  Good and bad, 2007-03-11
I was dianosed as a Coeliac very recently and having tried the store bought stuff I thought I'd try my own. I got the breadmaker (panasonic SD253) and, based on the reviews for this book, bought it.
I've had very mixed results. Some may think it's because of my novice bread-making skills, but I had my mother try some of the recipes I did and she got similar results (with a great deal of both machine and handmade bread making).
The milk loaf is a disaster, don't bother. The sandwich loaf is okay but I'm not keen on the taste of rice flour. I've just tried the everyday loaf and found the dough is really too dry (though I admit it tastes great).
In general I'm not hugely impressed with the recipes as is, but the basic idea is good and I think I'll be able to modify these recipes to my own taste.
A real confidence booster, 2008-11-24
Confession: I've only tried the first recipe - for basic bread.
But it's SO good I don't want to venture further just yet!
I've had hits and misses before with my Panasonic breadmaker and gluten-free bread flour, so I decided to try this book.
The first thing is that the recipes do NOT use *bread* flour - instead they use gluten-free flour to which you add xanthum gum (which is easy to buy, eg Tesco's). Maybe this is what makes the difference, or maybe I'm just being more careful with measuring. Probably it's both.
Anyway the net result is that the bread really is good. I'm sufficiently encouraged now to attempt some of the other recipes soon.
Brilliant book!, 2008-08-06
This book is excellent. The recipes really work and are nothing like the dry dreadful bread found in health shops. I very often make the muesli loaf and it works out every time - guaranteed! I highly recommend this book!
Buy this - if only for the focaccia recipe, 2007-05-28
I bought this book as a companion for the Panasonic SD253 Breadmaker, which it lists as a suitable breadmaker for the recipies in the book, I have now been using it ( and the breadmaker) for about a month. The recipe for the bread mix I have found one of the most useful things,it gives a flour mix that is stable and well behaved, holds a good rise and -most importantly, makes bread that tastes like bread, and not some weird experiment in a chemical lab, which is what most commercial bred tastes like! I started off with the basic everyday white bread mix, which worked well, gave a good, well flavoured loaf, which lasted well, and was moist enough to toast when it went a bit stale. The milk loaf recipie just doesn't work, I think there must be a typo for the ammount of liquid in the mix, I ended up with a craggy bowling ball, not a loaf of bread and had to bin it and start again. The pain de chocolat sounded wonderfull, and are one of the things my partner misses most since being diagnosed gluten free, they took forever, and i'm sorry, but there are things that gluten free flour just will not do, and making puff pastry is one it was a big disapointment. The one thing that I did find worked superbly well was the focaccia bread. If you buy this book, just try this one, i promise you it will become a staple. it works well as a whole loaf on a baking tray, or split into four and made into four rolls on a yorkshire pudding tray, it freezes well,reheats well, and toasts well when a bit stale. The bread tastes and smells wonderful, and uing the pizza dough programme on the machine, makes really fast fresh bread - 15 mins to knead, 45 mins to prove in a fan oven at 50C and 15 mins to bake at 190C. Try it, you won't regret it.
There are still lots of things I haven't tried in the book, and I look forward to doing so, but it is important not to follow the recipies blindly, you need to have a basic understanding of baking, and if a recipe looks like it shouldn't work, it probably won't. All in all, not the Holy Grail of gluten free baking, but a good attempt at it, and one written in a non prescriptive, friendly acessible everyday style.
Great bread & cakes!, 2007-02-16
I bought this book after being diagnosed with a wheat intolerance and being unable to find good wheat free bread in stores. I managed to get all the flours needed from my local supermarket but was quite expensive when you compare to wheat/gluten flours. But the results were very good. Especially the blueberry muffins, they are lovely!
I would recommend this book to all those who are wheat/gluten intolerant, have Coeliac disease, etc. Being able to have bread & cakes that actually taste like bread & cakes is now a reality!
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