Posted May 26, 2011
My daughter plotted her birthday cake for months, finally settling on a chocolate-flavored castle surrounded by Disney princesses.
I like decorating cakes, so my then-3-year-old’s request ordinarily wouldn’t have been a problem.
But this wasn’t an ordinary year.
This was the year we learned my daughter’s erratic sleep and constant tummy aches were caused by casein, the protein in dairy foods. The only treatment: eliminate all dairy from her diet, along with gluten, soy, tapioca, buckwheat, green peas, olive oil and half a dozen other foods a blood test indicated she couldn’t tolerate.
It turns out our daughter is one of the millions of Americans who suffer from food sensitivities, or the inability to digest certain foods. And she’s one of the lucky ones. Some 12 million have true allergies, where an immune response triggers symptoms ranging from mild itching to life-threatening swelling and breathing difficulties. Another estimated 2 million, many of them undiagnosed, suffer from celiac disease, an autoimmune reaction to gluten that damages the small intestine.
So for many people, food is a problem.
But it’s also the answer, said Carreen Blankenship of Kansas City, Kan. She and her daughters, Olivia, 7, and Layla, 5, all have celiac disease. Layla also has multiple food allergies.
“We tell the girls that you have the power to heal yourself, that you’re in control,” Blankenship said. “That power is cool.”
Blankenship wasn’t always so confident. When Olivia was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2005, she was 10 months old and so sick that she “couldn’t keep anything down or in,” Blankenship said. As Olivia’s first birthday closed in, Blankenship was frustrated and heartbroken.
“It was so devastating to think of not having a cake for her,” Blankenship said. “I wondered, what do other parents do?”
What Blankenship did was throw herself into research, clean out her kitchen and begin cooking gluten-free – including learning to bake cupcakes for Olivia’s party. She and her husband, Shawn Blankenship, then launched Olivia’s Oven, supplying hamburger and hot dog buns, desserts and pizza crusts to restaurants. Their products are free of gluten, dairy and nuts, as well as artificial preservatives. At home, she cooks with whole foods, passing on processed ingredients, in an approach often called clean, or naked, cooking.
“Our rule is that if you can’t read it, don’t eat it,” Blankenship said.
GLUTEN-FREE MIND EXPANSION
Wheat flour dominates baking for good reason. Wheat, along with a few other grains, contains two proteins called glutenin and gliadin. When combined with water, these proteins form sheets of gluten that allow breads to rise and hold their shape when baked. Eggs provide structure and richness, while butter, cream and other dairy products add flavor and tenderness.
Removing such key ingredients from recipes can be frustrating, but it’s also exciting, said Karina Allrich, who learned she had celiac disease in 2001 and began blogging at www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com four years later.
“There is so much variety in taste and texture,” Allrich said of the flours now available. “To me, it feels as if my world has expanded after going gluten-free, not diminished.”
Allrich embraces flours like the light-flavored sorghum; buckwheat, a darker and more assertive flour; brown rice flour, the whole grain counterpart to white rice flo ur; quinoa, a delicate flour high in protein, calcium and iron; moist and high-fiber coconut flour; and flavorful nut flours like almond and hazelnut.
And that’s just a start.
Hilary Kass, a nutrition educator at the Community Mercantile in Lawrence, Kan., and owner of Ancient Grains Bakery, makes biscotti from teff, a tiny grain native to Africa that’s a good source of calcium, iron and protein.
Her crispy flatbread showcases amaranth, which is actually a protein-rich seed from a plant related to spinach. Millet, a nutrient-dense grain that about a third of the world’s population relies on, goes into two pancake-like flatbreads.
“I’m innately curious about food and cultures, and these grains are staples for a lot of different people around the world,” Kass said.
None of these fully replaces wheat flour, so two or more are usually combined in gluten-free flour blends. Starch is added to mimic gluten’s elasticity; interchangeable options include corn, arrowroot, potato (not to be confused with potato flour) and tapioca. Thickeners like xanthan gum or guar gum are added to help baked goods rise.
