Best Gluten-Free Food

[BestestBrownies]

Inspired by the thread about unexpectedly amazing food. I thought it would be fantastic to have tried & tested/recommended Gluten Free foods and recipes as a resource to share.

Being coeliac, I mostly cook from scratch as a necessity but tend to get into a bit of a food rut, so would love to hear about other people’s favourites for inspiration please.

I have recently discovered Warburton’s crumpets, which are leaps and bounds ahead of any other brand in terms of texture, taste and the fact they don’t crumble to dust at the lightest touch.

My go-to bread is the M&S Made Without Wheat brown seeded loaf. It’s the only one I’ve found that has both flavour and texture and works equally well untoasted as it does toasted.

One of my favourite homemade meals at the moment is butternut and sage risotto (GF and vegan). Simple, comforting and sooooo tasty!

One of my worst GF experiences was Tesco’s own brand mince pies. So grim! Sickeningly sweet but not particularly fruity filling and pastry that tasted raw. It was that bad I had to spit it out and even DH (who will inhale anything sweet), wouldn’t touch them.

The crumpets and cheese oatcakes recommended previously

I think the brioche loaf is by Promise.

Whitby Foods Scampi, Sainsbury’s FF fish fingers and Leon waffle fries

Sorry, photos aren’t all the right way up!

Gosh brand falafel and Lidl’s Deluxe sausages

These rice noodles are GF and ready in minutes. Lovely in a stir-fry or Pad Thai and only 157kcal per portion

Recently discovered these at Sainsbury’s. Both a good low-calorie GF dessert. Smooze ones are vegan as well and deliciously creamy

Lidl’s own Newgate tomato soup which I mentioned upthread. None of the other flavours are GF though

@ViperAtTheGatesOfDawn
It’s a bit of a grieving process I’m afraid, but GF alternatives are improving all the time and there’s more variety now than even as little as 10 years ago, fuelled by more demand. I have a theory that wheat has been so overly genetically modified as to render it indigestible to an ever-growing number of humans.

Eating out/takeaways are still a PITA tbh. Too many places just aren’t careful enough with cross-contamination and the regulations/consequences not strict enough, so it’s hard to trust that the food won’t make you ill.

Would love product photos if possible from anyone who’s made a recommendation please

These are the superb sausage rolls.

I'm in Ireland which has very high levels of coeliac disease but due to the still small size of the marketplace, has NOTHING like the range being described here, at least not in the supermarkets near me. I am a little jealous. I mean sausage rolls for fecks sake! But then I remind myself what the scenario was like as a child - about 3 horrible products found only in the pharmacy and tasting wierdly like medicine - and I think we are in GF utopia now. Then we didn't even have nearly the access to naturally gluten free foods like rice cakes, even rice itself so it was a grim enough experience

[quote BestestBrownies]@ViperAtTheGatesOfDawn
It’s a bit of a grieving process I’m afraid, but GF alternatives are improving all the time and there’s more variety now than even as little as 10 years ago, fuelled by more demand. I have a theory that wheat has been so overly genetically modified as to render it indigestible to an ever-growing number of humans.

Eating out/takeaways are still a PITA tbh. Too many places just aren’t careful enough with cross-contamination and the regulations/consequences not strict enough, so it’s hard to trust that the food won’t make you ill.

Would love product photos if possible from anyone who’s made a recommendation please[/quote]
Mine is a weird allergy, it's to a specific protein in wheat gluten (omega 5 gliadin) which causes a thing called 'wheat dependent exercise induced anaphylaxis'. Some immunologists recommend just avoiding wheat for 4+ hours before activity etc but my threshold is so low (a short walk after a slice of normal toast can trigger anaphylaxis) that I have been advised to go gluten free. It's a relief to finally have a definitive diagnosis but, yes, some grieving going on, though, tbh, the only thing that I've found where GF alternatives are not quite convincing is bread, and even then the GF breads I've tried have been fine, just not great.

I love the GF sourdough from M&S.
It's takeaways I miss! I have one or two options locally but not much.

@ViperAtTheGatesOfDawn it's very interesting to hear about your condition! I am allergic to wheat only, and typically only have a reaction (bad hives) when I exercise. I wonder if this could be the same thing.

