As a pastry chef who did his basic training in the 1980s and 1990s gluten-free baking was pretty much unheard of and frankly seen as a bit of a pain to even consider as a serious alternative to the lovely pastries we were creating. Some items of course were gluten-free by nature like macaroons and a lot of desserts. The idea of swapping out normal flour and trying to calculate recipes was something that no pastry chef I knew at the time would bother to do. How times have changed!
The reason I am writing this article is because it is both a discussion and a request. I have adapted a lot of recipes into gluten-free versions. I have made excellent versions of Victoria sponges and chocolate brownies but these are quite easy. So how do we approach gluten free specialist products like breads and yeasted products which rely on the protein of strong flours? Well I have some of the answers and I am going to work on the ones I do not yet know the answers to, but I need some help. I will be testing some gluten-free recipes this year and writing a book on gluten-free baking to be published about a year from now and I would love some recipe testers or people who bake who would like to try out some recipes for me. I would really love it if these people were coeliac and genuinely are looking for some excellent gluten-free recipes especially for items that they desperately miss and cannot find decent recipes for. I want the book to include sweet and savoury recipes that would usually contain flour so things like quiches, puff pastries, crumbles, cakes etc or anything else you can think of. If you would like to be a recipe tester or wish to submit any suggestions please email me on the email address at the bottom. If you make any samples for the book you will get a credit. I am not looking for recipes just ideas or problems you have encountered that you would love a solution to. I look forward to hearing from you:
timpastrychef1965@gmail.com
I am pleased to announce my 5th book Ice Creams and Sorbets is now out on Amazon at £15.99 with lots of recipes for ice creams, sorbets, lollipops, granita, sugar cones, tuiles & sauces. I also have 4 other books available check out my website for full details.
www.timspastryclub.com