Commercial blends from Pamela’s Products, Bob’s Red Mill, King Arthur Flour and other companies are convenient and widely available. You can also make your own blend using guidelines from Gluten Free Girl (www.glutenfreegirl.com) or Living Without (www.livingwithout.com).
TWEAKING THE CHEMISTRY
Still, flour is just the start, said Elizabeth Gordon, author of “Allergy-Free Desserts” (John Wiley & Sons, 2010).
“I’m allergic to wheat and eggs, and when it comes to baking that’s pretty much everything,” said Gordon, who was inspired to also make her recipes soy- and dairy-free after a friend’s child was diagnosed with those allergies.
The solution is substitution. Gordon often uses applesauce or ground flax seed softened with water in place of eggs. Egg replacer and duck eggs (sometimes found at farmers markets) also work. Sunflower seed butter stands in for peanut and a mix of vanilla rice milk and cider vinegar for buttermilk.
Many of Gordon’s recipes call for palm fruit oil shortening (look for the Spectrum brand). I swap Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks for butter in recipes, while Blankenship bakes with Fleischmann’s unsalted margarine.
Gordon’s main goals? Safety, of course, but also taste.
“I want everything to taste and have the same texture as what I’m used to eating,” she said. “If I can’t get that, I won’t make the recipe.”
Naked baking takes more than the right ingredients, though. You also have to learn how they behave, and it will most certainly be different from what you’d expect.
“It can feel overwhelming at first, as if you need to relearn everything you thought you understood about baking,” Allrich said.
Gluten-free bread dough is more gooey than stretchy, so it can’t be kneaded or baked free-form. It also requires a shorter rising time (it collapses if it rises too high) and must be carefully smoothed with wet hands or a silicone spatula before baking.
Sticky pizza dough also requires patient spreading with those wet hands. Cake and pancake batters are thicker than “normal,” and eggless batters tend to climb the beaters during mixing.
Cookie dough spreads more during baking, so it must be chilled before dropping it onto a baking sheet. Baking on parchment paper also helps. Persnickety-seeming instructions like whisking eggs until foamy or bringing all ingredients to room temperature help goodies rise.
Even the most experienced bakers occasionally produce crumbly breads, tough muffins and inedible cookies. Turn them into bread crumbs or croutons, or toss them into the compost bin. Whatever you do, keep your sense of humor handy, Allrich said.
“It helps to laugh,” she said. “We’ve all had our failures. The failures make the successes sweeter.”
And my daughter’s cake?
I used a gluten- and dairy-free Pamela’s chocolate cake mix and decorated it with homemade non dairy “butter cream” frosting. She ate her share, and then slept all night.
Sweet indeed.
READ THE LABEL, OFTEN
Baking without staples like flour, eggs or dairy, is challenging.
Happily, a growing range of packaged mixes makes it easier to produce all manner of cakes, cookies, brownies and breads, as well as pizza crust, pancakes and waffles.
There are dozens of mixes from companies including Betty Crocker, Pamela’s Products, King Arthur Flour, Bob’s Red Mill, Arrowhead Mills, Gluten Free Pantry, Namaste Foods, Cherrybrook Kitchens and Rabbit Creek Products, to name just a few.
Of course specialty markets and natural food stores carry a good selection, but so do other supermarkets.
Why the plethora of products?
“I’m doing it to help my customers,” says Donna Cook, Rabbit Creek’s owner. “The need is there.”
Still, it’s not always easy to pick a mix. Consumers should read each product’s ingredients each time they purchase it, since companies sometimes change their formulations. It’s important to know what you’re looking for, too, as names don’t always reveal an ingredient’s origin.
Durham, graham, semolina, spelt and kamut are all types of wheat, while rye, barley and triticale also contain gluten. Malt is usually made from barley, xanthan gum is derived from corn, and lecithin, a common thickener, is made from soy.
