Posted June 28, 2011
Mary Durham has spent years tweaking recipes to learn to bake without wheat — the key ingredient in nearly every loaf of bread, every batch of biscuits, every flaky pie crust.
“My love has always been making cakes and cookies. I have a horrid sweet tooth,” said the Midtown resident, who has a severe wheat allergy.
Durham, 61, started Mary’s Gluten-Free Goods this summer out of her Cooper-Young kitchen. The home kitchen is certified through the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.
After many botched batches, she has learned to retain the moisture and lightness of her recipes, such as pumpkin raisin cake, by swapping wheat flour for a mixture of rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch.
Her cookies sell for $6 a dozen, and a loaf of bread is $6.50.
Durham’s eating habits took a dramatic turn 27 years ago when her hair began falling out. Her weight dropped dangerously, she had chronic intestinal distress and the muscles in her hands were curling in.
After months of unexplained ailments, Durham was braced for the worst. So when she learned it was her fondness for bagels and cookies that was doing her in, she was shocked.
Diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune condition triggered by foods that contain gluten, Durham had only to avoid wheat, rye and barley to regain her health.
But as she soon learned, Americans are gluttons for gluten.
Along with bread and pasta, it’s found in beer, soy sauce, sausage, salad dressings, soups, instant coffee, toothpaste, lipstick and even Communion wafers.
Affecting one in 133 Americans, the digestive disease damages the villi — tiny hairlike projections that line the small intestine — and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food, according to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.
Durham is amazed at the number of people who are cutting gluten from their diets.
“Everybody eats gluten-free or knows someone who eats gluten-free,” she said.
And it’s more than just those diagnosed with celiac disease who are ditching glutinous grains.
People who claim to have a gluten sensitivity blame it for constipation, bloating, depression, skin rashes, infertility and a host of other ailments.
While celiac disease can be debilitating and even deadly, there isn’t much research about less-threatening gluten sensitivities, says Dr. Claudio Tombazzi.
“It can be very mild for some people,” said Tombazzi, associate professor of gastroenterology at University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Celiac disease can be diagnosed through blood tests and biopsies of the small intestine, but there’s no test for a gluten sensitivity, he said.
The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness recommends that those with a sensitivity also follow a gluten-free diet.
Luckily for those who can’t stomach certain grains, the popularity of gluten-free diets has encouraged grocers to stock their shelves with a smorgasbord of glutenless products.
Now you can find everything from Redbridge, a gluten-free beer by Anheuser-Busch, to gluten-free Betty Crocker cake mixes and Bisquick.
Sales in gluten-free food increased 74 percent from 2004 to 2009, according to the Nielsen Co., and are expected to reach $2.6 billion by 2012.
“It was a big change initially,” said Marilyn Jackson, who removed gluten from her family’s diet when her oldest son was 10.
After Jackson’s son, Taylor, was diagnosed with a mild form of autism, the Germantown mom heard cutting gluten, as well as sugar, out of his diet could dramatically improve his social and cognitive behavior.
Now, “He feels better and does better,” she said.
Not wanting her son to miss out on the joys of sweet treats, Jackson, 50, became a prolific gluten-free baker.
Now that Taylor is 17, she has less control over his diet, but through her contacts at the Autism Solution Center in Cordova, where she volunteers, she has had lots of requests for gluten-free desserts. So many that Jackson also recently started a gluten-free bakery from her home, Sunflower Baked Goods.
“It just seems to be a niche that needs to be filled,” she said.
The bulk of the stay-at-home mom’s baking is birthday cakes, jumbo cookies and brownies.
Cupcakes, which run about $15 per dozen, have been her biggest seller.
Jackson says she sticks to the purest ingredients possible, meaning she doesn’t use processed sugars. She swaps the red food coloring in her red velvet cupcakes with beet powder, and her apple muffins are prepared only with homemade apple sauce.
By comparison, “Betty Crocker is going to have all kinds of preservatives in it,” Jackson said.
As awareness of celiac disease increases, Tombazzi says, more patients request testing for it, though what they have often is not severe.
“If you have someone who’s just having bloating, the chances for having celiac disease is low,” he said.
But for those who are diagnosed with the disease, modifying eating habits can offer relief, he said.
“If you follow the recommendations, you can avoid the complications,” he said. “This is something that can be fixed.”
— Lindsay Melvin: 529-2445
Two Memphis gluten-free bakeries:
Mary’s Gluten-Free Goods
276-3947
Sunflower Baked Goods
860-9258
Celiac information
National Foundation for Celiac Awareness
CeliacCentral.org
Gluten-free Peanut Butter Cookies
2 cups peanut butter
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet. Combine peanut butter, eggs and sugar and mix until smooth. Mix in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Spoon dough by tablespoons onto a cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for 5 to 10 minutes before removing.
Source: allrecipes.com
Gluten-Free Hot Breakfast Cereal
1 cup brown basmati rice
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup millet
1/2 cup buckwheat groats
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup amaranth
Grind the basmati rice in a coffee grinder until it resembles a coarse powder. Empty the ground rice into a bowl. Repeat the process with the quinoa, millet, buckwheat, sesame seeds, and flax seeds. Stir in the cornmeal and amaranth. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator until ready to cook.
To prepare: Bring 4 cups of water and a pinch of salt to boil in a saucepan. Stir in 1 cup of cereal mix and reduce the heat to medium low. Simmer for 20 minutes stirring frequently. Makes 12 servings.
Source: allrecipes.com
Red Lobster-style Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Gluten-Free
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup potato starch
3/4 cup cornstarch
13/4 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
Topping:
1/4 butter, melted
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Preheat oven to 375. In medium bowl, blend all ingredients except for topping. Mix very well to remove any lumps. Dough will be quite soft and a bit sticky. Roll or pat out dough on a lightly floured (cornstarch) surface. Dough should be about 1/2 -inch thick. Cut out biscuits with 21/2 -inch cookie cutter or inverted glass. Place biscuits on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned. As soon as they come out of the oven, brush with melted butter/garlic combination (mixed). Makes 6 to 8 large biscuits.
Source: celiac.com
Simple and Crunchy Nut Crackers
2 cups mixed nuts of your choice: (cashew, almonds, pumpkin seeds and flax seeds work well)
1 egg
2 tbsp. filtered water
1 1/8 tsp. sea salt
Optional toppings:
Sea salt, anise seeds, nigella seeds or some other seeds of your choice
Preheat the oven to 360.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Grind nuts into a flour consistency in a blender or food processor (food processor usually works best).
Add egg, water and sea salt and stir around with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together in a stiff dough.
Divide the dough in two pieces and place them directly on the parchment paper.
Roll each into a rectangle, very thinly (about 1/10 of an inch thick, or as thin as you can get it). If the dough sticks to the rolling pin, roll it with parchment paper covering the dough. When done, use a knife to cut in slices or squares.
Spray a little water on top and add seeds, if using.
Bake for about 10 minutes. Stay close and keep an eye on the oven, as these crackers burn easily. Store them in jars or out in the open and eat within a few days. Makes 30 or 40, depending on how many you cut.
Source: celiac.com
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Copyright © 2011, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.