Gluten free flour - DS has a lovely new girlfriend who is coeliac

[DevaleraSpawnOfSatan]

I made some cookies the other day and DS was in the kitchen and said on open mic (and without thinking) ooooooooh these are yum, can't wait for you to try them, and we then all said at the same time...... gluten.

I have put a packet of Doves gluten free flour in the my trolley on my next Tesco shop, the cookie dough is the sort you can make and roll and take it out of the freezer on a as and when basis.

So question is, is Doves gluten free flour any good or should I be looking at other alternatives.

TIA

I use Doves GF flour and it's good. You might need to tweek recipes or try GF recipes.

Becky Excell is the queen of GF baking:
glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk

Make sure that any baking powder, cocoa, chocolate etc you use is also GF. And think about cross-contact if you're baking GF and non-GF at the same time or using eg a mixer you usually use for non-GF baking as flour is hard to fully remove.

My experience is you can't generally replace ordinary flour with gluten free and expect the recipe to work out. Gluten is what binds everything together and without it you will find mixtures don't behave how you expect and are difficult to handle. You would be better looking for a recipe designed for gluten free flour.

Also make sure you clean your workspace when cooking for a celiac as cross contamination can be a big issue.

I get buckwheat flour. It's got much more flavour especially nice in cookies.

I’m coeliac and although doves farm is great I’m yet to find a cookie recipe which works well. Becky Excells book is great because it’s better to follow a gf recipe than try and adapt.

It’s expensive!

Asda do free from self raising and plain flour for under £1. I find they both perform well in baking. Just be aware that not all chocolate (if you are having choc chips) is GF. A lot of GF flour doesn’t roll well though if you just swap it out in regular flour recipes.

Becky Excell has some great recipes and even some ‘accidentally gluten free’ recommendations.

Ahh I see I’m late to the party 🤣

I'm coeliac and baked with Doves Farm self raising and plain gf flour and find things like lemon drizzle cakes work really well because you make them moist with lemon juice. I made a most fantastic victoria sponge the other day (though I say so myself..!) - needed lots of lovely filling to keep it moist - I did it with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

I can never get scones to rise properly, which is annoying - even using baking powder - they just don't work for me - so I end up with scone biscuit-type things - still eat them, obvs.

Pancakes and scotch pancakes work really well with gf flour - can't tell the difference at all.

Agree with pp re: keeping all surfaces clear and clean - and if you're using jam on cakes, make sure it's a new jam/that knives haven't been used for ordinary bread and then dipped into the jam. Same with butter - I always use a new butter/jam and/or have my own in the house.

I had planned to make her dough on a seperate day, to avoid cross contamination the baking powder is GF but a very good point about the recipe not necessarily converting, will google fridge cookies on GF websites, so much to learn.

Thank you everyone.

Remember to wash everything really well before you start - no wooden chopping boards, no wooden spoons, fresh pack of butter (no crumb contamination), fresh pack of sugar etc etc.

Xanthan gum is your friend for GF baking!!

My DD makes me cookie using the Milies cookies recipe with buckwheat flour. Expensive but amazing!

You need to be really careful on cross contamination eg you cant just put hte GF cookies on hte same baking sheet as the non GF, or GF bread in a glutened toaster. Coeliac family members have found it easier and safer for the whole family to just go GF.

You need to experiment with several recipes, you can make decent bread and cakes using baking powder, but don’t expect it to be elastic like normal bread. Brother is coeliac and manages well, it needn’t cost extra making your own.

Yorkshire puddings made by my relative were awful, flat! A friend who's childr are gf says Aunt Bessie's gf yorkshires are wonderful, my local supermarket has them.

Cookies are really difficult to do GF if you want a chewy texture tbh. I do cookies made with almond butter which are really nice, but the only time I've got chewy was with a weird US recipe including Angel Delight

As others are saying please make sure that you keep everything clean and separate because the risk for cross contamination is so high and this could make her very sick.

If I was you, I would be thinking about just buying products in for her. Try M&S or Tesco. She'll probably appreciate it more knowing it's definitely safe and not going to make her ill but is similar to what your family are also enjoying.

Personally, as much as I appreciate the thought and gesture from family/friends, I never fully trust other people's gluten free food if they've made it in a house where they regularly eat gluten....but maybe that's just me.

Can't stress enough the importance of using clean equipment. I have coeliac disease and I'm currently on day 5 of being ill because my very well intentioned husband used the wrong butter in a recipe. It's agony.

Think about buying things in, maybe? She'll appreciate the thought of you making something but she'll probably also be thinking "I really hope they've cleaned everything down".

I've found that the "Suzy Wong Brownie" recipe from Mumsnet works well with a straight substitution for Doves GF flour. I think the flour packet had a recipe on that was very similar actually but it had an extra egg (so I added one).

I've had success with making the base for Millionaire's Shortbread with a straight sub for Doves GF flour too.

it's worth a try I think - it might work or you might end up with something where the texture isn't right instead. Taste wise it'll be fine so you could shove it in Tiffin if it doesn't work!

i have a special box of GF stuff like chopping board, butter dish etc.

This. Use any gf flour, Dove's is a good one and add 1 teaspoon of Xanthan gum, it stops the cake being too crumbly which is a downside of gf flour.