Chocolate chips often contain milk, and other products that appear dairy-free might include casein or whey. Green pea and other legume powders pop up in unexpected places, like some brands of dairy-free cheese.
Where a product was manufactured also matters. Even inherently gluten-free grains like oats or corn may contain trace amounts due to cross-contamination. Many people who are highly sensitive to gluten, like Karina Allrich, who blogs at www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com, buy only ingredients labeled as gluten-free and produced in designated, gluten-free facilities. Look for details on the package, or, if in doubt, visit a brand’s web site or call the company.
RESOURCES
For more information, recipes, product information and inspiration, see these resources:
Allergic Living, www.allergicliving.com
Allergy-Free Delights, www.allergyfreedelights.com
American Celiac Disease Alliance, www.americanceliac.org (includes some Spanish-language resources)
Ancient Grains, www.ancientgrainsbakery.com
Celiac Disease Foundation, www.celiac.org
Celiac Sprue Association, www.csaceliacs.org
Elana’s Pantry, www.elanaspantry.com
Gluten Free Goddess, www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com
Gluten-Free Girl and t he Chef, www.glutenfreegirl.com
Gluten-Free Living magazine, www.glutenfreeliving.com
Living Without magazine, www.livingwithout.com
Olivia’s Oven, www.oliviasoven.com
Rabbit Creek Products, www.rabbitcreekgourmet.com
The Food Allergy Queen, www.foodallergyqueen.com
—
EASY WHOLE-GRAIN FLATBREAD
Exploring cuisines that don’t rely on wheat, dairy or other common allergens can be as fascinating as it is helpful. This Mediterranean-inspired recipe adapted from “Food Matters” (Simon & Schuster, 2009) tastes so rich that my kids don’t believe it doesn’t contain butter or cheese.
Makes 4 to 6 small servings
1 cup chickpea flour (you can also use cornmeal or whole-wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large onion, thinly sliced (optional; I prefer red onion)
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, minced (optional)
Directions:
Place flour in bowl. Add salt. Slowly add 1 1/2 cups water, whisking to eliminate lumps. Cover with a towel, and let sit while oven heats, or as long as 12 hours. The batter should be about the consistency of thin pancake batter.
When ready to bake, heat the oven to 450 degrees. Put the oil, onion and rosemary (if using) in a 12-inch rimmed pizza pan or skillet (cast iron works well) and place in the heated oven. Wait a couple of minutes for the oil to get hot, but not smoking; the pan is ready when you just begin to smell it. Carefully remove the pan and give the onions a stir. Pour in the batter and return the skillet to the oven. Bake 25 to 35 minutes, or until the flatbread is well browned, firm and crisp around the edges. Let it rest for a couple of minutes before cutting.
Per serving, based on 4: 227 calories (54 percent from fat), 14 grams total fat (2 grams saturated), no cholesterol, 23 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams protein, 535 milligrams sodium, 4 grams dietary fiber.
TEFF MUFFINS
Adding pureed pumpkin or sweet potatoes, shredded carrots or unsweetened coconut, applesauce or mashed banana adds moisture and flavor to gluten-free recipes. That’s how I adapted this one from Bob’s Red Mill.
Makes about 24 mini muffins
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup teff flour
3/4 cup brown rice flour (or sweet white rice flour, if preferred)
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup olive or canola oil
1/3 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup hazelnuts or pecans, finely chopped (optional; you can also substitute raisins or dried cranberries)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400. Grease the muffin pans and set aside.
Combine the sugar, flours, arrowroot, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, pumpkin and water, and then add to the flour mixture, mixing quickly. Fold in the nuts. Fill the greased muffin pans 3/4 full. Bake for 9-11 minutes, being careful not to over bake.
Per muffin: 86 calories (37 percent from fat), 4 grams total fat (1 gram saturated), 16 milligrams cholesterol, 12 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram protein, 57 milligrams sodium, 1 gram dietary fiber.
