Wheat/Gluten Allergy and baking

[feckit]

I have just been shopping for some stuff to make a sugar and wheat free banana loaf for a friend of mine's little boy who is allergic to wheat and sensitive to sugar.
I was sure that spelt flour was used for those witha wheat/gluten allergy, but upon close inspection of the packet it says it contains wheat and gluten! Aargh!!
Where did I get this notion from... is there any basis in what I thought? And if not, what do you use to bake for an allergic child?
Any advice appreciated!

Gluten can be in other stuff too. I keep recommending "the allergy bible" book to people as it has loads of good advice and recipes. On the flour front, you could try rice flour which I think they sell in sainsburys. Doves farm make maybe? They have a website: www.dovesfarm.co.uk. May be some advice there?

Thanks Alibobble. I'll take a look at the website

Oh, and a further question if I may... what is the difference between wheat and gluten? They always seem to go hand in hand.

Yes I got that impression. I think though that it is acceptable if you intolerant, but not if you are allergic. Don't quote me on that though

Hi,

I'm just beginning to get my head around this stuff as we've just discovered that our dd is allergic to wheat, eggs, soya and peanuts.
apparantly spelt is an ancient type of wheat so it's not suitable for coeliacs etc.
We have got some Doves Farm Wheat Free flour which is made from a number of non-wheaty type things (obviously!)
BTW while we are on the subject do any of you lovely people have a recipe for wheat and egg free cakes? I know you can use pureed prunes in place of the eggs but bit vague on the details....thank you!

Also - gluten is a sticky substance found in wheat, also in oats and rye and and a couple of other things. We know that our dd is allergic to wheat and we're waiting to find out if she's coeliac (if she is, no more flapjacks )

I'll have to look out for the Doves Farm wheat free stuff for the banana loaf then. Hopefully it acts similarly to spelt!
so, TexasRose... is a coeliac someone who can not tolerate gluten?

Hi,
Yes, that's right. Many people reach their 30s, 40s or even older before they're finally diagnosed. The "Food Doctor" (famous nutritionist guy) is coeliac. In children it can stop them growing, in adults it can cause all sorts of digestive problems and weight loss.
This afternoon we made ginger biscuits using the Doves Farm gluten-free flour and both my kids wolfed them down! (3 oz flour, 2 oz marg, 1 oz sugar, 1 tsp ground ginger, mix to a dough, shape into rounds, cook on 180 / gas 4 for 10 mins or so - yum yum as the kids said!)

We found out in May that DD1 (3) is coeliac - she hadn't gained any weight in a year but has now put on 2 kg and grown 2.5cm and is a different child!

Re flour - Sainsburys, Tescos and Morrisons all sell the Doves Farm gluten free flour which is fine for standard baking. If you want selfraising flour, it gives instructions on the pack, but I think you add 1tsp of baking powder per 200g of flour. I have found a supplier that makes self-raising gluten-free flour as well. Some recipes use rice flour but it's best to use the all-purpose stuff to start with I think - it can react differently to normal flour, but there are some details on that on the packet.

HTH

Hi Tracy,
We only found out this week that our dd has a wheat allergy and may be coeliac.
I've said to HVs, more than once, is it ok that my dd isn't gaining weight? but they didn't really look into it until now...I really hope this will change things for her. She has severe excema and I so hope and pray that it starts to change...

link hth's

Wow! Thank you! I've added that to may Favourites list! You star!

Hi texasrose

Don't get me started on the HVs - I was made to feel like a completely neurotic mother for constantly raising the issue of DD1's weight with them. One of them even told me (when she was about 9 months) to give her chicken bones to suck on . When she was 20 months I gave birth to twins and simply didn't have the time to get to the clinic and they didn't bother to come to me so it was only when she started getting quite ill - regular and frequent vomiting and horrid poos - that we queried things. When we found out about it, although it was upsetting, I was just relieved to know what it was and that it was something we could easily tackle and I felt vindicated. Once I'd looked on the coeliac.org.uk website and read the symptoms, she was clearly a classic case - low energy, low weight, clingy, stick legs, no buttocks and big tummy. 4 months on and she's got slightly chubby knees and the beginnings of a double chin which I'm so proud of!

There's so much stuff you can get now - Sainsburys and Tescos do a great range of gluten-free foods and Morrisons are starting to catch up as well. And you get stacks on prescription too. I hope you get answers very soon.

Sorry feckit, have sort of hijacked your thread. hope you managed to do your cake ok.

if baking with gluten-free flours you need to add a tsp of Xanthan gum (you can buy it in Asda or from barbaraskitchen.co.uk) .. its a powder and acts as a stabiliser

means you can bake almost anything without the crumbly, dry texture that you normally get from gluten free

hth

Texasrose, "pure" spreads do a dairy free boolet of recipes but many are egg free too. You can get loads of recipes on their website. Check out www.purespreads.com and select the purefun side. They have are recipe library with ideas for dairy free, gluten free and egg free (though not necessarily together!).

Thanks for that tip Twiglett. Will get some

Thanks for those messages. Chicken bones to suck on????
The thing I'm finding is that our dd is allergic to soya as well as wheat and eggs, and most of the "free from" products include soya.
My way of thinking right now is capitalise on what we can have (potatoes and rice) and make those foods yummy and creative (rather than buying the expensive and not v. nice sustitute fods like fake pasta). So far we've had paella, risotto, biriyani, rosti, scottish tatty scones, and stuffed jacket potatoes. I'm aiming to come up with a weekly rolling menu of dd-friendly dinners...that is, until we get the results of RAST tests no.2 and discover a whole new set of foods to exclude!