluten-free cookbook that goes from brunch to dessert, this does that. It doesn't require a custom flour mix, but it does use a lot of flours I don't have on hand, like amaranth, soy, quinoa, bean, flax, and pea; it also uses sorghum, oat, and rice flours, along with xanthan gum, and all the starches you usually see in GF cooking. There are only a few color photos in two big clumps, but they do direct you to the page number with the recipe. Most recipes have storage advice, and all have nutritional info. Measurements are in U.S. volume and mL. The index is okay, but it doesn't list all the whatever-free things—for that you just have to flip through and read the little box next to each recipe.

[Tami · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel so much better when I’m eating gluten-free but there are two things that I really miss: fresh out of the oven homemade buns and a good chocolate chip cookie. I’ve tried many times to translate my old recipes into gluten-free with little success. I even went online and searched for gluten-free recipes only to come up with bland tasteless morsels that made me crave the real thing even more.

I ordered 250 Gluten-Free Favorites hoping that I could find some sort of palatable alternative to quench my cravings. I definitely hit the jackpot. This book has a white and a brown bun recipes, chocolate chip cookies, muffins, and even a fluffy pancake recipe. I actually think the bread, roll, pancake, and waffle recipes taste better than with the traditional recipes.

The key to the delicious taste is a mixture of different types of gluten-free flours. It must have taken the authors years to get the right measurements, textures, and flavours. Another thing I love is that quite a lot of the recipes that I will be using frequently can be made in a bulk mix and then kept in the freezer.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cookbook I often recommend to people who are new to the gluten-free diet, because I think it can be helpful for those starting to convert regular recipes to be GF. For me, this transitional period was very short. I quickly changed course and wanted to prepare new meals beyond what I found in this book. However, we refer to it at least monthly for its bread recipes. Both the stand mixer and bread machine mixes are good. These authors have published a book solely dedicated to bread machine recipes that I'm eager to try.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great resource to add to the collection