My daughter plotted her birthday cake for months, finally settling on a chocolate-flavored castle surrounded by Disney princesses. I like decorating cakes, so my then-3-year-old's request ordinarily wouldn't have been a problem. But this wasn't an ordinary year. This was the year we learned my daughter's erratic sleep and constant tummy aches were caused by casein, the protein in dairy foods. The only treatment: eliminate all dairy from her diet, along with gluten, soy, tapioca, buckwheat, green peas, olive oil and half a dozen other foods a blood test indicated she couldn't tolerate. It turns out our daughter is one of the millions of Americans who suffer from food sensitivities, or the inability to digest certain foods. And she's one of the lucky ones. Some 12 million have true allergies, where an immune response triggers symptoms ranging from mild itching to life-threatening swelling and breathing difficulties. Another estimated 2 million, many of them undiagnosed, suffer from celiac disease, an autoimmune reaction to gluten that damages the small intestine. So for many people, food is a problem. But it's also the answer, said Carreen Blankenship of Kansas City, Kan. She and her daughters, Olivia, 7, and Layla, 5, all have celiac disease. Layla also has multiple food allergies. "We tell the girls that you have the power to heal yourself, that you're in control," Blankenship said. "That power is cool." Blankenship wasn't always so confident. When Olivia was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2005, she was 10 months old and so sick that she "couldn't keep anything down or in," Blankenship said. As Olivia's first birthday closed in, Blankenship was frustrated and heartbroken. "It was so devastating to think of not having a cake for her," Blankenship said. "I wondered, what do other parents do?" What Blankenship did was throw herself into research, clean out her kitchen and begin cooking gluten-free - including learning to bake cupcakes for Olivia's party. She and her husband, Shawn Blankenship, then launched Olivia's Oven, supplying hamburger and hot dog buns, desserts and pizza crusts to restaurants. Their products are free of gluten, dairy and nuts, as well as artificial preservatives. At home, she cooks with whole foods, passing on processed ingredients, in an approach often called clean, or naked, cooking. "Our rule is that if you can't read it, don't eat it," Blankenship said. GLUTEN-FREE MIND EXPANSION Wheat flour dominates baking for good reason. Wheat, along with a few other grains, contains two proteins called glutenin and gliadin. When combined with water, these proteins form sheets of gluten that allow breads to rise and hold their shape when baked. Eggs provide structure and richness, while butter, cream and other dairy products add flavor and tenderness. Removing such key ingredients from recipes can be frustrating, but it's also exciting, said Karina Allrich, who learned she had celiac disease in 2001 and began blogging at www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com four years later. "There is so much variety in taste and texture," Allrich said of the flours now available. "To me, it feels as if my world has expanded after going gluten-free, not diminished." Allrich embraces flours like the light-flavored sorghum; buckwheat, a darker and more assertive flour; brown rice flour, the whole grain counterpart to white rice flo ur; quinoa, a delicate flour high in protein, calcium and iron; moist and high-fiber coconut flour; and flavorful nut flours like almond and hazelnut. And that's just a start. Hilary Kass, a nutrition educator at the Community Mercantile in Lawrence, Kan., and owner of Ancient Grains Bakery, makes biscotti from teff, a tiny grain native to Africa that's a good source of calcium, iron and protein. Her crispy flatbread showcases amaranth, which is actually a protein-rich seed from a plant related to spinach. Millet, a nutrient-dense grain that about a third of the world's population relies on, goes into two pancake-like flatbreads. "I'm innately curious about food and cultures, and these grains are staples for a lot of different people around the world," Kass said. None of these fully replaces wheat flour, so two or more are usually combined in gluten-free flour blends. Starch is added to mimic gluten's elasticity; interchangeable options include corn, arrowroot, potato (not to be confused with potato flour) and