[quote gelatodipistacchio]@ViperAtTheGatesOfDawn it's very interesting to hear about your condition! I am allergic to wheat only, and typically only have a reaction (bad hives) when I exercise. I wonder if this could be the same thing.[/quote]
It's worth exploring the possibility, it is seriously under-diagnosed and mis-diagnosed.

[quote gelatodipistacchio]@ViperAtTheGatesOfDawn it's very interesting to hear about your condition! I am allergic to wheat only, and typically only have a reaction (bad hives) when I exercise. I wonder if this could be the same thing.[/quote]
To add, if it is the same as mine then you do need to get diagnosed and get epipens due to the anaphylaxis risk, which can come at any time.

Good article here:
education.aaaai.org/sites/default/files/A%20multicenter%20evalution%20of%20diagnosis%20and%20management%20of%20omega-5%20gliadin%20allergy%20in%20132%20adults_0.pdf

@ViperAtTheGatesOfDawn completely understand if you don't want to post about your personal experience, but if you don't mind sharing, it would be interesting to know more - eg how did you find out there was a problem, how was it diagnosed?

I first had a reaction when I was taking a walk alone in a park many years ago. It was terrifying! I finally figured out that it was due to wheat when I had a poke test on my back to try to determine the cause - the wheat created an enormous wheal

*weal

The M&S gf pizza is very nice , not as nice as Pizza Hut gf which is excellent . Sponge do lovely gf cakes , much the best we’ve tried . Birds Eye do the best gf chicken nuggets and Costco sell very nice gf Swedish style meatballs .

@Pythonesque
Gosh, catering in your house sounds like a challenge! I have never seen GF flour in Lidl, so must be a rarity. Will keep an eye out for it now I know it exists, so thank you.

I often use a little milled flaxseed in baking to help bind instead of xantham gum. It adds fibre, moisture and a slightly wholemeal flavour so doesn’t work in everything mind.

Would love a photo of the glutinous rice flour please. That sounds like a really useful ingredient

@gelatodipistacchio
Excellent username (my favourite flavour)! I am part Italian (North), and love the GF produce over there. I noticed nearly every restaurant/cafe will have a GF alternative or be willing to make something lovely senza glutine. The attitude was so refreshing.

I recently found a garden centre near me with a whole section of imported Italian produce; loads of it GF with about 5 different Rummo ones (I 100% concur it’s the best). The prices are at ‘special treat’ level for me at the moment, but I was very excited by my local find. The main thing I miss about living in London is all the International delis/supermarkets. Particularly Asian and Italian ones.

@gelatodipistacchio I've PMed you

Things aren't too bad - the vegie child got packed off to boarding school .... (that's inaccurate - she earned a place at a choir school so started boarding at almost 10, and insisted on continuing boarding for senior school at 13+)

I was severely dairy allergic as an infant back when it was rarely recognised and very little was available. My parents bought tinned soy milk by the case on prescription for me till I was 12, when commercial stuff became available in the supermarkets. By then I could tolerate some dairy in food ok. We then started to work out that everyone was coeliac through my teens. So yes, the range of stuff available nowadays makes it feel easy :)

Does anyone else have a problem with "gluten-free oats"? My understanding is that these have been grown to be free of contamination with other grains, and are now thought to be ok for most coeliacs as the protein in them is slightly different. My mother and sister have confirmed that they can NOT tolerate oats, I don't dare test it out myself as I get very severe mood and concentration problems with gluten. There was a time when I could buy nice GF ginger biscuits, the last few years they've always got oats in them :(

@LunaNorth
Just looked at the website and their products look fantastic!
wildcraftbakery.com/collections/online-shop?page=2 @
I may need to buy a bigger freezer

Agreed on the Schar pretzels. They are properly savoury with no weird aftertaste.

I used those Sainsbury’s TTD FF dark chocolate-covered stem Ginger biscuits to make the base for DSS’s birthday cheesecake recently. They were nice, but not gingery enough for me and I would prefer without the chocolate

Sorry I’m not keeping up with the responses!