tapioca. Thickeners like xanthan gum or guar gum are added to help baked goods rise. Commercial blends from Pamela's Products, Bob's Red Mill, King Arthur Flour and other companies are convenient and widely available. You can also make your own blend using guidelines from Gluten Free Girl (www.glutenfreegirl.com) or Living Without (www.livingwithout.com). TWEAKING THE CHEMISTRY Still, flour is just the start, said Elizabeth Gordon, author of "Allergy-Free Desserts" (John Wiley & Sons, 2010). "I'm allergic to wheat and eggs, and when it comes to baking that's pretty much everything," said Gordon, who was inspired to also make her recipes soy- and dairy-free after a friend's child was diagnosed with those allergies. The solution is substitution. Gordon often uses applesauce or ground flax seed softened with water in place of eggs. Egg replacer and duck eggs (sometimes found at farmers markets) also work. Sunflower seed butter stands in for peanut and a mix of vanilla rice milk and cider vinegar for buttermilk. Many of Gordon's recipes call for palm fruit oil shortening (look for the Spectrum brand). I swap Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks for butter in recipes, while Blankenship bakes with Fleischmann's unsalted margarine. Gordon's main goals? Safety, of course, but also taste. "I want everything to taste and have the same texture as what I'm used to eating," she said. "If I can't get that, I won't make the recipe." Naked baking takes more than the right ingredients, though. You also have to learn how they behave, and it will most certainly be different from what you'd expect. "It can feel overwhelming at first, as if you need to relearn everything you thought you understood about baking," Allrich said. Gluten-free bread dough is more gooey than stretchy, so it can't be kneaded or baked free-form. It also requires a shorter rising time (it collapses if it rises too high) and must be carefully smoothed with wet hands or a silicone spatula before baking. Sticky pizza dough also requires patient spreading with those wet hands. Cake and pancake batters are thicker than "normal," and eggless batters tend to climb the beaters during mixing. Cookie dough spreads more during baking, so it must be chilled before dropping it onto a baking sheet. Baking on parchment paper also helps. Persnickety-seeming instructions like whisking eggs until foamy or bringing all ingredients to room temperature help goodies rise. Even the most experienced bakers occasionally produce crumbly breads, tough muffins and inedible cookies. Turn them into bread crumbs or croutons, or toss them into the compost bin. Whatever you do, keep your sense of humor handy, Allrich said. "It helps to laugh," she said. "We've all had our failures. The failures make the successes sweeter." And my daughter's cake? I used a gluten- and dairy-free Pamela's chocolate cake mix and decorated it with homemade non dairy "butter cream" frosting. She ate her share, and then slept all night. Sweet indeed. READ THE LABEL, OFTEN Baking without staples like flour, eggs or dairy, is challenging. Happily, a growing range of packaged mixes makes it easier to produce all manner of cakes, cookies, brownies and breads, as well as pizza crust, pancakes and waffles. There are dozens of mixes from companies including Betty Crocker, Pamela's Products, King Arthur Flour, Bob's Red Mill, Arrowhead Mills, Gluten Free Pantry, Namaste Foods, Cherrybrook Kitchens and Rabbit Creek Products, to name just a few. Of course specialty markets and natural food stores carry a good selection, but so do other supermarkets. Why the plethora of products? "I'm doing it to help my customers," says Donna Cook, Rabbit Creek's owner. "The need is there." Still, it's not always easy to pick a mix. Consumers should read each product's ingredients each time they purchase it, since companies sometimes change their formulations. It's important to know what you're looking for, too, as names don't always reveal an ingredient's origin. Durham, graham, semolina, spelt and kamut are all types of wheat, while rye, barley and triticale also contain gluten. Malt is usually made from barley, xanthan gum is derived from corn, and lecithin, a common thickener, is made from soy. Chocolate chips often contain milk, and other products that appear dairy-free might include casein or whey. Green pea and other legume powders pop up in unexpected places, like some brands of dairy-free cheese. Where a product was manufactured also matters. Even inherently gluten-free grains like oats or corn may contain trace amounts due to cross-contamination. Many people who are highly sensitive to gluten, like Karina Allrich, who blogs at www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com, buy only ingredients labeled as gluten-free and produced in designated, gluten-free facilities. Look for details on the package, or, if in doubt, visit a brand's web site or call the company. RESOURCES For more information, recipes, product information and inspiration, see these resources: Allergic Living, www.allergicliving.com Allergy-Free Delights, www.allergyfreedelights.com American Celiac Disease Alliance, www.americanceliac.org (includes some Spanish-language resources) Ancient Grains, www.ancientgrainsbakery.com Celiac Disease Foundation, www.celiac.org Celiac Sprue Association, www.csaceliacs.org Elana's Pantry, www.elanaspantry.com Gluten Free Goddess, www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com Gluten-Free Girl and t he Chef, www.glutenfreegirl.com Gluten-Free Living magazine, www.glutenfreeliving.com Living Without magazine, www.livingwithout.com Olivia's Oven, www.oliviasoven.com Rabbit Creek Products, www.rabbitcreekgourmet.com The Food Allergy Queen, www.foodallergyqueen.com --- EASY WHOLE-GRAIN FLATBREAD Exploring cuisines that don't rely on wheat, dairy or other common allergens can be as fascinating as it is helpful. This Mediterranean-inspired recipe adapted from "Food Matters" (Simon & Schuster, 2009) tastes so rich that my kids don't believe it doesn't contain butter or cheese. Makes 4 to 6 small servings 1 cup chickpea flour (you can also use cornmeal or whole-wheat flour) 1 teaspoon salt 1
1/
2 cups water 4 tablespoons olive oil
1/
2 large onion, thinly sliced (optional; I prefer red onion) 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, minced (optional) Directions: Place flour in bowl. Add salt. Slowly add 1
1/
2 cups water, whisking to eliminate lumps. Cover with a towel, and let sit while oven heats, or as long as 12 hours. The batter should be about the consistency of thin pancake batter. When ready to bake, heat the oven to 450 degrees. Put the oil, onion and rosemary (if using) in a 12-inch rimmed pizza pan or skillet (cast iron works well) and place in the heated oven. Wait a couple of minutes for the oil to get hot, but not smoking; the pan is ready when you just begin to smell it. Carefully remove the pan and give the onions a stir. Pour in the batter and return the skillet to the oven. Bake 25 to 35 minutes, or until the flatbread is well browned, firm and crisp around the edges. Let it rest for a couple of minutes before cutting. Per serving, based on 4: 227 calories (54 percent from fat), 14 grams total fat (2 grams saturated), no cholesterol, 23 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams protein, 535 milligrams sodium, 4 grams dietary fiber. TEFF MUFFINS Adding pureed pumpkin or sweet potatoes, shredded carrots or unsweetened coconut, applesauce or mashed banana adds moisture and flavor to gluten-free recipes. That's how I adapted this one from Bob's Red Mill. Makes about 24 mini muffins
1/
2 cup brown sugar
3/
4 cup teff flour
3/
4 cup brown rice flour (or sweet white rice flour, if preferred)
1/
2 cup arrowroot starch 1
1/
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/
4 teaspoon sea salt 2 eggs 1/3 cup olive or canola oil 1/3 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) 1/3 cup water
1/
2 cup hazelnuts or pecans, finely chopped (optional; you can also substitute raisins or dried cranberries) Directions: Preheat the oven to 400. Grease the muffin pans and set aside. Combine the sugar, flours, arrowroot, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, pumpkin and water, and then add to the flour mixture, mixing quickly. Fold in the nuts. Fill the greased muffin pans
3/
4 full. Bake for 9-11 minutes, being careful not to over bake. Per muffin: 86 calories (37 percent from fat), 4 grams total fat (1 gram saturated), 16 milligrams cholesterol, 12 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram protein, 57 milligrams sodium, 1 gram dietary fiber.
Tags: Allergies, Calcium, Carbohydrate, Celiac, Cholesterol, Clean, Cooking, Food, Food allergies, gluten, gluten free, Heart, Immune, Information, Itching, Skin, Sleep, smoking
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